Category Archives: Uncategorized

Entrepreneurial Culture, Self-Improvement, Uncategorized

8 Steps to Achieving Your Goals

November 27, 2012 Esha Abrol 4 Comments

Please kick me if you ever hear me say: “I’m too busy!”

The other day, I caught myself complaining about my schedule, which has been more full than usual lately. Instead if complaining and raising anxiety levels, I should have used my time crafting a better management plan for my time, removing waste and items with little ROI.

One of my biggest pet peeves is people telling me, “I’m too busy…”. I’ve always said, telling people (complaining about) how busy you are is a fantastic way to market yourself as a poor time manager. Why would you want to do that? And what exactly do you do with your time that blocks you from sparing 15 minutes of your time? I would hope that they actually mean that they are just not interested in the proposed project/request because they have other priorities and commitments.

When I meet new people and get asked that same exciting question; “where do you work?” (A question I very much despise – try replacing this with: “How do you spend most of your time?”), I usually respond: I don’t work, but this is how I spend my time…. Often people ask me how I’m able to get so much done. I wanted to share “my secrets”, which unfortunately aren’t actually secrets at all…

An e-mail exchange with a dear friend and fellow entrepreneur a couple of weeks ago got me thinking about the difference between staying focused and poor time management skills. I told this person that I would not be able to attend an upcoming networking event he invited me to because I was unable to draw the line between my business objectives and my time spent at the event. I told him that my main focus currently was: focus! He said he was concerned about my schedule being too busy. I explained to him my priorities based on my business objectives and he then was able to appreciate my declining the invitation. He appreciated how I respected my own time and others’ time and how this positions me better to reach my targets.

When I was a student, a mentor and I had a discussion on time management. He told me, “Esha, if you want something to get done, ask a busy person”. Honoring multiple commitments requires prioritizing, focus, and a strong grasp of your strengths and weaknesses. A busy person should have all of these mastered and knows how to get things done!

I recently was telling someone that I practice meditative activities daily. She said: “Wow, I wish I had the time to do that, you’re so lucky.” In reality, she chooses not to make time for meditation… she also implies I have all the time in the world, when in reality, she probably has more free-time than me. She wishes she had time to meditate, but doesn’t take action to make it happen. Perhaps she doesn’t need to, she doesn’t realize the benefits it could have in her life, or she’s just slothful. We have the ability to choose how we spend our time. We can make time for anything, if we really wanted to. But the moral of this story is: we need to align our high-level objectives with our actions. Currently my top two objectives are (without going into detail): business growth (sales) for my start-up and being happy. To help me achieve my objectives, some of tactics involve: measuring monetary ROI on all business events I attend, investing in personal health (meditation, diet, weird hobbies to diversify my interests, surround myself with good, like-minded people) to be in top-form for my business and happy/satisfied overall.

Let’s get started. Let’s look at how we can all start managing our time better to achieve anything we want.

#1 Make two columns on a piece of paper. List what you do on a daily basis in the first column, the activities that take up most of your time. In the second column, list the outcome (your return).

#2 Define your goals, short-term (something you want to achieve over the next two years), and long-term (2-10 years). When setting goals, be ambitious, keep your standards high, but be realistic. Most importantly, ensure that you goals are aligned with your objectives. Ask yourself, why do I want to achieve this? Will achieve x make me happy five years from now?

In my office, I have a reminder, nothing fancy:

If you don’t know what your goals are, how will you achieve them?

Goal: ____

N = _x_ ( x is the length of time you need to achieve your goal)

#3 Most people stop there. This has been one of my mistakes. When I was younger, I set many ambitious goals for myself, many would be impressed when I talked about them, this made me feel like I was on the right track. I thought that my life would magically follow some invisible path that would guide me to achieving my goals. I forgot to construct the path. I sometimes still fail at this, for example, as silly as this sounds, I have overlooked scheduling eating lunch in my schedule, which has adversely impacted productivity and overall happiness.

The path is your plan. Of course things won’t go perfectly as planned and it’s important to remain open to new opportunities. The HOW is the most important piece to this process, it’s the most challenging and a step that most people don’t think about. It’s especially important if you’re like me, I’m a typical entrepreneur – see opportunities everywhere and a creative mind. For those that work 9-5 jobs, it’s easy to get caught up in our day-to-day activities; we get stuck in a rut and don’t even realize it. I found the only way to get out of it was to quit my 9-5 job – it was too much of a distraction. Another challenge is, we may keep moving on from one thing to the next without getting much done.

Go back to the sheet of paper from step 1, list the tasks you should be doing to get to your goal – break-down the big stuff into small pieces. (Feel free to e-mail me for more info on this).

#4 Prioritize and set time commitments for each activity that will lead you to your goals. The amount of time we put into something does not necessarily reflect the outcome. The trick is to work smarter. Multi-tasking is not the answer; it’s actually been proven to be counter-productive. The first step in improving time management is looking into how we spend our time, and the outcome of our input. Then, re-organizing how we spend our time using a daily scheduling system that will allow you to evaluate the ROI on each commitment and a to-do list.

How to measure ROI? ROI or return on investment is the return from the time you invest. The return will be aligned with your goals and ultimately your objectives. It does not necessary have to be monetary return, it can be anything from “achieving a clear, calm mind”, “strengthening your relationship with your sister” – it depends on your objectives and goals. Go back to the piece of paper you’ve marked you goals down on and list the necessary outcomes of your activities. Then be able to evaluate on a scale of 1-10 the impact of each item – this will help you prioritize.

#5 Stay focused. This is not easy! Reaching new places requires you to develop new habits, which it can be as difficult as quitting smoking. It’s easy to modify your path, but you need to accept you will not fulfill your objectives without action and hard work. There are no other secrets other than discipline.

#6 Diversify your interests or more commonly recognized as keep a “work-life balance”. I would recommend participating in unique activities to keep a balance and diversify your interests and how you use your brain power. Time spent away from your goals can allow you develop new skills and perspectives to achieve more. For example, I recently picked up Argentine Tango, ballroom dance, photography, and horse-back riding – these activities involve me to wake-up a side of my brain that doesn’t get to be used as often in the office, meet new types of people, give me new perspectives, learn more about my own strengths and weaknesses, and keep stress/anxiety levels in control.

#7 Reflect. I know some people who journal every day. I set aside time at the beginning of the day, every day to reflect on the day before, be thankful for another opportunity to carpe diem and reflect on how I can make this day better. I also look at my productivity at the end of each week which dictates how I spend my week-ends (a busy week = relaxing, work-free week-end, a less busy week = a busy week-end!).

#8 Update your plan. This step is based on your feelings during your reflection. this entire self-improvement exercise can offer many new opportunities. As a result, you’ll be able to better your plan and position yourself in a positive place surrounded by good things (as cheesy as that may sound) – at this point, it’s important to be open and adaptable. Being too rigid in following your plan can easily result in missing out on seeing opportunities presented to you. I find the biggest challenge finding the balance between focus and evaluating different opportunities that are presented to me on a daily basis. That’s what makes this so fascinating, this process requires constant experimenting and dedication to find the most healthy recipe for your mind and soul.

This may look overly comprehensive and a little overwhelming the first time you look at it, but these are just guidelines – develop your own list, one that works for you. Let me know how it goes!

Until next time, cheers, Esha

Entrepreneurial Culture, Social Responsibility, Uncategorized

The Cost of Poor Customer Service: Is Healthcare in Canada really Free?

September 27, 2012 Esha Abrol 4 Comments

After complaining and complaining even more about the poor service and advice I continuously receive from my family healthcare practitioner, I decided to do a little more research to find out why and try to explore opportunities on how to fix it!

I was quite astounded with what I found. Wanted to share my research findings and my thoughts:

Firstly, let’s look at how the compensation model for doctors works:

According to The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, the average family doctor makes $351,000/year. The compensation model is quite interesting. Forty-five (45%) percent of doctors (I believe this is all family doctors) are compensated by a fee-for-service model. Plain and simple, they make $25 per visit, regardless of how long the visit is; they also can make money through receiving a cut from referrals.

A closer look at the compensation model vs. the average annual compensation

Let’s use the average compensation number, rounded to $350,000 and dig deeper on what it takes to achieve this amount:

1) Let’s say approximately 15% of total compensation came from referrals. So, $50,000 of the total $350,000, leaving $300,000 to earn from patient visits

2) If they make $25/visit, they need 12,000 visits per year to reach $300,000
3) After vacation time, after 49 working weeks per year, working five days a week, a doctor would have to see app 245 patients a week, or 49 a day!

Based on these numbers, a doctor in Ontario needs to see an average of 49 clients per day to achieve the average compensation amount of $300,000.

No wonder I am always rushed out of the doctor’s office, no wonder it’s always full, no wonder he never does any research or provides alternatives, he doesn’t have the time!

The Improvement Opportunity
My no means do I want to sound ungrateful, I am a proud Canadian, and proud of the idea of a free healthcare system. However, there are some serious issues that need to be addressed. Because we don’t directly pay, I don’t believe that means we should be OK with receiving terrible service. Poor service from your healthcare practitioner and poor service from a cashier at Wal-mart are both irritating. However, one of them can possibly cost you your life, cause a unhealthy society, and ultimately cost the healthcare system more.

Healthcare practitioners play a vital role in the condition of our health, well-being, our futures, and our overall society. The fact that they are given hopes of a promising career, which will guarantee financial stability, seems to have led to doctors offices to over-commit to the number of patients they see to meet their sales targets, which is adversely affecting us all. They are left with little or no time to do research, talk to us to get to ensure the correct diagnosis is being recommended, speak to us about alternative medicine, perhaps even refer us to natural remedies because there’s no financial incentive in it for them. This is just scary! This is leading to misguided or the wrong diagnosis and confusion for the patient on what in fact is good for their health and what isn’t. I’ve heard many people tell me about medication they take, including medication with serious, long-term side-effects, for minor health issues. When I ask them, “why?” Their response, “My doctor recommended it.”

Aren’t we supposed to be able to trust our doctors? Aren’t healthcare practitioners supposed to help prevent illness, not just treat them? This requires more time and research, with the current compensation model, doctors may feel pressure to meet their targets, they may find it challenging to maintain the work-life balance, which is causing them to rush through seeing as many patients, causing society more harm than good!

The Ministry of Health needs to step in to introduce a metric in the compensation model that will measure the quality of service and delivery being offered.

What I did about it
I recently gave up on my family doctor for regular visits and started to see a naturopathic doctor. She reminded me of the importance of doctors and healthcare. She exceeds my expectations every time, goes out of her way to look for alternatives for me, and sends me e-mails messages, following up with me. Now, she may be an exception because of her genuine passion for her work, but my intention is to illustrate the difference and for you to imagine how our province would be with more doctors like her. The key difference: caring!
I think that there are many health practitioners that are still passionate about their vital role in saving lives and, more importantly preventing harm. They are not recognized enough for what they do. I want take this opportunity to thank them for what they do, not just for their individual patients, but for society and our world. They are truly inspiring people, and wonderful examples for entrepreneurs to emulate in terms of quality of customer service and doing your job to contribute to the common good of humankind, and think about how it impacts the world.

Entrepreneurial Culture, Marketing, Uncategorized

Prices, Promotions and… Emotions

July 13, 2012 Esha Abrol 1 Comment

I tweeted this link (“Why JCPenney’s ‘No More Coupons’ Experiment Is Failing”) a few weeks ago. It’s still on my mind, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on it.

In a nutshell, JCPenney wanted to be fair with their customers by abandoning the illusion of saving through sales and coupons. As we know, retail stores often inflate prices, then promote campaigns, advertising discount offers to attract customer through this hype.

I think it was highly commendable of the company to implement this new strategy and create a campaign out of it – they took a risk. Unfortunately, the risk didn’t pay off, sales dropped. Total sales dropped by 20%.

I want to focus on two areas: i) Why it was a great idea; ii) Was the failing of this strategy caused by the campaign message not resonating with customers or did the “fair and square” practice fail to excite customers to return to the store as often?

Why it was a great idea

On paper, this sounds like a plan that cannot go wrong:

1) The brains behind the strategy was CEO Ron Johnson, the man responsible for the success of the Apple Stores model. This guy knows what he’s doing.
2) Wal-mart and dollar stores already practice this approach and have achieved success
3) They took care of their customers, by engaging in open, honest communication
4) The strategy was logical and rational from a business perspective
5) As a result of the abundance of information through the internet today, customers are more educated and aware of business tactics, so should this “fair and square” practice and the campaign been more appreciated?

What caused the poor response?

This article concludes that customers like the excitement of couponing. As Mr. Johnson admits here:

“We did not realize how deep some of the customers were into [coupons],” said [JCPenney COO Michael] Kramer.
JCPenney CEO and Apple retail God Ron Johnson weighed in on it too. “Coupons were a drug,” he said. “They really drove traffic.”

The effect “getting a deal” has on our mind, involves a greater understanding of psychology than we thought. It seems our brains are triggered to release dopamine when we are able to procure items at discounted prices. This is proof that pricing is more than just a mathematical formula.

JCPenney “Fair and Square” Campaign Touches on Customers’ Expectations

Wal-mart and dollar stores also practice the same strategy; however, their positioning and marketing has never gone where JC Penny did. JC Penny recognized how the abundance of info available on the internet and social media has changed customers’ expectations. Customers today are more educated and appreciate open, honest communication. So, JC Penny delivered an honest, open marketing campaign, revealing their stance on the illusion of saving.

Three reflection points:

1) For the entrepreneurs and marketing folks out there, this proves there is much, much more involved in developing a pricing strategy than simply the knowing the break-even point and target sales/profits/costs. The formula for determining the right price should be a collage of finance, accounting, consumer behaviour, what the competitors are doing, environment, and some blue construction paper, and glitter glue. What does the blue construction paper and glitter glue mean to you?

2) Other companies, like Wal-mart and dollar stores (entities which have proliferated lately!) offer lower prices on a regularly and have achieved extraordinary levels of success. Based on JC Penny’s sales drop, are customers resistant because the “fair and square” campaign message simply didn’t resonate with them, or is it the lack of excitement as this article implies?

3) Is consumerism getting out of hand?

Entrepreneurial Culture, Uncategorized

The stairs, elevator, remain on the ground floor, or e-mail?

May 25, 2012 Esha Abrol 4 Comments

A few months ago I decided to quit my 9-5 job. Tomorrow is my last day.

So, what next?

It doesn’t matter!

“What do you mean you’re not looking for a job?!”
I was chatting with a friend today who will also be moving on from her 9-5 job. Why? Has she found another job? No. Is she at an age where she can officially retire? Not even close. She’s taking time off to spend time with her family, reflect, and open her mind to the world. We were talking about the looks of confusion see receives when she tells people this.

Society has shaped our minds to feel like our shoulders should be raised with stress all the time, that our Outlook calendars should dictate how we spend our time, and that we should remain stationary in front of a computer for the better part of the day from Monday to Friday. Only if you do these things can you feel satisfied with your level of productivity and self-worth.

I think entrepreneurs are outcasts when it comes to these beliefs. I had the opportunity start my own business while I was still a student and hail from a family of business owners. Upon two other entrepreneurial ventures I experimented with as a student (that didn’t quite lift off) and then graduation, I felt I needed to get a “job” like everyone else. So, I did. A great one, actually…

After working more than 150 hours/week for months as an entrepreneur, employee at a retail store, summer intern with the government, and student (all at the same time!), I embarked upon a new adventure: the corporate world – the 38-hour work-week where I would be able to apply my knowledge of intern’l trade, marketing, and leadership. It was different. Upon two and a half years of working away in corporate marketing, I’ve met great people, worked on challenging project, and had great laughs. Even while working my 9-5 job, on the side, I built a couple of other start-ups just for fun. I have come to understand that if entrepreneurship is in your DNA, it’s impossible to live a “normal” life. Only other beings of this species seem to comprehend.

Only you determine your worth

You can choose to take the stairs, elevator, enjoy the beauty of the site from the ground, or just walk-by ignoring the site with all your attention focussed on typing an e-mail reply on your mobile device.

Many folks asked me why I can’t continue to build ideas on the side, while continuing my 9-5. I then ask them: “If you decided to build a business and knew that it would bring you fulfillment, after a lot of hard work that you would enjoy, would you work in a job that you were not passionate for?” Confidence is king. As I was flipping channels a few years ago, I stopped on an interview with Oprah, I remember her asking the audience to: imagine the world in their minds and picture their position in it – their projection of this world in their minds is the first step in making it a reality. Whether it’s accumulating monetary wealth, the contentment that comes from doing something you enjoy, or the optimal health that can be achieved through the state of being satisfied in the inner mind and spirit.

Reach for the sky, Esha

Entrepreneurial Culture, Uncategorized

Open Letter to all Presidents/CEOs of large, bureaucratic organizations: Give the young ones a chance!

February 24, 2012 Esha Abrol 2 Comments

Firstly, I only have 28% battery life left on my laptop and without the power adapter. My challenge: To get my thoughts down somewhere are share them through here… forgive me for grammer/spelling/scattered thoughts. 🙂

Secondly, this entry will not actually be in a letter format… because, well, who writes letters anymore?
Today, at an annual work conference, I had the opportunity to hear many cool individuals speak about, mainly, various areas of organizational culture. Yeah… org culture… but this is actually interesting, so I hope you’ll keep reading. The two folks that really got my attention were Tom Jenkins of OpenText and Alex Benay, also from OpenText.

They talked about the diversity on their team, with the only commonality among the team at OpenText being the drive to innovate. And, the average age of their team being app. 27 years old. Tom Jenkins shared his appreciation for the fresh perspectives and new ideas “young” people bring. He recognized, with those under the age of 30, as memory may be diminishing, we can see creativity and the ability to multi-task rising. He recommended all companies bring-in more creativity and multi-tasking abilities to senior levels of the organization, whether that be on boards or executive teams (i.e. senior levels). By giving the younger generations a chance!
Let’s talk about this. So, if I were to approach the CEO/President of a large corporation today, gave them the most impressive elevator pitch they have ever heard, listed what I would bring to the table if on the Executive team, then, went for the close an asked them to hire me… What would he/she say? My guess would be, they would pause, smile, then, realize I was serious and question my sanity.

Large organizations need to re-visit there HR strategies and their organizational culture. There are amazing companies like OpenText out there with a start-up mentality, willing to give young, 20-somethings a chance to be empowered, make mistakes (opportunities to learn lessons they’ll never forget), and achieve greater rewards.

What would be the pros of adding a 20-something to the Executive discussions? More creative abrasion, more learning, new ideas, possibliy PR opportunities if they did it now (think about the headlines: “Large corp hires a 26-year-old as the Senior Director of Innovation”), opportunities to grow a presence within a younger demographic, stronger organizational culture, etc.

Alex Benay talked about how companies today don’t have 10-15 years to establish themselves anymore. I would agree. Just look at Facebook and Shopify as they continue to ship new features on a regular basis. Communities like Sprouter make it easier for the entrepreneur to get their name out their and to reach out for help. Contrary to what the economists are saying, there are many opportunities out there today in terms of work. But, the exciting ones are for the Gen Y’ers because of their risk profile. Who exactly? Those who finished-up school, did the 9-5 thing for a while to save $ to eat, without a mortgage and family support are in a position to take more risks and will see more rewards. These minds are also crucial in large orgs. Intrapreneurs are the bold ones that keep organization relevant and profitable. They also need to know today’s world through tacit knowledge.

My advice to large organizations: Please consider change.

Cordially,

Esha

Marketing, Uncategorized

Creating a Tipping Point: Let’s Tilt a Glass to All the Key Players

December 21, 2011 Esha Abrol Leave a comment

In my observations, for a few years now, “leadership” has remained high on the list of “top buzz words of the year”. But what about the “follower”? The follower rarely receives attention.

Have a look at this video:

Let’s look at this from a business strategy perspective. I think “leader” can be compared to the first-mover concept or companies who are prime-providers in a particular industry, and “follower”, the second-mover concept or companies who are players in a competitive arena.

While developing their business strategies, organizations (especially start-ups) often craft their product positioning statement and vision statements to include something on being a leader in “x”. (Example: To become the leading providers of molybdenum to China for their infrastructure developments.)

Often, the “leader” status is seen as the ultimate badge of honour.

Being the “leader” is not the most ideal for all organizations; this video offers a fantastic message, which demonstrates the level of impact “followers” have to offer.

Let’s tilt a glass to the ambitious, local start-ups – may they continue to impact the world.

I feel satisfied that I finally found a relevant way to share this video – love the marketing message and high entertainment value. Hope you will take the time to watch.

Esha

Entrepreneurial Culture, Marketing, Uncategorized

How to Fix RIM!

August 15, 2011 Esha Abrol 1 Comment

Three words: Strat. E. Gy. Or lack of it.

RIM is choking on a piece of rotten fruit, it has been for a while — why are they only seeking medical attention now? RIM needs CPR, now. No miracles needed, just a lot of focus and strong leadership can bring it back to life.

Yes, I DO think Research in Motion’s business is fixable.

As I work on finalizing a business plan for a new business to be fully launched in early 2012, I am relieved I’m almost done with this dreadful phase of developing a start-up. Putting together a good business plan is always painful because of the countless hours of work and re-work required. However, after discussing sections of the document with my business partner last week, of course, we were reminded of the importance of this thing. It forced us to look into areas we didn’t think of before, to answer questions that we didn’t ask ourselves before. And, this is exactly what a strategic business plan should do, if done properly.

Addressing areas of the business that were not previously looked at or answering questions that were never asked should be approached with strategy, supported with clear business objectives. Now, I think most would agree – this all sounds logical, simple and straight-forward, but business decisions are often made without any strategic- thinking.

Without strategy, business operations can quickly become tactical and meaningless. Multiple activities being performed, just for the sake of getting something done because you have realized action needs to be taken. That can work for a while. After sometime, this approach can lead to a domino effect — one, tactical quick-fix will eventually lead to another, and so on. Although everyone is busy, productivity sinks. Business operators become caught-up in getting things done without stepping back for a minute to ask, WHY. We forget to evaluate the impact of business activities being performed and exploring better of doing things. There may be approaches out there now that are more cost-effective, efficient, or just cooler that can provide a competitive edge.

In my opinion (there are currently a lot of these on RIM), I do think RIM’s business is fixable. But they need to go back to the original business plan template and write-up a plan.

Leadership has moved at pace which can be called reactive, or worse. In the competitive mobile communications space, the first-mover advantage can be vital, especially when your competitors are Apple and Google. Blackberry’s R&D seems to be based on Apple’s or Google’s actions with iPhones or the Android system.

To get the obvious out of the way: Yes, support for innovation is weaker in Canada, than in the U.S., but Canada does have a large pool of talent. So I do think RIM is comparable to Apple and Google.

For example, we only heard about the Playbook, which was then called the BlackPad, after the first iPad was already launched. Was it smart business to take-on the heavy costs that would eat-up cashflow to develop a product so quickly even though the competitor had already had the chance to develop, launch, test, and learn from their mistakes?

The problem is, I don’t think they can honestly answer this question even now.

The company’s failure to understand their competitive edge and to fully capitalize on it has been the ultimate cause of their current position. Eventually, their reactive, tactical approach was bound to catch-up to them. With financial analysts and investors’ reduced confidence, a disoriented team culture (with the recent news of laying-off 2,000, or 11% of their workforce), tough critics, and even tougher competition, RIM’s got a bit of work to do.

International Management, Marketing, Uncategorized

My Evening at the FITT Awards Ceremony

June 13, 2011 Esha Abrol Leave a comment

Last week I was invited to attend the 14th Annual FITT Conference and Awards Ceremony to receive my Certified International Trade Professional (CITP) designation among members of the Canadian trade community.

The Forum for International Trade Training (www.FITT.ca) is a non-profit organization that helps build international business capacity by providing the highest level of excellence to assist individuals develop skills and knowledge in the challenging space of international business.

I want to congratulate the folks I had the chance to share the stage with – I had the opportunity to chat with most of the other CITP recipients in attendance and was blown-away by the passion and appreciation they shared for global business. No words for the ambience and energy in the room. Honored to be a part of this group.

Also in attendance were, Canadian exporters from all industries, and industry experts, including Stephen Poloz, CITP and President of Export Development Canada and Peter McGovern, Canada’s Chief Trade Commissioner from DFAIT, who was given an Honorary CITP in recognition for his contributions to the Canadian trade economy.

For those considering the CITP Designation, I have written about the FITT program in the past, I would recommend it. Like any post-secondary educational program, it is demanding, but a worthy investment.
Upon completion of the program, I was equipped with a thorough understanding of how international business “works” and the success factors when considering foreign expansion. The program takes a hands-on approach, yet very comprehensive. If you’re considering taking the program and have questions, drop me a line.

I also want to take a moment to formally thank everyone for the nice messages of congratulations – it made the achievement that much more special.

: From left to right: Bruno Morin – Chairperson, FITT Board of Directors; Caroline Topkins, President, FITT; Esha Abrol; Peter McGovern, Canada’s Chief Trade Commissioner, DFAIT

(http://www.flickr.com/groups/fitt/pool/)

Jamie Schroeder, Photographer
www.jamieschroederphotos.blogspot.com

Cheers,

Esha

Marketing, Uncategorized

Indonesian Artwork – What do you think?

May 31, 2011 Esha Abrol Leave a comment

To friends who subscribe to my blog and check back regularly, know that I appreciate you and I apologize for the lack of activity here- it seems all my updates now occur in 140-characters or less. However, I’m currently working on a fun research project and thought this would be the perfect way to gather data. I’d like to chat with you about artwork and Indonesia.

Indonesia is a country I would definitely love to visit – I hope to visit Bali, Indonesia in early 2012. I’m a fan of the beautiful and colourful culture. And I would say, the art found in Indonesia is a direct byproduct of it’s rich culture. Each piece is unique. Each piece holds a unique story.

Why not bring some of this rich, Indonesian culture and ancient stories in our own lives and homes? Would you have a look at the pieces of Indonesian artwork in the gallery below (click to for larger view) and answer the questions at the end of this blog, please?

For additional feedback, please comment below or email me.

Cheers, E.

Entrepreneurial Culture, Uncategorized

How to Change the World and Be Happy

October 20, 2010 Esha Abrol 1 Comment

During my visit to Chapters last weekend, as I was strolling the aisles, I stopped for a minute , picked up the book in front of me, and started reading the back cover. I picked up some of the other books from that same row of books. I realized I was in the Biographies section.

This particular row of books was dedicated to stories of people who were unhappy with their lives and what they did to ameliorate their situations. In the pursuit of happiness, they decided to make changes in their lives whether that be by: traveling to places they’d never been, ending a marriage, changing careers, trying new foods, etc…

There was a high supply of books on “pursuing happiness” or “finding your passion”, which speaks volumes for the demand for this kind of stuff.

This leads me to my question, is the world becoming a less happy place? Here are my thoughts:

I don’t know if we have become unhappier, but I do think the world has become more competitive. Globalization has made the world a smaller place and cool, new innovations have opened up doors to great new opportunities that were never available before (i.e. Facebook, smartphones, etc). More people are pursuing higher education to equip themselves with the knowledge they feel they need to compete and be “successful”. I believe the issue starts here. Let me try to explain.

A highly educated and ambitious population is a good thing, isn’t it?

True. But, there is a but. In short, I don’t think people are pursuing higher education for the right reasons. Knowledge can be gained from books and compiled within a matter of minutes using Google, but obviously there are advantages in pursuing a higher education that only Google and books cannot provide.

Here’s a very short list of a few of the things I gained from my years as a student:
-Stronger work ethic: provided greater discipline, allowed me to realize the strong correlation between high-quality work/effort and success.
-Further developed interpersonal skills/networking opportunities through working with other competitive students, professors, and industry experts
-Helped me learn more about myself: Through being told what to read, study, and write, I learned very quickly what I enjoyed doing and things I didn’t enjoy. This also helped me realize my strengths and weaknesses.

Now, this list looks simple and not very shocking – have a look at items that have appeared on the lists of others I have talked to:

Things they said they gained from their education:
-An iron ring
-College diploma/University degree (Bachelors, Masters, PhD)
-Can recite pie backwards up to the 10th decimal
-Have secured a job that pays the average salary, based on their education and years of experience

How does the latter list differ to the above?

Most importantly, the first list acknowledges personal development, whereas the second fails to acknowledge the skills developed. Rather than pursuing a higher education for a diploma, a degree, or an iron ring, the focus should be on the skills desired and why acquire them. Rather than chasing goals to acheive what you are passionate about, the goal becomes to merely receive a piece of paper.

Unfortunately, degrees, diplomas, iron rings, knowledge of random facts and figures do not have any effect without action. Action on knowledge or achievements can change the world. To act upon the things we know, passion is needed. Examples of people who have acted upon their passions and knowledge include: Michael Jackson (music and dance), Donald Trump (leadership, real estate, hair), Walt Disney (story-telling, psychology), Terry Matthews (entrepreneurship, telecommunications), Steve Jobs (marketing), Jack Welch (psychology, management), etc…

The reason these people have seen extraordinary levels of success is partly due to the fact that they know their strengths and where their passion lies. Their passion for what they do/did shows.

Often, I see many pursuing things that make them miserable. Or people who try to be the jack of all trades. My question is, why? Why not focus on one thing you enjoy and are passionate about instead? Having a single-minded attitude towards what you do best and what you enjoy, in my opinion, can result in extraordinary level of success – whether that be financial success, personal satisfaction, etc…

How do you know what your passion is?
One of my favourite things to do, would definitely be meeting other motivated, hard-working, young entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs. Recently, at GenYOTT, a social networking event in Ottawa, I had the opportunity to meet Nimit Malavia, a talented, illustrator. His passion for what he does is very evident. As we chatted, I asked him what his key driver was, what keeps him motivated. He said, “I feel sick when I don’t draw”. Enough said.

Another example, a non-profit organization that I feel very fortunate to have done some work with, Human Mobility International (HMI) is made of pure passion, wherein the founder, Briton Amos “provides high-end wheelchairs to improve the quality of life of people suffering from the after-math of living in conflict zones and areas of natural disasters. These clients will primarily be found in third-world countries where they cannot afford these wheelchairs in order for them to re-integrate into their society.”

Ultimately, to avoid the need for books on “how to be happy” later in life, I think we need to do the following:

1) Understand the reasons for our decisions and how we choose to spend our time. These decisions should follow with goals. It’s important to understand that to achieve goals, you must have set goals.
Remember:
a) Goals should be ambitious, but realistic
b) There should be a reason for wanting to achieve these goals

2) Also, keep track of how you spend most of your time. Is the work you do mostly busy-work? Measuring your productivity should not be based on how much time you spend in front of your computer, answering e-mails, or in meetings. My favorite time management tip is, ask yourself: “Am I being productive or just active?” – @tferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek.

3) Unfortunately you may have to do things you don’t enjoy. Getting things that need to get done efficiently and effectively to focus on what you are passionate about should be the underlying objective. (For example, completing linear algebra class to get to exciting calculus. To get to calculus, you must put in the effort by completing algebra.)

I would like to keep this blog short, which is a bit challenging because there’s much to say. To sum up, passion and knowledge can change the world. Everyone has the potential to make an impact. Unfortunately, many do not take the opportunity when given the chance – I hate seeing smart, talented people that are lazy. As the folks at Nike would say, just do it.

To end, I’m a huge fan of this Steve Jobs presentation – I think it fits with the theme of this entry, check it out

Cheers, Esha

Entrepreneurial Culture, Marketing, Uncategorized

Capitalizing on Twitter & other Social Media Tools: The Old Spice Example

July 14, 2010 Esha Abrol Leave a comment

For those who weren’t on Twitter today, I regret to inform you that you missed the buzz, snap, crackle, and pop Old Spice created with a very impressive campaign. In my opinion, they completely reinvented themselves by going after a completely different market, the younger, “hipper”, social media-savvy market.

This has been one of the most creative Twitter campaigns yet – it was certainly very successful. It was an excellent example of the guerrilla marketing opportunities social media Websites, like Twitter offer.

In short, what they did:

1) “Promoted” ‘Old Spice’ as a “trending topic” (“x” = Twitter lingo)

2) Throughout the day, they replied to tweets using personalized videos. (observation: they targeted many social media heavyweights, who would further spread the word, ie Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.com)

3) Their Twitter campaign was an extension of their current marketing campaign (TV ads). In their reply videos, they use the same concept and actor (aka “Old Spice man”) from their TV ads

4) Their content was entertaining, relevant, fresh, and out-of-the-box, which made it viral. Most importantly, they got the attention of their target market (as well as celebrities, including “top influencers” on Twitter, like Ellen Degeneres, Ashton Kutcher, and Isaac “Biz” Stone (co-founder of Twitter), who helped them further spread the word by joining the conversations).

They did this through simply listening to their target market and responding to them using SM tools readily available.

Have a look at some of the content from this campaign:

Kevin Rose tweeted: “Day 6 of the fever/pneumonia, first day I’ve felt semi normal, fever @ 99F, now back to bed, enjoy your saturday all, make the most of it!”

Old Spice Man’s reply:

Additional content from this campaign:

1) Old Spice’s YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/OldSpice

2) Old Spice’s Twitter page: http://twitter.com/OldSpice

3) This link includes info on how the videos were made: http://bit.ly/9SboAd

Uncategorized

Twitter Poll

October 12, 2009 Esha Abrol Leave a comment

The chief distinguishing feature offered by social media over traditional forms of media is its idea-sharing capabilities. For example, communication with the masses can be imparted via a 140-character précis on a recently popularized, micro-blogging tool, Twitter. More and more people are now leveraging this new tool. So, why do you use it?

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/eshacitp

Uncategorized

I’m back

September 26, 2009 Esha Abrol 1 Comment

I apologize for the absence. I will be undertaking a new initiative. That is, to blog more often!

-Esha

Uncategorized

New York City

December 6, 2008 Esha Abrol Leave a comment

Traffic + Crowds + Numerous yellow cabs = The Big Apple. OK, I suppose a less cynical person would notice there is a lot more to New York City than just the traffic.

My short trip to Manhattan included a visit to: the Financial District, Federal Reserve, United Nations, Wall Street, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, amongst other tourist destinations. I am a little embarrassed to admit, but yes, I also had the opportunity to pose with notable celebrity… wax figures at The Madame Tussauds Wax Musuem, located in Times Square. It was fun.

My fav was the United Nations Headquarters. Our group received a tour, wherein we had the chance to see artwork, which has been gifted from countries around the world. We also had the opportunity to view some of the ornate Chamber rooms, where discussions on global issues were underway. It was amazing to see how a truly international organization, with such great influence, operates.

All in all, the lights, the pace, and the aesthetics of the City inspired me. For those pursuing a career in photography or filmmaking, your portfolio is simply incomplete without a hint of NYC primarily due to the aesthetics of the location…

(Blurry) View from "The Top of the Rock"

Uncategorized

The Most Effective Speaker

July 24, 2008 Esha Abrol Leave a comment

I recently attended a conference wherein I observed six influential speakers share their views on a topic. The topic was rather new to me. It was interesting to see how each speaker shared their wisdom. Each speaker delivered information through distinctive communication styles. The cultural and speaking style differences were evident and distinct. Some speakers made more of an impact over others.

The most effective speaker:

The speaker that stood out had a good sense of humour, he was audible, he spoke with passion, which gave him a certain level of genuineness, he exuded confidence, it was clear that he had a very deep comprehension of the topic and that he was prepared to speak, he provided hand-outs, he interacted with observers, he told stories – he had the gift of the gab. Also, when others spoke, he took notes and showed interest. And he asked for feedback at the end.

The poor characteristics observed were: too self-absorbed wherein they did not interact with the audience, some were inaudible when they shared crucial information, and questions were answered with hesitation, poor posture.

I think strong communication skills come from practice and respecting feedback and constructively improving your presentations based on audiences’ comments and response. I think observing good speakers speak can also help. Taking the good points and emulating them will provide you with a basis for how you want to present yourself.

Esha

Entrepreneurial Culture, Uncategorized

New Initiative at the University of Ottawa

June 12, 2008 Esha Abrol Leave a comment

Universities across Canada and the United States have provided students the opportunity to boast their comprehension of business functions learned in the classroom through transferring their skills into management consulting for local businesses. These management-consulting clinics have been successful for years.

The value brought to the table with such initiatives are quite evident, in the sense that, small businesses are given a more affordable option and students are given the chance to put their minds towards challenging work.

For example, the TMC Consulting Clinic (www.consultingclinic.ca), in association with the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, is a new initiative, which will be run by undergraduate students (they work with a Head Mentor, Dr. Bruce Firestone). An Advisory Board made up of professors and volunteer professionals is also available to support the students and provide assistance as required. Not only does student consulting allow students to network and gain valuable work experience, local organizations that cannot afford to pay an arm and a leg for management consulting work now have an alternative wherein they receive quality work at a fraction of the cost.

Esha