Business Life

Spilled Coffee At The Office?

November 9, 2014 by alaahassan

One day, I walked into our cafeteria and noticed my assistant cleaning up the coffee mess all over the floor. My assistant is not only taking care of many small things for me but is also the head of accounting and HR.

Why is he cleaning up the mess himself? This is why…..

SEE IT? Own it. Do it!

This is the attitude I promote within the company.

If you see a problem, it’s now yours! Own it and fix it!

After you fix it, we look into what caused it and how can we make sure it does not happen again.

Not sure who caused the big mess but I emailed all my staff warning them that if they don’t clean up after themselves, coffee is no longer free and will be removed till the end of the year!

It’s not about the cost of coffee but the fact that we need to respect each other by keeping the work environment clean. Our janitor is not there to clean up after our laziness but to help us maintain cleanliness in the work place.

Let your staff learn to clean up after themselves just like at home. If not, it will simply cost the company extra dollars for nothing.

How Arianna Huffington’s Keynote Changed My Leadership Style at Inbound 2013

October 31, 2014 by alaahassan

Arianna Huffington Inbound 2013

In 2013, I attended Hubspot’s Inbound Conference where I heard Seth Godin’s keynote that truly changed the way I do business.

Arianna Huffington, president of HuffingtonPost.com, had also a scheduled keynote about Leadership. All I have to say is WOW!

3 Things I Learned From Her

The importance of sleeping
The importance of disconnecting electronically
How to lead & be more productive

Instead of me summarizing the whole session, here it is via Youtube. Enjoy!

How Seth Godin's Keynote Changed My Business Thinking at Inbound 2013

October 29, 2014 by alaahassan

Seth Godin Inbound 2013

In 2013, I decided to attend Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing conference in Boston for the first time.

It was a life changing event for me. Since 2005, I’ve attended and spoken at many eCommerce conferences every single year. I heard amazing speakers and learned lots of valuable content. I was lucky enough to hear Al Gore, Fareed Zakaria, Reed Hastings, Meg Whitman and many other powerful speakers share their insights about business & eCommerce.

My All-Time Favorite Keynote

I truly admire Seth Godin and seeing him speak for the first time at Inbound 2013 was a dream come true. I was expecting him to deliver the best keynote as usual but honestly, I wasn’t expecting him to change my business thinking (which he did). It was my AHA! moment. It woke me up!

Glad to see that Hubspot recorded the event. They keynote is around 1 hour.

Make some tea, sit back and watch it. Trust me, it will be worth it!

How Ugg Australia Can Increase Online Sales in Montreal

October 25, 2014 by alaahassan

Ugg Australia Marketing Mistake

I was on my way back from speaking in Atlanta at IceRetailer, an eCommerce conference hosted by my good friend John Lawson, when I noticed this new marketing campaign.

Ugg Australia, a company that sells men’s and women’s boots, displayed its products in some very cool transparent plastic cubes. They caught my attention as soon as I arrived at the baggage claims area in Montreal’s airport.

3 Positive Things I Noticed About the Boots

Good quality (they didn’t look cheap)
Perfect for our cold winter in Montreal
Many styles to choose from for both men and women

One thing you’ll notice in the baggage claim area is how many people are using their phones while waiting for the carousel to start moving. I was one of them.

I did see a pair of boots that my wife would like to have but Ugg Australia forgot to make it easy for me to order them.

3 Things Ugg Australia Can Improve in This Campaign

Add a product name or model #
Display your website URL & how easy it is to ship to Montreal (is it free?)
Which store carries them or Do you ship to store?

Those small tactics aren’t really hard to implement but can truly improve the campaign.

You’ll notice that even big companies such as Ugg Australia can make marketing mistakes. Learn from them and make sure you avoid them within your own business.

3 Reasons Why Following An Expert Can Demotivate You

October 14, 2014 by alaahassan

When I decided to launch my agency, the academy and even my new blog passionTribe, I searched online for the experts within each industry (conversion rate optimization, eCommerce, blogging).

I wanted to follow them and learn as much as possible from everything they’re doing, tried and accomplished. I was convinced by what people usually say, “Follow the footsteps of those who have already done so and you will be successful”. I wanted to get inspired & motivated to accomplish my own personal goals.

Recently, I’ve noticed I’ve been getting somewhat demotivated by following all those experts (I also call them my virtual mentors).

For example:

Gary Vaynerchuck recently launched numerous #AskGaryVee Youtube videos and a podcast within a couple of weeks. He was able to get immediate results, has all the right resources to create professional looking videos and seems somewhat always ahead of everyone else in terms of how he goes about marketing himself.

I’m happy that I launched my podcast before his but I got kind of demotivated when I see how fast he’s able to get results for himself while it might take me a very long time to even get noticed.

I have many similar other experiences following other experts like Michael Hyatt or Pat Flynn but I think you get the point.

Here’ are 3 reasons why I get demotivated from following them all of them:

1. They’re Always Ahead of You

Those experts are established already. They have people helping them. They’re always looking for new opportunities and ready to try new things to drive more revenue or engagement. By the time you decide to do something they did, they already launched something else. It seems you can never catch up to them but I guess you simply need more time.

2. They Have More Resources Available to Them

I wish I had more of me. Someone to write, podcast, create videos, acquire clients and more. When your team is small, you need to push even harder. Those experts not only have the money but also access to all sorts of resources such as virtual assistants, full time employees, professional equipment and software. I mean they didn’t start at that level but you know what I mean. I demotivates you sometimes having to look for help.

3. They Get Instant Results Whenever They Launch Something New

Most of those experts have established a big network or community of followers. They truly leverage that asset whenever they launch something new. Gary did just that when he decided to launch his videos & podcast. It allowed him to boost his results and overall performance by announcing to everyone his latest initiative. For some of us, that isn’t possible since our network is very small but growing.

Don’t get me wrong, I love following those experts or sometimes I refer to them as my mentors. I learned a lot and was able to launch many things after executing what I learned from them. They saved me time & money that’s for sure.

I think the problem is that I follow them way too much and that’s why I get sometimes demotivated.

Tell me, who do you follow and why do you them?

5 Best Project Management Tools for Online Business

October 10, 2014 by alaahassan

While it’s necessary to have someone in charge of planning what things need to be done, setting goals, and delegating tasks, it is also important to have software that makes this easier and all in one place. Having an organized, user-friendly tool can free up more time to focus on marketing and design for you brand. Below are five tools that will help make your projects easier to manage and keep them organized.

1. Basecamp (my favorite)

Basecamp is a great place for communicating tasks to be accomplished, by using the to-do feature, as well as for uploading files and messaging. Through this online management tool, items can get checked off of the list once tasks are completed, and all final drafts of work can be compiled into one organized area. Whether you have one or twenty employees, everyone can come together and see what personnel are assigned to which tasks and when they are completed.

Visit website: http://www.Basecamp.com

2. StrikeBase

Keeping deadlines and tracking time is made easier through StrikeBase, which provides users with a virtual project board and cloud collaboration. This tool also allows you to chat among team members from a desktop or mobile device. Staying connected with your business’s team and managing tasks is just as important as staying connect with social media and your followers.

Visit website: http://www.Strikebase.com

3. Trello

The ultimate organization tool is offered by Trello, in a glance you are able to see what projects are in progress and who is working on them. Using this task as more than just an online management tool is what Trello hopes for its users. The system is designed for it to be used as a community bulletin as well. While it may not be practical to give public access to your plans and documents, taking photos or captions of the work in progress helps keep your followers and customers in the loop. It shows that you are keeping up with what people want and makes things more personal.

Visit website: http://www.Trello.com

4. Zoho

Zoho can help your business from idea inception to project completion. It has Dropbox features, forums for chatting about project progress and other business management tasks, and can be used on mobile devices. Another feature is its compatibility with Google Apps, whether it’s documents or Gmail messages, all of it can be downloaded for your brand’s use.

Visit website: http://www.Zoho.com

5. Wrike

This management tool also allows for syncing work in progress from various locations such as Apple Mail, IBM Connections, Google App, Gmail, and many others. Offering real-time updates and project management, Wrike also provides online document collaboration. This means that files are compiled all in one place based on the content and can be edited online without have to re-download files…which will definitely come in handy when sorting out the newest products, documents, and data management.

Visit website: http://www.Wrike.com