I spoke with my friend Amin, who runs TonerParts.com, and he offered up a few coupon codes for readers of my blog to receive free shipping on any order to the US & Canada. You may’ve seen me tweeting about TonerParts recently as I had a great experience and just can’t say enough good things about them.

If you’re buying your ink and toner for your printers from Staples, OfficeDepot, or most other big chains you’re very likely overpaying (sometimes by 300-400% more). With TonerParts you can pickup replacement cartridges at 70%+ off retail prices.

TonerParts.com Coupon Codes:

FREESHIP
SUMMERSALE

Both coupons will get you up to 70% off (depending on items) AND Free Shipping anywhere within Canada and the US.

Click Here To Use These Coupons

 

As a quick example of how much I’ve saved, I picked up a toner cartridge for my HP laser printers in my home office. I normally get these from staples for close to $100 each. I paid just over $25 for the same thing from TonerParts.com – just check out the screenshots below.

Staples.com – $94.90

TonerParts.com – $26.45

That’s 72% off what I normally pay and free shipping with the FREESHIP or SUMMERSALE coupon code.

Click Here to check out TonerParts.com

Globe & Mail vs VanCity Buzz…who is winning?

The world of Media and Social Marketing continue to change and evolve.  I have been following, with interest, two events that in reality are very connected.

One is the announcement by the Globe and Mail that they are erecting a Pay Wall, a system that prevents online users from accessing web content without a paying a fee or subscription. The other event was a Flash Mob helped by a local, but very popular Blog, VanCity Buzz.

I’m watching the Globe and Mail like many other traditional media struggle with declining revenue. To justify the pay walls, they claim they must be able to pay and support the journalist talent and business model that has been an icon of Canadian journalism for as long as I can remember.

I see on the other hand this young, hip and popular blog that can help organize 1,000 plus people in just a few days and embrace current pop culture.

So what is really going on?

It really is an old story-the customer is changing. We are seeing a perfect example of the end game. The VanCity Buzz is nimble and as is the nature of a blog, has low overhead with unpaid “Citizen Journalists”.  You will hear from the traditionalist that paid journalists produce better, well-researched content and that may be true at times; but the customer ain’t buying it – just ask the finance department. Your report card is the bank balance.

I know I read and enjoy both.  Will I pay for the Globe under the new model? I have not made up my mind.  Do I enjoy the “Raw and Relevent” content of the VanCity Buzz – you bet.

If I look into my crystal ball I think they both have a way to go because what I predict is that journalism will eventually move to a “paid for results” model. The technology is there now to give the publication a piece of the action and it is going to be the advertiser that will determine the outcome…they have the cheque book.  I can see the look on the media moguls’ faces now. What do you mean-we get a piece of each sale…?  Well if you think you have a killer property, great content and loyal readership -what’s the problem?

The traditional model is trying to fit into the new medium and the new media guys are trying to take pieces from the legacy properties. The new model does not evolve around either. It comes back to two groups- the reader and the advertiser. Let’s not forget that at the end of the day it comes down to one very simple outcome. Will you actually help sell my stuff. Do that you win. Fail to do that and it’s résumé time.

The SOHO|SME Expo will be held this year in Vancouver and Toronto with a new, exciting and fresh program focused on:

• Learning from industry leaders and experts in the areas of marketing, sales, money and media
• Overcoming everyday business challenges to grow your business
• Amazing networking with like-minded entrepreneurs, industry leaders and business marketers to build relationships and grow your business network
• Keeping connected to the latest trends, technology, and marketing opportunities and gain exclusive access to products, services, tools and resources for your business

Free Tickets will be announced soon. Clear your schedule for an entire day of power networking with the largest group of business owners to assemble in one place in 2012. You want to be there.

Note: Special Rates For Tradeshow booths coming for RTN Members.

PUT IN YOUR CALENDAR NOW:

http://sohosme.soho.ca/

See you all there

Recently at Rapid Time Networks we commenced a program of developing a community focused social media strategy starting with Twitter. We have a series of communities around Vancouver (our founding city) such as Richmond, New Westminster, White Rock and others where we have opened up Twitter accounts, each managed by a person based in that community within our network.

Once these have been established we then compiled a list of businesses and community thought leaders and started publishing Daily Newspapers (based on the Paper.li platform).

We have a number of objectives in mind. First, we want to create awareness in the market place that we are now in a community bringing business owners together to provide more visibility for their products and services. Second, we are inviting those who are interested in what we are doing to our local meetings that are held weekly in each community. Finally, we provide education on the many tools we have that will bring these business owners new customers should they engage in our network.

Just as we were launching this new “Hyper-Local” Twitter based program I came across some statistics that validate this strategy. Local search has become, in one simple word, HUGE! The one statistic that jumped out for me was “80% of budgets are spent within 50 miles of the home.” To read more about the rest of the statistics, sign up for my Weekly Newsletter.

I am more convinced than ever to pursue hyper-local marketing strategies to help local companies find local customers using online and social media based tools and platforms.

See A Sample Of Our Community Based Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/#!/RTNNewWest

See Our Daily Digital Newspaper: http://paper.li/RTNNewWest/1335530928

I share the top five tips behind our Twitter strategy in week eight of my Newsletter. To see the other topics check this page out: http://www.georgemoen.com/free-newsletter/

George Moen – The Rapid CEO
http://www.georgemoen.tel

I was sent this video from my good buddy Michael Yurechko (@yurechko) from a fellow by the name of Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee). It is called “A rant from the heart, hip and head“. He rants about his view of success and what it takes. He’s hardcore and his language is not for young or sensitive ears ( don’t listen if that bothers you ). You have to listen a few times to get his entire take on his formula for success.

I have to agree with most of it. Just having drive is not enough. There are other factors and we all can’t be successful like Buffet / Gates or Jobs. But we should at least try – I have always believed that.

He ends with “your bat is in front of you, take a swing”. I guess at the end of the day many would like to say what he did…I know I do…is there a George Moen Rant in the near future? Well maybe

Enjoy the video.

We finally went public this past week with another platform to help the Vendors, Affiliates and Guests that come to Rapid Time Networks. We are branding it “Rapid Time Local”. It is a series of Community-based Directories we are building that will provide another level of marketing exposure for local businesses.

There is an entire suite of services that are available on this new platform and we are pleased to “take more of the friction out of the sales process”. I have attached a short video below that summarizes how it works.

Add your business for free

There are a couple of packages available including advertising on the main sites by geographical area.

I have provided a list below of the Communities we are launching: Feel free to list your business for free.

Rapid Time Networks: http://www.rapidtimebusinessnetwork.com/
Vancouver – Downtown: http://www.vancouverbusinessnetworking.com/
Vancouver – Kitsilano: http://www.kitsilanobusinessnetwork.com/
Burnaby: http://www.burnabybusinessnetworking.com/
Richmond: http://www.richmondvancouverbusiness.com/
Tri-Cites: http://www.tricitiesbusinessnetwork.com/
New Westminster: http://www.newwestminsterbusinessnetwork.com/
Langley: http://www.langleybusinessnetwork.com/
Surrey – White Rock: http://www.surreybusinesses.com/

And a lot more coming soon

You too could own your own community directory with us!

I’ve got lots more going on but that’s it for now.

George Moen – The Rapid CEO
http://www.georgemoen.tel

It has been over a decade since I launched my last newsletter. This past week I finally made the commitment to do it again and they will be officially known as “The Rapid CEO Chronicles“.  I chose the word Chronicles to reflect my present status as a Co-Founder of Rapid Time Networks and to share many of my past, current and future marketing strategies with my subscribers.

I have the privilege of working with some really smart people that point me in the right direction as I shape some of these strategies. Many of what I have already set up in the system are affordable, easy to deploy and they work. Some in fact don’t cost a dime but just a little of your time. Others are best practices and business processes that if you stick with them will yield great results and will improve your success and show up as additional cash in your bank account.

My first two Chronicles are all about “Free” strategies (well one costs $ 20.00 so almost free) that you can start the same day you read about them. First, is my Top 5 secrets to LinkedIN and the second is all about Dot Tel; a unique and powerful marketing tool I use to drive traffic to my projects and ventures.

See my Newsletter Information here:  http://www.georgemoen.com/join-my-list/

Michael Oliver Re-Connects After Many Years!

As I mentioned above I get to hang out with some really smart and interesting people.  Just recently I reconnected with the famous Michael Oliver who many will know as the man behind the brand “Natural Selling”. It has always been my style and I purchased one of his first books a number of years ago and it had a huge impact on me ever since.

Check Out: http://www.naturalselling.com

Many of his products are perfect for those in the Direct Selling or Network Marketing Industry.

Rapid Time Networks Expanding Quickly

This past week saw continued growth in attendance at all our meetings. The Meetup site tracks all our meetings and I will be at most of them:

http://www.meetup.com/The-Vancouver-Rapid-Time-Business-Network/#calendar

That’s it for now. See you on the networking event circuit!

George Moen – The Rapid CEO
http://georgemoen.tel

The highlight of the week was Wednesday, March 21, 2012 when we opened Rapid Time Networks in Burnaby B.C. It was just a few weeks ago in the beginning of January when we sat around a table in Yaletown at the Buzz Cafe in the Harrison Gallery with just five people. Now we have a room of 100 plus folks coming to hear us give a presentation about our business.

The team of Shawn Bearman, Ricky Shetty, Chang Han, Tim Luu and Klint Rodgers did an amazing job.

Check Out Rapid Time Burnaby:
http://www.meetup.com/The-Vancouver-Rapid-Time-Business-Network/photos/6728062/103435672/

Dot Tel Training Launched And More!

It is no secret that I am a big fan of the Dot Tel domain extension and for one simple reason it is the best $20.00 I spend per year on marketing. That said it is still the best kept secret in marketing and I finally realized one of the biggest hurdles to broader acceptance is that it is too cheap and the Domain and Hosting companies have no incentive to sell them. The Dot Tel’s come already hosted when you buy the domain. There is no upsell.

$20.00 that’s it!

I have been developing my personal Dot Tel for over 2 years and it has become an important component in my marketing efforts. Each project I work on also has a Dot Tel strategy. I have found that there are great generic terms in the Dot Tel domain still available. So as part of the Rapid Time suite of products we have launched Rapid Time Dot Tel. It will provide a range of products and services around this unique and effective marketing tool.

Check out Rapid Time Dot Tel:

http://rapidtimedottel.com

It’s almost completed and will be ready to take customers in a few days!

The Rapid CEO Chronicles

I am working with some really bright people and we are revamping my website and adding a major new feature. The Rapid CEO Chronicles.

I will be providing a steady stream of information from my past, current and future entrepreneurial endeavours and share them with our subscribers.

I will be sharing my failures, successes, current pursuits, future trends as I see them (been pretty good at that lately) and of course some of my best kept marketing secrets and a lot more. So if you are interested you can subscribe here.

George Moen – The Rapid CEO
http://www.georgemoen.tel

This week was a blur to say the least. I do a lot of networking but this one was probably the most intense I can remember. There were lots of meetings at both the High Output Business Network ( HOBN ) and even more at Rapid Time Networks ( RTN ).

I get a large number of requests to have coffee , lunch and dinner with people. They want to meet and hang out and many times they ask for insight and want to bounce ideas off of me. My day would be filled with such requests if I took everyone up on their offer. So I thought I would start posting more information to my blog about questions I get so I can share them and in a way fill the requests I get.

There are a lot of benefits to networking and one is that I get to meet the most interesting people who are doing amazing things. The one thing I have come away with this week is the amount of innovation and creativity that is actually going on.

I was at three events other than Rapid Time Networks and High Output Network. On Tuesday I was a guest of a new club eProjects from UBC. Each table had folks like me from the Business community and we got to sit with 8-10 students. These young folks are smart and have great insight into their world. To say they were keen would be an understatement. I could go on and on about them but our future is bright. If you ever get an invite make sure you go. You will learn more from them than they learn from you.

Thursday was super intense and I spoke about Rapid Time Networks to two well-established Meetup Groups in Vancouver. First, I was at Ronald Lee’s Vancouver-Business & Entrepreneur Meetup Group (he has over 1700 on his Meetup list). He runs a great meeting with great networking opportunities and it is very affordable for only $5.00 at the door. You should join and drop in once in a while. The price may change depending on the venue but it is well worth the price. Thank you Ronald for inviting me.

Check It Out:
http://www.meetup.com/Vancouver-Business-Marketing-Entrepreneur/

Then I was off to the Network Hub and an event hosted by Minna Van. She is arguably the first lady of Networking in Vancouver. I got to the event just as they were wrapping up a Dragon’sDen style program and this again supports the notion that there is a lot of innovation going on in this town. This is also a big group with 2800 members. The event is free but donations of wine are appreciated.

Check Out:
http://coworkingvancouver.visibli.com/share/MkX7N9

Special thanks goes out to Chang Han and Ricky Shetty for keeping me on time. It was
like having “handlers” – too funny!

This week also saw the launch of a new Rapid Time Networks sponsored site called “Hot Dot Tel” where we are finding really high quality domains still available. We are
posting one per day. I will be posting to my blog in the very near future why I think this should be of interest to the business community.

Check Out:
http://hotdottel.tel/

Coming Soon: Hot Dot Tel’s And Why You Should Secure Your Online Brands!

George Moen – The Rapid CEO
http://www.georgemoen.tel

Visit This is my Vancouver and give us your thoughts.