During the Holiday Season - we have a chance to reflect on how we have spent the last year.  Perhaps, as I once again review this years events, the full history of the past that has brought us to where we are today - with the good fortune to see the end of 2011, yet another beginning  in 2012.

When we consider how we've come to these places in our lives - many of the challenges we have faced,  always rests with me as a wonderful way to better understand who I have become, and too, who I have yet to become.  Certainly, we can't always find compassion in our hearts as much as we should.  Understanding the "other persons'" point of view can be difficult at the best of times.  Suffice it to say that so long as we try to see things from anothers perspective, we are just that much stronger, open, as we grow, as a person inside ourselves.

Things change.  Change is the inevitable tide that carries us forward.   So, what will I change as this year closes and another opens?   That is the reflection time I refer to - the truth is always available.

This is the time for contemplation.  January is the time for commitment.  There is never a rush to reflect on what we might do better - in due course the answers seem to emerge.  As I sit here now, watching the storms on the beach - the waves crash with an angry froth.   I can only brave for a moment the torrent, on my board, in my wet suit.   I find myself walking on sand rather than snow.  By this chilly northern Pacific ocean I can somehow see the worlds flows more clearly.  The fridged waters clear scattered thoughts.   The challenge to paddle and catch a wave, outside the confluence of the rip-tides and the beach, somehow seems the perfect analogy to business, life, balance.   The crash of waves changes, but does not cease.

The inevitable rush of views in the world that collide to deliver, like the ocean, an energy to propel us.  The skill to paddle beyond the rough waters and to surf down the face of a wave is something that is never "easy".  But, with practice, like in any practice in life, we can do it.

So as the New Year approaches I'll think about those waves yet to catch in business, in life.  Beyond those challenges set upon the shore - with every challenge there is the enduring nature of human spirit that lets us know we are alive.  We are able to face even the most difficult of circumstance.  There is always another wave to find beyond those who would strive to keep us down, in torment of the rough weather.  There is  always a new wave to ride beyond those who would hold us back for their own egoic satisfaction.  No matter the storm, there is another wave to discover and ride.

Happy Holidays - Merry Christmas !   Ride the wave - enjoy every minute.  The crush is an indicator of the "break" we can alwasy find to ride. 

Please visit our Santa Bizabacus Space and share your Christmas Wish with the World !

Best for 2012 - may you find your wave to ride with the thrill of success well deserved .... Tim

PS:  Today I'm launching the Frank T. Vasko Foundation in memory of my Dad who passed away five years ago this week.   Frank loved his family, fishing, nature - please visit the Sacred Waters Bizabacus Space and help preserve our natural environment by supporting the Sacred Head Waters project for generations to come.

A search of the web is an interesting experience - especially if you've ever been "defamed" in the media - I know how this goes first hand.  The net provides un-tapped information about, well about, just about, anything - separating the fact from fiction often takes a bit of digging.  I've been asked to speak so many times about my history, my own first hand experience with a defamatory article that truly changed my life, that I thought I would just post it to be found.  This one event, sensational article brought about by fame seeking journalist, brought me more happiness than I could have ever imagined the day it was published. 

Since it's publication, the turn in my road brought me to become a University Professor, a Canadian citizen, a technology entrepreneur, and once more, a father of three additional, beautiful children whom I adore along with the other two who have journeyed with me all along - from single fatherhood to growing our new family and life together.    I thought I might just post this last 18 year journey with some links that tell part of the story along the way - to tell about my personal mission to build technology for other entrepreneurs and would be enterprenures.  

One article, one event in my entrepreneurial career, for ever changed my life.  I have journied beside ghosts - a dead reporter, a dead newspaper and the echo of a voice that tolled the bell of what would set me on a path to shape the rest of my life.    "That which does not kill us makes us stronger"  Friedrich Nietzsche or, as so eloquently put by Rudyard Kipling in his poem "If"

"..If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools..."

I first crossed the threshold into building an internet company in 1995.   Back then I learned, first hand, what Kipling, and Nietzsche were referencing.   Since this game of dancing with ghosts of voices past began,  I've lived, watched, learned from what was once my broken life.   Blossom's of wonder that never cease to make me marvel.  Here is a chronological history of events, talks, academic papers - a part of what has brought my journey forward.   It has been a wonderful climb back up the mountain.

Career Before the Truth I'd Spoken was made int0 a Trap for Fools - Age 30 - 35:

“You see things; and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?’”   George Bernard Shaw & Robert F. Kennedy

1994 Establishing the Largest Print-Media & Direct Mail Marketing Company in a 5 State Region
1995 Creating largest on-site US Post Office on private premises
1995 My first vision of the Internet - a group I established - I saw the world would forever change

1995 We were the fastest growing print media electronics group in 5 State region & Fifth fastest growing public company in the US

1995 Expanding Distribution For Electronics Division to Wal-Mart - my operations across Asia
(I learned to speak Mandarin while operating our three factories in Xiamen China/ Kaohsiung, Taiwan/Bangkok, Thailand)

1996 The Defamation - the negative article that has shaped my years (I've chosen not to link this  "...trap for fools" - my Way of finally saying goodbye :-)

From here, I discovered the power of the media.  Before the Internet ... the power of the newspapers was ubiquitous.  While I filed suit against the newspaper, I discovered the power of money, the power of the Chief General Counsel of the Rocky Mountain News, who, conveniently, was married to the woman Justice sitting on the bench for my case.  Going against the multi-billion dollar paper company, and their largest customer was a game of money, not justice.  Yet, this single discovery, when uncovered and quietly brought forth, affected the woman Justice's ruling in my favour when brought to her attention "we know ..."

And, so goes justice in America.  As ever, then, like today, big money wins law suits.  It is what pays for politics and pays for the massive legal machine housed in marble halls.   Where it can, the money keeps quiet the voice of truth on the scale of justice.  Now, this too, is breaking-the-back of the Country I left so many years ago - for this very reason.  Marble can not for ever hold up against the quake of the true voice as only the web can offer.  From wikileaks to wikipedia, from social networks, Facebook to our nanocent and new Bizabacus ... the cracks begin to appear.

I had watched the things I gave my life to broken,

And stooped down to build 'em up with wornout tools...

Thus, it is here I began my next journey, in a Canada, with a mission - to ensure that everyones true "business voice" could be, would be, heard.  

Like Facebook has done for personal life events, stories as they unfold - I sought the Way to capture every element of the business, the entrepreneurial story as it unfolds ... and that is what CMaeON has done with our platform.  It is much harder to do for business - keeping the business record straight.  It required dealing with every aspect of business ... from the accounting, to customers communication, to marketing, to the ineveitible nature of the law and attorneys ... this 12 year journey to program this has reached a point where I can say - not one bit of data, not one truth of what actually happened, not a single email or accounting record, will ever be lost on our systems - and that means, no "story", good or bad, will ever be told, without the actual evidence available to set the record straight.

Albert Einstein once stated ...

"...as far as I can see, people here (in America) have no chance of doing this [speaking openly],

the result being that the Press, which is mostly controlled by definite interests,

has excessive influence over public opinion.”  Einstein Ideas & Opinions

The Tim Vasko Next 15 Year Journey Age 35 - 51:

1997 - 2000 University Credentials ... Professor at University of Victoria
2002 Tim Vasko Speaker for eHealth Finance to speak at Legislative Assembly Canada - Parliament Victoria BC 2002 Legislative Session: 3rd Session, 37th Parliament  SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES
2004 - 2006 Tim Vasko - Founding Speaker COPharm Conference for Online Pharmaceuticals Also, See, Copham & Various Papers
2004 - Tim Vasko Key Note Speaker at Camosun College CAPSTONE 2004
2005  Author:   BIPED - Business in Process Enterprise Design by Tim Vasko
2005 Tim Vasko - Speaker / Ottawa Health Canada Conference
2009 Tim Vasko Key Note Speaker:  University of Victoria Business School Faculty & Graduates
2010 Tim Vasko Speaker New York City RealEstate Technology

Studies by Author, Professor Dr. Brian McKenzie, Ph.D.

2007 - A Hermetical Approach to Entrepreneurship
2010 - "The Social Network" - The Facebook Story along side Tim Vasko's and other entrepreneurial stories as a basis for entrepreneurship

And on the disappointing subject of meeting Pamela Anderson - before her smear campaign that her publicist made to get her domain name and web site without paying .  Even with celebrity that gets massive internet hits - we can see the measure of truth that will forever be available, to expose those, who would have it otherwise remembered.

2010 Convergent Sues Pamela Anderson for payment in Canada Court (before her smear campaign begins).

And so, for as long as I have left,  my journey continues from here ...

"If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!"

Life is a journey of un-ending learning.  Never be afraid to take it,  live it and love life, family, friends who are ardent supporters along the way.  I have been blessed in too many way's to count after the daunting "story" that changed my life.  And, I have been able to work with brilliant people to build my vision and realize my dream - the entreprenurial, business voice platform.  Every business can use what we've  built.  For their operations, compliance, streamlining and create their own success and vision for the world.

To build a hub, and entreprenurial revolution, it was an necessity to capture the true essence of the dynamics of business - far beyond any CRM technology, the internal business system processes that happen "in-side" - had to be turned to the "outside" .  It is the only way to draw upon, benefit from, the full circle of the world wide web our society has created.  We have done this now.  It is this accomplishment that  has made this mission possible.  It is this "downside - up" approach that has helped me and my team create and master this platform so powerful for business - 1to1REAL, Bizabacus & eHealth Global - 1to1Pharmacy & MD .  This  15 years has simply been a sojourn in creation of this technology - just a part of the story to take form and shape from here.

Not every business will need the 1to1REAL - CMaeON platforms because of an over zealous newspaper or reporter (both of whom are RIP - unable to be challenged).  Though they are unable to speak again or see how they have changed my life to bring me to Now, or, how my team at CMaeON, and I have changed the world.  The subjects of Karma, Samsara come to mind ...

Now, every business can use it, or, of course, choose to not.  Regardless, the worlds voice, the business voice, the track of the story is forever a matter of material tracking - the power of the truth.  It is when we face the truth, know the truth, in the battle to succeed that we ensure success.   A "Real" platform to do this has been achieved

"It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles ..."  Sun Tzu

Fiction and fantasy of "what may have happened ..." shall be kept to novels.  eMails and records captured, the processes of business move from here to today's virtual skyline in the Cloud.   Question any business who "does not trust the Cloud..." For it is the great equalizer - enterprise level power for every enterprise.  The only business that will shy away - may well have reason to not wishing such a trail of bread crumbs to be followed.

Our Cloud based busienss platform was built for entrepreneurs of any size.  It has been a mission from learning and heart ache - that has lead to the brilliance of a new Way of business delivered by a dedicated team.   Formed, envisioned from a depth of some 30,000 plus hours of personal global enterprenurial experience, 1to1REAL and this platform has come to be.  Built from learning, processes flows across industries -through trying economic and financial times - with experience that extended from mass product marketing, to my personal mission help other entrepreneurs succeed and avoid the pit-falls of failure.

Perhaps it was built becuase I was accused by a reporter who I never met.  More a fiction writer than journalist - a writer who never bothered to interview or call me. This ghost man who wrote a sensational story that changed my life.  All I know of his is he wandered, lived in a fantastical world of desks cluttered by paper - writing more from fiction than of fact.  He, who lived this way, died an early death at the age of 56.  I recieved the obituary clipping in the mail from a friend.  He was just a few years older than I am as I write this now.   No matter, his story, or another, my life seems to been painted in a way to create what 1to1REAL - CMaeON represent and do.  The ghost's story's were painted on a canvas, now,extinct - my story is painted on a technology canvas very much living, growing and alive.   That faded ink has changed my life - driving me to turn to pixels that will be forever renewed.  We can never predict how we are called to what we can, or must do.  Sometimes we are simply called by Ways we can not understand.

CMaeON and the 1to1 Suite of global technolgies has been my lifes' mission and one of some brilliant people I've come to know and love.   It is work based on wonderful and tough experiences, knowledge, passion.  Both then and now  - I wouldn't have it another Way.  I do, perhaps, hope that the path may not be so ardous for others - so haunting as mine from the game of this ghost.  But, too, it is what makes us stronger to face the challenges that make us accomplish what we can give back ... no matter what comes our Way.

"Out of the darkness that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank what ever gods may be,

for my unconquerable soul...." from the Poem Invictus, William Ernest Henley

“We can not solve the significant problems we face today, at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them”

Albert Einstein

I was just thinking today about the new discovery that there is something that travels faster  than the speed of light – the Nutrino, now confirmed by a second study conducted in Italy

Why is it that in our world people would rather look at genius as a thing to attack, then as a foundation from which to grow?   Many of the recent articles surrounding the discovery of the Nutrino have a voice from the media that deliver headlines something like ...  looks like Einstein was wrong ….  Was he?  Really?

I suspect, that Einstein suspected, that there would be a number of new discoveries as he left us the things for science to ponder, discover and grow from.  I suspect that, just as his famous quote for solving problems and THINKING relays, we can never stop reaching and thinking.  Let's think and thank the world for genius that gets us to contemplate beyond where we were at, where we might be in the future.

Relativity was Einstein’s fertile soil of thought and genius that allowed the way for new discoveries.  Thinking beyond our ingrained habits and thoughts will always drive new possibilities – so long as we strive, as humans and individuals, to never stop exploring – in good times, in adversity, across time.  Change won’t happen at the speed of light or faster – but it will happen.  May each of us do our part of our contribution to the positives of change, even if we can't all be Einsteins.

That which Einstein, and all gifted thinkers respect the most is the creation of new knowledge.  Some reach out to think outside the box – at the risk of criticism, skepticism and ridicule.  But they don't care - they just invent.  That is the fruit of every element of creativity - from art and science to entrepreneurship.  What brought us to where we are is such innovation. And, it is the energy of inspiration that will take us where we have yet to go.

For me, I respect those innovators, challengers of conventional thought and paradigms the most.  From Einstein and as I navigate the biography of Steve Jobs written by Walter Isaacson, it is the inventors who's time in our lives, set up the future and pass the energy along with the responsibility for those left behind.  Isaacson interestingly starts his book on Jobs with a quip about how he was ‘…just in the middle of writing about Einstein, had just finished Franklin, when Steve asked me to write a book about him in 2004 …’  The other thing that separates genius from mediocrity, beyond doubt and criticism, is the set of beliefs we have in ourselves and about what we can do as individuals.

Steve didn’t stop asking author Walter Isaacson to write the book.  And, eventually, he wrote it.  Einstein didn’t stop having new thoughts, opinions and ideas until he left this world.   Both of these individual spirits have passed into a new era of relativity, leaving us to continue, from the perch on their shoulders to discover and reach outside our thoughts of yesterday to find tomorrow.

Let’s do that – keep learning and discovering regardless of the challenge.  God knows we need it more than ever!  When we respect the learning and lessons of yesterday – we’re more likely to find a way to build a better tomorrow.

When a person, like Steve Job's must leave this world the only light that can be found for those of us left is cast in the genius and inspiration his life inspired.

I write of the personal inspiration Steve Jobs has given in my life and the life of our organization. At one time, Apple too, was a small technology firm, with an idea and dreams. In the success of technology, like Apple and Steve, lives are forever changed in ways that we might never imagine. With the impact of genius, like Steve carved into the lives of so many, with a masterful hand he shaped a global culture.

One cannot help feel empty and at the same time grateful. Steve will always continue to be an inspiration to those of us that strive to build, innovate, connect and believe in the business of technology and a connected global culture. Steve Jobs, in creating Apple, has challenged us to think and believe that we can be more and better every day. Whether we use his creations for living, work, entertainment or connecting – or, like our company, we work to invent new ways to connect in this world, Steve will always be remembered because of his inspiration.

Steve Jobs genius will continue to carry the world forward. For those of us left to still find new ways to invent, we will always look to his life and his mastery as the purest of inspiration and passion. This is a beautiful legacy for a life from a man that has shown us how to be bigger than we, perhaps believe possible at times that prove most challenging.

Thank you Steve – God speed on your next journey in a better place….

When I wrote this post, I was thinking about what it was like when I was too busy with email and "stuff" eating every ounce of my time. My life has changed so much since we've actually "pulled it off" – creating a machine that really does help entrepreneurs automate their businesses.  Even though we've got a long way to go, the fact that we've built what we have is truly an amazing accomplishment.

I say that to my team at our office all the time.  Then I go home and say it to my wife and kids.   After 12 years of really, really, REALLY hard work and risk, I can hardly believe that the vision I had for what technology could do for an entrepreneur, a family man, a start-up, a going concern of medium proportion… works to help make life better, to automate, to drive business - in short to be the entrepreneur’s dream: cloning their business vision and energy into the market.  I always dreamed of a system that could just do all the stuff an entrepreneur needs to do while wearing all the hats and trying to keep up with the unique abilities that, well, make me an entrepreneur.

I've always had great ideas.  I'm also pretty darn good at implementing them in the early stages.  But, the follow up on the great ideas and all the "stuff" has always been a challenge for me.   I'm a strategy guy. As a thinker I love abstract ideas and challenges.  I can see the way things could be and I've always set out to do them.  The trick is to actually carry it through, from abstract idea to concrete reality. I mean, we could all just be day dreamers if the pay was there!!

So to actually see this now work in my own life - to see hundreds of doctors, pharmacists, technicians and administrators on our platforms using them - well it's a bit overwhelming.  Maybe even humbling.  I've been lucky just to get this far and see that it "could be done!"   The next big adventure is to actually get the larger part of the world to understand what we've created.

We posted all of the users we have on Google Earth so we could visualize them.  1.8 million people. The map looks impressive when user "dots" start forming the outline of continents with their presence on one or a number of our cloud platforms.   As I look at that Google Earth map, I realize what a distance we've traveled from the basement of the University where I started the company. I realize how far I’ve come from the basement in my tiny home where I lived when I first immigrated to Canada with my two kids.

Those two I'm super proud of - my son, an honors student with distinction graduated this year and headed for his masters and a Ph.D.  My daughter, a straight A student in her second year at McGill.  How far we've traveled together - from our little house, as a trio of three immigrants to Canada (broke but happy - like immigrants usually are).  Now, to see my other three little daughters grow up and see my "big kids" as grownups - I feel like a lucky man to be here.  It’s not been without many sleepless nights, and those have not stopped.  However, the big “if” is no longer hanging over my head. I no longer worry “if” I could find the people to build this, to do this, all while raising kids and building a new life in Canada… the wondering is gone.   Now it's all wonderful wonder - I wonder what is next?!!

Perhaps the most difficult thing to do in life is to stop for a moment and look back at what we've done in our lives and appreciate the places we've been.  Perhaps the second hardest thing to get used to is a new habit of how we can keep getting better in our lives - to get used to what we do better today, as being our new normal.  I think we take these things for granted too many times.  I thought a lot about this when I wrote my business blog this week "Are You Too Busy?" which you can see on our 1to1ME Social Space (wait until you see this launch next week - wow!).  I thought about how much my life has changed, and how busy I am now in doing the things I love to do, rather than the "clutter" I've had to do to get here!

I was inspired to write again about what I believe is true for entrepreneurs and anyone who is regularly inventing their life, by the movie Invictus.  In that movie, I learned that Invictus was a poem written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley - a poem Nelson Mandela recited to other prisoners while he was incarcerated for 25 years.  This poem inspired me more than any other I've read since I was a young man in my 20s when I discovered "If" by Rudyard Kipling.

The poem Invictus has touched me deeply, as poignant prose of wisdom can.   I understand all too well, the "journey" of life and how hard it can be travelling alone in the dark hallways of our lives, where the only light is the strength of our own convictions.

Henley's poem is below.  I hope all who read it find inspiration and feel the power of these words to help them to stick strong to their beliefs and continue their journeys no matter what their challenges are.

Challenge is the stuff of life that makes us who we are. When the only question left is "can I accept that this is my journey?" you know that it doesn’t matter if others seek to cut you down, scorn your name, or seek to break you from what you can accomplish, you know that you are meant to be.

"Invictus"

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Editor’s Note: This blog post is an edited version of a blog post Tim put up in 2006. Unfortunately not much has changed since then in the airline industry.

I was recently sent a link to this video – a humorous take on the folly of discount airlines: Cheap Flights

Most people would agree that it hits a nerve, but for me, it’s more like hitting the entire spinal column… I know this pain. Personally.

Yes, I'm afraid it's true. I’m in the Million Mile High Club: I've accumulated enough frequent flyer miles to take a family of six around the world at least seventeen times. People like me are known as "Road Warriors" – we are the people who pay homage to the airport bars on Friday afternoons with circles under our eyes, glasses of beer in front of us, cranking out messages on our smartphones while muttering into our Bluetooth headsets.

While traveling, I’ve had time to collect some of my thoughts about airline travel. Most of them start with “@$#&!!”

However, the ones that can be printed online represent the very distillation of my wisdom. If you’re an airline who wants serve your customers and make money, heed my words. I’ve flown with them all.

Here are the 7 cardinal "what-not-to-do" lessons from an extremely frequent flyer. Want people to love your airline? Recommend you to their friends? Want to travel with you? Then please don't follow these rules:

January is over, but business boot camp isn’t.  Is your business feeling fit yet?  This week we’re teaching you to slim down – teaching you how to get your business lean and automated – just like ours.  So let’s get connected!

Just like cutting out junk food, tabloid magazines and junk mail, we’re going to get your communications in order, streamlining everything from social media to websites to newsletters. The best way to succeed is to get your message heard. The goal of this step is to gather your Unique Content and put in a place where your market will get your message.

Do you “connect” to your market on the internet?  Like really connect? Look at what’s evolved in this area in the last few years, and the social media “treadmill” you’re trying to keep up with:

• Facebook:  500 million users most of whom log on every single day
• Twitter: 190million users (unofficial data) sending 65 million tweets a day
• LinkedIn: 90 million registered users, 21.4 million unique visitors every month
• YouTube: Hosting 14 BILLION videos as of May 2010
• Flicker: 32 million users and 5 BILLION images as of September 2010

Of course, there are all sorts of other places online: Orkut (100 million users), Reddit, Digg, Myspace (mainly musicians now), specialty services like Last.FM and Hype Machine… not to mention all the content sharing and blogging platforms like Blogger, Tumblr, Wordpress, and the specialty social networks like Active Rain (real estate), Medscape (doctors), Martindal-Hubbel Connected (legal professionals), DeviantART (artists), the INVITE ONLY social networks like aSmallWorld and the millions of RSS Feeds out there filled with unique, interesting content…

How do you keep up, and how on earth can you make money while spending all this time on social media?!

That’s a lot of communication spots, and this list is abbreviated! If you want to get really overwhelmed, look at the Wikipedia list of social networking sites (and don’t forget that Wikipedia itself is a hub of social activity for its editors…)

If it’s a challenge to keep up with Twitter and Facebook, what about the specialty networks that speak directly to your market?  How do you control all of this data?  More importantly, if you’re saying something, how does your customer know where to go and see you?

In a world this connected, keeping up with EVERYTHING is impossible.   It would be like trying to run up a downward moving escalator that is constantly increasing in speed - even if you’re trying to stay in shape, eventually you’ll end up flat on your butt!  So how do you get off the treadmill of trying to connect everywhere, and move smoothly through the spaces that are really important?

What if all of the critical spaces were organized, in a hub? Posting content there would be like doing your fitness routine in the gym (not just updating - there are plenty of tools to do that already), but a hub that actually put all your content together for your market, fans, customers and viewers in one place!

That’s why we developed 1to1Social Space Hubs - Social Spaces for short. We were sick of spreading our content across the web and just hoping people would see it. Visit our Social Space to see what we mean.  Our Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn profile, YouTube videos and blog are all together. With a Social Space you can aggregate your own content and even curate together the content you want to see from other business as well. Soon, when you have a Social Space, you’ll be able to follow other companies as well.

With Social Spaces, there is finally one destination for you to manage connections and communications with your customers and prospects.  Those connections and communications fuel “Conversation Marketing” - the kind of marketing where people find out what your business stands for in your “social” voice.  Conversation Marketing isn’t about advertising; it’s about engaging and connecting.  Putting your Unique Content where people can see it, read it and follow it to get a holistic view of your business makes it much easier to engage your audience.

Too often social media is like throwing bait into the pond, without a fishing line or fishing pole. Putting everything together in a 1to1Social Space Hub is like upgrading to a commercial fishing boat.  Your Social Space creates a net for the interested fish to come right into.

Sound good? What could make this sound better? How about free? You can sign up for a free trial of 1to1Real™ and set up your Social Space right now, no charge to you. You can have your own hub for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, your blog… whatever you want to create, and however you want to connect – your unique content will be in one place, ready to connect you to your market, and to success.

Happy Connecting,

Tim

PS: See you next week for Boot Camp Step 4: Collaboration Workspaces – making effective, secure teamwork happen for your business, instead of endless email chains!  We’ll explore this in more detail next week when we focus on getting your market, your team, your business fully engaged and connected to one another.

Image: Sinkdd

I returned yesterday from a meeting of some thirty plus entrepreneurs from all over the world - we had a stimulating discussion about technology and how tools in “The Cloud” will change our business.  As I listened to the list of technologies many of these entrepreneurs are using, I couldn’t help but envision a world of entrepreneurial CEOs flying their businesses “in the cloud” with no control tower.

Any experienced pilot knows that the best flight is not in the clouds but above them.  Imagine a bunch of aircraft (like businesses), soaring through the sky, constantly in the clouds without ever breaking through to get a clear view. Have you ever been in a plane when it breaks above the clouds to see an endless expanse of blue sky and sunshine? That’s what CEOs must do to be truly successful -  get above the clouds to soar above and beyond the competition.

Instead, I feel like I’m watching as entrepreneurs fly around, using solution after solution trying everything to see if it works for their businesses... The process looks to me like airplanes flying without any navigation equipment. The whole business world seems to be up there, but almost nobody knows how to fly...  Worse yet, some have a "few hours" into technology and are calling themselves expert pilots - and many CEO's are hopping on board!

In order to break out of the clouds you need to organize your "Business Brain" and carefully plan what you actually need to do to get your business data in order (rather than jumping from cloud platform to cloud platform!) The Connected Market Coach™ always starts with the bottom line data on your business – we take the lessons that have allowed your company to be successful from your processes and data, what you actually have done (your best practices) - before taking your business above the technology "cloud" into the Connected Market Space.

Why is this the only way to fly? Ask yourself this: would I jump in an airplane willingly, knowing that the guy in the pilot’s seat had only the most basic idea of flying? Would I try to fly the plane myself even if I didn’t know how? Most wouldn’t risk their lives with an inexperienced pilot.  So why risk the life of your business?

Your customer data and how that relates to your business processes is like the cockpit of your organization.  Once you know what to look for, how to relate to the indicators and how to plan for takeoff, it’s not much to turn on the throttle and head down the runway.   However, if you don’t take the proper steps and understand what “instruments” of technology you need to fly  and how all of these work together to make your business soar, you’ll end up in a downward flat spin, crashing just like an inexperienced pilot.

The advent of cloud based computing is going to push the pace of business faster than ever before, but relying entirely on cloud computing is a very different way to manage data, security and the processes that keep your business running. You'll need to get onboard with an experienced pilot and start to fly right, to get your own business wings.

So – how can you tell your pilot know what he’s doing? First, how many hours does the pilot have in technology applications for business?  In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000 Hour Rule: to be an expert at anything, you must put in at least 10,000 hours of practice. (Rather like how pilots need to certify by how many hours they’ve flown...)

So, if you’re going to send your business up into the cloud (which you’ll have to do eventually, as that’s the direction technology is heading) you’ll need a pilot to take you there that has a minimum of 10,000 hours of experience in implementing cloud based business technology.

I did a personal calculation of how many hours I’ve spent during my career in the development of The Connected Market Space, 1to1Real™ and now to release the Connected Market Coach™ program.  Here is my score card:

This summer I was invited to sail on the aircraft carrier, the USS Eisenhower.  After seeing 61 Super Hornet fighter jets deployed from the deck of the carrier - breaking through the sound barrier just off the deck,  it’s pretty clear that the right technology and the right pilot has a lot of power and can soar well above the crowed “clouds” with pinpoint accuracy to hit his target.  This is what every entrepreneur needs to do as we rocket forth out of the economic war we’ve all had to face.  We became enterpreneurs to "escape the surly bonds of earth ..." to experience the freedom of creating something that we envisioned.

When I reflect on how we, as enterpeneurs, have faced and begun to recover our business jet streams - how, once again we will soar with our business on the wings of this new technology frontier, with every company we bring into the Connected Market Space cloud, I can't help but recall, and relate to this poem from the American pilot who flew for the Canadian Air Force in World War II (this poem is even more meaninful to me as I, as an American, am becoming a dual citizen next week in Canada):

If you want to go to the cloud with your technology, you’ll need a pilot – visit the Connected Market Coach™ and we’ll help your business soar.

Tim Vasko

Founder & Inventor 1to1Real™ Entrepreneurial Technologies & the Connected Market Coach™

Image: John Gay

Every month, every day, I hear about or am invited to use a “new tool” my business can’t do without.  Personally, I’ve had ENOUGH with this gluttony of software.  We have enough software to run the planet right from our iPhones and Blackberries! All these programs are doing is distracting us from what should be our primary task – running an efficient business.

What happened?  How did we get into this mess? Firstly developers love to, well, develop.  It’s fun, exciting and enthralling to develop new gadgets.  However, too many of these gadgets are just technological junk food - they fill up your system, but they don’t really do anything for you. Just like real junk food, these programs don’t give your business real ‘nutrition’ and if you indulge in too much junk food you get bloated and sick.

So, the first thing we’re doing for Business fitness month? Cutting out the junk and untangling your technology!

Just like we have the four food groups, there are Four Pillars of good tech use that lead to Connected Success. I’ll introduce you to the Four Pillars of Connected Success next week. (Just like going to the gym, business boot camp won’t get you fit in one week. You’ll have to keep coming back!) For now however, let’s look at the typical diet of technology that most entrepreneurial businesses are eating in one form or another to manage their business: tracking and speaking to contacts, working as a team, that sort of thing.Abusing these programs is basically like eating too many candy bars – initially satisfying, but not a good way to stay productive or healthy.

1. CRM (Salesforce, Sugar, MS CRM Dynamics, etc) These programs are all full of features, but are you actually using them? Do they really add value to what you need to do to, or are they just empty calories?

2. Email Marketing (Constant Contact, Mailchimp, etc) Ah yes, generic emails and mailing lists. Not only are we doing badly as managing our own flows of email and information, but we’re pushing too much onto our clients and contacts. Email marketing is great – when it’s personalized and relevant, but spam isn’t good for your technology or your diet!

3. File Storage (Dropbox, etc) We have a huge need to share files and information online, but if you can’t connect files to the people who need to have them and you need to use one program to share the files and another to collaborate, you’re not working very efficiently.

4. Notes (Evernote, Onenote, etc) Once again, notes are great, but connecting your notes to contacts, files or discussion groups is time consuming. Notes aren’t collaborative either, which means you’re back to using several tools to do one job.

5. Project Management (Basecamp, etc) Project management is a huge part of business today – especially since you need a project management tool to keep track of the notes and files you have to share among your team…

So what we have here are 5 sets of tools. The problem is that these tools all do a small part of the one job you actually need them to do – manage contacts, collaborate and share files and notes… Each type of program has a clear single function, but none of them work together. Instead of eating one sandwich to satisfy your business needs, you’re eating 5 different candy bars.  They fill you up when you’re hungry for a function, but there’s no long term nutritional value for your business.

A well place set of integrated tools is like a well balanced diet.  It keeps you lean, mean and energetic. Putting the right nutrients into your body is a huge part of being a high performance athlete, and using the right programs is what it takes to be a top performing business – lean, efficient and successful. To be successful today management, marketing and messaging are all equally important. It’s a well rounded, holistic approach that recognizes it takes more than sales to drive an efficient company. We call this the M3 of CRM.

So, when we designed 1to1Real™ and the Connected Market Coach™ solutions for the “cloud” we decided we’d be like a well established gym. A “circut” of business and training tools that you need to stay in top shape and get into the zone; focusing not just on one small aspect of what a business needs to do, but the whole picture.

So what’s Step 1 for 2011? Trim down the disconnected tools, and get your business technology “mind” in line with your core business body – look at what you do, and how that’s different from what you need to do.

Next week we’ll cover Step Two: Organizing your Business Brain.

Picture: Candy and junk food might be delicious, but they're not what your body, or your business needs! Photo by Snippy Snippy Crab Kristine.

It’s always a bit melancholy to say goodbye to the holidays - helping put away the decorations while thinking about all the family, friends and smiles that make this time of year so special to us.  This past year my family received more cards than ever from our loved ones – cards about triumphs, about struggles in work and health, but all laced with hope, strength and love.

Many of us have been faced with challenges from the economic downturn for a few years now.  In our family, like so many others, health struggles surprised us and added to the stress.  For me, connecting with family, friends and associates during the holiday, and finding the time to reflect on the things we thought we wouldn't have been able to handle, yet did, provides a great source of personal growth and strength. The year past always seems to have many more bright spots than we saw at the time.  Perhaps this is why December always seems like such a wonderful month - the holidays let us reflect and anticipate.

As a lifetime entrepreneur I always find reflecting on these close connections, along with the holiday cheer and food to be a great springboard for new ideas, innovation and transformation.  This is the time of year I look back at our  business and the businesses we support in the Connected Market and say - “what can we… should we… will we do better, differently, more effectively in the coming year?”   It’s resolution time.

This year I’ve decided to create the first annual Business Fitness Month – after all, fitness resolutions shouldn’t just be about eating too many Christmas cookies! Get Ready for Business Boot Camp with the Connected Market Coach!

Here the seven exercises we’ll work through together over the next few weeks as we drive the “resolution challenge” to get your business and our Connected Market Solutions to you. 2011 is the year we get on track, in business and in our personal lives (I’ll be running, stand up paddling and working out every week to get myself into great shape along with our businesses.)

Let’s get started - here’s our work-out schedule, the 2011 seven step Connected Market Ladder!

Step 1: Trim Down your Technology Tangle

Businesses across the board have a glut of unneeded technology tools clogging up their system and reducing efficiency.  Like high cholesterol, we’re going to show you how to get the good stuff into your system, and connect the “mind” of your business with the “body” of your team. The goal of this step is to stop wasting time and duplicating work.

Step 2: Organize your Business Brain

Your customer data is like the internal organs of your business.  The problem with internal organs is that if you ignore them, eventually they’ll wear out.  Data that is poorly handled, cluttered, hidden or disorganized won’t just hold you back - in today’s Connected Market it could kill your business…

“When data is sitting in pockets, and not transparent to the whole organization, decisions are not understood that well. If everybody has the same data, they’ll generally come to the same decision.”       Jack Welch, former CEO GE

The goal of this step is to help you understand why your Data Depot is the most critical part of your unique position in the market.

Step 3: Cut out the “Junk” and Focus on the Good Stuff

Just like cutting out junk food, tabloid magazines and junk mail, we’re going to get your communications in order, streamlining everything from social media to websites to newsletters. The best way to succeed is to get your message heard. The goal of this step is to gather your Unique Content and put in a place where your market will get your message.

Step 4: Get your Business Body (your team) Fully  Engaged and Connected with your Core Value Proposition (your customers)

Buddhist philosophy calls this being mindful: Two Feet, One Mind.  How your “mind” of technology works either for or against your business will ultimately determine the effectiveness of your connections to your market and your success.  The goal of the he Connection Analyzer step is about changing your business “perception of reality”, i.e. getting focused on building and driving success.

Step 5: Get Away From Bad Habits and Create Great Habits

What are your business habits? Like everyone, you’ve probably developed a set of both good and bad habits - some of them are your best processes, and some are outdated, repetitive and bloated; simply put, they’re overweight. The goal of this step is take a step back, trim, streamline and focus how you work, and develop healthy new automated, connected processes to replace the old broken ones.

Step 6: Embrace Communications and Find your Friends

Where do you stand in the constantly evolving Social Hub of communication as a business?  Can you manage all your connections and your presence, or do you find it cumbersome and difficult to understand?  The goal of this step is to work with you to clear all messy communications with solutions and structure that flows perfectly toward your business and lets you get your message heard.

Step 7: Constant Improvement for a True Transformation

Becoming number 1 in your market… even becoming number 2 or number 10 won’t just happen easily. Nobody gets six pack abs or have more energy after going to the gym once. Getting your business fit – getting more customers through your door and more productive, profitable operations – is about constantly working at it, and finding ways to improve. The goal of this step will be to set up a constant feedback process – to help you continue to improve your business fitness and master your market.

So, welcome to the Connected Market Coach 2011 Tim’s Boot Camp. We’ll be here every week  if you really want to focus and get going call The Connected Market Coach and start shaping up your business.

Happy New Year,

Tim, The Connected Market Coach Team, PedBot and 1to1Real.