If you’ve ever asked yourself one of the following questions, you’ll want to check it out:

Should I create a blog? How would I do that? Will that help me define my brand or get a job?

This two hour, hands-on workshop guides you to powerfully create your own postings and presence using WordPress software.

Date: Wednesday, February 15th

Cost: $55

Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

For more information or to sign up for the Blogging workshop, follow this link.

Brilliant simplicity… Simply brilliant!

Click here to visit Vote Compass.

Regardless of your political affiliation, I encourage you to get out and vote tomorrow. We’re lucky to live in a place where our voices are counted, and where we do have a say. Frankly, I’m afraid of what might happen to Quebec under Pauline Marois and her Separatist party. While I won’t get into the intricacies of Mme Marois’ prohibitive – and downright racist – approach to policy, I will say that bullying and scaring the opposition is NOT the way to protect one’s culture.

While his tone was sarcastic, my friend Robbie summed it up quite brilliantly this morning;

“Id like to personally congratulate every young Quebec citizen who protested law 78 (for limiting our freedom to protest) who is now voting for a separatist party tomorrow. The hypocrisy of claiming “freedom” as a rallying cry and then quickly pivoting to extinguish a language and gut a country is world class. Congrats! Good luck guys!”

Embrace culture. Embrace history. But accept that there are different people living around you who should be allowed to live, speak and love as they choose. To protect one’s identity by extinguishing another is downright Nazi-esque.

And, because you can – and you’re LUCKY that you can – please get out and vote.

It said, quite simply, that I owed them one hundred and twelve dollars.  I put the letter aside in the pile for my accountant, and went on with my day.

The next day, another letter arrived from the government.  This time, it was a cheque.  The amount?  One hundred and twelve dollars.

Within twenty-four hours I had been asked to pay, and been paid, the exact same amount.  I told my accountant I planned to rip up the cheque – “If I don’t cash it, then we’ll be even,”  but he suggested I call instead.

“They’re tricky,” he said, “the most logical route and the proper channels are not always the same thing.”

So I called them.  I was advised that yes, in error they had issued me a cheque for one hundred and twelve dollars.  And yes, that is why I now owed them that same amount.

“But, I haven’t cashed the cheque yet,” I pleaded.

“Well you have to,” said the poor customer service monkey.

“But,  if I don’t cash it I don’t owe you any money.”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

“What if I don’t want to cash it?”

“Then you need to fill out form 69-Q and submit it.”

“Where do I get this form?”

“You need to request it.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“This is policy.”

My accountant was livid.  “That’s simply ridiculous!” He barked as he charged into his office like a gladiator. He emerged an hour later, sweat on his brow, his tie pulled down to his midsection and his collar unbuttoned, a defeated look in his eyes. “We could spend the next several months filling out paperwork to make a point,” he said.

“Yes,” I agreed, “but what do we do if we want to get on with our lives?”

The broken man sighed, “Just cash the f***ing cheque and write them one for the same amount.”

And so I did.

 

My friend and colleague CT Moore is giving a 3 part social media training session through Ometz in May, and I’ll be co-instructing with him on the first session.

It’s only $200 to register for all three (save $25).

May 9: Social Content Strategy & Blogging

May 15: Facebook Marketing Tools

May 23: Social Strategies & Best Practices

The purpose of this three-week series is to offer the basics of social media marketing. Designed for job seekers who want to increase their skills in core aspects of social media to make them more marketable to employers and for employees who choose to go individually or are asked by their companies to learn how to acquire social media tools to apply in their workplace.

There are only a few seats left in the 3 part social media training workshop, so book your seats now.

Jim Henson and the Muppets

Today we live in a world where Muppets present at awards shows. But this pitch is from the mid-seventies, well before anyone knew who Kermit was. Jim Henson took a creative leap, broke out of the proverbial box, and created a phenomenon.

This is the original pitch for the Muppet Show:

Much like the nightlife mentality that any place without a line isn’t worth getting into, Pinterest is making me wait; hoping it will wet my appetite for, and raise the profile of, the desired destination. In other words, Pinterest is the new cool club.

Not sure if I find this brilliant or really annoying. I think the answer is both. They have now piqued my interest, and as long as they approve me before I lose said interest, I’ll be hooked. In this way, Pinterest has done something quite engaging and intelligent.

Mind you, if it takes too long, or they make me jump through too many hoops, I may just go back to posting my pictures on Twitter and call it a day.

Great house and a great guy, so check out Fish Out of Water – Coolest Thing in the House:

Watch “Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer” here:

When I say I’m not that sort of writer, they ask which publication I write for. And while I’ve worked as a journalist in the past, I’m not that sort of writer either.

So then I tell them I’m in the copywriting business. “Oh”, they say, “so you do legal work?” Nope, not that either. But they’re not that far off. They’re thinking of Copyright, a term used in the legal world for the rights granted to the author or creator of an original work. As a copywriter, I do write original work. So while I’m not in the legal profession, that terminology is related to what I do.

But I’m not in the copyright business. I’m in the copywrite business.

I am, quite simply, a writer of copy. A wordsmith. A language wrangler. A copywriter.

Who do I write copy for? Businesses, mostly. This surprises a lot of people, but it’s true. If you read text on a website, or get a newsletter, chances are it was written by a copywriter. Press kits, letters and emails. Blogs. Storefronts. Branding. Catchy advertising slogans. And that person of interest you heard speak last month? Someone may have helped polish his language.

So, next time you see a line in an advertisement or on a sign that you find fun, take a moment and think about the person hiding behind a keyboard who came up with it. Those little wordsmiths who are seldom seen, but whose voices are more frequently heard than you can imagine: The copywriters.