Michael Zipursky | FreshGigs.ca - Part 7

Author Archives: Michael Zipursky

Adina Zaiontz Founder & Director of Napkin Marketing

Adina Zaiontz is the founder and director of napkin marketing, based in Toronto. napkin marketing is an advertising and web design firm that works with small and medium sized businesses to reach new customers online. Prior to starting napkin marketing, Adina was the Trade Marketing Manager at Yahoo! Canada and a Board Member at the CMA.

Adina was kind enough to send over her notes from the call so we’ve included them below…

What does your typical day look like?

I usually wake up with a kid literally on my head… Our son and daughter crawl into our bed at night. They are 1 and 3 years old, and we’re having some issues with them sleeping through the night…In the morning you need to get your children dressed, peed, fed… So that is more efficient on some days than others.

After we get them ready and off to daycare I can start my business day… Which is usually Tim Hortons and being on my cell phone to a client or supplier, then at my home office getting into news, to do lists, email.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?

Round the clock … Probably 100 plus.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email?

I use CRM  software called Avidian Prophet. It plugs into Outlook to track prospecting emails to clients. I also use Outlook folders for client projects, and Outlook rules to organize incoming mail.

What’s the most interesting thing about your job?

Creative challenges. No two projects are alike since I started… So I need to come up with a lot of different approaches. We’re getting into some video work with animation, scripts and story boarding. We were recently asked to do some POS – another new area for us.In each case I researched best practices and competitors and the clients were really happy with what I came up with. So I love the creative challenge of meeting a business’s marketing need.

What is the main focus of your work?

60% client work/ 20% sales/ 10% marketing/ 10% admin and education – not always in that order.

How do you approach productivity?

Parenthood definitely challenges productivity. I used to work 80 to 100 hr weeks, whereas now I’m lucky to get 40 to 50 Continue reading →

Cornerstone Technologies, Entrepreneur and Founding Partner – Cameron Prockiw

Cameron Prockiw is a entrepreneur and founding partner of Cornerstone Technologies (one of Calgary’s leading web development and design firms), Vovia (online marketing) and Hubblr (social media engagement). Cameron has well over a decade of experience in the digital and online space.

 What are the first few things (work/business/personal) that you do each morning?
I’m not really a morning person, but my daughter gets me up early.  I usually start the day by getting up to speed checking news and blog sites.  Google Plus is also a great source for industry news.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?
I first check my email right after breakfast.  I usually get 100 to 150 emails a day.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email?
I only check my email 3 or 4 times a day and have disabled notifications so that incoming email doesn’t distract me from other things.  If I see an email that I can deal with in two minutes or less, I deal with it right away.  If it’s going to take longer, I add it to my to-do list and prioritize it.  I haven’t quite made it to “Zero Inbox” but these techniques really help me.

I only check my email 3 or 4 times a day and have disabled notifications so that incoming email doesn’t distract me from other things.

What time do you usually arrive at the office? And what does your typical day look like?
I’m usually in at 9am but my day doesn’t end until 6 or 7 pm.  Typically I have one or two client meetings and one or two internal meetings each day, so they take up a lot of my time.

What’s the most interesting thing about your job?
Working with a variety of clients across a number of different industries.  It’s amazing how many substantial companies there are out there that most people haven’t even heard of.  For example, we’re working with a company that manufactures water screens that remove algae and other debris from water lines.  That’s a very interesting niche business!

How do you approach productivity?
Keeping focused on the things that matter the most as it’s easy to get distracted and spend too much times on things that don’t Continue reading →

Barb Sawyers, Toronto Copywriter and Owner of Sticky Communication

Barb Sawyers is a Toronto based copywriter and the Owner of Sticky Communication. She has a Masters in Journalism and prior to starting Sticky she worked in both the private and public sectors as a writer, editor and editorial manager. In Barb’s new book “Write like you talk – only better,” she shares how you can pull ideas out of your head and onto the page.

What are the first few things that you do each morning?
I’m not one of those early-morning people who bounce out of bed and sweat for a couple hours at the gym. I do work best in the morning, but I have to break into it gradually, with lots of coffee.

I do work best in the morning, but I have to break into it gradually, with lots of coffee.

I get up around 7:00 a.m. unload the dishwasher, eat oatmeal and fruit and read part of the newspaper. Seeing as I have a home office¸ I just walk over to my computer and get started as soon as my head is clear enough to handle email.

How many emails do you get a day?
I receive about 50 to 100 emails a day, which I mostly check in batches at certain times of the day.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email?
Control your email; don’t let it control you. That’s why I don’t respond every time I hear my inbox chime, unless I’m expecting something urgent. I prioritize, clients, then friends, then content I subscribe to. If I need it, I’ll go straight for the one from a friend that will probably make me laugh.

Control your email; don’t let it control you. That’s why I don’t respond every time I hear my inbox chime, unless I’m expecting something urgent.

What does your typical day look like?
I work in a home office, so it’s easy to be at my desk before 8.00 a.m. I often work in my pyjamas in the morning, then switch to gym clothes for my two-hour midday gym-dog walking-errand break. Then I’m back at my desk till 6.00 pm. If I’m not going out in the evening, I may spend some time getting caught up on loose ends.

What’s the most interesting thing about your job?
I love the freedom that blogging is giving me to develop my writing. And I’m fulfilled because I am passing on my expertise in Continue reading →

Darren Barefoot, Writer, Technologist and Marketer

Darren Barefoot is a writer, technologist and marketer living in Vancouver. He is the co-founder of Capulet Communications, a web marketing agency that works with non-profits and technology companies. Darren is also a professional speaker and has presented in front of a wide range of companies and non-profits.

Are you a morning person? What time do you get up and moving? What are the first few things (work/business/personal) that you do each morning?
I’m definitely not a morning person. Sleeping in until 8:30 is one of the great joys of self-employment. Mind you, I usually work from home, so my work day starts at 8:31.

I’m definitely not a morning person. Sleeping in until 8:30 is one of the great joys of self-employment. Mind you, I usually work from home, so my work day starts at 8:31.

I’ll generally start my day by checking my email, reviewing my task list for the day and  skimming RSS feeds and social media channels.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?
Pretty much as soon as I’m conscious. Excluding spam, I probably get 40 to 50 emails a day.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email? (Any techniques or tools you use?)
I wrote about how I approach email in a recent blog post:

Process every email as soon as you read it. If you can respond and archive it in less than two minutes, do so. Otherwise, I assign myself a task in my task management tool, associate the message’s URL (I use Gmail for my sundry email accounts) with the task and archive it. The email is no longer occupying space in my inbox, but I’ve got a reliable way to find it when I’m going to work on the associated task.

Process every email as soon as you read it. If you can respond and archive it in less than two minutes, do so.

What’s the most interesting thing about your job?
The thing I enjoy most about our work are the creative projects Continue reading →

Monica Hamburg, Social Media & Business Consultant

Monica Hamburg has worked on many campaigns and contests since she began consulting in 2007 and is passionate about social media and about connecting businesses with their consumers. Outside of consulting, Monica is also a devout evangelist for her industry, presenting at numerous events and conferences, co-organizing Third Tuesday Vancouver (2008-2010) and contributing her insight, often with humor, to magazines and blogs, including the digital marketing magazine “One Degree”.  She’s been profiled and interviewed in a number of publications including BC Business and Backbone Magazine.  Her humor bent extends to her podcast (“The S&M Rants”) as well as to her acting and writing (including her YourDoseofLunacy.com blog).

Are you a morning person? What time do you get up and moving? What are the first few things (work/business/personal) that you do each morning?
Ideally, very much a night person.  But it makes me too crazy to do that – as it gets me out of synch with the rest of the people I deal with, including my partner and friends. So, I adapt.  Generally, I get up around 5am.   The first thing is to make coffee and breakfast, do some quick email and social media checks.  Then, I exercise and meditate (Yip, I’m one of those).  Then I begin my official workday.

Generally, I get up around 5am.   The first thing is to make coffee and breakfast, do some quick email and social media checks.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?
Pretty much first thing in the morning – while I wait for the coffee to brew.  I’m not sure about how much I get, but quite honestly, there’s not an inordinate amount that I absolutely need to address.  Still, I do find email to be a challenge – because there’s so much I want to read and get to.  I subscribe to newsletters with the best of intentions – but there are only so many hours in a day.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email? (Any techniques or tools you use?)
The Email Game and Boomerang have made my inbox much more fun, efficient and manageable.  Also, the days I manage to hold myself back and only check email a few times during the day (3-4) feel like the most productive and least stressful ones.

What does your typical day look like?
I have no typical days. And I, overall, like it that way, the diversity.  Generally, I hole myself up in my office most of the day.  (Sexy!) And, depending on the day, I work on client projects or personal projects or both.

I have no typical days. And I, overall, like it that way, the diversity.

You’ve acted and openly promote humour on your blog. You don’t see much humour in the business world, why do you think that is? Should there be more of it?
Of course, I think there should be more of it.  As for why there isn’t…  I recently saw an interesting post which rebutted the contention that women are less funny than men and one of the points the author made was that there is more at risk for women to be funny.  I agree with that – the risk for women to not be taken seriously in general, by being funny, is there, certainly.  And, to a lesser degree, this is true for businesses too.  Humor is, to some extent, about poking fun at yourself and your flaws – as well as those of others.  And businesses sometimes go for the bland, the safe – or even the very vague.  So that it does not offend people, or be seen as insulting itself. I would say that the fun and the humor is possible when a company understands that to be creative means accepting and allowing that risk.

How do you approach productivity? What challenges do you have in this area? How are you overcoming them? Any tips for others?
As someone who works online, there is no shortage of distracting shiny things.  And what’s worse, is that those shiny, distracting things are often totally useful, just not something I can/should be focussing on at that particular time.  For instance, while doing research on a project, I might come across some random weird searches that would be a perfect rabbit hole to explore for the blog or podcast. But I can’t go down that path because I need to do this one thing exclusively right now.  I have tried Continue reading →

FITC Toronto 2012: Calling All Digital Creators

Future. Innovation. Technology. Creativity.

FITC Toronto is back and better than ever! Featuring over 60 renowned digital creators from around the globe, attendees will be privy to the knowledge of the best and brightest in the digital space. Covering everything from HTML5 to making digital art, this three day festival offers a line-up that will leave attendees inspired to create in new and innovative ways.

FITC Toronto also offers plenty of networking opportunities; from the legendary FITC parties to chance encounters during the day, you could very well meet your next boss, business partner or employee.

Don’t miss out on the annual FITC Awards show which honours digital creators from around the world, or the Get a Job Event which connects talent with employers.

Speakers of Note

Fabio Sasso – Senior Designer at Google in California and founder of Abduzeedo.com.
Hoogerbrugge – Dutch artist, illustrator, and animator whose work spans diverse media.
Lee Brimelow – Developer evangelist at Adobe who is currently focused on Flash gaming.
Grant Skinner – Internationally recognized leader in the field of rich interactive experiences.
Andreas Müller – A well known figure in the digital art scene, Andreas takes great delight in pushing the boundaries of digital expression.

FreshGigs.ca Members Save

The FreshGigs.ca community can get 10% off the ticket price by using the code: FreshGigs

For more information visit www.fitc.ca/toronto

Kathy Kohn, Partner and Chief Creative Officer at Henderson Bas Kohn

Kathy Kohn is a partner and Chief Creative Officer at henderson bas kohn, an award winning advertising agency with a focus on digital, social and mobile. hbk is an agency with over 60 employees and a client list that includes Coca-Cola, Tim Hortons, LG, Mercedes Benz and The Weather Network, to name a few.

Are you a morning person? What time do you get up and moving? What are the first few things (work/business/personal) that you do each morning?
My internal clock is a mess;  I’m about 5 hours off of everyone else.  I fall asleep at 5 am and get up around 10.  The first thing I do is question why breakfast at most restaurants ends at 11.  Next, email.  People love emailing me in the morning.  Know your target.  Lastly, I get ready for work.  Which I’ve gotten down to 3-minutes.  And it shows.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?
10:01 am.  Hundreds.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email? (Any techniques or tools you use?)
No.  Tips from me would be like a notable metaphor that is politically incorrect to say.

What time do you usually arrive at the office? And what does your typical day look like?
11 am.  My calendar looks like a patchwork quilt;  which I love.  Lots to do and every, single entry is different from the next.

My calendar looks like a patchwork quilt;  which I love.  Lots to do and every, single entry is different from the next.

What’s the most interesting thing about your job?
Every day is different.

How do you approach productivity? What challenges do you have in this area? How are you overcoming them? Any tips for others?
Have you ever splurged on a really good restaurant, only to be served by an aspiring actor who is there because he or she needs the cash?  Productivity is directly correlated to passion, intelligence, dedication, and love for the work and company.   If all of those are in place – everything else will take care of itself.  Tip:  if you’re doing it for the money – it will show.  If you’re doing it because you are passionate, intelligent, dedicated and love what you do – it will show.

Do you have a good work-life balance? If no, why? If yes, how do you achieve it? What are you beliefs around this?
I set objectives for myself and I live my life Continue reading →

Mark Nicholson, SEO and Online Marketing Expert

Mark Nicholson is the owner of reactorr.com SEO. He has been involved in SEO and online marketing since 1996 and has worked with various companies throughout Europe, Asia and North America before starting his own business. Mark currently lives and works in Vancouver.

Are you a morning person? What time do you get up and moving? What are the first few things (work/business/personal) that you do each morning?
I’d regard myself as a forced morning person, since it makes the most sense to get an early start on the day. Truthfully, I’m more of a night owl. I typically start my day with a coffee and look over news aggregators I’ve setup to monitor at least a hundred resources, along with checking Twitter (@markjnicholson) to check the latest in seo, social media, internet marketing, and online branding. I’m a big proponent to online branding as I believe it includes seo, social media, PR, advertising, along with content strategies and more. I’m also a big fan of reddit and visit the site for mini breaks throughout the day.

I’m a big proponent to online branding as I believe it includes seo, social media, PR, advertising, along with content strategies and more.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?
Not including spam, that would be about 70-80. But including the unsolicited offers, it might be double. For some reason I get a lot of offers from overseas with promises of a top 10 listing on my sites after some optimization. Unfortunately, these emails are often the same and all they mention for seo is directory and article submissions.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email? (Any techniques or tools you use?)
My best email tips might be only open what is urgent at the start of the day, and of course client communications. One tip worth a mention is forget your bookmarks and use gmail to save stuff. I discovered a few years ago when you hit 5,000 bookmarks in Firefox that it started to delete others to make room for new ones. Since then I have a gmail account where I email myself and keyword stuff the email to make it possible to find again. It’s actually proven more effective so long as you add a decent amount of keywords to the email, because in 3 to 9 months you’ll be likely searching with different phrases than you would while it’s a fresh thought.

One tip worth a mention is forget your bookmarks and use gmail to save stuff.

What time do you usually arrive at the office? And what does your typical day look like?
The day usually starts about 8am. No day seems to be the same. I might run some rankings updates for a few sites, check analytics, do some keyword research, develop content strategies, create reports, site optimization, Continue reading →

Tessa Wegert, Business Writer & Marketing Professional

Tessa Wegert is a Canadian business writer and marketing professional currently residing in Chicago. In addition to being a long-time contributor to the Globe and Mail newspaper and its marketing site Globelink.ca, Tessa writes the weekly media buying column for the Internet marketing news publication ClickZ.com and manages communications for digital marketing agency Enlighten. Over the past ten years Tessa has covered business and technology news for such publications as the National Post, The Montreal Gazette, and USA Today’s USA Weekend magazine, and has created advertising strategies and ad copy for such brands as Audi, Audible, Blue Cross, Bell Canada, CIBC, and P&G.

Are you a morning person? What are the first few things (work/business/personal) that you do each morning?
I’ve always worked best late in the day and at night, so my morning routine is typically conducted from a pretty foggy place. Fortunately there are few urgent issues to deal with at 6 am and it’s nothing a few cups of coffee can’t cure.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?
My iPhone is in my hand within a few minutes of waking up. I check my email, the weather, and Facebook – in that order. I probably get more emails than most people in a day simply because of the glut of newsletters I subscribe to, which I use to research stories. Between my personal and my work accounts I get anywhere from 130 to 160 messages each day.

My iPhone is in my hand within a few minutes of waking up. I check my email, the weather, and Facebook – in that order.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email? (Any techniques or tools you use?)
Managing a large amount of email on a regular basis is all about organization. The more folders you can use to classify and catalogue your email content, the better. It’s also not a bad idea to keep absolutely everything – or as much as space will allow. You never know when a single word response from a client or colleague might prove to be irreplaceable.

What time do you usually arrive at the office? And what does your typical day look like?
For the past few years I’ve worked entirely from home, a routine I was lucky enough to establish shortly after my first child was born. Because I split my time between multiple organizations and projects my days can vary dramatically but always include several hours of research and writing. Often the work I can’t get to during the day spills over into the evening – a hazard of having no tangible divide between work and home. Given my penchant for working at night, it suits me fine.

Because I split my time between multiple organizations and projects my days can vary dramatically but always include several hours of research and writing.

What’s the most interesting thing about your job?
The variety of topics I have the opportunity to cover, and the different styles of writing I’m able to employ.

How do you approach productivity? What challenges do you have in this area? How are you overcoming them? Any tips for others?
I’m a firm believer in identifying your ideal work strategy, and sticking to it. I happen to be a big multitasker and am constantly flipping from one project to another based on my current levels of inspiration and preparation. My biggest challenge Continue reading →

Liz Hover, Digital Media Manager

Brit gal Liz Hover is the Digital Media Manager at the National Screen Institute (NSI) in Winnipeg. She’s been named one of the world’s top “125 fearless female bloggers.” Liz teaches social media marketing and blogging to students at NSI and also manages the organization’s website. If you dig dogs you’ll love Liz’s dog’s blog Hi, I’m Sadie Shih Tzu.

What time do you get up and moving? What are the first few things (work/business/personal) that you do each morning?
I get up everyday at 5:30 a.m. Even on the weekends. The first thing I do is switch on my laptop which lives on the dining-room table. While I’m waiting for it to do its thing, I go outside for a cigarette. Yes – I’m one of THOSE people. Then I read a lot of emails. I usually also check the Daily Mail website (a British tabloid newspaper).

I get up everyday at 5:30 a.m. Even on the weekends.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?
I check my email as soon as my computer will let me. I probably get around a couple of hundred emails a day. I have two accounts myself and one for my dog, Sadie. I always check my work email too.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email? (Any techniques or tools you use?)
If I don’t read and action an email straight away it usually gets forgotten. I make a point of reading and replying straight away. Whenever I think, ‘I’ll read that later’ I don’t so it’s now or never.

I subscribe to email updates from lots of design, social media marketing and pet blogs. If the email is still in my inbox unread after a couple of days, I’ll delete it. Of course I check its importance but ultimately if I couldn’t find time to read it, it loses its relevance.

What time do you usually arrive at the office? And what does your typical day look like?
I’m at the office anywhere between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. First thing I do is grab a glass of water (I never drink coffee!).

Log on to my computer and open up Outlook to see what has arrived in my inbox since earlier that morning.

I read A LOT. I subscribe to zillions of blogs and websites – both film and TV industry news and social media marketing stuff.

I read A LOT. I subscribe to zillions of blogs and websites

So a large part of my day is spent reading through emails. Sometimes what I read might become a blog post or I’ll post it to NSI’s Facebook or Twitter.

I don’t think I really have a typical day.

Working as a website manager can often mean I’m very reactive – waiting for things from others. I might have to edit a bunch of stories for our website. Or I might have to fix sponsorship logos on our site.

I use Photoshop a lot. I don’t think there’s a day when it isn’t open on my computer. I might be creating a small ad for our website or resizing a photo for someone’s blog post. Opening up Photoshop is almost as routine as opening Outlook.

Three times a week I see a personal trainer for an hour between 11:30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. I do a lot of sitting in my job so exercise is super important. In the summer months I cycle to and from work but we get snow for half the year so regular exercise is essential for me. I do a lot of running, skipping and weight training.

I do a lot of sitting in my job so exercise is super important.

I rarely go out for lunch. It’s usually eaten at my desk (sushi or salad). And that’s just the way I like it. Invite me for wine after work if you want a meeting with me J I prefer to carry on working while I eat.

I tend to work very quickly. While I’m waiting for a photo to open, I’ll be checking NSI’s Twitter account or reading emails. I think the idea of multi-tasking is a myth. I can’t read emails and listen to a webinar at the same time. I usually fill small gaps of time with lots of little things.

Our office tends to wrap up around 5 p.m. I won’t stay much later than that because if I have more stuff to do, I’ll do it at home.

I use DropBox a lot so if I have to use work Continue reading →