Nov 30 2012

The Day I Almost Lost My Son and Wife

aiden-hat

The Day I Almost Lost My Son and Wife
Personal blog by our CEO, Brent Mondoux

Let’s go back to March 17th, 2004…

It was a frantic day and everyone was tired.  My beautiful wife had been in labour for three days with no eating and mere minutes of sleep.  She somehow managed to keep a smile on her face but she was exhausted.  While one of the nurses had good intentions, she forgot to check the hospital registration forms prior to administering a drip that included a pain killer that Nat was allergic to.

After three inductions, the fourth one finally succeeded and our beloved son, Aiden, was on his way, but nothing could prepare us for what was about to happen.   I’ve replayed his birth over and over in my head and every time it feels as if time has stopped, just like it did that very day.

Our beautiful little boy, Aiden, was born but he wasn’t moving.  I looked on in fear as the doctor looked up at us and spoke in a calm, controlled tone as if it was routine “You cannot hold your baby yet.  Don’t panic, you won’t hear him cry for a while.”

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Aug 24 2012

Social media superhero saves businesses with top-secret strategy

N-VisionIT Interactive SM2 social media superhero.

N-VisionIT Interactive SM2 social media superhero.

Ottawa, ON, Aug. 21, 2012 – Deep beneath the streets of Canada’s capital lives a superhero who catapults brands into the Internet and saves businesses from the perils of poor social media marketing.  His name is N-VisionIT Interactive CEO Brent Mondoux. His superpower? A top-secret strategy known to agents as SM2 – social media superhero methodology.

Mondoux invented the revolutionary SM2 so businesses could arm themselves with a new weapon in the fight to increase website traffic and sales. SM2  helps businesses build loyal, authentic communities using long-term, customized social media strategies.

“It’s not just how to use social media. It’s how to use it well, today and over time, as your business changes and as technology evolves,” said Mondoux, whose company has created websites, mobile applications and social media strategies for clients around the world, including government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.

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Aug 13 2012

Blogging for Business Success

Blogging for business

by Brent Mondoux, CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive.  Published by the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce.

Social media continues to evolve at breathtaking paces.  It’s becoming increasingly challenging for business professionals to decipher which endeavours reap rewards and which merely consume unnecessary time and energy.  With so many quick and easy social media options at our fingertips, many businesses are underestimating the importance of blogging.

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Jun 17 2012

Don’t Believe Your Own Lies or You’ll Kill Your Own Business

AssumptionsEach and every day I’m blessed with the opportunity to talk to dozens of leaders in various industries that span the globe.

One of the most common confessions that business owners have shared with me is that they are unable to keep up with the breathtaking pace of technology while keeping abreast of their own respective industries as they evolve.

The second most common confession is the one that troubles me the most.  Business owners have become so overwhelmed with technology that they are literally convincing themselves why they don’t need to adapt.

Some common statements heard in the last week alone include “My customers aren’t on mobile”, “Social media is a fad”, “News companies will cease to exist”.

Now let’s see… false, false, false!

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Apr 16 2012

How can I make money with my website?

Make money with websiteHaving talked to thousands of entrepreneurs over the last decade and a half, I’m still surprised by the large amount of companies that are still starting businesses without viable revenue models.  In fact many entrepreneurs are starting companies without any revenue model plan whatsoever!

Granted, there are companies without revenue models that have sold for breathtaking bounties.  Just this recent quarter, Draw Something sold to Zynga for $300 million and Instagram sold to Facebook for a whopping $1 billion.

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Mar 27 2012

Are coupon sites good for small business owners?

GroupOn coupon sitesToday I’m going to cover a topic that small business owners ask me almost on a daily basis.  If you’ve done a quick search online, you’ll quickly discover that opinions are all over the map, ranging from celebratory at one end of the spectrum all the way to demonization at the other end.

So then, what’s the truth?  Well, to add to the confusion, they both are!  Running a daily coupon shouldn’t be a split second decision and you need to understand both the pros and the cons of making this commitment.  Yes, you heard that right.  Running a coupon is a commitment… it’s a commitment to your company, your employees and your customers in a huge way.

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Mar 21 2012

Using Pinterest to Grow Your Small Business

PinterestA few months ago, barely anyone even heard about Pinterest.  Today, however, a very different picture has been painted.  With a staggering growth of 261.6% in the last 3 months, Pinterest has been taking the social media nation by storm!

Having already reached 2.2 million daily active users and gaining the coveted rank of being the 59th most visited website in the world (16th most visited in the US), there are already rumors of Pinterest being considered as an acquisition target of social media industry leaders, Facebook and Twitter.  Think the growth is about to wane?  Actually, it’s the opposite… now that the site is getting to be known, it’s growth is about to explode at an exponential rate that hasn’t yet been witnessed to date!

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Mar 8 2012

Thinking Outside the Box Creates Industry Leaders

Industry leadersWelcome to the year 2002.  Meet Company X.  Company X is a manufacturer of one of the world’s most popular hardware devices.  The market share of their products is a whopping 95%!  They’re on top of the world and completely untouchable by any potential threat!  Everyone who tries to stand up against them gets punished severely, ultimately suffering a humiliating and painful defeat.

Flash forward to 2007, essentially rinsing and repeating this story year after year.  The story remains the same… until another company comes along, swoops down and over the next 2 years they even out the market.  Suddenly it’s a 50/50 playing field, but the momentum seems irreversible and another threat enters the market.

Who am I talking about?

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Feb 29 2012

Finish What You Start!

Finish what you startIt’s been 2012 for a little over a month and a half now and I already feel that I’ve accomplished so much more than in the entirety of 2011.

Every January instead of a making a New Year’s resolution, I opt to do something a little more useful with my time, a process which can make not just one positive change in my life, but potentially many.  I recap all of my accomplishments from the previous year.  This includes reviewing each week’s summary on my “to do list” and highlighting my most significant successes that were accomplished and then highlighting the most significant tasks that still were incomplete.

In doing so I noticed that I had put a lot of my priorities on hold because I was starting too many new projects and so I’ve made a commitment now to simply finish what I start.  This forces me to prioritize the options in which I choose to invest my time in and has already made a significant positive impact on my productivity.  How so?

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Feb 24 2012

When Maximizing Profit Can Destroy Your Company

Maximizing profitsWe’ve all witnessed it – companies who maximize their profit at all expense – regardless of the potential consequences.  No matter what anyone says, maximizing profits should not be any company’s highest priority.  While it’s a vital lifeline within any company, often times it’s maximized at the expense of increased potential for long term success.

Because this article will touch on a number of real life instances, I will refrain from using these companies’ names to protect their identities.

After I publish this article, I fully expect a number of my trusted partners, colleagues and clients to call me, I know that I’ll hit a chord and well… the truth always hurts.  So here are the most common scenarios where focusing on the maximization of profits tend to erode a company’s potential for long-term success.

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