YELL!

We had the students from YELL (https://www.yellcanada.org/) visit our Lykkiplex yesterday! These young entrepreneurs get to learn about how we run a business, see how we back to the community, and even sample some new products (cookies!)

Mike Rowe stands up for the working man, because that’s what he is

Worth watching - electronics may make life more convenient but what about the farmer or plumber? What do we do without them? It's possible that the "new new" economy of the future will see some of the highest paying jobs in trades ..... because there are no skilled trades people left.
Great story from Mike Rowe about his Grandfather.

How the CEO of Zappo's Gets It Done

Some interesting insight into Zappos and maximizing productivity.

The Yesterbox concept sounds interesting.

What I learned from studying Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh's schedule for a year

Learn how Hsieh deals with a torrent of emails and maximizes his productivity.

An Amazing Story

Tonight I took a few Lykki team members to hear an amazing speaker.
Nando Porrado is considered one of the planets top speakers. His story has been made into a movie and many documentaries. but hearing him live was something special.
The talk Nando gave was exceptional, humbling and every person in the audience had at least one moment of tears welling up as they heard his amazing story.
I love bringing members of our team from Lykki to events like this. Some feedback I have received specifically on Nando was that hearing him was "life changing". It makes me happy knowing I shared the experience with others and it made an impact.
Even my 12 year old son came.

Cheers
Calvin

Do you Scrum?

I just read a game changer book: Scrum by Jeff Sutherland. We implemented it at Lykki in one departments and within a few weeks there were scrum boards all ofer the office and in most departments. I have never seen something get such quick buy in and adoption for a new process. We are always trying new ideas and this one looks to be a winner.
I'm going to let you read more about Scrum here  since this blog post could get pretty long. Try it out. I promise it will be worth your time.
Cheers
Calvin

These are some Smart Students!

This is my first year running the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards.
This week we are in Toronto for the GSEA finals that ended with a winner who will go to the national GSEA event in Washington DC this spring.

The event was created to find and celebrate budding student entrepreneurs from all over the globe. These kids are just amazing and Daniel Dubois from Share Shed was our Vancouver entry and he finished a very close second.

Although Daniel missed out on winning, he did walk away in Vancouver with the lions share of $100,000 in prizes so he was just happy to be a part of this inspirational event.
Cheers
Calvin

And the winner is......

Today was an exciting day on a EO Vancouver board seat event I have been working on for several months. We held the the inaugural Vancouver Global Student Entrepreneur Awards this evening at the SFU Beedie School of business. 

The GSEA is held yearly in over 50 countries and is considered the priemier student entrepreneur competition on the planet. Thousands of students apply and each EO chapter holds a regional competition whereby the winner will move onto a national competition and then possibly onto a global finals competition. 

GSEA has been an almost global event for EO but it is now pushing for every country - hence Canada being added this year and holding its first GSEA events nation wide this month. 

Our event was packed with amazing talent and judges in an afternoon prelim where the top 6 students presented before a judging panel of 8 EO members. The 6 students were then short listed to the top 3 and asked to present again before a VIP judging panel of some of Vancouver's most distinguished business leaders. The final 3 also had the pressure of presenting on stage before 100 people during a lively cocktail reception. 

Every student did an amazing job presenting and each had solid businesses and a history of entrepreneurship - but when the dust settled the VIP judges voted a winner. 

The GSEA Vancouver winner for 2014 was Daniel Dubois and his business SHARESHACK.  www.shareshack.com. 

Next for Daniel and I is a trip to the Canadian Nationals in February where we will compete to win against all other cities. If Daniel wins Canada he will move onto Washington DC in April for the Global GSEA. 

Stay tuned.....

Cheers

Calvin 

Surfs Up.

Today I'm in Tofino on a retreat with the EO Vancouver Chapter. 

This year I sit on the board so I wanted to be sure the event was exceptional. 

Of course we started out the best way possible with a chartered flight from my longtime friends at Pacific Coastal Airlines. 

Our event was held at the Blackrock resort and spa in Tofino where every room faces the ocean. A must booking if you travel to Tofino. Our retreat is a mix of learning and play with exceptional speakers and afternoon surfing lessons. 

I make sure never to miss events like this not just because of the fun, but because I always come back recharged and full of real world stories and ideas I can implement. One example is using a corporate coach, something many other members swear by. I will be enguaging one in the next 30 days as personal goal. 

Cheers

Calvin

Toronto tradeshow.

Over the next few days I'll be in Toronto with some of your Lykki partners to attend the Canadian independent Stationers conference. Each year our buying group meets to exchange industry news, ideas and plan for the year. 

This year we are excited to see Canadian customers supporting local office suppliers instead of the large multi nationals like Staples, Office Depot and Grand and Toy. 

What we are learning is that the big players are declining in market share due to cutbacks that result in poor customers service while independent stationers are growing by staying focused on service service service. 

What the buying group does for the independent stationers is it allows us to buy at the same price as the big guys and offer as good or better pricing. So once price is not a factor what is left is service and customers would rather support a local supplier with exceptional service and prices over a large US based multi national. 

Things are looking bright for 2015. 

Cheers

Calvin

The most awesome bus.

Today I was at SHOP.ORG a retail and internet conference attended by some 6000 people and hundreds of vendors.  I think it is important to attend these shows to keep up to date on where online retail is going. Each year more purchases are shifting online and it has become the norm for our customers to order online. 

Of all the cool stuff I saw at shop.org, the most interesting was this decked out tour bus. 

The roof top lounge was amazing and the conference room inside was super impressive. I have never seen a company create such a buzz with their tradeshow booth. 

How about a Lykki bus???

Cheers

Calvin