The First Post

My first post...ever. There's few questions going through my mind at the moment; what am I going to write about, who's going to read this, how do I punctuate this sentence properly? My wife has set me a challenge by suggesting that I will not stick to this task. She bases this on my past experiences of sticking to exercise (which I can't stand, unless it's playing football, sorry, soccer) but I enjoy writing and really only do it at work in the form of emails and erm, that's it really. I used to have to write tender and bid documents but now have staff to do that for me. They're not "my staff" but a shared resource in Toronto but they mean I don't have to write the documents. I used to write letters to customers but we don't do that anymore. And I used to write reports for my customers when I managed service contracts but I work in sales now and don't have to do that anymore either. So we will see. Time will tell.

I've started this Blog after reading , and being inspired by, a book called "What Would Google Do?" by Jeff Jarvis in which he suggests that all businesses, except PR firms and lawyers, should become more open with their businesses and use the internet to connect with more people (customers). PR Firms cannot become more open, he argues, because of the nature of their business and their clients but they are the few anomalies. Apple, the computer company, not the record company, was the other exception. Jeff's "first law" is "give the people control and we will use it. Don't, and you will lose us" and the latter half of the book describes how Google would operate other businesses such as real estate, the media, banks, manufacturing, service and utilities. Jeff is an expert on the media, lectures at universities and takes part in public discussions about the media. His blog is www.buzzmachine.com

I would recommend Jeff's book to anyone and have done so to the other members of the sales team at my work. I've asked for their recommendations for business-related books in return and received 2...out of 9...and one of those I had read twice about 10 years ago. I have a list of other books that I have seen recommended in books, on the internet and at training courses so I have enough to keep me going for now. The other recommendation from the sales team was the new Jeff Rubin book on the economics of the oil prices, "Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller". I've seen some of his speeches and TV interviews on the internet and read some compelling reviews so I think that will be the next one, once I've finished Napoleon Hill's book, "Think and Grow Rich". It was originally published in 1937 and is one of those books unearthing the "secrets of success". Hill was a contemporary of Dale Carnegie who wrote "How to Make Friends and Influence People", a book I read when I first arrived in Canada, not so that I knew how to make friends ( I was doing OK on my own thank you) but because it had been recommended in so many other books and by so many people I'd worked with in the past. Napoleon's book sounds like one of those self help books that claims to teach the secret to success through seeing your success to "obtain whatever you want in life". I bet it will be about identifying your goals, making a plan to get there and then working really hard. I will let you know when I've finished the book. It was recommended by another author that I have started reading, Jeffery Gitomer.

Jeffery was recommended by a fellow sales rep on a course in Phoenix in 2008. He's (Jeffery, not the other sales rep) is one of those motivational speakers for sales professionals who writes motivational books and has a weekly motivational blog and video on his website www.gitomer.com I bought one of his books at the airport on the journey home and read it in a couple of days which is good for me because I have the attention span of a goldfish. It was a short sales book and had great ideas and arguments about selling techniques. It was called "The Little Red Book of Selling". He also wrote "The Little Black Book of Connections" which described the importance and benefits of connecting with people to grow your network and increase your chances of success. He has other books that are small in size and coloured in some way and you can buy them on his website or in any good bookshop. You may even find them in your local library.

So, my first Blog post appears to have turned quickly into a recommendations post. Will this continue, I wonder? I'd like to think so. There's lots of other books, music, restaurants and experiences that I've enjoyed so why shouldn't I plug them publicly? So, the next question is how often I should post. Daily or Weekly? Jeffery Gitomer says that we should write daily to improve this skill so perhaps that should be my goal. I hope it becomes a quicker process in the future though; this post has taken an hour already.

Back to the recommendations. I'm also reading two aother books: "The World Accordng to Bertie" by Alexander McCall Smith and "The Book of General Ignorance" by John Lloyd & John Mitchinson. The first is the latest in the 44 Scotland Street series of books, set in the new town of Edinburgh and featuring at least one pub that I have been to, The Cumberland Bar (www.cumberlandbar.co.uk). This was a new pub when I was at university but was made to look old and was the first and only pub that I have been in that had no TV, fruit machines, jukebox or any other attractions. It just had atmosphere and great beer (and other tipples). So the 44 Scotland Street books feature this pub and a collection of characters who reside in or around Scotland Street. The books remind me of a certain part of Edinburgh that I call home. The other book is based on a TV show that we had in the UK where Stephen Fry asked two panels of "celebrities" obvious questions like "how many wives did Henry VIII have" and pour scorn over and deduct point from the idiot that shouts out 8. Aparently it was only 2, or 4 if you are catholic. One marriage was anulled, for example, and if you want to know the reason for the rest you'll have to buy the book or use the worldwide interweb.

I have apparently turned into something of a book lover in my old age. I don't know if it's the location (BC is certainly much more relaxing than the UK) or the aforementioned old age but I am reading much more than I did when I was younger. Perhaps it was because books were forced on me by teachers when I was younger as as I grew up I "didn't have the time" with career, parties etc. Don't know. But I am reading a lot now.

Alright, here endith the first blog. If I keep writing my wife, daughter (my son is at a summer camp) and I will achieve nothing today. Will anyone read it? Will I ever write another one? Well, there's one way to ensure both...tell lots of people about it then lots of people will read it and, as a result, I'll have to write more.

Peter