APeeling in Summer

A digital magazine of real stories by real people with real solutions to life and work. Discover inspiration and motivation inside this month's issue.

APeeling

Denition of

Entrepreneur

Know Your

Audience

What is

Your Brand

Digital Magazine

Summer 2020

Shannon’s

Thoughts

It’s half way through

summer during a pan-

demic and people

didn’t get the memo.

Have you seen the

video of the Niagra

Falls tour boats? The

big story is how many

people are on the Ca-

nadian boat vrs the

American boat.

I think the big sto-

ry is why are so many

people taking a vaca-

tion during a pandem-

ic?

The story showcas-

es Canadians are dif-

ferent than Americans.

Usually it’s hard to see

the difference because

the US media, movie

industry, culture, and

digital world are so

close to Canada we

evolved into mini-mes.

Then along comes this

little virus and wham -

the border shuts down

for the foreseeable

future. A border, which

has never closed since

it opened.

The world’s largest

undefended border - is

CLOSED because we

are still very different.

First, there are 1

Canadian for every 10

Americans. However,

according to the Globe

and Mail, 60-70 per-

cent of Canadians live

SOUTH of the 49th

Parrallel.

Ninety percent of

Canada’s 35 million

people live 100 miles

from the US / Canada

border. Meaning we

are piled up as south

as we can go without

becoming Americans.

We live in only 4% of

our country, increas-

ing the density of our

cities, which were hit

hard by the pandem-

ic and yet, they faired

better than US cities.

I believe there are

two main reasons Can-

ada faired better than

those South of the

Border. Our attitude

towards the authority of

government and Can-

ada’s high level of ap-

athy towards anything

political.

Even though health-

care here is run by

government agencies,

it is not a political hot

button issue. It is seen

as a right and most of

us listened to doctors,

like Dr. Henry in BC,

and so did out political

leaders. We stayed

home, we stayed apart,

and then..

Summer hit.

The Apple Peels are

link buttons.

I made changes to help readers

nd the stories they want to read.

First Section

Each page is the start of an article so you can see if you

want to read more of it. At the bottom of each page is a

peel to click to go to the full article.

Second Section

This section is two pages listing the contributors and the

clients of MarketAPeel who are featured in this issue.

Click on the images to go to the appropriate pages.

Third Section

This is where the articles start and you can experience

the magazine one page at a time.

Click the Peel to go to section one

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How to Navigate

APeeling

How often have

you heard, you need

a personal brand?

Whether you are trying

to secure a new po-

sition, build a book of

business, or become

known as an ‘expert,’

a personal brand is a

requirement. Employ-

ers are doing their due

diligence and search-

ing Online to nd out if

they will make some-

one an offer because

they are covering their

own butts when mak-

ing a decision. I’m sure

you have heard stories

about people who ei-

ther didn’t get a posi-

tion because a poten-

tial employer checked

out their Online foot-

print or someone was

red because of a so-

cial media post.

Throughout time

people have judged

each other, spread

rumours, and ruined

reputations. Today, it

is easy for others to

spread gossip and

for us to ruin our own

reputations with the

wrong post, however

at the same time, it is

easier for us to protect

our reputations from

slander by creating a

strong personal brand

Dene Your Personal Brand

Click the Peel to continue reading

by Shannon Peel

If I think about integ-

rity, I think about hold-

ing people accountable

to their words and ac-

tions. I used to have

Monday meetings at

Matrix, my IT company,

at noon every week. It

was an hour and a half

long meeting about life

by design and people

hated it, until they start-

ed realizing why we

were doing it.

One guy would al-

ways show up late. I

wouldn’t have a con-

versation with him

about his tardiness

because I didn’t want

to have a conict and

he was such a good

employee. I didn’t want

to lose him because I

knew he didn’t like the

meeting and wanted to

rock the boat. I didn’t

push him. He kept on

showing up late and

then one day I said,

“Listen, you know you

are showing up 10 min-

utes late and there are

10 of us in this meet-

ing. That’s one hun-

dred people minutes

you waste each week

and I can’t afford for

you to not showing up

on time. You need to

show up on time.” The

next week, he showed

What is Integrity?

Click the Peel to continue reading

by Likky Lavji

There are those

leaders that rule by

fear and an iron st.

Where punishment for

‘not doing as I say’ is

the norm. These lead-

ers are only a leader

in name/title alone.

Their followers are not

really following out of

respect or motivation,

they do so only be-

cause of fear of some

repercussion, such as

losing their job. But

there is no real team

unity, cohesion and

support of the over-

all vision and mission.

And often, this creates

a high attrition rate.

On the opposite

end of the spectrum,

are those leaders that

may be very likeable

people, and want to

grow and nurture their

team, but lack the skills

to do so. They often

are people pleasers

who are afraid to take

a real stand as they

fear not being liked or

alienating team mem-

bers. Both are ineffec-

tive leaders

Most leaders are

made and not born.

Learning the skills to

be an effective and

powerful leader re-

quires personal de-

From People Pleasers to Leaders

Click the Peel to continue reading

by Alaina Schwartz, JD

Can anyone be

an entrepreneur?

The answer lies in

the denition of the

word, however, the

word itself has lost it’s

meaning by being over-

used in all aspects of

professional life.

The word “entrepre-

neur” originates from

the French verb, entre-

prendre, meaning “to

do something” or “to

undertake.” In the 16th

century the word entre-

preneur meant some-

one who undertakes a

business venture.

In 1730, Richard

Cantillon dened, “The

willingness to bear the

personal nancial risk

of a business venture

as the dening charac-

teristic of an entrepre-

neur.” John Stuart Mill

said an entrepreneur is,

“A person who assumes

both the risk and the

management of a busi-

ness.” So, an investor

who takes on risk with-

out the work is not an

entrepreneur in his de-

nition.

In the twentieth

century, Joseph Schum-

peter said, “An entre-

preneur is an innova-

tor who implements

What does Entrepreneur Mean?

Click the Peel to continue reading

by Shannon Peel

Since the early days

of the US response to

COVID-19, our kitchen

table has been home

to a pile of newspapers

in various states of or-

der. There’s the stack

of the week’s papers,

the news sometimes

too fresh and real to

face. There’s the fold-

ed assortment of mini

crosswords from Page

3 that often serve as

a welcome alternative

to polite conversation

at yet another meal

at home. There’s the

treasure trove of arti-

cles that struck a chord

awaiting clipping and

glueing into my now

beloved Quarantine

Journal.

Today’s crossword,

actually published 6

weeks ago yet still

lingering in the pile,

gives two clues on the

power of print to reach

and connect with all

those customers safe

at their own kitchen

tables. Eight across

- “things stuffed in

takeout bags” and one

down - “answer to the

riddle ‘what stays in

one corner but travels

Print that Persists

Click the Peel to continue reading

by Alicia Wilhelmy

Pivoting during Con-

tent is a huge part of

every business’s overall

strategy. It forms part

of your branding, your

marketing, your busi-

ness plan. It’s a large

component of how you

reach your goals, re-

gardless of what your

goals are.

If you want to be

noticed, you must be

publishing content that

appeals to your target

audience on a regular

basis.

But what do you

do if you have no idea

what to create? How

do you come up with

the content ideas to

ll your emails, sales

funnels, blog posts, or

ads?

It’s something al-

most every single one

of my clients have

struggled with – and

what they pay me to

help them with. But it’s

also something I strug-

gled with for many

years in my own busi-

ness, and this struggle

made me feel like a bit

of a fraud.

Why was it so easy

for me to create a con-

tent plan for my cli-

ents, but so difcult for

me to create one for

Unlimited Content Ideas

Click the Peel to continue reading

By Trina Waller

As a novelist, I cre-

ate characters out of

thin air and put them

into different situations

to tell a story. The more

I know about the char-

acter, the more believ-

able I can make their

reactions. The more be-

lievable their reactions,

the better the story.

You don’t want ev-

ery person who walks

through the door be-

cause most will cause

you more headaches

than they are worth.

That is the great thing

about being self em-

ployed - It’s your busi-

ness, you get to work

with the clients you

want. Yes, money is

part of the equation, but

you only have so much

time to work, don’t ll it

up with the wrong thing.

Take what you have to

in order to pay the bills

and leave enough time

to tell your story to the

optimal clientele.

Understand your busi-

ness, product, and ser-

vice

To determine your

ideal market, you will

need to completely un-

derstand your product,

service, and business.

I know you think you

understand it, however,

Know Your Audience

Click the Peel to continue reading

by Shannon Peel

Around us, busi-

nesses are reopening,

like Sleeping Beauty’s

castle after the spell

is broken. Many peo-

ple experienced life

during a pandemic

for the very rst time.

They saw their favou-

rite businesses close

temporarily or perma-

nently. Around them,

people lost jobs. They

changed their every-

day routines and were

separated from friends

and family.

This was the world

that many people had

experienced as they

entered phase 2. One

question lingered on

their minds:

Was it safe to go

back to the restaurants,

stores, and workplaces

they used to frequent?

This question is an

important one that our

organization, Yellow

Cross, chose to tackle

for business owners.

If you are reopening

your business during

the pandemic, a clear

training plan for your

staff can improve safe-

ty for both employees

and customers.

Clear Plan for

Reopening

Have a Covid Plan for Work

Click the Peel to continue reading

By Vanya Wryter

“I’m calling you and

all of my friends and

colleagues of color to

check-in and see

how you are doing.”

That was the voice-

mail I left for a client-

turned-friend to see

how he was doing. I

hadn’t rehearsed what

I was going to say.

I was just calling to

check-in on a friend

like I had with the

co-author of this series

on race, Gina Green-

lee.

The next day I was

delighted when my

friend’s name popped

on my phone. We

updated each other

on our kids, shared

Covid-19 impacts and

discussed the latest act

of racism and the en-

suing protests to end

police brutality.

It Takes Courage

and Openness. “One

more thing before we

hang-up,” he said. “I

have to tell you this

because we’ve known

each other a long time

and I value our friend-

ship.”

Discussing the Undiscussable

Click the Peel to continue reading

by Margaret Greenberg and Gina Greenlee

Does your child get

down on herself? Is she

hard on herself? Is she

a ‘perfectionist’ child?

Some parents have

reached out to me to

ask what they can do

to help their child who

they believe has per-

fectionist tendencies.

As someone who grew

up with a mother with

perfectionist tenden-

cies, I picked up those

qualities too in many

ways. It isn’t easy go-

ing into the adult world

expecting and wanting

things to be perfect

from the start, and

then realizing there will

be many roadblocks,

‘plan B’s’ – which a

perfectionist mostly

hates, and even fail-

ures. -- What? Failure?

Aarrgh (running in the

opposite direction…

Right?)

I’ve been working

on those tendencies

since I was 19 years

old and have worked

to diminish the effects

of these habits on my

life. There are adults

in their 60’s now trying

to unravel their perfec-

tionist habits so they

Empower the Perfectionist Child

Click the Peel to continue reading

by Ashley Anjlien Kumar

My late father’s

banking career kept

our family on the

move. In fact, every

few years we were

transferred to a new

place and by the age

of 8 I’d lived in Red

Dear, Thunder Bay,

Saskatoon and Winni-

peg. Then in an inter-

esting twist: a ve-year

move to Freeport in

the Bahamas before re-

patriating to Vancouver

in 1982.

The incredible resil-

ience of kids is a beau-

tiful thing. They just

keep going. Adapting,

adjusting, and onward

they go. And I kept

going. Getting used to

another new school,

new friends, a new

phone number and ad-

dress to remember in

case I got lost (which I

actually did once!) and

on to the next destina-

tion.

Our Bahamian ex-

perience of the late

1970’s-early 1980’s

proved to be pro-

foundly formative for

me. My sister and I

attended a British-style

private school with

The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Click the Peel to continue reading

By Ashli Komaryk

Are You Overwhelmed by the

amount of Content you need

to post on Social Media?

APeeling members have access to

a content library lled with generic

evergreen content which they can

use for their own social media posts

Learn More

This Month’s Contributors

Shannon Peel

Alicia Wilhelmy

Trina Waller

Margaret Greenberg

You ? Ashli Komaryk

Paula Curteanu

Ashley Anjlien Kumar

Yiran Dong Vanya Wryter

Alaina Schwartz, JD

MarketAPeel Clients

Become an APeeling Member

• Discounts on products,

• Access to Content Libraries

• Personal Branding Workshops and

• promotion in the APeeling Magazine

• Learn how to tell your story

Click the Peel to Learn more -

Winex Health

Eat Real Meals All Your Meals AYM Kitchens

Meadow Hygiene

How often have

you heard, you need

a personal brand?

Whether you are trying

to secure a new po-

sition, build a book of

business, or become

known as an ‘expert,’

a personal brand is a

requirement. Employ-

ers are doing their due

diligence and search-

ing Online to nd out if

they will make some-

one an offer because

they are covering their

own butts when mak-

ing a decision. I’m sure

you have heard stories

about people who ei-

ther didn’t get a posi-

tion because a poten-

tial employer checked

out their Online foot-

print or someone was

red because of a so-

cial media post.

Throughout time

people have judged

each other, spread

rumours, and ruined

reputations. Today, it

is easy for others to

spread gossip and

for us to ruin our own

reputations with the

wrong post, however

at the same time, it is

easier for us to protect

our reputations from

slander by creating a

strong personal brand

with engaged follow-

ers who will champion

and protect us. It en-

ables us to login and

respond to questions,

give gratitude to pos-

itive messages, and

round out negative

messages with our

side of the story.

What is a

personal brand?

It is you, your sto-

ry, your image, and

your reputation. The

hardest part of creat-

ing a personal brand is

knowing yourself well

enough to be able to

tell your story honestly,

positively, and consis-

tently. Once you know

what to say, you will

discover content ev-

erywhere you go.

Narrow

Your Message

You are better

off with a few follow-

ers who are actively

engaged with your

content than a lot of

followers who nev-

er see you. Engaged

followers spread your

message and tell oth-

ers what your do. I am

lucky to have a handful

of people telling people

how wonderful I am at

what I do. However if

they don’t know what

I do, the message can

get lost in the details

and the person they

are talking to becomes

too confused to be

interested in my ser-

vices.

MarketAPeel’s

CCO, Marilyn Ander-

son, goes to various

events in Vancouver to

Dene Your

Brand Story

By Shannon Peel

meet new people and

nd the right connec-

tions for our clients and

myself. It is important

Marilyn’s ability to

match businesses to

the people by being

specic about what

they need is the secret

of her success. Sure

the businesses do

more than she commu-

nicates, however, the

potential lead is only

interested in why they

need to contact the

business.

Many freelancers

focus on what things

they are ‘experts’ in:

The best website de-

signer, the greatest

social media strate-

gist, and the smartest

Adwords specialist.

These are strong fo-

cused personal brands,

which are easy to

clearly communicate to

the marketplace. The

problem with them is

they are not unique,

authentic, or memora-

ble because they are

generic and subjective.

Just because you say

you are the greatest,

doesn’t mean people

will believe you.

It can be difcult for

someone looking for a

specic skill to nd me

or know how to refer

me because I do too

many things. To solve

the problem, I focus

on a narrower audi-

ence. For example, ‘I

help executives dene

and tell their stories to

the marketplace when

transitioning to the

speaking circuit.’ The

list of all the pieces I

create is not as import-

ant as why certain peo-

ple need me.

Be Genuine

The best personal

brands are genuine

and authentic because

intelligent people see

right through insincer-

ity and fakery. Brands

who are copycats or

dishonest may have

initial short term suc-

cess, however, once

people feel lied to,

they will loudly push

back and walk away.

“Be genuine. It will

make it much easier to

manage your personal

brand on a daily ba-

sis,” explained William

Harris, Facebook ads

expert at Elumynt.

Humour can help

you stand out, howev-

er, be careful to use

humour appropriately.

Sarcasm can be mis-

understood, politically

incorrect jokes can of-

fend, and cynicism can

paint you as negative. I

am infamous for using

sarcasm and cynicism,

which on occasion

results in offending

more than connect-

ing. However, when

done right, my humour

makes me stand out

enough to connect with

interesting people on

Twitter. One individ-

ual informed me that

his team refers to me

as the ‘anti-Christ’ be-

cause my sarcastic,

cynicist humour is the

opposite of his motiva-

tional message.

Let your work tell

your story by showing

your audience how you

help others, instead of

telling them what you

do. When you share

examples of your work,

you will have a person-

al brand story made

up of your skills, client

testimonials, solutions,

and how you spend

your day.

Tip: Search social

media platforms for

keywords describing

what you do and then

engage with the con-

tent you nd by com-

menting with your point

of view, an answer to a

question, or tell a story

about how you did the

exact thing they are

posting about. By en-

gaging with others you

will get noticed faster

than if you only broad-

cast a message about

you.

Marketers and con-

tent creators are able

to show their work

while building a brand

because it is what we

do on a daily basis.

However, just like the

shoemaker whose kids

have no shoes, it can

be hard to get motivat-

ed to do the work for

your own brand. By

promoting clients on

our social media plat-

forms, sharing their

posts, and the content

we created for them,

our stories are being

eshed out with strong

examples of our skills.

Due to conden-

tiality, many profes-

sionals cannot share

their client’s stories

with the marketplace.

It becomes difcult to

tell stories when you

have to be careful not

to offend your client or

break a privacy law. In

these cases, you will

need to rely on testi-

monials from clients,

on your own personal

story, and on the top-

ics of your profession

by educating others.

There are always ways

to tell your story by

using examples of your

skills, work, and knowl-

edge.

Tell a Story

If your personal brand

isn’t telling a story, your

audience has checked

out. Stories have spe-

cic structures and ele-

ments. There is a hero

or protagonist, a villain

or antagonist, a plot,

a conict, a climax,

and resolution. Under-

stand each role when

dening your story to

ensure the message is

consistent throughout

every post, article, in-

terview, and image.

There is no wrong

way to dene your

story. When I write a

novel, I start with char-

acter dialogue to tell

me the story and then

esh it out with the

details. Other authors

plan every detail of

the story by creating

an outline before they

write a word. There is

no wrong way to write

a story.

The problem most

people face is guring

out what their story

should be. Some peo-

ple end up telling every

painfully boring detail

in chronological order

and they lose their

audience in the details.

Not providing enough

detail will also loose

your audience because

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they won’t know what

you’re talking about.

At MarketAPeel we

help brands tell stories

by asking questions,

understanding the in-

tended audience, and

developing a plan of

action to tell the right

story.

Knowing where

your ideal audience

hangs out will help you

to determine where to

tell your story. Each so-

cial media platform has

different strengths and

different audience en-

gagement, so it is im-

portant to understand

the platform’s purpose,

users, and focus. You

may love to throw

out short quotes and

thoughts on Twitter,

however, if your ide-

al customer is mainly

interested in looking at

photos on Instagram,

you are in the wrong

place and you either

need to change your

method or your deni-

tion of an ideal custom-

er.

There are a vari-

ety of platforms to tell

your story on, use the

methods you enjoy in

order to consistently

tell the story. If you are

a wordsmith who likes

to spin a yarn, blog,

write articles, and per-

haps a book. If you

are a shutterbug with

a unique eye, tell your

story through photos.

Whether you have a

vlog, blog, or podcast

is irrelevant, what mat-

ters is you consistently

tell your story using the

chosen media. If you

hate seeing yourself

on camera, you will

not have a success-

ful vlog do to throwing

away good content all

because you didn’t like

how you looked.

Consistency is Key

Being consistent

enables you to be rec-

ognized and build an

engaged following.

“Ensure that your per-

sonal brand promise

stays consistent, both

Online and Ofine,”

explains Fyiona Yong,

director and millennial

leadership coach (ICF

ACC). “You have to

demonstrate consis-

tency across your com-

munication, gravitas,

and appearance. Don’t

underestimate how tiny

inconsistencies can

derail personal brand

effectiveness.” When

your message is not

genuine you will have

moments of inconsis-

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tency, which will ruin

your trustworthiness

with your followers.

Before you post

something ask your-

self, “Does this post

communicate my core

values, my image, or

my brand message?”

If the answer is ‘No,’

ask yourself why you

want to post it and you

will discover something

new about yourself.

At times, I have weak

moments and it is easy

to create a post about

how unhappy, scared,

or lonely I am feeling

without adding how I

am overcoming these

negative emotions be-

cause, at that moment,

I am failing and I can’t

post what I am think-

ing.

Consistency is also

about doing the work to

continue to create con-

tent, post content, and

engage with content on

a regular basis, even

when you don’t feel like

it. There are days and

weeks where I check

out. During these times

creating content is a

grind because I have

no motivation, no ener-

gy, no creativity. I still

have to roll out of bed

and keep moving for-

ward. I may not create

a lot of content during

these times, however,

I have enough content

to repurpose, repost,

recycle to show my

face where my follow-

ers are.

What stops you

from being

consistent with

your story?

Understanding why

you are not able to be

consistent will help you

nd the resources to

help you. If you are not

a storyteller, you may

need to nd a bit of

help. There are profes-

sional storytellers who

will help you dene

your story and set up

an easy plan for you

to consistently follow.

If you are busy, hire a

content creator who

can create the story

you want to tell and

help you promote it to

the marketplace. If you

are social media chal-

lenged, there are spe-

cialists who will man-

age your social media

reputation for you. To

succeed you need to

get started today.

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- Your Values

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We created the Creating MarketAPeel Personal

Branding Workbook to help you discovery your story,

dene your personal brand, and design a plan of action

to tell your story to your ideal audience. The workbook

is broken into manageable parts to make it easy for you

to take the time to invest in your story.

Our gift to you is a free download of the rst

installment in the series - On Values.

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A Story of a

Pandemic Summer

By Yiran Dong

June 14th 2020

Yiran: Good Company

My friend Yiran

Dong has been shar-

ing her photos of a life

during the Pandemic

on Facebook. They tell

the story of a single

woman in Vancouver.

She was gratious

enough to let me

share her story in pic-

tures in APeeling. She

is a talented photo

storyteller with grace

and style.

Yiran is a Realtor

in the Downtown Van-

couver area. Connect

with her on LinkedIn,

she is intelligent and

interesting with a great

sense of humour.

Photo by Yiran Dong

What is

Integrity?

According to the

Webster’s dictionary

integrity is the quality of

being honest and hav-

ing strong moral princi-

ples; moral uprightness.

Or the state of being

whole and undivided.

This denition doesn’t

fully dene integrity.

Integrity is doing

what you say and com-

mitting to what you

said. It’s being congru-

ent in your messages,

being congruent in your

values, staying true to

yourself no matter the

situation.

It is also being true

to what you committed

to and having people in

relationships with you,

who are congruent to

that integrity as well.

It is being who you

say you are and match-

ing your behaviour with

your words.

It is the foundation

for a successful em-

ployee-employer rela-

tionship. It promotes a

culture where individu-

als can depend on one

another because they

treat each other with

respect. As a result,

Keynote Speaker | Facilitator | Consultant

APeeling Columnist

people are typically

more productive and

motivated.

Integrity

Story

If I think about in-

tegrity, I think about

holding people ac-

countable to their

words and actions. I

used to have Monday

meetings at Matrix, my

IT company, at noon

every week. It was an

hour and a half long

meeting about life by

design and people hat-

ed it, until they started

realizing why we were

doing it.

One guy would al-

ways show up late. I

wouldn’t have a con-

versation with him

about his tardiness

because I didn’t want

to have a conict and

he was such a good

employee. I didn’t want

to lose him because I

knew he didn’t like the

meeting and wanted to

rock the boat. I didn’t

push him. He kept on

showing up late and

then one day I said,

“Listen, you know you

are showing up 10 min-

utes late and there are

10 of us in this meet-

ing. That’s one hun-

dred people minutes

you waste each week

and I can’t afford for

you to not showing up

on time. You need to

show up on time.” The

next week, he showed

up late again. So, I told

him go home.

After that, he always

showed up on time.

I had to make showing

up on time important

to him and everyone

on the team. This was

a few years ago. He

messaged me a cou-

ple days ago saying,

“I wanted to reach

out and let you know

that you had a mas-

sive impact on my

life. My time at matrix

turned a lot of things

right for me. It led me

to where I am today

and I couldn’t be more

thankful. I often think

about how different

things would have

been if you guys had

not brought me on the

team.” I didn’t think he

got it, but he got it.

I believed in integ-

rity and following up. If

you say you’re going

to show up – show up.

If you can’t do it, give

people ample notice

that you can’t make it.

Don’t call in ve min-

utes before saying I’m

running late. You’re not

running late. You didn’t

think. You didn’t plan

and you didn’t commu-

nicate. I’m very particu-

lar about time.

I used to have a

saying in my in my IT

company, I have zero

tolerance for not being

excellent. That means

we push hard. We give

it all we got, we do

everything we need to

based on our core val-

ues, based on who we

are, and based on why

we do things. We give

it 110%. It’s not perfec-

tion, it’s effort. It’s not

saying “Well, whatev-

er, we’ll get through it.

We’ll just get it done.”

No, it’s about getting it

done so the people feel

that they got so much

value from you. They

feel your excellence.

Most people know

what Ritz stands for.

Excellent, excellent

service. I had the op-

portunity of staying

there one night through

a vendor, and I couldn’t

believe they knew my

name when I walked

up to the front desk.

The staff had a print-

out of a prole, includ-

ing a picture, on me

before I went in. They

nd you and now they

have Google glasses

to do facial recognition.

It’s not, “Hi, how are

you?” It’s “Hi, Mr. Lavji,

Welcome to the Ritz

Carlton. I hope your

travels from Vancouver

was good.” It’s an extra

personal service.

There was a sto-

ry about Ritz Carlton

where a couple who

went out one night

were going on a cruise

the next morning. The

wife’s heel broke on

their way back to the

hotel late at night.

When they passed the

concierge hobbling,

he says, “Can I have

your broken shoe? I’ll

Discover how integrity is

getting in the way of success

for your organization, your

team, and you.

Free ebook

Download

Click to Discover

have it resolved for

you before you leave

tomorrow morning on

your cruise.” He knew

exactly who they were

and that they were

leaving the next morn-

ing on a cruise. He

got the shoe xed and

dropped off at the room

nicely wrapped and

said, “Enjoy your trip.”

That is excellent ser-

vice.

That’s a different

level and when we get

to that level, we can

achieve excellence all

the time. But what’s

stopping us from get-

ting there? What blind

spot is stopping you

from living in integrity

and being excellent?

Your blind spots

affect every aspect of

your life, how you show

up in relationships,

and how you react to

others. Every single

one of your actions

causes either a posi-

tive or negative impact

on others, who then

react either positively

or negatively towards

you. This cycle can

cause an issue to es-

calate out of control or

an emotionally charged

situation to explode. In

a professional environ-

ment these reactions

can impact a person’s

future opportunities for

advancement and the

team’s effectiveness to

succeed. As a leader,

you will need the tools

to understand the sit-

uation and how to de-

fuse any negative emo-

tional build up.

Likky Lavji is the Blind

Spot Navigator, helping

organizations, teams, and

individuals discover the

blind spots in

their lives

Click to Discover

What is Your BS?

Take the Free BS Assessment to

discover Your Blind Spots

Click here

June 23rd, 2020

patio time

A Self Portrate

Photo by Yiran Dong

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with your clients

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nections with like minded people

There are those

leaders that rule by

fear and an iron st.

Where punishment for

‘not doing as I say’ is

the norm. These lead-

ers are only a leader

in name/title alone.

Their followers are not

really following out of

respect or motivation,

they do so only be-

cause of fear of some

repercussion, such as

losing their job. But

there is no real team

unity, cohesion and

support of the over-

all vision and mission.

And often, this creates

a high attrition rate.

On the opposite

end of the spectrum,

are those leaders that

may be very likeable

people, and want to

grow and nurture their

team, but lack the skills

to do so. They often

are people pleasers

who are afraid to take

a real stand as they

fear not being liked or

alienating team mem-

bers.

Both are

ineffective leaders

Most leaders are

made and not born.

Learning the skills to

be an effective and

powerful leader re-

quires personal de-

velopment as well

cultivating strong

communication skills

to enable a leader to

have “difcult” con-

versations, easily and

inspire team members

to follow.

One of my clients,

Alice, struggled in her

leadership and was a

real people pleaser.

Alice acted like a peer

for so long, that her

team of 12 treated her

like a peer instead of

the business owner

and CEO that she was.

She was afraid her

team would not sup-

port, aka like her, if she

made hard calls and

did not acquiesce to

their wishes. She felt

frustrated and defen-

sive in team meetings

when her authority was

challenged. Alice had

not garnered their re-

spect as a leader.

When CoVid hit,

she attempted to moti-

vate her team to pivot

and nd alternate ways

to serve the business-

es’ clients, but her

team essentially took a

vacation. She then re-

alized she alone is re-

sponsible for ensuring

her business survives

and thrives. Alice nal-

ly became the Captain

of the ship.

The coaching we

had been doing to

help her understand

what it meant to BE a

leader shifted from in-

tellectual understand-

People Pleaser

to Leader

By Alaina Schwartz, JD

ing to experiential

understanding and she

nally started leading.

As a leader, you

alone see all the mov-

ing parts and how they

t into the business

vision. While it is im-

portant to create trust

and inspire your team

to be in service of the

mission, ultimately, you

are responsible if the

ship sinks.

Your team does

not have the same

30k foot view you do

when making tough

decisions in service of

the business AND the

team.

Alice created trust

by communicating the

business vision and

listening to her team’s

concerns. As a result

of radically transform-

ing her communica-

tion skills, she got her

teams’ buy-in through

individual and collec-

tive meetings and re-

quired them to carry

out plans that gener-

ate results.

She ultimately

stopped being con-

cerned if they were

going to like her (and

they love her!) and

started concentrating

on them respecting her

instead.

She focused on

what the business’s

needs were and what

each team member’s

role was in meeting

those needs.

When CoVid hit,

Alice thought she was

going to lose her busi-

ness. Her business is

now humming along

with clear direction and

everyone is on pur-

pose. As a result, she

is earning more, work-

ing signicantly less,

providing less services

directly to clients and

standing in her role as

the CEO instead.

When you stop

caring about people

pleasing, lead with

compassion, develop

yourself and more ef-

fective communication

skills and align with the

business’s mission and

purpose, you are a far

more effective lead-

er and you’ll have the

results in your business

to prove it.

Alaina Schwartz, JD helps

leaders suceed and achieve

the results they want.

Click the peel to learn

more about her

July 3rd 2020

Yiran: When in doubt,

look at how water ows and trees grow

Photo by Yiran Dong

grow and move into

new areas, growing

opportunity for multi-

ple types of businesses

to open up until the

growth of the city stops

or decreases.

In the 1980s and

the 1990s local govern-

ments adopted Kirzner’s

ideology and switched

their focus to attracting

entrepreneurs in the

form of small business

owners. This is the time

the word gained pop-

ularity and became an

acceptable profession

to study in post-sec-

ondary schools. Today,

most of Canada’s econ-

omy is made up of en-

trepreneurs, small busi-

ness owners who are

trying to make a living

by building their own

small dreams. Not all

entrepreneurs own pri-

vate jets or live in man-

sions around the world,

most of us are just like

you, except we created

our jobs. Is it any sur-

prise that thirty years

later the denition of

the word has become

muddied and is over

used?

When I was help-

ing Anthony C. Gruppo

write his latest book,

Pushers of the Possible

(available on Amazon

- just saying), he told

me, “Everyone can be a

CEO. It is all in how you

dene the role.” An-

thony denes CEO as,

“Coaching yourself and

others, be Entrepre-

neurial in your thinking,

and Own the position.”

Does this sound like

you?

What does it mean

to be Entrepreneurial?

If everyone can be en-

trepreneurial, is being

one as common as a

penny, before Canada

made them obsolete?

Then I met Cam-

eron Chell. During his

weekly Build Impossible

calls, he talks about his

denition of the Entre-

preneur, as it applies

to Maslow’s hierarchy

of needs, saying entre-

preneurs are a unique

breed who need the

self-actualization before

everything else.

I asked ask my con-

nections on LinkedIn for

their denition.

Monte Clark - Sure.

I can dene it for you

Shannon Peel. Being

an entrepreneur is akin

APeeling

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to being a Navy seal. A

base jumper, a ropeless

cliff climber, a sky div-

er, a homeless person,

an artist, a general, a

warrior, a romantic, a

counselor, and a lunatic

all while loving every

single minute of it!

Tom Broxham - Re-

ally good question

Shannon Peel. Some

words become used

so often they become

buzz words and lose

all meaning. It is easy

to say someone is but

it is hard for someone

to actually be an en-

trepreneur. What peo-

ple don’t see is all the

work, dedication in

behind being one.

Marilyn Anderson

- When I think of the

Entrepreneurs I know,

a few common traits

come to mind, among

them - Curiosity, prob-

lem-solving, passion to

create/help/achieve, in-

terest in people, willing

to share, ready to work

hard and focus with

passion/risk for their

dream, realistic and

hard-working, engaging

and persuasive......

Toni Seron - I’ve

refused to call myself

an entrepreneur in the

past because I’ve only

created one company

(and, a sole proprietor-

ship at that) and I have

zero desire to build

anything more. How-

ever, I’ve expanded my

view on the topic be-

cause I’ve come to see

my determination and

commitment to what I

do as entrepreneurial.

Originally, I thought

an entrepreneur would

typically have the inter-

est and ability to create

more than one business

over their lifetime.

Neil Pretty - Interest-

ing question. I believe

that entrepreneurs have

a few qualities in com-

mon: a singular belief

that their ideas put into

the MarketAPeel forum

topic set up to continue

exploring this topic.

One nal denition

deep dive by asking the

word professionals -

The Dictionaries

The Oxford dictio-

nary says, “A person

who makes money by

starting or running busi-

nesses, especially when

this involves taking

nancial risks.”

1) Is a Person

2) Makes money

3) Starts a business

4) Runs a business

5) Takes nancial risks

The denition from the

Cambridge dictio-

nary is, “Someone who

starts their own busi-

ness, especially when

this involves seeing a

new opportunity”

1) A Person

2) Starts a business

3) Sees a new opportunity

The Merriam-Web-

ster dictionary says,

“One who organizes,

manages, and assumes

the risks of a business

or enterprise.”

1) Person

2) Organizes

3) Manages

4) Assumes Risk

5) Any business

6) Enterprise included

You may be wonder-

ing why I am putting so

much effort into den-

ing a word. I mean what

does it matter? Who

cares what the actual

denition is?

How many of you

communicate via text,

IM, email? How many

have received a one-

word text? A simple

sentence IM? A quickly

typed email? AND mis-

understood what the

sender meant, inter-

preted it wrong, result-

ing in an emotionally

charged reaction? I do

this all the time.

Given, a word like

Entrepreneur does not

result in an emotion-

ally charged misun-

derstanding, however

when one reads a job

description and it says

they are looking for

someone who is en-

trepreneurial, what are

they looking for?

An employer wants

to hire an entrepreneur

See more Items

Made with

Buffalo Leather

Available at

MarketAPeel.agency

as an employee? Is

that possible? And if so

how?

I know, failed entre-

preneurs can be look-

ing for work as employ-

ees, however, can they

be satised in an em-

ployee role if they are

truly an entrepreneurial

person? As you can

tell, my mind will keep

asking questions to try

to understand what is

meant.

Managers, business

leaders, thought lead-

ers, and business re-

porters tend to grasp

at the latest buzz word

to make it sound like

they are in the know,

they are at the cusp of

the next idea, and the

person we need to pay

attention to. Yet, most

use these buzz words

wrong, over use thme,

put them into their cor-

port materials and the

words lose all meaning.

I hope you will

start asking questions

when someone throws

around a buzz word, a

new word, or any de-

ning word of a sen-

tence to understand

what they really mean.

I doubt most really un-

derstand exactly what

they want.

I want to know what

you think about what

an entrepreneur is, who

they are at their core,

and why they do what

they do. Take a mo-

ment to go to the fo-

rum topic set up for this

topic and be apart of

the conversation while

making connections

with other like-mind-

ed-people.

Join me in the

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Social Media Challenge

Day One

Go to the “About Me” section of your social media proles.

• What does the messaging say about you?

• Is all the information current?

• Is all the information the same on each platform?

If your prole description needs a re-do, now is the time to do it.

Start out with what you do.

Ex “I tell brand stories on digital platforms.”

What makes you unique?

Ex “My experience in sales, marketing, writing, and graphic design ensures I

understand the whole brand storytelling process from start to nish.

”

What you can do for people?

Ex “When brands and professionals want to tell a cohesive story to their ideal

audiences using a multi-media and multi-channel approach, they call me.”

Use formal language on linkedIn, be more personable on your personal Facebook, and

keep your Twitter description short - with only one main hashtag and a link to your website.

Not sure what to do and need help writing your prole description?

Post what you have in the forum set up for this challenge to get feedback from

others.

Join the Challenge

Email Marketing

We’ve all done it.

Given away our email

for a free download,

assessment, informa-

tion. This is a fair trans-

action - I give you my

email address and you

give me something I

want.

Now you’ve set up

the download, you’ve

collected the email ad-

dress of your potential

future client and you

start emailing them a

whole bunch of con-

tent every day. STOP

with the low value dai-

ly content. It will raise

the chance of people

unsubscribing and

when they do that, the

email programs learn

your email address has

a high chance of being

spam and you will end

up in the spam folder.

To give more val-

ue you create another

downloadable digital

product similar to the

one which enticed me

to give you my email

address. You put to-

gether the email with a

link to a landing page

where I can download

the new document. I

click and the landing

page comes up ask-

ing me to give you my

email address again

in order to download.

STOP! You’ve got my

email address why

are you putting me

right back at the top

of your funnel? You

are supposed to be

building trust, bringing

me closer to a buying

decision, not starting

me right back at the

beginning. Asking

me to put in my email

address again is a

barrier and I’m going

to unsubscribe be-

cause you don’t know

what you’re doing. No,

because it’s frustrating

and it’s easier to hit

unsubscribe than it is

to jump through hoops

to get what I wanted.

If you want to have

a strong email list who

is excited to open up

your email and click

the link to get more

information. Make sure

to make it easy, valu-

able, and rare.

What Not To Do

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branded and you will have a one week

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process to tell a comprehensive branded story

Write Your Story Challenge

Want to write your life story for prosperity, your

family, or perhaps for yourself? Daily writing

prompts to ignite your memories

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Community Support

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Since the early days

of the US response to

COVID-19, our kitchen

table has been home

to a pile of newspapers

in various states of or-

der. There’s the stack

of the week’s papers,

the news sometimes

too fresh and real to

face. There’s the fold-

ed assortment of mini

crosswords from Page

3 that often serve as

a welcome alternative

to polite conversation

at yet another meal

at home. There’s the

treasure trove of arti-

cles that struck a chord

awaiting clipping and

glueing into my now

beloved Quarantine

Journal.

Today’s crossword,

actually published 6

weeks ago yet still

lingering in the pile,

gives two clues on the

power of print to reach

and connect with all

those customers safe

at their own kitchen

tables. Eight across

- “things stuffed in

takeout bags” and one

down - “answer to the

riddle ‘what stays in

one corner but travels

around the world?’”.

Now is the time to

use print to the advan-

tage of your business

to solve the riddle of

how to stay connected

with customers. With

the help of a local

printer, you can pro-

duce printed pieces

like my beloved news-

papers that make it

from the mailbox, past

the recycling bin, to

the pile on the kitch-

en table where they’ll

be seen, enjoyed and

discussed again and

again.

Brené Brown taught

me long ago that hu-

man beings are wired

for connection and

belonging. Right now

we are missing out on

being the places where

we feel that sense of

belonging. Print and

direct mail give busi-

nesses the opportunity

to safely connect with

customers and give

them an experience of

that feeling of belong-

ing they have when we

are together in person.

The printed menu

stuffed in the takeout

bag can remind us of

all the nights off from

cooking we’ve enjoyed

over the years at our

neighborhood Thai

restaurant. The stamp

doesn’t have to travel

all around the world,

just around the town,

to introduce us to a

new service we are not

even aware of in the

pandemic.

Printed

Pieces That

Persist

By Alicia Wilhelmy

Here are just a few

ideas of ways to use

print and the post to

create connection with

your customers. The

main point is to have

fun with it and imagine

your ideal customer

checking the mail, tak-

ing her undistracted

walk to the mailbox,

sorting through what

has arrived, and de-

ciding what will make

it past the recycling

bin to the kitchen ta-

ble where it has the

opportunity to remind

her and the rest of her

family over and over

that you are missing

them too and available

in new and unique

ways during this time.

Provide useful in-

formation - give them

a recipe, a seasonal

checklist, a calendar of

full moons, be creative.

Make it interactive and

better yet, funny - even

our TikTok obsessed

teen put down the

phone and picked up

a pencil to do a “Mad-

Libs” in the paper re-

cently. How about a

mini crossword, word

search, “I Spy” game,

coloring page, riddles,

jokes or some trivia

the person checking

the mail will want to

share with the family?

This does not just ap-

ply to households with

children - everybody

needs to have a laugh

and some fun right

now.

Tell a story - Re-

member that whole

we are wired for con-

nection and belonging

thing? Guess what?

It makes us love sto-

ries. Tell the story of

your business, one of

your favorite custom-

ers, somebody in your

neighborhood, one of

your awesome employ-

ees. Use photography

carefully to add the

sense of being present

- creating virtual eye

contact from the print-

ed piece.

When all else fails,

harness the power of

cute - animals are win-

ning at marketing right

now. Our golden re-

triever gets more likes

than any of us when

he shows up on social.

The same is true for

print.

While the pandem-

ic is challenging us in

so many ways, it can

also give us the op-

portunity to connect

with our core custom-

ers and bolster the

relationship and brand

loyalty that every busi-

ness wants. Using

print and the power

of the post to connect

with your customers

in the pandemic is a

win-win for business.

Let them know you’re

thinking of them, and

they’ll be thinking of

you too.

Alicia Wilhelmy Experienced

small business owner with

a demonstrated history

of working in the printing

industry.

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All stories are wrtitten and edited by contributors and not the

property, opinion, or views of MarketAPeel

July 6th 2020

Photo by Yiran Dong

Pivoting during Con-

tent is a huge part of

every business’s overall

strategy. It forms part

of your branding, your

marketing, your busi-

ness plan. It’s a large

component of how you

reach your goals, re-

gardless of what your

goals are.

If you want to be

noticed, you must be

publishing content that

appeals to your target

audience on a regular

basis.

But what do you

do if you have no idea

what to create? How

do you come up with

the content ideas to

ll your emails, sales

funnels, blog posts, or

ads?

It’s something al-

most every single one

of my clients have

struggled with – and

what they pay me to

help them with. But

it’s also something I

struggled with for many

years in my own busi-

ness, and this struggle

made me feel like a bit

of a fraud.

Why was it so easy

for me to create a con-

tent plan for my clients,

but so difcult for me

to create one for my

own business?

Part of the answer

was hidden in the pro-

cess I use for my cli-

ents.

Once I realized this

and started implement-

ing the same process

for my own business, I

stopped struggling with

coming up with ideas.

My Process

#1. Look at

competitors

When I sign a new

client, the rst thing I

do is go look at 3 of

their top competitors.

(3 is the “magic” num-

ber. It’s not so many

that it’s overwhelming

or takes forever, and it’s

enough to see trends.)

Who are they?

How are offers positioned?

What is their price point?

Incentives offered?

What they post on social?

What topics of blog posts?

Do they engage audience?

I also sign up for

their lead magnets and

emails so, I can see

what they’re doing on

the back end.

I call this “Ethical

Stalking,” because all

of this stuff is public do-

main, and it’s not done

so that you can copy

what your competitors

are doing; copying is

unethical and if you

care about your busi-

ness reputation, you’ll

avoid it at all costs.

Remember, you and

your competitors share

an audience, and the

audience will notice if

things are too similar. If

you’re copying, you’ll

Innite

Content ideas

By Trina Waller

likely be called out for

it or worse, be served

a cease and desist.

Your goal with Ethi-

cal Stalking is to form a

baseline that will allow

you see what’s being

overdone or what’s

not being focused on

enough, then create

content to ll the gaps.

Going deeper, the

strategy you use to

create content after

analyzing your com-

petitors could do one

of two things:

a.Indicate allyship, or

b.Create polarity

i.e. If you’re trying to

show an allyship, pick

a piece of your com-

petitor’s content and

expand on it. If you’re

trying to create polari-

ty, pick a piece of con-

tent and offer a differ-

ing opinion.

A word of warning

if you choose to try to

create polarity: your

goal is to make your

business stand out, not

bash your competitors.

Bad-mouthing your

competitors doesn’t in-

cite trust from your au-

dience and can cause

them to turn on you.

Use this strategy care-

fully and thoughtfully.

#2. What comes

“Second-Nature”

What are they nat-

urally good at? Create

content around it.

I ask my clients

about the things in

their business, prod-

ucts, or services that

they don’t even have

to think about. The

things they (mistaken-

ly) assume that every-

one knows – or should

know.

These are the

things you should be

creating content about

because they are al-

most never common

knowledge to anyone

Which

story to

tell?

outside your industry.

People tend to hes-

itate with this because

they think it’s too ba-

sic, too easy. But con-

tent doesn’t need to

be complex to be en-

gaging. As a matter of

fact, the easier it is to

understand, the better

it’s received.

#3 Create content

around what they

don’t know

Depending on their

industry, I may ask my

clients to tell me about

what they don’t know

(yet) but wish they did.

Then, I encourage

them to spend some

time learning some-

thing and document

the process so that

content can be created

around it.

People love to see

other people learning,

especially if it’s at their

own level.

While this content

strategy doesn’t work

for every industry,

if done right, it can

make you more relat-

able to your audience

by showing that even

if you’re an expert,

you’re not an expert

in everything. It shows

that you’re willing to

be vulnerable, to be

real.

And people like to

do business with peo-

ple who are real.

#4 Let the audience

tell you

Oftentimes, busi-

nesses will create

content around what

we think the audience

should know about.

The audience usually

has different ideas.

What are some of

the most asked ques-

tions your clients or

potential clients have?

What are they com-

menting about the

most on your social

feeds? How many

times have you written

the same informational

email to different peo-

ple?

These are the

things your audience

wants to know about,

and they’re at out

telling you that. Cre-

ating content around

these things before

they have a chance to

ask can position you as

someone who “gets”

them and allows you

to start forming a re-

lationship before they

even approach you.

A lack of content

ideas was only part of

what was holding me

back. The other part

was being unsure how

to create the content.

So even on the rare oc-

casion that I had a fan-

tastic idea for a con-

tent piece, I struggled

with creating it. Not

because I’m not a writ-

er, but because I am.

I have a long history

in creative writing; I’ve

been writing stories

since I was 7 years old.

Some of them have

even been published

internationally in well-

known publications.

I also spent years in

corporate writing pro-

fessional business doc-

uments.

But there’s a big dif-

ference between cre-

ative or business writ-

ing and writing copy.

This difference is what

causes most people to

hesitate for one of two

reasons:

•For those who have a

background in writing,

they think they know

what they’re doing,

but when their content

ops, they have no

idea what went wrong.

•For those that have

no experience in writ-

ing, they think their

writing sucks, so they

seldom get started.

When I rst started

writing content copy

for clients, I had to

unlearn everything I

thought I knew about

writing.

Writing copy for

various content types

doesn’t follow the

traditional rules of ei-

ther creative or busi-

ness writing. It’s bold

enough to complete-

ly throw out the rule

book, too.

Copy writing

doesn’t care if you’re a

writer. It cares that you

have something to say.

The real “secret” to

writing content is to

write how you talk. Be-

cause content is creat-

ed to spark a conversa-

tion with the audience.

And we don’t ever talk

with perfect grammar.

Oh snap! I just started

sentences with ‘and’

and ‘because.’ Strunk

& White are rolling

over in their graves.

But Copy doesn’t care.

Colloquialisms? Bring

it on! Copy LOVES

them.

Clichés? They’re

welcomed with open

arms.

Typos? Copy

doesn’t even sea them

unless their’s alot.

Maintaining style

throughout a piece?

Whatevs. Copy’s cool

with it.

Anthropomorphiz-

ing things? Yup, Copy

likes it when you give

things a personality.

But Copy doesn’t like

big words. Copy reads

at around a grade 7 or

8 level and doesn’t like

to use a dictionary.

So if you’re struggling

to come up with con-

tent, throw out every-

thing you think it has

to be and just write. Or

pull out a voice record-

er app on your phone

and speak it. There are

many apps out there

that will transcribe your

words into text for you.

The more content you

create, the easier it

becomes.

Click to Discover

Trina Waller helps

people with their

social media

content.

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to APeeling?

As a novelist, I cre-

ate characters out of

thin air and put them

into different situations

to tell a story. The more

I know about the char-

acter, the more believ-

able I can make their

reactions. The more

believable their reac-

tions, the better the

story.

You don’t want ev-

ery person who walks

through the door be-

cause most will cause

you more headaches

than they are worth.

That is the great thing

about being self em-

ployed - It’s your busi-

ness, you get to work

with the clients you

want. Yes, money is

part of the equation, but

you only have so much

time to work, don’t ll it

up with the wrong thing.

Take what you have to

in order to pay the bills

and leave enough time

to tell your story to the

optimal clientele.

Understand your busi-

ness, product, and ser-

vice

To determine your ideal

market, you will need to

completely understand

your product, service,

and business. I know

you think you under-

stand it, however, what

I mean is you are able

to explain it to every-

one, even the ones

who may be a little slow

on the uptake.

• What does your

business do?

• What problems does

your product or service

solve?

• Why should a person

buy your product or

service?

You are working too

hard for too little if you

do not know why some-

one should buy from

them or whom your

customers are.

Know Thyself

Grasshopper.

It is easier to trust

someone when they

are like you rather than

extremely different. By

knowing yourself, you

will be able to deter-

mine what characteris-

tics in a customer are

more likely to result in

a positive experiences

and referrals.

Characterization

Method

Certain characters

are based on arch

types. These are two

dimensional charac-

ters who are limited

by the expectations of

the reader. They are

used by authors for a

certain role in specic

story genres and for

the most part, they are

not based on real peo-

ple and rarely grow or

change.

Know Your

Ideal Audience

By Shannon Peel

In some stories

the characters feel

real, you can relate

to them, you under-

stand them and can

see yourself being

friends with them. They

are awed, learn and

grow as the story pro-

gresses. These are the

well-rounded charac-

ters who are created

through a process of

asking questions, cre-

ating back stories, and

drawing from people in

the real world. This is

the kind of process you

want to engage in to

dene your ideal client.

Start by identifying

your favourite clients. If

you don’t have any yet,

think about the kinds of

people you get along

best with.

Demographics are

Not Enough

Let’s start with the

easy stuff, the obvious

part of target marketing

– demographic stats.

These include, age,

gender, race, profes-

sion, married, single,

kids, homeowner, ad-

dress, and income.

Write down the gen-

eral demographics of

your ideal client, then

take it one step further

by asking why you

want to target that age,

gender, etc and how

will your product or ser-

vice help each group?

• What hobbies does

your client have?

• Where do they shop?

• Where do they like to

eat, go for drinks, exer-

cise, and vacation?

Ask all the ques-

tions which will tell you

what kind of buying

habits they have, their

recreational choices,

and how they value

their status or image.

Which values does

your ideal client have?

Values encompass

things like, honesty,

courage, leadership,

and vision. The Inter-

net has lots of lists to

help you dene a per-

son’s values.

What does your client

want most of all?

The common wants

are, security, fame,

adventure, happiness

and love. Once again

you can do a Google

search to come up with

a list to help you.

What about your cli-

ent’s morality or belief

system?

Things people pas-

sionately stand for are

charities, causes, polit-

ical views, religion, and

world order. This is a

starting target for your

core ideal client, so

though you may think

this isn’t important, it is,

because it will help you

identify where to nd

your clients.

What is the main prob-

lem your client has?

This is where your

ability to solve their

problem comes in.

Look deeper into the

problem by asking

probing open ended

questions.

• Why does he have it?

• How does he communi-

cate that he has it?

•

Does he even know

that he has it?

• When does your client’s

problem become so

critical they need your

solution, yesterday?

• Is it when they are

standing knee deep in

water?

Understand how

this problem ts in your

ideal client’s life and

what it looks like when

he needs your solution.

Don’t get so de-

tailed that you will only

target ve-foot-nine,

blue eyed, blonde

haired, bombshells

with great bodies. You

want to keep your

characterization gener-

al enough to describe

a decent sized group

of people. If you nd

your ideal market is too

tight, loosen up your

criteria, if it’s too large,

tighten up your criteria.

This is your ideal mar-

ket, however, the size

of your budget will help

determine how large of

a market you can af-

ford to broadcast to.

APeeling

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Monthly

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do for your company

Story creates connections between

people by touching our souls and

weaving the threads of our lives

together into a larger tapestry

If you don’t know how to tell your story or don’t have the

time, MarketAPeel has created two solutions to help you.

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Design A Plan

for Covid

by Vanya Wryter

Around us, busi-

nesses are reopening,

like Sleeping Beauty’s

castle after the spell

is broken. Many peo-

ple experienced life

during a pandemic

for the very rst time.

They saw their favou-

rite businesses close

temporarily or perma-

nently. Around them,

people lost jobs. They

changed their every-

day routines and were

separated from friends

and family.

This was the world

that many people had

experienced as they

entered phase 2. One

question lingered on

their minds:

Was it safe to go

back to the restau-

rants, stores, and work-

places they used to

frequent?

This question is an

important one that our

organization, Yellow

Cross, chose to tackle

for business owners.

If you are reopening

your business during

the pandemic, a clear

training plan for your

staff can improve safe-

ty for both employees

and customers.

Clear Plan for

Reopening

Before reopening,

you will need to de-

vise a clear plan for

your staff and place of

business. Some of the

questions you will want

to ask yourself include:

how many employees

will be returning to

work? What areas of

your business will be

open to the public?

And which areas will

be accessed by your

employees?

Old habits will need

to change. Staff will

no longer be able to

gather in the lunch-

room or watercool-

er, for example. As a

result, shared work

areas will need to be

cleaned, but how of-

ten? And who will be

responsible for the

cleaning?

Everyone, including

staff and customers,

will need to practice

physical distancing,

but how will you en-

force those restric-

tions? Will you limit

the number of people

in the ofce? Will you

provide signage to

direct the ow of trafc

into and out of your

place of business?

Other consider-

ations are the number

of customers that will

be permitted into your

business at any given

time and whether the

installation of plexi-

glass barriers will be

necessary.

Some areas of your

business may already

be online. But for cus-

tomers who are physi-

cally in your business,

how can you ensure

that you have done

the best you can to

protect the health and

safety of customers

and staff? What train-

ing plan will you de-

vise to protect them

from COVID-19?

Training Workers

for Their Return

to Work

Training your work-

ers can be an enor-

mous undertaking,

especially if you have

many employees,

multiple work shifts,

or health and safety

training is not your

area of expertise. We

have created an edu-

cation and certication

program that prepares

your business for re-

opening.

The main benet

of our online infection

prevention and con-

trol program is that

your employees can

access the training at

their convenience. The

training covers many

critical points, from

disinfecting to hand-

washing.

Workers should

be aware of how

COVID-19 spreads.

Understanding the

science is critical to

understanding why

specic measures must

be put in place to slow

the spread of the virus.

For example, we teach

clear directions on cor-

rect handwashing pro-

cedures, when to wash

hands with soap, or

when the use of hand

sanitizer is acceptable.

The training also cov-

ers procedures for

common work areas,

such as shared work-

spaces, the company

kitchen, and the ofce

photocopier. It an-

swers questions such

as what cleaning pro-

cedures need to be in

place and who would

be responsible for

those procedures.

Some old habits will

need to change, such

as sitting down to use

a shared computer,

or crowding into an

elevator to get to the

ofce on time. New

procedures will be in

place to handle these

situations.

These procedures

will be customized for

your specic business

and will be developed

as a joint effort be-

tween your staff and

the business owners

and employers.

New signage will

also regulate the ow

of movement in your

business. We provide

the signage to show

customers safe dis-

tancing from other

customers and staff.

Our Yellow Cross Certi-

ed SAFE signage will

clearly let the public

know that your es-

tablishment has gone

through proper train-

ing for their health and

safety.

The Advantage of

Formal Training

When staff mem-

bers have complet-

ed their training and

passed the exam, they

will receive a certicate

and your company can

claim it is Yellow Cross

certied. This certica-

tion is the vital differ-

ence between reopen-

ing with training and

reopening with only

assumptions about

best practices.

With this certica-

tion, your business is

demonstrating that it

is aware of its LEGAL

responsibility to pro-

tect your employees

and customers. Most

other programs do not

educate your frontline

employees, which pro-

vides an opening for

liability claims should

an employee or cus-

tomer catch COVID-19

at your place of work.

For more information

about the Certied

SAFE program visit yel-

lowcross.org or contact

vanyawryter@gmail.

com.

Vanya helps clients

tell their success

story to the world

Want to Write Your Story?

Become an APeeling Member

For tips and support to Help

You tell Your Story

Click on the Peel

Help Make APeeling Better

Click Peel to

take a quick Survey

Is your child struggling with Math, English, Biology?

Carter Allen offers tutoring for all ages. He graduated from highschool with

over 90% in all subjects and made the deans list in his rst year of university.

Click Peel to email him.

Published!

Cutest Video

Video here

Steve Aspinall, of

Marsh Commercial

UK, created a video to

inspire his colleagues,

who moved from an

ofce environment to a

work from home situa-

tion during social dis-

tancing.

Anthony Gruppo

sent me this slice of

the video, which fea-

tures the book Mar-

ketAPeel helped him

write and publish. The

video was so cute, I

just had to share it.

I contacted Steve to

get his permission and

discovered he original-

ly, meant to create one

video for his ofce and

they loved it so much

he agreed to make

more. Before he knew

it, other members of

Marsh Commercial UK

were asking for them.

He has committed

to make 3 per week

and post them to a

YouTube channel to

bring people humour

during a challenging

time.

I love the creativ-

ity being generated

by people during their

isolation. Social media

is full of funny, interest-

ing, and educational

creative content.

I hope Steve con-

tinues to inspire us with

his videos after he’s

back in the ofce.

Click to

watch

Pushers of the Possible

Available on Amazon

Published!

Anthony C. Gruppo, CEO of Marsh Commercial, UK, talks

to business leaders who started out with a dream and the

determination to build successful companies by Pushing the

Possible in both life and business. Join Anthony and his guests as

they share their stories, the advice they received from some of the

greats, and how they Pushed the Possible in their lives.

Buy it Today

“I’m calling you and

all of my friends and

colleagues of color to

check-in and see

how you are doing.”

That was the voice-

mail I left for a client-

turned-friend to see

how he was doing. I

hadn’t rehearsed what

I was going to say.

I was just calling to

check-in on a friend

like I had with the

co-author of this series

on race, Gina Green-

lee.

The next day I was

delighted when my

friend’s name popped

on my phone. We

updated each other

on our kids, shared

Covid-19 impacts and

discussed the latest

act of racism and the

ensuing protests to

end police brutality.

It Takes Courage

and Openness. “One

more thing before we

hang-up,” he said. “I

have to tell you this

because we’ve known

each other a long time

and I value our friend-

ship.”

I couldn’t imagine

what he was about

to share with me.

“I really appreciat-

ed you calling me the

other day and leaving

me a voicemail. But

when you said you

were ‘calling all of your

friends of color to see

how they are doing’

I was taken aback. I

thought I was your

friend, not a friend

that is in some folder

on your desk marked

black friends”.

I kept listening.

I didn’t defend the

voice message I had

left. Instead, I really

wanted to understand

his perspective.

“Imagine if I said

to you, ‘I’m calling all

of my friends of white-

ness to see how they

are doing’. See how

that sounds?”

It took courage for

my friend to broach

this sensitive issue with

me. It took openness

on my part to listen

and not defend.

The Complexities

of Racial Identity

Like anything in life,

people perceive and

react to the same sit-

uation in countless

differing ways. People

who identify as black,

African-American,

bi-racial, a person of

color or BIPOC (black,

indigenous, people of

color) are no more ho-

mogenous than white

people. When asked

Race: Discussing

the Undiscussable

By Margaret H. Greenberg with Gina Greenlee

what the black commu-

nity’s reaction was to

one of his movies, ac-

tor Denzel Washington

replied, “I don’t know;

the black community

doesn’t meet at my

house on Wednesday

nights.”

My client-turned-

friend was taken aback

by my friends of color

lexicon. When I ex-

plored the use of the

same language with

another friend and

co-author Gina, she

replied, “That totally

works for me.”

“Telling me, ‘I don’t

see you as black’, is

to deny a large part of

who I am, how I exist

in society and what

informs my worldview;

in short, my culture.”

She went on to ex-

plain, “My maternal

great-grandmother

was white and my

paternal great-grand-

mother was Native

American. I never knew

either woman. They

are not reected in my

appearance or life ex-

periences. I self-iden-

tify both as black and

African-American.”

Comedian, creator

and producer Rob-

in Thede of HBO’s

A Black Lady Sketch

Show self identies

as black and Afri-

can-American. Her

mother is black and

her father is white.

American golfer

Tiger Woods self-iden-

ties as mixed race.

Margaret and Gina

His father was of Afri-

can-American, Chinese

and Native American

descent. His mother is

of Thai, Chinese and

Dutch descent.

When, in a 1997 in-

terview, Oprah Winfrey

asked Woods whether

it bothered him being

called African-Ameri-

can, he said it did. As

a teenager, he had

coined his own term

to describe his racial

identity: Cablinasian -

a person who is Cauca-

sian, Black, American

Indian and Asian.

And, the lesser

known San Franciscan

who lmed a white

couple calling the po-

lice about a Black Lives

Matter message he

stenciled in chalk out-

side of his home, is of

Filipino descent and

identies as a person

of color.

Recent events have

prompted conversa-

tions of race and racial

identity all over Amer-

ica and around the

world. Talking with our

friends of varied col-

ors is a good start. But

where we can have an

even bigger, positive

impact is to have these

conversations in the

workplace -- the place

where many people

rst interact with some-

one who looks differ-

ent from themselves.

One of the Unwrit-

ten Rules of the Work-

place. For decades,

Human Resources

professionals have

instructed managers,

“Don’t discuss race at

work.”

It all started with

the EEOC and the in-

terview process in an

effort to prevent dis-

crimination. For exam-

ple, there are illegal

questions that cannot

be asked in a job inter-

view. Concern for how

discussions of race,

religion, sexual orien-

tation, disability and

other sensitive topics

may polarize and dis-

rupt the productivity

of employees, many

HR professionals have

discouraged manag-

ers from talking about

them.

Fast forward to

2020. Now managers

are expected to facili-

tate a meaningful dia-

logue about race with

their employees, how-

ever, few managers

are equipped with the

emotional intelligence

(EQ) skills – such as

empathy, compassion

and listening – to be

able to condently do

so. As one HR lead-

er shared recently, “I

cringe at the idea of

where these conversa-

tions could lead and

the trouble they could

cause - not just from a

discrimination lawsuit

perspective, but just

a work environment

perspective. It always

seemed safer to just

tell managers to avoid

these conversations.”

“I’m not saying we

shouldn’t do it,” she

went on to explain.

“I’m just saying we

have a lot of education

and development to

do.”

Building the Frame-

work as We Go“When

conversations on

race happen without

thought and care,”

says race scholar and

NY Times best-selling

author Ijeoma Oluo,

“it’s pretty much just a

shouting match unless

we have useful termi-

nology and discussion

tactics. And we don’t

because we are told

that racism lives in the

hearts and minds of in-

dividuals; there’s noth-

ing we can do about it

but convince racists to

love people of color.

So, when you are ex-

periencing a nice per-

son who is treating you

differently because of

the color of your skin,

where does that t for

you and where does

that t for the person

whose only descriptor,

when you say, ‘that’s

racist,’ is someone

who’s lighting a cross

on re?”

So as we stumble

our way into this new

territory of discussing

the undiscussables we

must do so while also

gathering a shared

lexicon and guidance

for those leading or

facilitating these dis-

cussions. To forbid or

avoid discussion of

race in the workplace

is to perpetuate mag-

ical thinking. Because

the truth? “We’re al-

ways talking about

race,” says Oluo. “We

talk about race when

we don’t ask people

what they need and

what their experiences

are.

We’re talking about

it in our everyday de-

cisions. We might as

well try to do it with

a little thought and

care.”

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Click Peel to

take a quick Survey

Check out more about Mar-

garet and Gina’s story about

discussing the undiscusable.

July 11th 2020

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Lazaro Silva

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The

Giveback

by Paula Curteanu

What’s next for

Racial Equity?

Converting interest

into Action

When my 15 year

old white son watched

the videos of George

Floyd being publicly

exe-cuted by white po-

lice men, he said with

his head down: ‘by the

time I grow up, white

men will be the most

hated on earth and

they will be killed on

the streets for this.”

It was hard to debate

that point of view.

I wonder what

15-year-old black teens

felt as they watched it.

What did their black

parents tell them about

their future? I don’t

want to trade places

with her.

Here are some

facts. Racism was in-

vented by white peo-

ple, using weapons

and violence to op-

press in order to gain

more wealth and more

power.

Racism was born

out of fear, turned into

greed – which is fear

of not having enough.

Throughout history,

the people who didn’t

directly oppress others

due to the colour of

their skin, did it indi-

rectly by being quiet

about it, and silently

reaping the bene-ts.

Some of the biggest

insurers, such as Lloyds

of London, publicly

admitted last month

that they made their

fortune from the slave

trade, by insuring the

slave ships, and their

company is the still the

most underrepresent-

ed when it comes to

diversity in the entire

insurance industry.

We know. But we

accept it and we car-

ry on with our daily

chores and online

shopping.

Why do we do

this?

White privilege is

not about majority -

80% of the world pop-

ulation is non-white.

Economy wise, South

America, China, and

India - largely non-

white regions, hold

the majority of the

world’s economic pow-

er. So how come such

a small sector of the

population, without

a monopoly on eco-

nomic advantage, hold

power when dening

the standards of white

privilege?

I really don’t know.

But why do we allow

it?

When we watch

the news and other

media platforms ha-

tred is running ram-

pant, but is it true?

Is there more hatred

than compassion in the

world as of today?

What I do know is

I can simply choose to

act. If I don’t even try

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EMPOWER the

PERFECTIONIST

Child

Does your child get

down on herself? Is she

hard on herself? Is she

a ‘perfectionist’ child?

Some parents have

reached out to me

to ask what they can

do to help their child

who they believe has

perfectionist tenden-

cies. As someone who

grew up with a moth-

er with perfectionist

tendencies, I picked

up those qualities too

in many ways. It isn’t

easy going into the

adult world expecting

and wanting things to

be perfect from the

start, and then realiz-

ing there will be many

roadblocks, ‘plan B’s’

– which a perfectionist

mostly hates, and even

failures. -- What? Fail-

ure? Aarrgh (running

in the opposite direc-

tion…Right?)

I’ve been working

on those tendencies

since I was 19 years

old and have worked

to diminish the effects

of these habits on my

life. There are adults

in their 60’s now trying

to unravel their perfec-

tionist habits so they

can learn to enjoy life

more. This is isn’t easy

as we get older, so the

sooner we start with

young kids, the better

off they will be in the

long run.

There isn’t one sin-

gle answer that will

‘t’ each child because

each child is unique.

But here are some

ways to help your child

that will benet her re-

gardless, and will help

to increase the connec-

tion in your relation-

ship.

First, what are some

signs of a perfectionist

child?

•Gives up easily after

only 1 or 2 attempts of

something,

•Unable to overcome

mistakes,

•Has difculty manag-

ing change,

•Self-critical, self-con-

scious, or easily em-

barrassed,

•Sensitive to criticism

even if it’s constructive,

•Anxiety about making

mistakes,

•Procrastinates or

avoids challenging

tasks,

•Tendency to stay in

comfort zone,

•Emotionally and so-

cially inhibited,

•Critical of others,

•Difculty decision

making…

These are just a few.

So what can

you do?

Be vulnerable

and open; share your

past mistakes or poor

choices with your child

(based on what is age

appropriate of course).

It can be hard for par-

Ashley Anjlien Kumar

ents to open up and

be vulnerable with

their kids; many par-

ents struggle with

showing their mistakes,

aws or poor choic-

es from the past. But

sharing these “imper-

fect” parts of yourself

allows you to reach

your child on ‘their’

level - you become

approachable/reach-

able - and that is life

changing!

If you choose to not

share your imperfec-

tions, mistakes or poor

choices, then your

child has only your

achievements to ‘mea-

sure’ up against. Not

because you are ask-

ing them to ‘measure

up’ and not because

she is trying to ‘mea-

sure up.’ But because

her brain doesn’t have

anything else to com-

pare to right now. At

least not on that very

intimate relationship

level than can only be

experienced in the par-

ent-child dynamic.

When you step out

of your comfort zone

and share your mis-

takes with your child,

be sure to share the

LESSON you learned

from it, and how expe-

riencing the mistake

actually helped you. If

kids can see the posi-

tives around a mistake,

a mistake is less threat-

ening.

Sharing Points:

What did you gain

from the mistake?

How did you grow

from the mistake?

How has the lesson

helped you in other

areas of your life?

Here is a story I

would tell my child

5-10 year old child

about a poor choice

from my past:

When I was 7 years

old, I made a very poor

choice that was disre-

spectful and affecte d

many people negative-

ly.

At the time, my

parents had some odd

changes in their work

schedules meaning

they had to drop me

off to school SUPER

early – we’re talking

like before 7am when

nobody else was there

yet except the janitor.

I was advised to sit on

the oor in the hallway

on the cold somewhat

sandy tile oors and

wait quietly. I wasn’t

offered any toys or

activities to do but I

may have taken 1 or 2

books with me to read

while in the hallway.

If the conditions were

for a few days, I’m sure

I would’ve handled it.

But, it was for a month

and it was scary being

alone in the cold dark

hallway. I remember

trying to communicate

with my parents about

what I was feeling, but

in our family similar to

many other families

just trying to make it in

the world, we just did

what we had to do.

Feelings needed to

be put aside.

I was feeling upset,

not in control of the

situation, and slightly

neglected.And one

day, I ‘acted out.’ It

was impulsive, which is

expected for kids, but I

also remember it being

oddly thrilling. I walked

into the classroom of a

teacher I did not par-

ticularly like; I threw

stuff around, I messed

up her papers on her

desk, I knocked over a

plant, and the worst….

Remember rubber

cement that was used

in schools in the 80’s?

I took the rubber ce-

ment wand and paint-

ed glue all over the

ivory keys of the teach-

er’s piano!!!

Aaaghh. Talk about

vandalism. Oh did I

get in trouble.

I was scared for my

life. I was grounded,

most of my privileges

were taken away, and

boy did I lose the trust

of everyone in school.

My friends teased

me also. The secretary

Ms. Cormier, who had

loved me prior to this,

was suddenly very cold

toward me.

When might I share

this story? When the

opportunity arises to

teach my child:

• What to do when it

comes to someone

else’s property, belong-

ings, or ‘stuff.’

• What is a disrespect-

ful choice.

• The negative impacts

of a poor choice on me

- how does it play out

in your life when you

make a poor choice…

Sure there were

things my parents

could have done differ-

ently, but it’s likely they

didn’t have much of an

option – things were

different in the 80’s

(less ex time at work,

tougher workplace pol-

icies etc.) In the end, it

was a choice I made.

Through this mistake I

learned:

1) How disrespectful

behaviour can cause

hardship or pain for

people– including my-

self.

2) My life was nega-

tively impacted – peo-

ple lost trust in me, I

lost my privileges.

3) When you break the

rules or cross boundar-

ies, the consequences

can be severe.

4) How to make bet-

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ter choices that don’t

cause harm. And many

more lessons!

The point is, when

I can share this with

my child, my child can

say, “Wow Mom. You

did that huh? It was a

pretty big mistake.”

And suddenly I’m not

up there, this towering

parent who never did

anything wrong, who

my child can never dis-

appoint.

Ashley Anjlien Kumar

is a mother of 2, au-

thor, speaker and certi-

ed Wisdom Coach™

for Kids. She goes

by ‘The Condence

Coach’ and coach-

es kids all across the

country. Have grown

up experienc-ing

low self-worth, poor

self-image, and self-

harm from as young

as age 6, Ashley now

dedicates her time to

empowering kids to

develop ‘Sensation-

al Self-Condence &

Soaring Self-Esteem’ in

order to live a self-em-

powered, self-connect-

ed and self-motivated

amazing life! She can

be reached at ashley@

ashleyanjlienkumar.net

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First 30 days free

We all have a sto-

ry, a legacy, a mem-

oir. Sites like Ances-

try.com give us dates

and places but they

don’t give us the sto-

ries.

Ever wonder why

your grandparents

moved to a different

country or how they

met? Are you curious

about what life was

like when your moth-

er was a teenager?

Some people want

to know about their

family stories, their

roots, or how they

are similar to a mem-

ber from a previous

generation. The sad

thing is many of those

who came before

us took their stories

to their graves. The

family storytellers

share their stories,

but it takes less than

a generation for those

stories to be lost or

changed due to em-

bellishments and

poor memories.

To help you get

started with putting

your story down on

paper, I’ve created a

7 day challenge.

Start preserving

your story for your

great-grandchildren

today.

Take the

one week

write your

story challenge

Preserve Your Story

Why a Private Health Service Plan

(PHSP) is a Good Idea.

To attract talent in Canada, businesses can create exible health

plans to incentivize and provide a non-taxable bonus to their

employees. This means your employees will have more tax free

cash to pay for their healthcare and the corporation will have

more to deduct against revenues for taxes.

Are you Incorporated?

Do you operate in Canada?

Do you want a healthy workforce?

If you answered “Yes” than a PHSP might be a solution for you.

Visit Winex.ca for details:

Winex.ca

How to

Reduce Taxes

and Be Healthy

Within the tax laws of Canada

there are certain professions,

namely doctors, dentists, and

lawyers, and professional real

estate corporations, who have

the power to become incorpo-

rated entities and as such, can

use the benets of a Private

Health Services Plan (PHSP)

to deduct medical, dental vi-

sion expenses for themselves

and their families through the

corporation.

Let’s step back and under-

stand there are only two ways

you can write off medical

dental expenses. One way is

through your personal income

tax, which everybody does.

The other is a Personal Health

Services Plan, which allows

you to deduct 100% of your

health expenses through the

corporation.

The differences is a 100%

deduction for the corporation,

as opposed to a 15% partial

tax credit on your personal

income tax return.

A PHSP is an alternative

to expensive and sometimes

restrictive group benets

plans. It overcomes the limited

3% medical tax credit rule on

your personal income tax and

enables you to pay for your

personal health care costs with

non-taxable dollars.

Business Owners can cre-

ate exible health care plans,

incentives, and bonuses for

their employees, which will

not increase the employees’

personal income tax because

this is a non-taxable benet. In

other words they pay for their

health care needs with non

taxable funds.

The business then deducts

those personal healthcare ex-

penses against their corporate

business income to reduce

their tax bill.

In essence you are increas-

ing your income without in-

creasing your personal income

tax bill while reducing your

corporate tax bill.

The Fine Print

No premiums. It’s not an

Insurance product. Contribu-

tors are recognized as a 100%

business deduction in the year

they were contributed - even

if the money is not spent that

year. Unspent contributions

are carried forward for future

healthcare spending. No hid-

den costs. A xed 10% ad-

ministration fee is charged on

actual claims.

Who Qualies for a PHSP?

Business owners, their de-

pendents and their employees.

There is no age limit or health

questionnaires.

Winex is a CRA approved way

for business owners to fully deduct

100% of their personal healthcare

expenses as a business expense.

We have a number of different

private health plans for Incorporated

Businesses available.

www.winex.ca

By Victor Logan

My late father’s

banking career kept

our family on the

move. In fact, every

few years we were

transferred to a new

place and by the age

of 8 I’d lived in Red

Dear, Thunder Bay,

Saskatoon and Winni-

peg. Then in an inter-

esting twist: a ve-year

move to Freeport in

the Bahamas before

repatriating to Vancou-

ver in 1982.

The incredible resil-

ience of kids is a beau-

tiful thing. They just

keep going. Adapting,

adjusting, and onward

they go. And I kept

going. Getting used to

another new school,

new friends, a new

phone number and ad-

dress to remember in

case I got lost (which I

actually did once!) and

on to the next destina-

tion.

Our Bahamian ex-

perience of the late

1970’s-early 1980’s

proved to be pro-

foundly formative for

me. My sister and I

attended a British-style

private school with

uniforms and our peers

were the children of

international bank ex-

ecutives, casino enter-

tainers and croupiers,

oil executives from the

US, Great Britain and

the Middle East, Amer-

ican commercial pilots,

various and sundry

entrepreneurial types

as well as local children

too.

My third grade class

resembled the United

Nations General As-

sembly (in miniature)

and our weekends

were mostly spent

gathering with friends

who happened to be

from around the world.

We had big picnics

on a powdery white

Extraordinary

in ordinary

by Ashli Komaryk

beach or at one fami-

ly’s beach cottage with

the other expat fami-

lies, cooking, eating,

playing games and ad-

venturing without ex-

cessive parental super-

vision – it was the 80’s

and there were some

serious shenanigans.

One sharable ep-

isode that comes to

mind was the time,

at age eleven, when

I ipped the ATV

4-wheeler and we were

forced to get the par-

ents involved to get

me to the hospital for

patching up. Turned

out the nearest open

medical facility on a

Sunday was the US

naval base. Even with

my Dad there with me,

it was more than a little

intimidating to be es-

corted through security

to the inrmary. I was

very relieved when a

friendly young medic

came to take care of

me. I’ll always remem-

ber how his smile and

warmth put me at ease

and instantly made me

feel better. Even at the

tender age of eleven,

I knew a handsome

man in uniform when I

saw one. With all that

friendly care, it turned

out my injuries weren’t

that serious and I even

got a hug from the

nice ofcer.

Our family’s return

to suburban Vancouver

called upon me to de-

ploy my skills of ad-

aptation once more. I

was an athletic kid so I

dove with gusto into all

the sports possible and

my rigorous schooling

in Freeport allowed

me to easily adapt on

the academic side. But

socially, it was tougher.

By eighth grade, there

were well-established

groups of friends that

had been together

since pre-school (a

concept I could scarce-

ly imagine!) and I

missed having friends

from all around the

world with different

accents, ideas and cus-

toms.

In retrospect, our

Island life felt like a mi-

crocosm of the world,

immensely open and

completely diverse, full

of discovery and possi-

bility, without limits or

particular rules of en-

gagement. There was

an almost impercepti-

ble yet deep intellectu-

al and emotional stim-

ulation I was receiving

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from such a richly di-

verse environment that

I didn’t notice at the

time or know how to

articulate. It was sim-

ply what had become

ordinary for us, just our

“normal”.

Seeking acceptance

and inclusion, I adapt-

ed. But it was more

difcult this time. My

light wasn’t shining at

its brightest. In order

to adapt and be ac-

cepted, I felt I needed

to dim those elements

of my light that others

didn’t seem to under-

stand or welcome be-

cause they were for-

eign, different.

Perhaps not sur-

prisingly, after gradu-

ation, I enrolled in an

exchange program and

found myself living for

a year with a family in

delicious and beautiful

Parma, Italy, a small

city of about 200,000

souls at the time. The

world opened up for

me once more and I

adored living in Eu-

rope. I liked it so

much, that I stayed for

14 years!

I married a charm-

ing Italian, became an

Italian citizen, earned

my levels I and II certif-

icates from the Italian

Sommelier Association,

graduated with a de-

gree in art history from

the University of Parma

(my Everest… a dra-

matic story for another

time perhaps). This was

now my new “ordi-

nary” and once again I

was a sh out water. In

the early 1990s’ in Par-

ma, there weren’t very

many anglophones

and I was known as

“La canadese” (the

Canadian – but, inter-

estingly also slang for

a tent). Nonetheless,

a moniker I wore quite

proudly indeed.

Amidst all the ro-

mantic “Under the Tus-

can Sun” stereotypes

you may be imagining

right now, there were

also many less-than-ro-

mantic challenges in-

volved in adapting to a

new country, language,

education system,

and let’s not even talk

about the bureaucracy,

especially concerning

citizenship application!

In addition, almost no

one could make sense

of my name! Ashli is

not a biblical name,

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and the letters just

don’t work well with

Italian phonetics. For-

tunately, there was a

character called Ashley

on a popular Ameri-

can soap on Italian TV

at the time, so that

helped.

It’s an interesting

subconscious phe-

nomenon that subtly

touches your identity

and sense of self when

almost no one around

you can pronounce

your name. Through it

all, there were trying

times and downright

dejection but the good

denitely outweighed

the challenges and

that was also thanks to

the amazing family and

friends I was blessed

with there.

As I was preparing

to defend my thesis

(yes, the Italians re-

quired a thesis for an

undergrad degree), I

reected on what new

professional opportu-

nities I might pursue

afterward. In Italy I had

worked as a free-lance

translator/interpreter,

voice actor for English

language promotional

corporate videos, and

also in admin roles for

a couple of companies

that exported goods or

services abroad.

My English lan-

guage skills were use-

ful but I hadn’t truly

found my groove, my

purpose, that special

something that I felt

I could sink my teeth

into, be amazing at

and make a real im-

pact doing. It was then

that we received a

visit from a dear friend

from Vancouver who

was traveling with her

new husband and their

infant daughter visit-

ing their Italian rela-

tives. A serendipitous

conversation around

the kitchen table (the

kitchen table is reliably

great for those) result-

ed in me successfully

applying to become

the Cultural Director

at the Italian Cultural

Centre in Vancouver.

So back to Canada

it was. I would be able

to spend more time

with my own family

again and experience

that Canadian work-

life my friends back in

Canada were telling

me about – things like

conferences, promo-

tions, work events, ca-

reer trajectory... none

which I had experi-

enced yet as an adult.

By then I was curious

about all of it and crav-

ing it too.

While I loved being

back in Canada where

I felt my career could

now take off and ev-

erything was possible,

I still didn’t feel like I

t in. After 14 years,

I felt very European

and I quickly under-

stood that I had be-

come more Italian than

I realized over those

formative years of my

young adulthood. I

was technically an Ital-

ian citizen, spoke the

language at a sophis-

ticated level thanks to

my Italian university

education (and to my

obsession for words

and language) and yet,

in my public-facing

leadership role at the

Italian Cultural Cen-

tre, I wasn’t entirely

accepted by everyone

in the community as

being really Italian.

After all, what Italian

mother would call her

daughter Ashli? Nope.

They weren’t buying it.

Mamma mia!

Despite that detail,

I happily remained

there for almost nine

extremely fun, fullling,

empowering and ed-

ucational years of cre-

ating new programs,

building the organiza-

tion’s public prole and

celebrating the Italian

culture in the com-

munity in every way I

could think of! I had

denitely found my

groove. I got to speak

Italian every day, I was

channelling my intense

passion for the Italian

culture and my love for

public speaking. I ex-

perienced that “ow”

you feel when you are

expressing the best of

your talents!

After six years in

my role at the Italian

Cultural Centre, an

esteemed colleague

suggested that I need-

ed an MBA. The seed

was planted and after

scaling that new Ever-

est I decided I need-

ed to ex those new

business-y muscles and

get a more serious job

that wasn’t as much

fun. (Surely, you’re not

supposed to have that

much fun at work, I

mistakenly believed).

And that’s when things

took a different turn.

Working under various

different leadership

styles was a real awak-

ening.

Some of those lead-

ers were uplifting and

inspiring and others

decidedly not. This

new negative reality

shook me deeply, and

made me feel naïve –

was this the real world

and I had no idea how

things really worked?

How could people

leading others not

understand the impact

they were having on

their subordinates with

their demoralizing or

unkind words and be-

haviours? Or maybe

they did realize it and

they just didn’t care?

Had anyone taught

them compassion?

Didn’t they want to

motivate those follow-

ing them to perform to

their highest potential?

I learned how difcult

it is to perform well

when trust is absent

and your psychological

and emotional well-be-

ing feels like it’s under

attack.

You can’t nd your

“ow” and your

“groove” is nowhere in

sight!

I had more lessons

coming to me because

in rapid succession my

step-father suddenly

passed away, a month

later my mother suf-

fered a life-altering

stroke during cancer

surgery and then later

that same year my fa-

ther passed away one

month after a cancer

diagnosis.

At a certain point,

it was too much, and

I gave myself a “time-

out” from life.

I retreated to the

Caribbean for a few

months to digest it all

and get my feet back

under me. I guess the

Universe decided I

needed another signal

because one afternoon

while I was sitting on a

chaise at the beach, fo-

cusing on breathing in

and breathing out, the

wind blew the umbrel-

la next to me up out of

its base and the metal

shaft wacked me in the

head sending me to

the ER with a concus-

sion.

Such a random

“accident” can’t have

been a coincidence,

can it?

Well, as fate would

have it, it was at that

point, that it hit me,

guratively this time.

My new-found pur-

pose. I needed to

become a leadership

and communication

trainer and coach so

I could bring greater

awareness of the huge

impact that a leader

can have, both on the

people who follow

them and on the bot-

tom-line success of

their organizations! I

wanted to coach lead-

ers to know themselves

so they could better

understand their team

members and identify

the motivational needs

of each individual. I

wanted to help teams

communicate more

effectively and work

together more harmo-

niously and more pro-

ductively.

I became a certied

facilitator with DiSC

and the Five Behaviors

of a Cohesive Team

tools and, newly invig-

orated, I got to work

reaching out to orga-

nizations, associations

and individuals who

could use my help.

I found my groove

again!

I loved working with

teams who wanted to

nd strategies to work

better together. I loved

how my clients en-

joyed the assessments

and how much they

engaged in the explor-

atory dialogue around

interpersonal work

dynamics and how to

make them better.

I was working with

teams from law rms,

sports associations,

nancial advisors,

non-prot teams and

even the RCMP! It was

interesting to see how

human nature and the

desire to understand

one another transcend

any industry sector and

org-chart position. We

all want to work better

together.

I wondered if I

could step up my ow

even further by work-

ing more in a sector

that represented a

huge area of passion

for me: the world of

wine.

I began to research

the wine industry here

in British Columbia

and also comparatively

in other areas of the

world too, including

Napa. I wanted to un-

derstand what kind of

training existed in the

sector and what the

guest experience was

like between those

wineries that invest-

ed in training for their

front line and also

their admin/leadership

teams, and those that

didn’t.

Consumers I inter-

viewed reported incon-

sistent quality of their

experience with a wide

range of levels of satis-

faction.

The majority of

wineries I surveyed

reported that they

didn’t have a formal

training program be-

yond covering local

wine knowledge. Most

wished their staff had

better sales skills and

most didn’t feel as

though they were fully

leveraging all oppor-

tunities for higher di-

rect-to-consumer sales

and wine club enroll-

ment in their tasting

rooms.

My mystery shop-

ping observations con-

rmed that there was

denitely an opportu-

nity here to help our

wineries.

I gratefully accept-

ed an invitation to

speak at the BC Wine

Institute’s annual Con-

ference on this topic

in early March and

then suddenly the pan-

demic shut everything

down!

In the shift to

all things virtual,

I launched a new

branch of my training

and coaching busi-

ness called “Beyond

the Wine” because

I saw that “Beyond

the Wine” is where

the magic happens!

That’s where a winery

can create its “secret

sauce” and differenti-

ate itself from its com-

petition!

Training hospitality

ambassadors how to

establish an authentic,

trusting rapport with

their guests is incred-

ibly fullling – after

all, being hospitable

means welcoming, ac-

cepting, hosting your

guests with grace and

care. All things that

matter deeply to me!

If you can take

your interactions with

your winery visitors

beyond simply your

tasting room script,

your guests will feel

like they are a part of

your winery and they’ll

buy more wine, feel

the need to stay con-

nected by joining your

wine club, and come

back and visit often

– and they’ll want to

bring friends too!

I’m excited and so

very grateful to be able

to tap into the lessons

I’ve learned along the

way, at last recogniz-

ing the extraordinary

nature of those expe-

riences of mine that

seemed ordinary at

the time to create this

unique offering to the

wine and hospitality

sectors. After having

experienced isolation

and quarantine, we

may very well value

that human connection

now more than ever

before!

Hospitality done

right is caring, empa-

thetic, comfortable,

kind, attentive – and

training others to

achieve this, for me is

a most wonderful pur-

pose and my passion!

8 Lessons I Learned

Along the Way

1. Don’t dim your light

in order to t in. Shine

your very brightest and

you’ll eventually nd

the place that is right

for you.

2. A smile gives you

super-powers.

3. If you’re having fun

at your job – that’s a

very very good thing.

Cherish it and appre-

ciate it – it’s rarer than

you might think!

4. Relationships with

family and friends (aka

“chosen family”), and

the support, comfort

and joy found therein

are immensely pow-

erful – don’t forget to

recognize and cele-

brate those relation-

ships every day!

5. It’s helpful if you can

see the challenging

events or difcult peo-

ple in your life as gifts

sent to teach valuable

lessons. Better to let

gratitude in and re-

sentment out!

6. Keep going. Even

when life has dealt you

blows that you can’t

imagine recovering

from, try to hold on to

your trust that the Uni-

verse is a good place

and that it has good

things in store for you.

As Winston Churchill

famously said, “If

you’re going through

hell, keep going.”

7. Take time to think

about what makes you

happiest – then do it!

Find your “ow”!

8. Ensure your beach

umbrella is securely an-

chored.

I help wineries grow DTC

(Direct to Consumer) sales by

training their teams to de-

velop sincere and authentic

connections with customers

EXPORTING IN A TIME OF GLOBALLY UNCERTAINTY

For Entrepreneurs who want to learn about Exporting their products and services.

Join us and Connect with local and global business people.

Date: Tuesday, June 16/ 2020

Time: 7:00 am PST

Where: https://zoom.us

Code: 567-015-092

Topic:

Exporting in a time of uncertainty

spread your risks globally

Future Dates

June 16 th

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Rob Arthurs has ex-

tensive experience in

global export markets

and has helped hun-

dreds of companies

engage globally over

the last 30 years.

If you are

not

exporting

you are

dying!

About APeeling

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•Why export

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•Tips and tricks on exports

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