Doug Wagner, Author at Sunwapta Solutions

17 Nov 2009

Learning from Experience

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:20:34-06:00November 17th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

I have a country neighbour who decided to put up a fence. They acquired those 6 foot high by 8 foot long, pre-assembled solid fence panels and proceeded to put the fence up using 4×4 posts set in dirt every 8 feet.

It gets really windy in this region. Howling windy. And they are located in an unsheltered lot.

They got about 8-10 panels up before the first wind and rainstorm struck from the north. The next day we saw part of the fence leaning at a 45 degree angle, a bobcat (tractor) holding part of the fence up and a bunch of boards holding […]

13 Nov 2009

What Does the Other Person Really Want?

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:20:51-06:00November 13th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Mindset and Motivation, Sales|

We often go into a situation with preconceived notions about what we want and what the benefits are to the other person or organization.

This applies to partnerships, client relationships, vendor relationships, employee-employer relationships, and personal relationships.

Don't jump to the solution until you really understand the problem.

Otherwise your hammer will make everything a nail.

How do you get this understanding?

You ask and then… listen.

Simple in concept? You bet. Hard for most of us to pull off consistently? Certainly or the world of relationships would be a lot simpler.

Business Owners

What are your personal goals? Does your role in the business align with your […]

11 Nov 2009

Mirror Mirror on the Wall (Self Reflection)

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:21:05-06:00November 11th, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

In the last few days I have been looking at myself. Who I am and who I want to be.

You can look in a mirror and see your reflection, but that is just the outside appearance that the rest of the world sees.

If you start looking around at the people in your life and the strength and quality of your relationships you see a different reflection.

You were born into your family. You don't choose those relationships but you choose how you manage them.

You get to choose your spouse and vice versa. Same with friends, business partners, etc.

Then you can […]

10 Nov 2009

A Mix of Messages

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:21:12-06:00November 10th, 2009|Categories: Books and Courses, Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

What is in a Company Name?

I recently saw a truck drive by with the name "Explosive Landscapes". Not sure I would want my landscape to explode or do they blow up old ones or is that how they dig holes? I would probably choose a landscaping company by referral so the name probably doesn't matter.

That begs the question, does a company name really matter as long as it is easy to remember and spell?

How much time does a startup spend agonizing over a company name and logo? Unless you are going to be like McDonald's your logo is probably the […]

4 Nov 2009

Manifesting Your Strategy

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:21:17-06:00November 4th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Software Development|

As I mentioned earlier this week, I have committed to the future being different than the past and have been focusing as much on long-term strategic work as dealing with day to day issues.

Another milestone was reached today at Sunwapta Solutions.

We've been building (organically) software tools to help small businesses succeed. Well the first thing a business needs to do to succeed is focus on strategic initiatives and get their heads out of the day to day grind.

Today we internally launched release 1.0 Beta of a tool (Silverlight, .NET and SQL Server for the techies) that will be used to help […]

3 Nov 2009

Lessons From Maslow

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:21:21-06:00November 3rd, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog|

Every once in a while, I find something worth sharing and instead of writing my own post, I merely point my readers to their content.

Dr. Jeff Cornwall covers a variety of topics around being an entrepreneur and the impact of small business on the American economy; a lot of which applies here in Canada too.

I especially liked this quote from Dr. Paul White:

"The issue isn't "what do I want to do" but "what goods or services are needed that people are willing to pay for"? As a culture, we have forgotten that the primary purpose of a […]

2 Nov 2009

Plan For Success

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:21:26-06:00November 2nd, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership|

Here in Alberta, Canada the federal and provincial governments have been telling everyone we need to get vaccinated against the H1N1 virus. Yup this is a nasty strain of flu that is killing the young and the healthy.

The media has been playing this up too with stories in almost every edition.

Initially there were long line-ups and a run on the vaccination clinics.

Last week, someone I know was at an adult dance class and the instructor was telling the students they would not be touching hands tonight and that the government had decided to focus on high priority groups and the rest […]

1 Nov 2009

It’s Not You, It’s Me.

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:21:34-06:00November 1st, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

When relationships go through a rough period or break-up there is a tendency to cast blame. That blame is either directed at the other person or yourself depending on your personality and a variety of other factors.

The problem is that both reactions are driven by strong emotions.

In business you can do the same thing. Every time something goes wrong you can look for someone or something to blame.

However, this does not actually do you or the business any long-term good. Your customers really don't care about excuses. They care about results.

You need to be able to look at yourself in […]

27 Oct 2009

Is Opportunity Knocking?

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:21:39-06:00October 27th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

A while back one of our mentors reminded me of something very significant.

"Big opportunities don't come very often so don't let it pass you by."

Today we met with Andrew Barber-Starkey of ProCoach Success System again. My lesson today was to make sure your business passion matches your life purpose or is part of your strategy for achieving your life purpose.

So the question then becomes do you have plan for your life? If not then how would you know if an opportunity is a match for you?

Of course, finding your purpose or meaning in life is […]

26 Oct 2009

The Ideal Partnership

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:21:46-06:00October 26th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership|

Recently Sunwapta Solutions has been actively partnering with a number of companies to extend our product and service offering in complementary ways.

What would an ideal partnership look like (top ten list)?

Our partner would bring us lots of profitable business,
Our partner would put our needs above their own,
Our partner would pay us for the privilege of being a partner,
Our partner would be required to get their employees certified on all of our products at their expense,
Our partner would get to put our logo on their website and in return we would add them to a list on […]

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