Today, TELUS team members went back to the classroom, volunteering their time at Toronto schools across the Greater Toronto Area and helping about 4,500 grade 7 and 8 students during Financial Literacy Month.

TELUS joined one of its community partners, Junior Achievement, in presenting two of Junior Achievement’s (JA) interactive financial programs, covering money management skills as well as economics for success and encouraging students to make the direct link between furthering their education and long-term career success.

"Most schools want to reach out to their community partners to help bring more into the classroom experience and curriculum, and Junior Achievement does that," said Luigi Pennacchio, principal of Canadian Martyrs Catholic School where some of the TELUS volunteers participated. "It’s a great experience for students to have all of these experts come into the school and bring their real world experiences. It helps them pay more attention to these subjects and retain the knowledge."

Chris Collins, a grade 8 teacher at Canadian Martyrs, has welcomed Junior Achievement into the classroom for over 12 years. "It's very beneficial for students," he said. "We've just completed their guidance work on where they see themselves in the future and the program helps tie in what success means to them and take inventory of their goals."

“I really wish I had this opportunity to learn about the value of a dollar at a young age,” said Stavros Davidovic, a TELUS volunteer in Chris Collins’ class. "I’m really enjoying watching the group work together. They have similar ideas but each student has a creative way of getting to their end goal. It’s great to see them realize that their dreams are achievable. I’m glad I had the opportunity to volunteer today.”

Photo: TELUS’ Cliff Hatch (left) and Stavros Davidovic (right) teach Junior Achievements' program to Grade 8 students

TELUS used today’s event to present a cheque in person to Junior Achievement of Canada in the amount of $250,000, the highest donation JA has seen from one business partner.

TELUS first teamed up with JA in May to support future entrepreneurs, donating $50 to the organization for each smartphone activation by a Toronto-based business, up to a quarter of a million dollars.

Photo: Jim Senko (left), vice-president of small and medium business marketing at TELUS presents a cheque for $250,000 to Jane Eisbrenner, president and CEO, Junior Achievement of Central Ontario and Stephen Ashworth, senior vice-president, operations and education, JA Canada, with Grade 8 students at Canadian Martyrs Separate School looking on.

“We’re excited about our continued relationship with Junior Achievement which, through this initiative, will help kids stay in school, encourage new business development and help provide them with the skills needed to participate and succeed in today’s global economy,” said TELUS’ Jim Senko.  The gift will reach more than 63,000 students and help build the next generation of entrepreneurial spirit and leadership in Toronto through Junior Achievement – an organization renowned for developing future entrepreneurs.

To date, TELUS team members and retirees have contributed $245 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.1 million hours of service to local communities since 2000.

When asked about the one thing he hoped to convey to students today, Stavros said “That there isn't one way to get to their end goal. Detours can happen along the way to where you want to be, but if you’re committed, you will get there.”

The great day of learning and community involvement was felt across the GTA.  Here are a number of twitter comments from some of our volunteers:

Over the last ten years I have talked to hundred of CEO's of small and medium sized businesses about what works and what doesn't in building a repeatable lead stream for their business and a marketing engine that delivers measurable business results. I started to keep track of what CEO's were telling me and devised a list of the attributes of marketing programs that succeed. My last post was about what makes a great website. Today we tackle the topic of tactics you should be using to drive customers to your business.

One of the great things about Google, is that it leveled the playing field for small companies that were trying to compete against Goliath. Now that the Internet and a website have become the marketing tool of choice, small companies can look big online and do things just as quickly and effectively as their larger conterparts. It just requires sound strategy not deep pockets to effectively compete.

Do you know what your competition is doing to get customers?

This week, Forrester Research issued a great report that could provide you with some clues and answers about where you should place your emphasis in the coming years with respect to marketing spend and tactics. While the data is US-based, it provides a good bench mark for what your competition is likely doing and provides a guide to the popularity of new marketing tactics and the changing nature of marketing activities.

Here is the most important thing you should be paying attention to: the time your customer is spending on the Internet has eclipsed the time they spend watching television. As a result:

1. Traditional marketing tactics such as advertising, radio and TV are waning in popularity and results.
2. The search bar continues to be the tool of choice for consumers when researching or choosing a product or service.

Here are some suggestions to ensure you are not getting out-marketed in the coming year:

1. Plan your budget based on what your customers are doing, not on past spend. Look where customers are hanging out online and how they need to get and stay engaged with your business. Don't just look at budgets past. Every year you should assess what is creating enagement and decide if you are spending too much or too little to acquire a customer that becomes truly engaged with you over the long term.  Online tactics can help you achieve this in a more powerful way than traditional media ever has. Spend your time and money on what matters to your customer. (Emphasized in point 3).
2. Use your data. Too many business owners ignore the obvious information right under their noses that they could be using to plan their next marketing activity. Trends on a website or webpage with respect to visitors, time on page and overall interaction is a good indication about whether people care. If they don't care because they spend no time on the content or it's too complicated to figure out, you can bet they won't do anything with your business as a result. No one is running out to buy something after receiving a poorly written e-mail or spending more than five minutes on a website trying to figure out what you do. The data that lies hidden inside your website or e-mail analytics are good indications of whether your programs are working and what your next campaign should be.
3. It's not about promotions or daily deals. Yes, Groupon is popular but in the coming months it will be proven that only a small percentage of the marketplace cares about 20% off or free gift with purchase. Today's precious commodity is time. People care less about saving a dollar and more about saving an hour. If your marketing is educational, intuitive and easy to understand, you save your customers precious time in understanding how something works or their choices. Value-added content or simple-to-use is what people want most today.  People want it to be easy. Help them save time in a real way and customers will follow.
4. E-mail is still king. I am amazed at the number of businesses that still don't have a decent e-mail marketing platform or program for their business. E-mail is what connects the universe online and one of the best investments your company can make is to invest in a program that allows people to engage with your business ongoing. New e-mail compliance laws coming into Canada in April 2012, will make it harder for spammers to annoy us but also give responsibility to companies to ensure their e-mail lists allow people to opt-in. Business owners should be working right now on creating, true, opt-in lists of people they can interact with online (not spam) regularly.

It might be easy to think that with the popularity of online marketing finally taking hold in the small business community, that your competition must be on top of it. You'd be surprised at the number of businesses I encounter that have ignored the simplest of activities that could be producing huge competitive advantage for their business: communicating simply and often online so that people want to hear from you. Layer on the ease of use and cost-effectiveness of today's online tools and you'll be out-marketing your competition in no time.

Marie Wiese is founder of Marketing CoPilot, and the author of the eBook, Why Marketing Fails... and what you can do about it!" Marketing CoPilot provides outsourced marketing services to business owners that want to create a two-way dialogue with past, current and future customers. Marie is a 20 year veteran of the B-2-B marketing world, past chair of the York Technology Alliance in Toronto and a workshop leader at the Regional Innovation Centres (RIC's) in Ontario where she teaches early stage companies how to build online lead generation engines that deliver measurable business results.

With so many mobile devices on the market that support various operating systems, it’s often tough to know which will be the best tool to support you and your team.  In series of four posts, we are speaking with Canadian business leaders about how and why they chose not just their device, but the operating system.

As the Executive Vice President for software company Solutions360, John Graham’s path to the iPhone started when he purchased his iPad.

“What struck me was the simplicity of using it, and just how many new ways I was able to expand its use,” says Graham. “It just worked in every new direction that I took it.”

Shortly thereafter he decided to make the switch from his long time commitment to a top competitor to the iPhone 4, and since then, he says he’s never looked back.

“For me, communications with the office, with clients, and my kids for that matter, is critical,” says Graham, who uses his mobile device at work for e-mail and texting colleagues and customers. “What I love about the iPhone and its underlying operating system is primarily that it just works, all the time, and it does so in an intuitive way.”

In addition to a vibrant high-resolution screen, iTunes integration and FaceTime video calling, the iPhone’s iOS4 operating system empowers multitasking, and the ability to create a personal Wi-Fi hotspot to share your data with multiple devices.

Research shows that iPhone 4 is the most popular smartphone in Canada, but Graham doesn’t just love it because it’s so widely used. He says the key aspect of the iPhone operating system that he depends on it for, is its flexibility.

And he’s right: With tens of thousands of applications accessible from the dynamic App Store, and an app for almost anything.

“If I need to accomplish something or find some information, there’s for sure an app for that. It’s a very empowering tool,” he explains.

“I can remote desktop into my office computer, I can keep tabs on colleagues, Tweet, and keep up on my Microsoft Exchange e-mail,” he adds. “Most importantly, I can keep in touch with my family and entertain each of my four kids with a plethora of bird flinging, target practice or parking games.”

Graham is specifically a fan of the iPhone’s mail system, which blends all of his e-mail accounts into one easy-to-read inbox. The iPhone 4 supports multiple Microsoft Exchange and ActiveSync accounts, meaning your business email, calendar, and contacts are always up to date.

“I’m no longer tied to my desk. I can be in the board room or in the kitchen and know what’s happening with my mail,” he says, adding that he also uses many other functions like speech to text functions to help him stay productive when traveling.  “Bottom line I am connected and just as informed as I am when I’m sitting in front of my main desktop.”

TELUS offers a range of devices equipped with all the top operating  systems, recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for every  business.

My name is Evan Carmichael and I believe that the fastest and most effective way to build a business is to model the strategies of people who have already done what you’re trying to do. I call it Modeling the Masters. My last post with almost 70 comments was 3 Success Tips from George Lucas.

Today we're going to look at how a man who had all the odds stacked against him rose up to the challenge, proved his critics wrong, and became one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the world. This is the story of CNN founder Ted Turner and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from his success.

Must Watch Video

"Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise." - Ted Turner

Ted Turner (born November 19, 1938) is an American media mogul and philanthropist. He is the founder of the cable news network, CNN, and is known for his $1 billion gift to support United Nations causes. Growing up, Turner was a 'C' student and was rebellious, eventually getting expelled from Brown University for having a woman in his room with him. In the following years his parents divorced, he got married and divorced, his 12 year old sister developed terminal lupus and his father went so far into debt with his advertising company that he committed suicide. Turner was 24 years old and his father's company was almost bankrupt but he decided he would take over the family business.

Nobody believed the young rebel would ever make anything of himself. Turner set out to prove them wrong. He built up his father's advertising business and then expanded into radio and television ventures. He went on to create the CNN television network and Turner Broadcasting Systems (TBS). He would also go on to buy the Atlanta Braves baseball team and Atlanta Hawks basketball team to provide original content for his stations.

Turner came a long way from a 24 year old who nobody believed in. In 1991, Turner became the first media figure to be named Time magazine's Man of the Year. He owns over 2 million acres of land, has the largest private bison herd of 50,000, and donated $1 Billion to United Nations causes. His current net worth is over $2 Billion and he currently dedicates his time and resources to making the world a better, safer place for future generations.

Action Item #1: Decide You'll Be A Success

A turning point for many entrepreneurs comes when they commit to their business and decide that they are going to see things through until they become a success. It doesn't mean that it's going to happen overnight but it's a commitment to reaching success and putting the daily effort into making that goal become a reality.

Stunned by his father's suicide, Turner realized that he had to set ambitious goals for himself so he always had something to live for. He committed to changing his path and getting serious about his life. Despite advice to sell off Turner Advertising after his father’s death, Turner fought to keep the company and worked to bring in enough business to pay off all its debts. As he grew his business he kept striving for higher goals to keep himself challenged and gave his best effort every day.

According to Turner: "If you’ve got an innovative idea, and the majority does not pooh-pooh it, then the odds are you must not have a very good idea. When people thought I was loony, it did not bother me at all. In fact, I considered that I must really be onto something... You should set goals beyond your reach so you always have something to live for... I decided I wanted to be a success."

Action Item #2: Never Quit

When you're an entrepreneur there's always a temptation to quit when the excitement of starting up wears off and you're into the daily grind of running your business. Don't quit! Remember, you decided that you're going to be successful and that comes from doing something every day that will move your business forward. Remember why you started the business and think about all the people you're going to be able to help. Find that motivation to keep going even when people around you think you're nuts.

Almost every venture that Turner started or every business that he acquired, critics told him that it would never work and he was spending his money foolishly. When Turner told people that he wanted to create a 24 hour news only network, they thought he was crazy. Nobody would tune in to watch news all day long - it was a suicide mission, they said. Undeterred, Turner fought tooth and nail until he finally launched CNN which revolutionized the media industry and became a rapid success.

According to Turner: "All my life people have said that I wasn’t going to make it. They laughed at me when I started with CBS. They laughed at me when I started CNN. They laughed at me when I bought the Braves. They laughed at me when I bought the Hawks. They laughed at me when I bought MGM... You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win."

Action Item #3: Work Hard

There are many paths to success but one common theme you'll find if you model successful entrepreneurs is that they worked very hard to get their businesses going. Being an entrepreneur is not a 9 to 5 job. You're going to work harder than you've ever worked before and will hopefully love (almost) every minute of it because you're doing something that you're extremely passionate about.  Success does not come without the hard work behind it.

When Turner was launching CNN he frequently worked 18 hour days. He converted his office into an apartment and slept over most nights at CNN headquarters. CNN staff regularly saw him leave his office to grab a cup of coffee in his bathrobe. Turner felt that the best way to lead is by example and he inspired his staff to work almost as hard as him to achieve their common goal. A former employee one said of Turner: "He was much more than a cheerleader. He was the kind of guy you’d want to run through a wall for."

According to Turner: "Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise... CNN came out of my heart and soul... I see what keeps people young: Work!"

True Story

Turner has a longstanding bitterness with News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch. It began in 1983 when a Murdoch-sponsored yacht crashed into Turner's boat during a race causing it to sink only 10 kilometres from the finish line. Turner was an avid sailor and won the America Cup, sailing's most prestigious award, so he took the crash personally. He challenged Murdoch to a televised fistfight in Los Vegas - Murdoch declined.

More Quotes

"Do something. Either lead, follow or get out of the way."

"Watch me. I’m like a bulldog that won’t let go."

"You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win."

What Do You Think?

Have you committed to being a success? How hard to you work in your business? What part of Ted Turner's message impacted you the most? As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts if you leave a comment below!

Evan Carmichael

To learn more check out my list of Ted Turner articles or my website, EvanCarmichael.com.

Wikipedia defines a mobile operating system as, “the operating system that controls a mobile device” —and is “similar to the operating systems that control your desktop computer or laptop, such as Windows, Mac or Linux”.  Each operating system brings differentiation to the mobile device through preloaded native applications (apps) and app store/world/market that brings a variety of additional business applications to life.

With so many mobile devices on the market that support various operating systems, it’s often tough to know which will be the best tool to support you and your team.  In the second part of our series, here we will speak with Canadian business leaders about how and why they chose not just the device that they did, but the operating system.

We all know the ability to work on the go is important. From individuals to small businesses to enterprise, everyone uses their smartphones as a way to keep productive and competitive.

According to comScore, 6.6 million people in Canada owned smartphones as of March 2011, representing one-third (32.8%) of the mobile-device market – a rate that was marginally higher than the U.S.

As part of our ongoing series exploring devices featuring the top operating systems (OS), we talk to James Won about why he’s most comfortable with his Windows Phone.

At Servant 4 Stewards, a financial planning and consulting firm with offices in Toronto and London, Ont.,  Won relies on his Windows Phone 7, calling the decision to go with that OS a “no-brainer.”

“The Windows operating system is the most logical extension for a Microsoft Office user,” says Won. “Aside from the obvious email, text and phone operations, the paramount functionality for us is the native integration with MS Office and synchronization with Windows Live.”

Won says he loves that he can accept, view and edit email attachments on the bright screen of his Windows Phone. And he uses the device’s camera to capture any other documents he was previously scanning in the name of portability, lightening his load – literally. “Now I leave both my laptop and mobile scanner at the office. The instant access to all my files at my fingertips is amazing.”

For Windows 7 Phone users, the interface is fast and easy to understand, allowing you to glance to your customizable start screen for updates without losing focus. The device is also often pointed to as being one that strikes the right balance between work and play, since it keeps all of your contact from Facebook, Windows Live and Outlook in one place. And integration with Bing also means smarter searching that delivers the answers you need fast.
Won says the biggest boost he gets with his Windows Phone is as simple as a little peace of mind.

“Since it synchronizes with the cloud, I never worry about backing up or losing information,” he explains, adding that he even takes an extra step to ensure his documents appear anywhere he is.

“It may seem redundant, but I also use the MS Outlook plug-in with my Hotmail account to provide seamless synchronization for my email, calendar and contacts. The exact same info is then in all three places – phone, Hotmail and Outlook – in real-time.”

Won now wonders how he ever did business without his Windows Phone, which he’d recommend to any on-the-go business leader.

“It’s an absolute must for a mobile professional,” he says. “I can’t wait to see the next generation of Windows Phones.”

TELUS offers a range of devices equipped with all the top operating  systems, recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for every  business.

The 4th annual Canadian IT security practices study conducted by TELUS and the Rotman School of Management was released yesterday and there are a couple of very interesting topics that I want to touch on today.

Mobile Devices

As we are well aware, in the past two to three years, we have seen the introduction of tablets and personal mobile devices in the business environment, changing the dynamics and perceptions around IT security significantly. This year, we focused on evaluating the use of these newer devices in terms of perceived opportunities and threats and found that mobile technology and “bring your own device” options are viewed as both an opportunity and a threat by 80% of senior management.

Additional significant statistics to highlight:

• 40% of respondents highlight the loss of a mobile device with corporate data as their biggest concern.
  
• 22% of organizations report a lost mobile device as the second most common type of security incident.
  
• When comparing sectors in terms of loss, we found that laptop or mobile device losses and unauthorized access by employees are reported almost twice as frequently in government as in private companies.
  

Overall findings conclude that security professionals acknowledge the business opportunity presented by new mobile technologies, with one in three respondents considering them an opportunity with no associated material threats.

The best way to manage these potential security risks? Strong governance and technical enforcement will greatly assist in mobile risk management. There needs to be an increased focus on education and awareness across IT, development and employees to ensure that security risks and responsibilities are understood by all.

Social Networking

This year’s results indicate that one in four organizations does not have policies governing social networking, and of those that do, 91% communicate the policy to staff as a business decision. This discussion between management and employees demonstrates how the prevalence of social networking in our personal lives is spilling into the workplace.

One in three organizations in Canada have regular communications with staff on this matter, reflecting the importance on the proper use of social networking in a business context. The study found that when regular communication occurs, social networking policies are well-received in 72% of cases. Most employees are willing to comply with a policy as long as they understand what the policy is and what risks it can pose to the organization.

Similar to 2010, findings indicate organizations that block employees from these sites for security reasons experienced a negative impact as users actually attempt to circumvent the block. Those who block for security reasons report an average 10.3 incidents compared to those who do not block, reporting 7.2 incidents. When a social site is only partially blocked via the corporate web browser, the user may feel encouraged to use an alternate method, such as a smartphone or tablet to access the site. In such cases, the policy is actually forcing users to use a technology that is not monitored or controlled by the enterprise security program.

The success of a policy is dependent on the reasoning behind the enforced rules AND how well the policy is communicated to employees. Proper education and awareness is necessary to ensure that employees understand what risks social networking can pose to the organization, and employers need to define the business reasons behind a policy clearly.

Some highlights from the new report are in the infographic below. Stay tuned for additional posts by other IT security experts in the coming days. In the meantime, visit www.telus.com/securitystudy to download a copy of the report.

Dr. Walid Hejazi is professor of international business at Rotman School of Management and a world-renowned expert on IT security. Dr. Hejazi has primed the TELUS-Rotman Joint Study on Canadian IT Security Practices on behalf of Rotman since its inception and has unique perspective and insight into IT security in Canadian business. Your comments and questions are welcome here.

Let's say this politely: stuff happens.

While natural or manmade disasters aren't too common, even a relatively minor disruption in your organization could grind your business to a halt if you don't have a contingency plan in place.

Fortunately, cloud solutions make it easier than ever before to have a disaster recovery (DR) plan to minimize your downtime should something happen.

"Small firms are very much aware of the need to back up regularly, but it's kind of like flossing -- everyone knows they should do it but very few do so regularly," says Raymond Boggs, VP of SMB Research at IDC.

"Cloud-based storage and disaster recovery solutions are particularly well suited to smaller firms which lack budget and extensive IT resources." adds Boggs. "Backing up a server -- onsite -- still leaves a firm vulnerable to all kinds of disasters that have been in the news, from floods to tornadoes." "Online storage providers offer higher levels of protection than that found in a typical small or even mid-sized firm."

Boggs says the challenge is for a small business owner or IT manager to surrender direct control of "precious" data, in order to make it more secure.

"Many understand in their minds the cloud offers both solid value and exceptional security, but in their heart of hearts, they are often reluctant to give up personal possession of essential information."

Employ a "party cloud(y)" solution

One of the first real value propositions of the cloud is disaster recovery, says John D'Esposito, founder and CTO of Techout.com, an Internet performance engineering company. "But the cloud offers a lot more than just data back-up."

"If you can seamlessly fall onto another [offsite] server, with data and applications, then you've successfully set up your DR framework," adds D'Esposito.

"I call this concept 'party cloudy' because there's a lot of value for SMBs who can't afford a more ambitious enterprise-grade disaster plan, but can still benefit from accessing data, serving up applications and seamless proximity routing from one hot data center to another."

D'Esposito says there are many companies providing secure services to empower small companies. "If you're not leveraging the cloud then you're not as nimble and effective as your competition – during a disaster or otherwise."

"Without any cloud solutions, small companies who try to raise money from VCs will no doubt have trouble," believes Esposito.

Is the cloud overrated?

"I'm not sure that adding the cloud to the mix really changes the fundamentals of disaster recovery planning," says Leslie Fiering, research vice president at Gartner. "At the end of the day, it is important to know that in the event of outages, or even large disasters, critical data is stored somewhere that is safe and readily accessible in time of need."

And what about a "cloud-based disaster"?

"We're seeing a growing number of instances where the cloud providers have outages and customer data is not available for some period of time," adds Fiering."That said, the cloud offers relatively inexpensive and simple back-up options -- many smaller businesses that might not otherwise have discipline for regular backups and offsite storage may find cloud solutions a real game changer."

However, in situations where outages of any kind are not acceptable, Fiering says cloud backup alone may not be sufficient.

Wikipedia defines a mobile operating system as, “the operating system that controls a mobile device” —and is “similar to the operating systems that control your desktop computer or laptop, such as Windows, Mac or Linux”.  Each operating system brings differentiation to the mobile device through preloaded native applications (apps) and app store/world/market that brings a variety of additional business applications to life.

With so many mobile devices on the market that support various operating systems, it’s often tough to know which will be the best tool to support you and your team.  In the first of a series of four posts, here we will speak with Canadian business leaders about how and why they chose not just the device that they did, but the operating system.

Tamara Wilson is the Director of Operations at Sportality, a leading sport marketing agency based in Toronto, Ontario. She chose the HTC Desire HD device, powered by Android 2.3.3 for herself and her team of 10 people.

“It was the best of the best at the time of purchase, and we wanted a device that was good for our day-to-day business usage,” says Wilson, adding that anytime, anywhere connectivity is incredibly important to her professional life. “Connected to e-mail 24/7 is of course a necessity these days, and the large screen and fast connection allows me to review websites and do research while I’m on the go.”

For Wilson, it was important to her to find a mobile device that centered on professional usage – the company didn’t want to arm the team with a phone that was geared towards fun and games.

Android, backed by Google and used by many of the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers, is the fastest growing mobile operating system for smartphones. Android devices are able to synchronize to corporate e-mail, the user can multi-task with ease, create a portable Wi-Fi hotspot to share data with multiple devices, and Android’s web browser supports Flash –all wonderful tools for the everyday professional.

Android also allows for unified use of Google Mobile Services, meaning tools like YouTube, Gmail, Google Talk, Google Maps and many more are all accessible from the same Google account.

For Wilson, customization is key: she likes that she and her team can tailor the phone to their needs.  “I would recommend it,” Wilson continues. “The large screen allows you to read everything in your e-mail without straining, and it has all the functionality you want in a smartphone – not to mention a great eight megapixel camera to capture quality photos on the go.”

On October 28, TELUS announced the release of the 4G Samsung Galaxy S II™ X, powered by Android 2.3.  For a full demo, see here.

My name is Evan Carmichael and I believe that the fastest and most effective way to build a business is to model the strategies of people who have already done what you’re trying to do. I call it Modeling the Masters. My last post with over 2,000 views was How to Go For It, Follow Your Passion, and Be Nice Like Pierre Omidyar (eBay founder).

Today we're going to look at how a young man who wanted to become a professional race car driver changed his career choice after connecting with the right mentor and rose to the top of his industry. This is the story of Star Wars creator George Lucas and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from his success.

Must Watch Video

"The secret is not to give up hope. It’s very hard not to because if you’re really doing something worthwhile I think you will be pushed to the brink of hopelessness before you come through the other side. You just have to hang in through that." - George Lucas

George Lucas (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm and is best known as the creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. Lucas' father owned a small office supply store that Lucas was destined to take over but he had other plans - he wanted to become a professional race car driver. Almost his entire childhood was dedicated to cars.

When he was in a near-fatal car accident just days before his high school graduation, Lucas gave up racing and went to college. He enrolled in the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television because he liked photography and thought "maybe that will be interesting." The program would change his life. He met Francis Ford Coppola at the film school who served as his mentor and inspired him to become a producer-director. Upon graduation he committed himself to doing films as his profession.

Today Lucas is one of the film industry's most financially successful directors/producers. His estimated 2011 net worth is $3.2 billion and he's received numerous honours such as being named among the 100 Greatest Americans by the Discovery Channel and receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Film institute.

Action Item #1: Love what you do

If you want to find success as an entrepreneur you need to be in business because you truly love what you're doing. You're not doing it just to make money. You're not doing it because others expect you to do it. You do it because you want to do it and you can't wait to wake up tomorrow morning and do it again.  You may not be excited about the results you're seeing with your business so far but you have to be excited about the actual work you are doing if you hope to become the next George Lucas of your industry.

Lucas knew he never wanted to take over his father's office supply store. He didn't even think of himself as a businessman. Once he discovered his love of making films that's all he wanted to do. Just like he had done earlier in his life with race car driving, Lucas devoted himself fully to filmmaking even though filmmakers rarely made very much money. He wasn't in it for the money, he was in it because he loved it - and he ended up making millions in the process.

According to Lucas: "My first six years in the business were hopeless. There are a lot of times when you sit and you say ‘Why am I doing this? I’ll never make it. It’s just not going to happen. I should go out and get a real job and try to survive’... You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. Otherwise you’ll stop at the first giant hurdle.”

Action Item #2: Find something you're great at

To make a mark on your industry you have to be really great at something. Create a niche where you are the absolute best at what you do and start building a name for yourself. As you expand your expertise you can offer more products and services but keep a specialized focus so you can easily separate yourself from everyone else in your industry.

When Lucas enrolled in film school he thought "maybe that will be interesting." He had no idea that making movies would become his calling. All he did was start following his interests in the hope that it would lead him somewhere he enjoyed. When he first enrolled he was interested in the social sciences, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and photography. He managed to combine all of them into filmmaking and by tapping into what he was curious about, success eventually became his.

According to Lucas: “I’m a storyteller, but to enable me to tell my stories, I’ve had to develop the necessary technology... A lot of people like to do certain things, but they’re not that good at it... Keep going through the things that you like to do, until you find something that you actually seem to be extremely good at... Talent is a combination of something you love a great deal, something you can lose yourself in – something that you can start at 9 in the morning, look up from your work and it’s 10 o’clock at night – and something that you have a natural ability to do very well."

Action Item #3: Keep going

Entrepreneurship is hard and you're going to have days when you want to stop. Keep going. If you love what you're doing and you're making a significant difference in the lives of your customers you need to find a way to keep going. Believe that what you're doing is right and that things will work out. The dots will connect in your future even if it doesn't make complete sense right now. Trust that what you're on the proper path.

When Lucas first decided to go to film school, he was told he would never find a job afterwards. When he graduated and decided to make a film about androids, he was told to come back when he was serious. And, when his film about androids was finally made, not everyone was singing its praises. But, Lucas pressed on and soon became one of the wealthiest and most renowned filmmakers in history.

According to Lucas: " You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going... Put blinders on and plough right ahead... If you want to be successful in a particular field of endeavour, I think perseverance is one of the key qualities... The secret is not to give up hope. It’s very hard not to because if you’re really doing something worthwhile I think you will be pushed to the brink of hopelessness before you come through the other side. You just have to hang in through that.”

True Story

Lucas wrote the screenplay for Star Wars after being inspired by Flash Gordon and Planet of the Apes. While writing it he thought that it was "too wacky" for the general public but he insisted on finishing it.  When the script was finished, only Twentieth Century Fox was willing to take a chance on the movie. In a groundbreaking move at the time, Lucas agreed to give up his director’s salary in exchange for 40% of the film’s box office take as well as all merchandising rights and sequel rights. Breaking all box office records and winning seven Academy Awards, Star Wars made Lucas an instant millionaire as well as a household name.

More Quotes

"I’m extremely grateful that I discovered my passion. I love movies. I love to watch them, I love to make them."

"It’s hard work making movies…if you don’t really love it, then it ain’t worth it."

"I got the licensing rights because I figured they wouldn’t promote the film and if I got T-shirts and things out there with the name of the film on them it would help promote the movie."

What Do You Think?

Have you found what you love to do? Have you ever thought of giving your business up? What part of George Lucas' message impacted you the most? As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts if you leave a comment below!

Evan Carmichael

To learn more check out my list of George Lucas articles or my website, EvanCarmichael.com.

Contractually offers simple contract making for small businesses and entrepreneurs. With a web browser, people can prepare, negotiate, and organize their contracts, all in one place. Contractually has been recognized for their unique solution to contract making, receiving accolades including Judges’ Pick at the International Startup Festival.

Martin Ertl founded Contractually to make life easier for everyone who has to deal with contracts. The second part of my interview covers Contractually’s approach to scalability across complex legal systems, Martin’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, and the key to a profitable SaaS business model.

In case you missed it, catch up on Part One of our conversation.

Law differs from province to province and from country to country. How do you approach the scalability of Contractually?

Contractually can be used by anyone, anywhere in the world as a tool to get contracts done. As an online software tool, jurisdiction doesn't matter.

When it comes to the add-ons we provide, like simple forms for NDAs and independent contractor agreements, the ones we've provided initially are intended to be compatible with common law jurisdictions like Canada and the US.

How does Contractually approach user concerns of privacy, security, and confidentiality?

We know our members handle contracts with sensitive information, so we take industry-standard security measures to protect their information. For example, we use SSL to encrypt data transmissions between a member and the Contractually application. We have Terms of Service and a Privacy Policy that specify how we use member data; among other things, we don't look at member information – personal information or their contracts – without their permission. All our staff members sign confidentiality agreements as well.

The key to a profitable SaaS business is the ability to meet the needs of customers as a group. How do you address customer feedback and what does it take to implement changes based on this feedback?

Customer feedback drives how we prioritize features and changes. We've found that most of the feedback fits within the product vision that we have, but definitely some of the feedback has changed the priority of what we had planned.

Depending on the change, it may be something we implement within a matter of days or a matter of weeks. Obviously some bigger feature requests may require longer, and we then try to provide smaller improvements that solve, say, 80% of the issue.

There are many great aspects to a SaaS model for a service such as Contractually. What stumbling blocks have you encountered with user adoption of SaaS?

We've focused initially on attracting members who use other web software, so they're already comfortable with cloud services and SaaS. We do get questions occasionally about security and privacy, but that hasn't been a stumbling block for our members so far. We know that future customers may not be as familiar with web software, so we're evolving Contractually to be really easy to use for everyone.

One other issue is that the whole point of using SaaS for contracts is moving from using MS Word and email. For many people who already have contract templates in MS Word, that requires importing their MS Word documents to a web format, as opposed to just uploading a file. We currently offer a way to do that import, and we're working on a much smoother import feature for documents in legacy formats like MS Word and PDF.

As a seasoned entrepreneur, how do you feel about the tech ecosystem in Canada?

The tech ecosystem in Canada is growing stronger, and that's happening fast. I've seen that growth first-hand in Vancouver over the last 2-3 years and I've seen it from a distance in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, and Calgary. I'm sure it's happening in other places as well.

Tech entrepreneurs are subject to information overload about all the exciting startups solving unique business problems. What other companies excite you right now?

Lots of them. Two that I know well and I'm excited about are Foodtree and Digido. Foodtree helps people understand where their food is coming from and is building a database on food provenance. Digido creates mobile games for children to make exercise fun and rewarding.

Often aspiring entrepreneurs think they have a really great idea. What advice can you give to someone looking to get a tech business off the ground?

Talk to the people who you think are your customers. Test your assumptions about who the customers are and what they'll pay for. Easy to say, but my own experience and my experience talking with other startups is that this obvious point is hard to live by, especially when you think you know an industry or a problem.

Martin Studzinski is TELUS team member with a focus on consumer solutions, with interests in design, technology, and education reform. You can follow Martin on Twitter @martstudz.

Small business owners – Does dealing with legal make you shudder? Would you use a web-based solution to help?

Most business professionals understand holistically the power that LinkedIn can present as a networking tool, but how can you optimize LinkedIn for your business?

Last month, we attended the @marketplace conference at the Museum in Kitchener, Ontario, where keynote, Julie Howlett of LinkedIn spoke about how LinkedIn can help promote your personal brand as well as help you market your business.  Below are the top six recommendations from her presentation.

1. Build your profile to 100%.  Having a fully completed profile can improve your search-ability and allows you to build your personal brand.  A 100% complete LinkedIn profile includes a current and past position, education, profile summary, profile photo as well as recommendations.  As a business, take a step back and review your profile from your customers’ perspective and make sure the content is written for them and addresses the business problem you help your customers’ solve.
2. Build your professional network through connecting.  One obvious way for businesses to optimize LinkedIn is to expand their professional network.  Take time after a networking event, tradeshow or presentation and find the business contacts you met in person on LinkedIn.  Find past colleagues, friends and people you’ve done business with and connect with them.  Be sure to personalize the message to inject the personal into the connection.
3. Seek recommendations and provide recommendations. Recommendations add credibility to you and your business.  Ask some of your satisfied customers to provide you with a recommendation to help grow your word-of-mouth marketing.  Equally, start reciprocating by providing recommendations to others or other businesses that you’ve done business with.
4. Join groups of interest and relevance to you and your business.  There are thousands of industry related groups and forums on LinkedIn.  Joining the group, answering questions in your area of expertise or asking questions about a business challenge you may be facing is a great opportunity to make new connections and build potential business relationships.
5. Research clients, colleagues and business partners. LinkedIn is a great way to research clients, potential clients or other business connections before heading to an offline meeting or even cold calling.  You can also use LinkedIn to search profiles or company groups.  Even answers can be a great way to help you identify potential connections for your business.
6. Share content with your network on LinkedIn.  Similar to other social media platforms, LinkedIn provides you with the ability to promote content about your business and help you stay “top of mind” and relevant with your network.  Share your blog post content as well as interesting articles related to your industry or that would be of interest to your customers.

Above all other social platforms, the true value of LinkedIn is in making real-world networking much more powerful and effective.  Leverage LinkedIn to build your relationships with your customers and prospective customers in real life.

Today I want to offer you a “time out”. If you read all the blogs posted on this site alone there is a wealth of information, technical advice and ways to grow, survive and become even more successful, and that’s wonderful. But, today I want you to step back and enjoy the Simplicity of Success.

This is a wonderful quote, “The more I give myself permission to live in the moment and enjoy it without feeling guilty, the better I feel about the quality of my work” - Wayne Dyer.

We are all working with tight schedules today and with the technology at our fingertips it is easier to carry on working when we are eating our lunch or at home after work relaxing.  The buzz of our smart phone on the sofa beside us prompts us to check our email. We realise we could easily write a reply email, with the attached report mentioned, as we sit there “relaxing”. What’s wrong with this picture? When does our brain get a rest from work, looking at screens, talking on the phone, tapping away on computers? Will our success be impacted in a negative way if we don’t jump into action every second of the day?

The new technology offered today can help us make better choices. We can do so much with a smartphone, which we can take everywhere. The device does not make us use it 24/7 that is one of our choices which we should look at.

The first question to ask yourself is, what is success? Writing this blog for a successful telecommunications company is my way of sharing my passion and desire to help people by reaching out to a wider audience. Does that mean I am successful? Yes, I am successful in my desire to help more people, that is my success.

Success has a different meaning for everyone but in the world of small business, where I typically hang out, the emphasis is on financial success. In order to achieve that kind of success we could be likened to a hamster on a wheel, going around and around. We have a purpose in life; we have been trained to keep on going, but when can we step off that wheel and enjoy the simple things in life that we work so hard for but never seem able to enjoy? What are these things I talk about you might ask:

• A family holiday enjoying sand, sea and relaxation
• A walk in the park, drinking a coffee and enjoying the wonders of the ducks swimming in the lake.
• Taking in a movie with friends and a quiet drink afterwards
• Reading a book, tucked up in bed, drinking hot chocolate

All of the above are simple pleasures our success has afforded us. In order to pay for a holiday we have to be successful, as well as being able to pay for a cup of coffee as we meander around the park. None of the above things are free. We can enjoy a book from the library for free, but we needed to purchase the comfortable bed and the hot chocolate. When we set out to be successful we probably wanted more out of life, and the chance to spend more time with our family and friends and along the way that never happened.

Look at all the reasons you started your own business and write those reasons down, I am 99% sure it will not read like this:

• Need to spend more time away from family and friends and work 24/7.
• Want to work through all my vacation time and miss out on all the fun times.

Simply put, it is all about the choices we make. You really do not have to sacrifice all the things in your life you hold dear so that you can be successful. Some steps we take to ensure we are successful in our business are ensuring we are seen out and about at networking events, organized fundraisers, and award dinners to name a few. All of these things take our time and in some cases may mean we do not balance the time spent with our family.

Let’s look at making some different choices:

• Rather than working 24/7 make sure we do take the time to enjoy a trip to the movies with our family members, and think of this as a reward for all the hard work we put in and know that the money spent on this “time out” is money well spent.
• Invite your partner to some events with you that you think they might enjoy and include them in your circle of business friends.

When we step down off the wheel and look around at the big wide world offered to us it can be quite a shock. Being successful in the financial sense is very important, in order to pay for the life we always dreamt about. But, if we work ourselves into the ground, forget we need time to chill out with our family and friends, surely all the money in the world cannot make up for being lonely or getting sick?

It is quite simple, success is a wonderful achievement, but making smart choices and attainable goals that include having a life and not working 24/7 is crucial.

Another quote that makes a lot of sense is:

“There is no wealth but life.”

- John Ruskin

Linda Ockwell-Jenner is the Social Sweetheart. She is President of Motivational Steps and Co-Founder of the Small Business Community Network (SBCN) based in Waterloo Region. Find out more about Linda at www.motivationalsteps.com and www.sbcncanada.org