Across The Desk With Elizabeth Plouffe

I'm a firm believer in supporting local community groups as is my friend Monica Graves of Glamjulz. Why? Because we know that giving back is the BEST way to help a community grow and prosper. This chat Across the Desk we talk about the teachers' gift initiative Monica is doing to support Halton Food for Thought. Looking for a great way to say thanks to your kids teacher AND give back to the community? Win, win!

Have you ever had the chance to learn something new but thought it might make you look stupid to admit you didn't already know? Or had a REALLY freaking great idea that you let go to mold because you were too afraid to share it? It all comes down to your willingness and ability to be vulnerable.

If you've decided to shut down your business, that can suck disco balls. And if you owned a disco, well, you've got lots of shiny things to remind you about your anti-success. Me? I've got @ symbols / statues / socks / marketing material - the list goes on. Looking at it used to annoy me. Now? Now I realize the gift of being an entrepreneur is that I've learned lessons to help me be more successful next time ;) Thanks for joining me!

Are you working in an organization where the boss just isn't quite the boss you'd like them to be? In fact, are they an asshat? Rude term for sure. But we've all had an asshat in our life that made working miserable. This week I'm part of Spark the Change where we try to turn asshats in to leaders that we want to work for, and dare I say, follow.

Do you write a ton of great ideas down and then losing money by not acting on them? Me too! So let's chat about how your brain creates great ideas and how your lack of process to use it, just sucks and makes you less banana bread.

Are you one of those entrepreneurs who writes things down like I do? Does the creative demon take hold of your hand and force you to record all those crazy, amazing ideas? And then you just leave that shit there. On the page or in the audio file. All that creativity going to rot like a stinky banana at the bottom of your lunch bag. Yuck. So let's chat about that. How do you keep your banana from going stinky and using those ideas to make you money?

If you are in a competitive market, you need to take chances on marketing yourself. For example - if there are five other coffee shops within swinging a cat you need to step it up. And if one of those shops happens to rhyme with Cartucks? You REALLY need to step it up. Product alone isn't going to get people in the door my friend. So - take a chance. Start with small weird things and build up to bigger weird things but for goodness sake try some weird things. Or the state of your business my friend are going to rhyme with ducked ...

Are you tired of the BS? In this case BS stands for back stabbing or behind the scenes sabotage. I love working with other people, sharing ideas and building up success. For EVERYBODY! I play in the sandbox with the firm belief that if you like my shovel better you'll play with me but if that guys bucket is more to your liking, well, he'll be your buddy today. Same thing in business. So if you need help growing your business or solving a business problem, who do you share your angst with???

Do you work from home? Does that suck sometimes? I agree. I feel like I've just graduated college and am back to living in my parents basement except it's my damn basement, which I guess is a step up. And since I have a strong dislike for conducting business in coffee shops, I thought my options were limited until a friend gave me a GREAT suggestion to solve my basement dwelling predicament.

Guest Teresa Baerg is a recent success story out of the Corporate Communications program at Sheridan College. We met in 2012 and connected over the life of the mature student and how to handle term papers while getting dinner ready. Fast forward 3 years and now Teresa is using her education and passion for being involved in the local Burlington community, to carve out a career as a freelance journalist, editor for two local community platforms and promoter of local businesses. How's that for kicking ass and taking names?

You chose to be an entrepreneur. You chose this life. Did you know it was going to suck sometimes? I thought I did until this past week. Then the level of craptastic hit full steam and I realized I had no freaking clue about how much of the sucking would happen. Are there highs? Absofreakinglutely. It's coming out the other side that matters.

Meet Karen Bradbury, a 15 year volunteer with the Christopher Leadership Course. A self-confessed once upon a time wallflower, Karen was encouraged to participate in the program offered by CLC to improve her public speaking skills. She was so impressed by the experience with CLC that she became an instructor and hasn't looked back since. Having worked with over 200 students, she's seen first hand how taking the time to invest in yourself can lead to opportunities you never imagined possible!

I sat down with Rob Duvall last week and learned a surprising fact about this well-spoken, friendly, outgoing guy: In highschool and college, Rob was a self-professed geek. Now I could continue to say was, but quite frankly something tells me that a bit of that geek from college who built an award winning fuel efficient car, still holds a place of honor in Rob's heart. Why? Because the enthusiasm he showed for tech in the 80's still shines through today.

Entrepreneurs are famous for falling in love. With stars in their eyes and wishes on their lips, they know that their idea is the best thing EVER and how could anyone argue? After all, it's their idea and they LOVE it! Now this is said with all due respect as a fellow entrepreneur because I love my ideas too. But if you can't see past the stars to the nitty gritty of getting the job done and executing the plan, well maybe you need to call Doug Osborne.

Do you think that training your sales team isn't worth the time and effort? Well considering most companies end up investing $250,000 to train someone anyway, why not do it right? Otherwise what you might end up saving on will be things like rent and PR material for the business that you have to shut down. Take a listen to Marguerite Zimmerman and learn the value of training your sales team right! The first time.

My guest and I go back to 1979. Yep, waaaaayyy back to the rockin' 70's which seems kind of appropriate given what Wayne Deadder does now. As a successful session and band musician, Wayne has been delighting audiences with his guitar skills for over 30 years and is a two-time Juno nominee. On top of his guitar skills, Wayne is also a very successful airbrush artist. You'd think his path in life would be pretty clear right?

Come and sit across the desk and learn what it takes to be a family business mediator. Thought you could work with your brother, sister, father and aunt without some kind of planning? Think again. Laurel describes the benefits of developing leadership, communication and governance processes for the success of your family business. Is that all we chat about? Nope. Listen and learn about the chickpreneur journey and what it sometimes takes to pick up that basket and keep moving forward!

Meet Tree Ryde. She's who I've nicknamed the Ambasadoress of Awesomeness for Health Local. Why the title? Because Tree is the voice of reason that you reach when you call Health Local to learn more about how being a part of Canada's largest health directory can help you business. Plus she is what her title says: completely awesome. Friendly, professional, knowledgeable and willing to go the extra mile to help health pro's across Canada. Who wouldn't want someone like that on their team?

Join me and my guest Kelly Bentley as we discuss her plan to get you healthy and keep you healthy. That's her business after all. We discuss the evils of caffeine and how you can goof up health information EVEN when you supposedly know what you're talking about. Me, not Kelly.

Do you think you are the only one that struggles with business stress, dealing with women who judge your clothes and the pressures of making your dream come true? Think again. Join me for a candid discussion about the trials and tribulations of leaving the corporate life behind, embracing a business wardrobe built from Value Village and picking yourself up in the face of tragedy to make your business stronger than ever. Once upon a time a little girl went out on recess. During recess she saw a business opportunity that would change the way she looked at school forever. She saw pebbles. And from those pebbles and idea was born. If she could sell those pebbles, she'd have the money to help her family and go on trips. Pretty smart thinking for a 5 year old. Her name was Monica Graves and that pebble idea? Well that's become Monica's successful company Glamjulz.