I had a meeting at The Sanctuary yesterday afternoon to jam out some potential business ventures. It was a great meeting and left excited about what is coming down the pipeline. Arriving at the TTC station, I reach into my pocket and I find that my TTC pass is not there. I called The Sanctuary and asked them to poke around the office floor – no pass. At that point I knew that I had dropped it outside The Sanctuary front doors when I took my phone out of my pocket to announce my arrival. “I think I know where I dropped it, but if it is where I think it is, it won’t be there anymore”.

If I found a TTC pass on the ground, I’d take it and use it. And surely, someone who is homeless/marginalized would certainly take it.. right?

I retraced my steps and made it back to the front doors where a small crowd of people were waiting to get into the Drop-In Dinner. I sheepishly asked them if they had seen a TTC pass. Marcel, an excitable young man, jumps up and declares, “YES! I shoveled the snow and found a pass. I gave it to the guy inside”.  Sure enough, they guy inside had my pass. Why didn’t Marcel take it and use the pass for the rest of the month?

Because he is good. My heart broke.

Here is another story I stumbled upon today.

We all remember the days of perfecting the underwater handstand, performing our hacked together syncro swim routine and screams of joy/anger as someone splashes you in the pool. Due to severe City of Toronto funding cuts, many of the Toronto District School Board pools are on the chopping block. As a professional swimmer (I wish), I frequent the pool a few times a month so I was pretty sad to hear this news.

A collaborative project between Onmedia, Jaywall Studio, Let’s Make Waves and myself, we launched a campaign: ‘Make a Splash‘ to stop everything and get the two parties (TDSB and City of Toronto) to properly evaluate if cutting pools is necessary.

I am a firm believer in this campaign, I would not like any pools closed, but I am also not one who wants to keep something running if it makes no financial sense. Please sign the petition and join us on Facebook.

Here is some collateral we designed for the campaign. 

It was so wonderful to be in the same room as 1000+ leaders and entrepreneurs out to make the world a better place. I feel like I spoke to almost half of you, I barely have a voice left. Here is a quick list of what I took away with me.

1. Learn from someone who is doing what you want – Hailey Coleman, Damn Heels
2. Get Scrappy – Michele Romanow, Buytopia.ca
3. Leadership is about what you do when no one’s watching - Robin Sharma
4. How is your work transforming the world? – Tonya Surman, Centre for Social Innovation
5. Liking what you do is Happiness, doing what you like is Freedom – Bruce Poon Tip, G-Adventures
6. It’s not what the idea is its what you do with it – Seth Godin
7. Don’t follow lists! – Seth Godin

I ran a fun contest at the conference where delegates had the opportunity to win one of 2 branding packages. The two winners are Caroline Macfarlane of The Toronto Project and Matt Wilks of Homeboy Software. Congratulations to the two winners. If you entered the contest you have won a 30 min business and branding identity session on me! So get in touch with me!

Thanks for being an agent of change!

The winning cards

grayspoon booth

Anyone who knows me, knows that I like to take things too far, therefore…

Team FauxMO is very proud to present… The MoSho! on Movember 30th at 8pm at Lee’s Palace.

Featuring the 4 bands that are part of Team FauxMO
Air Marshal Landing
Recovery Child
In My Coma
Broken Sons

Every donation to Team FauxMO is automatically put on the guest list, otherwise tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. See you on Movember 3oth!

(this was probably one of my MOst fun event branding projects… more branding elements at The MoSho)

so·cial·ite n. One prominent in fashionable society

so·cial·ight n. An entrepreneur or Leader Impacting Global Humanity Today; a person committed to leadership that brings light to their community and the world through socially responsible actions

I’ve been working with Theresa Laurico and Dan Jacob since early summer on a really exciting new conference called Socialight: Canada’s Ultimate Entrepreneurship and Leadership Event. On November 26, 2011, 1000+ entrepreneurs will gather to hear from inspiring speakers such as:

Tony Hsieh, Founder of Zappos
Tonya Surman, Founder of The Centre for Social Innovation (where I work!)
Robin Sharma, Founder of Sharma Leadership International Inc
Bruce Poon Tip, Founder of G-Adventures (formerly GAP Adventures)

Everyday, I meet really interesting people who are dissatisfied with the current state of ‘work’. It is not ok to suffer in a charity model, and the corporate model is very obviously failing us. I recently met up with a friend who works at MaRS Discovery District, we quickly got on the topic of ‘Social Business’. MaRS is working with groups across Canada and the globe to defining ’Social Business’ in the Canada. This is the beginning of a beautiful marriage between entrepreneurs, social ventures and a sustainable business model! I know I’ve blogged about this a few times, and will probably continue to promote it. I am thrilled to see so many people in my network building a future where sustainable solutions to social needs are at the centre of every business model.

I am really excited about Socialight, I am ready for an inspiring day surrounded by socially conscious entrepreneurs and leaders! If you’re one of my clients, partners or just stumbled upon this post and are interested in this conference, send me a message. I would love to personally invite you to join me on November 26, and meet 1000+ entrepreneurs who are interested in making a difference in the world, while keeping a good and healthy lifestyle. Oh! Did I mention, you’ll gets 50% off ticket prices, because I love what you do.

Keep doing good, and good will come back to you!

There is no doubt that the percentage of Canadians owning mobile phones is far higher than those not owning one. I walk down the busy streets of Toronto and some are juggling 2 (some 3?) mobile phones! With that said, I can confidently say that all the people are walking around with a camera in their pocket/purse. I will also say that I’m waiting in anticipation for the iPhone 5 reveal on October 4!

Dan Berman, an avid mobile photographer and TV producer/director, launched a competition called The Mobile Photography Awards. You can enter the photos you took with your mobile phone for a chance to win big prizes! I’ve been browsing through some of the entries and am thoroughly impressed at what a little phone can do. The contest ends November 30, 2011.

This was a fun brand to work with. One of the ‘must-haves’ was that it need to be adaptable for Phase 2 of this project: Building an App. That is why there is an app icon that is integrated right into the logo. I collaborated with Antonio Carito, genius custom CMS master, and pumped out a stellar website!

…and this is me a few years ago stalking Apple Headquarters

Ideation = Idea + Creating.
Gamestorm = Game + Brainstorm.
Liger = Lion + Tiger. um.

I’m going to focus this post on Freemium = Free + Premium! A freemium business model offers a product or service for free or very low cost, while upgraded products or services are at a premium. This gives potential customers the power to test run your product or service, get comfortable with it, realize that they need it… then move towards the complete offering.

Florence Grunfelder, founder of Fun Fearless and Thriving, is a certified professional life coach with a focus on career change and money. Florence has embraced the freemium model and is offering an e-book called 4 Easy Steps to Creating the Life You Love. I love the concept (both the freemium and the title of the e-book). It was a gem working with Florence – someone who understands and promotes the integration of life with love!

Check out the workshop Florence is running on Saturday, June 18th!

Apps, start-ups, perfume, iTunes love the freemium model… and so do I!
Ask me about my freemium offerings!

It isn’t everyday you get to work with a social business from the Amazon… Wait, let’s back up. It isn’t everyday you get the opportunity to go to the Amazon. So what do you do, when that opportunity arises? You take advantage, of course. This is exactly what Diane Pinto (@KayapoProject) did when she had the rare opportunity to get to know the Kayapó people who live deep in the Amazon Rainforest. The Kayapó women make beautiful beaded bracelets, each bracelet has a unique pattern and tells a different story. And so The Kayapó Project began. Diane travels to the villages where the women and their daughters make these bracelets and brings them back to North America where she is able to share the Kayapó’s story through these handmade items.  Helping The Kayapó Project launch their business is pretty much a dream job. One day, I hope to make it to visit the woman who made my bracelet. In the meantime, I will just have to work with amazing people like Diane to realize their dream jobs.

This is the story of my bracelet:

Village: Pukanu

Artisan: Ngreikamoro

Pattern: Tortoise belly

And here are some info retail tags:

I absolutely love getting involved with people who are promoting good causes. I also love a good party. When Love in Action (LIA) approached me and asked me to help out with designing the brand and promo materials for ‘Cause We Can‘, I was like a kid in a candy store – YES YES YES!!! Theresa the founder/ED of LIA and I began chatting about ‘Cause We Can’ in early March (that’s right! 25 days ago). This event confirms my belief that people truly want to put their love in action because of the timeline we were working with and that this event has an AMAZING line of up hosts and performers supporting this cause by donating their skills and time on such short notice. ‘Cause We Can’ is supporting GIFT – an organization that provides services such as teeth extraction and eye examinations to the poor who need it in the Philippines. What a great cause to support! Come out on April 3 and support the cause.. and have a great time while doing it! Buy a ticket here. Hope to see you there!

On a similar but different note. The Hair Dare on March 14th was wildly successful. Read it about it here.