More Noise About Saskatchewan

The cover story of the Globe and Mail's Report on Business this weekend was The New 'It' Province. Referring to Saskatchewan, the article goes on to talk about how Saskatchewan is about a lot more than wheat these days. The focus on the article was primarily on potash, oil and gas, and the rising population. You can read the whole article here.

At first blush, you might be tempted to think that the boom is only affecting natural resource based industries. After all, the money seems to be flowing in from oil and gas exploration and expansion in areas such as potash. But don't kid yourself into thinking that the only people that stand to benefit are the natural resource companies and the labourers that pull the stuff out of the ground.

Remember, those companies will also need accountants, sales reps, marketing managers, and HR personnel. And since those companies are set to do so well financially, they might just be able to pay quality dollars to attract quality people. But the impact won't stop there.

As more jobs are created, it is natural for more inmigration to occur. That means more construction and more growth. Home owners in Saskatchewan are already starting to realize the equity in their homes since the economy has started to soar. And when more money and growth starts to infuse the Saskatchewan market, that means people will have cash to spend on other things - perhaps they'll even buy something that you sell!

Last year we already started to recruit people from outside the province to come join us in the good times Saskatchewan is experiencing through Think Regina in Calgary. Next week Think Regina heads to Edmonton to continue the campaign.

As the article states, Saskatchewan's time is now. You're either in or you're in the way.

I also liked what NewsTalk 980's Dave Arnold had to say this morning (rough paraphase) - if people keep hearing these good things about Saskatchewan, they might not be able to ignore us any longer.

Happy boom time Saskatchewan!

Ode to Gary Vay-ner-chuk

So I'm swamped. Haven't posted to the blog for a while. I've got a backlog (if that's a word) of videos that need to be posted and we're trying to get about 5 or 6 different projects going right now. To top it all off, my wife Katlyn and I are off to Mexico on Saturday for just over a week to take in a friend's wedding and to take in some sun (I know, boo hoo, you're swamped and you're taking a vacation).

But all of that aside, I wanted to dedicate a post to a guy that everyone who reads this should make part of their day. Even if you don't care about wine, business, or the tech world, you need Gary Vaynerchuk in your life. If I'm feeling sluggish I just push the play button on one of his videos and his energy just picks me right up.

Red Bull's got nothing on Gary Vee.

I occasionally watch the Thunder Show, but was more interested in the whole idea of Gary through Rich Schefren. I was fasicnated with the idea that anyone with enough passion and smarts can use all the free tools available to broadcast that passion to millions of people and make a difference. That's why I was pumped to stumble upon http://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/ (Mott, link it up) where Gary has created a video blog to talk about business, and how technology can have a huge impact on it.

The best part about all the tools out there, whether it be a blog, YouTube, Facebook, or whatever is that they can be used in absolutely any industry, not just web based stuff. Heck, it's even better if it's not a web based business. There's less of a chance that there's an established competitor.

So bottom line - get to know Gary Vaynerchuk. He might be the catalyst to your pending success.

Here's a video below to get you started. It really resonated with me because I find myself doing a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated stuff (we have a marketing consulting company that runs a wedding website, helps small businesses with internet marketing, has an arm dedicated to restaurant marketing and we're starting a sprinkler business), but it's all stuff that I'm passionate about. I'm tired of people telling me I can only be known for one thing. I'm an entrepreneur, I'll get involved with as many different things as I want. I'll let you decide what you want to know me as.

Many people think of Gary as a wine guy. I prefer to think of him as an entrepreneur that's got a ton of passion and good ideas. Thanks to Gary for kickstarting my day. Enjoy.