The Toronto Marketing and Technology Blog

Why don't you shutup about this MBA talk. Thanks.

Folks.

Listen.

I am tired about people asking me about studying for my GMAT or asking me when I'm doing my MBA.

Here is the truth, I did my GMAT last year and applied to several schools. I got into all but one for some dumb reason, and happily rejected all of them.

I see many people studying for GMAT and yapping about the MBA, like it's the next big thing. Snooze alert.

I'm not a fan of the MBA, as it is today. Therefore, I will not be doing it - anytime soon that is.

Check out http://www.lovifieds.com and http://www.nametaggs.com for my mba class schedule.

Thank you and no more asking about me doing my MBA.

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Tax levy proposed on Ipods and other digital music players in Canada

There has been some uproar in Canada about the proposed tax levy on digital music players by the Copyright Board of Canada. This is to compensate music companies, artists and the kind against the fight against piracy.

Their assumption is that the majority of people who put content onto their Ipod are doing so illegally, and in order for artists to be compensated, a "tax" levy should be associated to the sale of that device.

I think this is ridiculous, because everyone will be affected by this, even the many people who get their content legally. It assumes someones guilty before even unwrapping the box. How does Canada intend to be competitive if this is put in place on January 1, 2008? I can foresee many people going south of the border to get their devices and this will hurt Canada's economy significantly.

Here's hoping this doesn't get put into place.

Microsoft Customer Support is awesome

I think Microsoft Customer Support is awesome. You would think by being a huge company, with several product lines, that the Customer Support of a huge company would deteriorate. Not Microsoft. I had recently run into problems with my emails from a certain domain being sent to a hotmail spam folder. I couldn't figure out why so I then decided to contact Microsoft to debug the problem.

I initially thought to myself that going this route won't solve anything as it will probably take days to just get a response from them, and even if I did, they would probably keep bouncing around the e-mail until someone with the right expertise would get it. Not at all. I received a timely response within hours, and they rectified the problem as well as providing tips on how to prevent this problem occurring in the future.

Thank you Microsoft Support Team. You did a wonderful job!

Key metrics

We use metrics to somehow quantify the success or failure of our undertakings. We rationalize acts of causation that originated from key strategic or tactical movements in our vision. What key metrics do you use to gauge your position between actual outcome and projected outcome?

Here are three key metrics that I use:
1) Value benefits - How much value did I add to the project?
2) Opportunity cost - With my current skillset, am I better off taking part in this project or are my skills better utilized somewhere else?
3) Learning - Have I learned something new?

Although metrics can further be defined as the undertaking becomes more precise, these are the general metrics that I use to determine my success on an endeavour.

Leadership is understanding the outcome.

Many people ask the question, what is leadership? And in answering the question, people tend to get scientific or attempt to give a bible size explanation of their idea of it. To me, leadership is understanding the outcome. Because if you understand the outcome, every type of definition that can possibly be made, falls under that umbrella. Individuals are driven to and follow people who understand the outcome.

There are thought leaders, presidential leaders, class leaders, organizational leaders etc. You name the topic, and I bet their is an individual who leads the pack. It begs the question, if they didn't understand the outcome, would you follow them?

Are you buying what I'm selling?

Selling is an art that requires constant work, persistence, strategic change and tactical adaptiveness - if we want to become a great seller that is. Many people think that a transfer of funds needs to occur in order for something to be sold, quite the contrary. The majority of selling that takes place has little or no direct monetary value associated to it. Take for instance this blog. If you come back to see my next post I have sold you on the content that I'm writing. How about the co-worker to co-worker relationship in an organization? You can sell yourself as being someone who is reliable, has a great personality and a pleasure to work with(hopefully not alot of work is required to sell this ;)).

The main reason someone will buy something is because of value -- pretty simple concept right? If you're selling something of value, people want it and it practically sells itself.

I'm not paying you to come here : are you buying what I'm selling?