Worrier or Warrior?

April 28, 2013

Warrior or worrier

Being in business can be great fun, it can be really satisfying and that overall feeling of being a master of your own destiny just can’t be beaten.

However at times it can be a very lonely place with huge stresses and one where things can be constantly challenging.

One feeling that never leaves me is that feeling of worry ….there is always something to worry about, where will new business come from, how will we pay those bills, how will we sort that problem, how will we improve on the great year that we just had?

That worry niggle is always there to one degree or another. At times you hardly notice, it’s just a tiny little niggle at the back of your mind but at other times the worry monster is bigger and you find yourself waking up and your first thought of the day is..that worry!

That’s when I find the warrior appears, when you have to dig deep, you delve into your reserves, you have to find extra gears inside you and you have to work harder, be more creative and make bolder moves and do new things.

During a typical year I find myself moving from worrier to warrior at regular intervals, ironically with the very most being achieved when the warrior appears!

Are you a warrior or a worrier?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing,PR and Graphic Design agency with offices in Dublin and Cork in Ireland

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Posted in Motivation, Personal development, Positivity | 8 Comments »

Rewarding Loyalty

April 28, 2013

Table Service

We love going there, the team know us, the manager knows us, there is always a great atmosphere and it is a real treat that we always look forward to.

The little touches are so important, finding you a good place to sit, recommending a special wine, suggesting a new beer, letting you have a sample on the house, asking your opinion about things they are doing…all in all a great place to eat, drink and relax.

The manager was telling us that they were thinking of introducing a “loyalty card” system to reward the regular customers – For every X number of meals you would get one free as well as some other benefits.

The truth is they don’t need a loyalty card system because they always reward our loyalty with their great service.

Instead of giving me one free meal for every ten we order and processing this through a card system, I’m pretty sure that I prefer being looked after in an informal, discretionary way…not because I have “earned” or qualified for my bonus meal.

Give me a drink on the house, a free dessert, a great seat, a warm welcome …it’s better than any card!

Places that don’t know you, might need a system to encourage repeat business and reward loyalty in an official way ….the great places never need a system!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing and PR firm with offices in Dublin and Cork

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Posted in Brand Loyalty, Customer Care, Marketing | 18 Comments »

Are you leaving breadcrumbs?

April 20, 2013

Leaving breadcrumbs

“You are doing a lot of work in Dublin these days” she said to me.

“We are, but how did you know that?” I asked

“Oh ..I figured that out from your Facebook posts” she said

That conversation was about five years ago and it was at an event for a client in Dublin – for me it was what I call my “penny drop” moment about social media. At that time I was using Facebook, just like everyone else posting the odd thing about what I was doing and where I was going. In fact, I think I wasn’t that sure what I should have been posting and even how relevant social media might be for business.

It dawned on me that with every post you make people are watching, digesting and forming impressions about you and what you are all about. Often they won’t comment, reply or even “like” your posts, but they are listening and soaking up what you are saying.

From that moment I realised the power of social media and the importance of having a clear idea about what picture of you and your business you want to portray.

Every status update, every tweet, every retweet, every like, every share, every favourite, every discussion, every hashtag and every blog post are all little breadcrumbs that you leave to bring the reader to a place you wanted to take them.

Are you leaving breadcrumbs?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion with offices in Cork and Dublin offer social media training and consultancy in Ireland.

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Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Web Marketing | 12 Comments »

Can nice guys win?

April 16, 2013

Albert Einstein - Man of Value, succession planning

I was chatting to a good friend of mine recently who runs a really successful business – we hadn’t seen each other for quite a while so it was great to catch up.

We spoke about life, work, music, kids, getting old, favourite movies ..in truth we could still be there chatting!

We were having the usual conversation about how hard you have to work these days to be successful and he told me a story about one of his competitors who received the worst possible news a while back ….he had cancer and he needed time off for treatment.

That type of news puts everything into perspective .. 

My buddies automatic reaction was to ring his competitor and offer him any help that he needed (in the background) to keep his show on the road.

While they were fierce competitors there was always mutual respect and unlike some of the other competitors (news leaked out about his poor health and customers were romanced) this was clearly not a circumstance to take advantage of.

Over a year later as this mans diagnosis was not good he decided it was best for the survival of the business and the protection of his team to sell on the business to a competitor.

There was only one bidder he seriously considered ….nice guys can win after all!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Friendship, Motivation, Personal development, Positivity | 16 Comments »

Flying solo or wearing the team shirt?

April 13, 2013

LinkedIn Posting

“I don’t want them as one of my contacts” he said “why should I?”

I was in the middle of a social media training session with the team from one of our clients and it looks like we stumbled upon an awkward moment!

During these sessions I carefully work with the full team and we determine carefully what the objectives are for their social media activity.

The team had agreed that “raising awareness” for what the organisation does was a big issue and they were going to use social media pro-actively as a vehicle to spread the word.

We were in the middle of a practical session on LinkedIn and we discovered that the person whose account we were using for demonstration purposes had a large number of ignored connection requests.

“But I don’t know them”  he said

“Here you have people wanting to connect with you and you are ignoring them” I explained ..”not only are you losing an opportunity to connect and spread the word but you are giving the organisation a bad reputation by ignoring people”

Hmm … The room was silent, he wasn’t budging!

“How about, accept the requests, thank them for connecting and ask them how their business is going ?” ….. “after all, it’s not a marriage proposal” – I was trying my best!

Nope … nothing doing.

I had done enough talking and cajoling for one session so I left it – at the end of the day it is up to each organisation to set a policy for their use of LinkedIn.

The thing with LinkedIn is that people don’t connect with Greg Canty , they connect with Greg Canty, Partner with Fuzion. You and your role in the organisation are locked together as part of your identity.

The team may argue that their LinkedIn presence is their personal space – while this is true they are also wearing the team shirt and should turn up and play for the team.

What do you think ?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion with offices in Cork and Dublin offer social media training and consultancy in Ireland

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Posted in LinkedIn, PR, Web Marketing | 28 Comments »

Thank crunchy it’s Friday?

April 12, 2013

Friday feelingFriday afternoon and I was in the middle of a social media training session with the team from one of our clients operating in the professional services sector.

One of the directors was in the “hot seat” sitting at the controls of his LinkedIn account, which like most people with a profile he never uses.

He never posts, he never interacts but he does press the “accept” button with some of the connection requests he receives.

I encouraged him to post a status update ..”Go on, be yourself and post something“.

He surprised everyone by posting “Thank crunchy it’s Friday” ..

I asked the group what did they think ..two of his colleagues thought it wasn’t quite in keeping with their business and profession, another said he misspelt the word crunchy and some of the others thought it was a good thing to post..after all they explained it was Friday and that’s what most people at work would be feeling.

My own advice and my own experience would have me agreeing with the guys who felt “thank crunchy it’s Friday” was a good thing to post.

It’s really important that you are true to yourself, that you post something that connects with people, that you allow people to see the lighter side of your personality and that you don’t try to post something “heavy” on a Friday afternoon …the most important thing is that you make some noise and start posting on a regular basis so that you and your business will register on people’s radar.

Thank crunchy it’s Friday …what do you think?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion offer in-house social media training and consultancy services in Ireland 

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Posted in LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media, Staff training, Web Marketing | 12 Comments »

Just a Worker?

April 9, 2013

Cog in a wheel

“Can we go for a coffee?”

Even though I was up the walls it was clear he wanted to have a chat about something, so off we went.

After some small talk he eventually blurts it out “I’ve accepted a job offer“.

“Ah for God’s sake ….you can’t be serious” …..”Why in the name of god would you want to leave?” – after that all the things said just rolled into one and we went back to work.

I can’t help it – I take this stuff personally. I put everything into work and what we are building and I do feel that everyone is part of a Fuzion family, so when this happens I feel cheated, betrayed ..the word “traitor” is the one that comes to mind first. That’s probably a bit harsh but there ya go!

Normally you are battling away together, fighting for business, winning business, dealing with challenges, dealing with disappointments – whatever it is you tackle it with a sense of togetherness. You get to know people, you get close to them, you understand them, the good, the bad and the ugly, a bond forms – you even get to know about their families. It’s your team and you pull together against whatever challenge presents itself.

This team thing is special, it’s the little piece of magic that is fabulous when it clicks into place – you feel when that happens. Everyone together is better than a bunch of separate individuals  – it’s what I work hard at creating and its what I enjoy building and being in the middle of.

For the next few weeks I felt awful working alongside someone who has chosen to be somewhere else – in effect they become just a worker and are no longer part of the team.

The month has passed, we gave him a good send off and we have started a new journey with a great guy who will hopefully be a valuable member of the Fuzion family.

The guys tell me I shouldn’t take the whole thing so personally, maybe they are right?

In truth for me if it wasn’t personal I would become just a worker.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing & PR firm with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Friendship, Motivation, Recruitment, Teamwork | 23 Comments »

Mark Geary, my Grandad and Ghosts

March 29, 2013

Mark Geary - Coughlans Bar

We found ourselves last night squeezed into the most intimate venue ever, Coughlan’s Bar on Douglas Street in Cork to see the fabulous Mark Geary.

This was my first time at Coughlan’s, which is a one of those fabulous old style pubs, a listed building, which has been in the Coughlan and Ellis family for over 200 years. The gig happens in a little room at the very back of the pub, which is no bigger than a large dining room.

Annette who manages the music at the venue maximises every inch of space so that as many people as possible can enjoy the gigs – we were lucky to get in and only for an intervention by Mark himself (yep, we’re one of those “fans” who he knows by name – so many great chats after gigs.. Mark is like that) we would have been home early.

Mark was brilliant as always with his mix of great songs, fabulous guitar work, the very talented backing singer Grainne Hunt, a terrific keyboard player, Mark Penny and of course flavoured with his quick wit and story telling…his “da” was from Charleville (where they eat their children, apparently!!).

Mark launched into song after song including a great track called “Ghosts” , the theme song from one of his superb albums …he spoke to us about his dad and I thought about my own family.

This would have been one of my granddads locals – Jack Burke lived literally 100 feet away from the pub, living at the bottom of High Street. He drank there and apparently my great grandmother had the odd tipple in the snug – women would not have gone into the main bar.

My granddad passed away 47 years ago just after I was born.

Coughlans Bar - Douglas StreetAs we left I looked around the pub at the old bar counter, the old seats, the old pictures on the wall and imagined all of the customers down through years who sat there, sipping on their whiskey and having the banter and I tried to picture Jack Burke sitting on his stool with a family anxiously waiting for him, wondering when he would be home.

..Ghosts

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Entertainment, Family, Hospitality, Music, Personal development | 2 Comments »

Learning to Crash Land

March 27, 2013

Plane on the Hudson

We were passing some time in New York (we were there for the christening of my brother’s daughter) on a bitterly cold January 15th, 2009 so we found ourselves in the cinema.

We came down the escalators after the movie finished to hear loud sirens and watched as police cars, ambulances and fire brigades sped by in quick succession.

We grabbed a cab to Penn Station and the female taxi driver agreed to take us once we weren’t going in the direction of the Hudson – a plane had just crashed in the river. Her mum called on her mobile and warned her to quickly get out of Manhattan.

By the end of the short cab ride the incident was clarified on the radio – it wasn’t a terrorist attack. It was a freak accident caused by a flock of Canadian Geese and the Captain, Chesley Sullerberger, a former Air Force pilot managed to land the plane safely on the water with all 155 passengers very shook but all in one piece.

Thank god ..

Two days later we touched down at Shannon Airport and grabbed a newspaper to catch up on news since we had been away. Right on the front page we read about one of our clients, a hotel in Kerry that had gone into liquidation – not only did they owe us quite an amount of money but it was obviously the loss of a client.

What were we facing this year?

Over a period of the next few weeks we lost a few really good clients as the wheels came off the economy and budgets were being slashed by everyone – we had just moved into offices only a few months previous and it felt like our plane was plummeting!

Of course we panicked, of course we were worried but we dug in just like we always do. We had a great team and we needed to have faith in ourselves and in our ability.

I remembered clearly one of the lessons of Napoleon Hill in his book published in 1937 “Think and Grow Rich” – Have faith and believe that you will succeed ..he spoke about something that he called “The Secret“.

We have always adopted a positive philosophy, which has served us well – Two months later we won our biggest account, we picked up a few other accounts and later that year we started running training courses – it was an incredibly tough year including some other large bad debts but somehow we managed to bring our plane in without losing any of our passengers!

Since then business has continued to be challenging with plenty of turbulence but thankfully we continue to have faith and we always seem to survive, grow and thrive.

One of these days it will get easier ..won’t it?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design firm with offices in Dublin and Cork.

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Posted in Irish Economy, Motivation, Personal development, Positivity, Recession | 5 Comments »

What a fantastic day

March 25, 2013
Jan and David Sands

David quite proud that Jan is actually eating his roast potatoes!

We had some special friends, David and Jan over from Aldershot in the UK this weekend.

Today we got up, walked the dog in the park, went to the shop, made breakfast and read the papers.

This evening (Sunday) the men, David and I (how’s that for correct English?), put on a roast – he never cooks!  He peeled the spuds, I prepared the veg and we put the meat in the oven.

Just before dinner we popped down to the local, The White Horse for a quick one (timed to precision – we knew what we were doing) …my folks joined us there.

We all came back, put on some music, tucked into some pate and bread, the roast (we actually managed to do a good job!) accompanied by wine and a fab dessert my mum had made, her rhubarb special pie.

We shared stories, chatted about a little bit of everything, toasted a few times, smiled, laughed and got to know each other a little better. Even the four legged one, Bing seemed to enjoy the chit chat and the leftovers (not too many!).

In many ways it is the simple things that are the best ..a perfect day?

Maybe it was a Fantastic Day (as Julie Feeney would say!).

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Family, Friendship, Personal development | 3 Comments »

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