Bruce Outridge

Professional Drivers -Time to Step Up!

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Bruce

I was reading an article in Today’s Trucking Electronic Magazine about how drivers are going to be forced to cut corners due to changes in the hours of service regulations being proposed in the U.S. Now I can understand from an industry standpoint there may be some hesitation about that, but from a driver standpoint that shouldn’t cause you to cut corners. It was pointed out in the article that due to a shortening of driving time drivers would start cutting corners while doing their pre-trip inspections. To me that is crazy, to think that drivers would skip inspecting their units to save fifteen minutes of time. To me that is bad time management and though I feel there will be a few that think this is the best plan they can think of, any professional driver should be planning their days to most benefit from the hours available. The company you run for should be adjusting their traffic lanes and manpower to best fit the flow of freight through their business. These type of adjustments are the best way to tackle changes in the regulations. Companies will need to spend some time on educating their shippers on the changes and how it affects freight flow. They should also be helping drivers learn how to run more profitably through proper time management. Professionals don’t cut corners, they adjust and flourish. I hope you are a professional driver. To read the source article visit the link for Today’s Trucking http://www.todaystrucking.com/news.cfm?intDocID=25689&login=consulting%40outridge%2Eca&datalogin=%2A%3E%20J8NY0%28%5FJ%5C%26UP%20%20%0A

Are You in Business or Not?

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Bruce

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It totally amazes me how many people run around yelling I am in business, I am in business! They set it up, roll it out, and then sit on the couch and complain that it is slow. Too many people sit on the fence which is why many businesses fail. If you are going to be in business, be in business. Operate it professionally, be active in it, and be proud of it. That is the best thing about entrepreneurship is that the losses or profits are a result of the work put in. If you aren’t dedicated to the business how can you expect your clients to be dedicated to your business. You don’t have to be perfect but you have to be improving. It doesn’t matter if that is investigating ways to make it better, or actually growing through more clients. Either be commited or get out of it. lack of professionalism just hurts all of us that are really in the game to win. i wish you all the best with your businesses.

Marketing With Social Media

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Bruce

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Many companies are starting to jump on the band wagon with social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and others. Should you be part of this marketing buzz? Well I tell my clients this, it is more important to be on social media if your business is dealing with consumers and the public directly. That is where the public is and with over 500 million users on Facebook it is very hard to ignore that market. However if your business works directly with other businesses then social media may not be such a big deal especially if you market to large corporations. That being said I would still think about having a presence on the social media platforms. Remember like any other marketing campaign just signing up does not make you an instant hit. It will take regular upkeep which can be more difficult for most than actually signing on. So what do you need?

I have included some tips for you in this section to help create your own marketing campaign:

Keep it educational, social media is meant to create conversations, not just selling platforms.

Link social media platforms to achieve a presence on different networks.

Promote your profiles on all advertising and drive traffic back to your website.

Show links on your website to the social media platforms that you are signed on to.

Include social media as part of your exisitng marketing campaigns.

A blog is one of the best ways to educate your clients and prospects.

The top platforms to get started with are Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln, WordPress, and YouTube.

Colour Manage Your Time

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Bruce

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Are you ready to be successful in 2011?Are you looking for that tip that will bring you more clients and more efficiency to your business? Then “Colour Managing Your Time” is the answer. Join us tonight for the workshop of the same name in Burlington, Ontario. Learn how to set your goals, manage your time, and organize and market to clients. For entrepreneurs this is a must workshop. For details on the workshop visit http://www.outridge.ca/publicworkshops.html and register today. We are on tonight!

See you there!

Bruce

Working on it or in it?

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Bruce

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Many of us entrepreneurs, especially those of us that provide a service can get very bogged down in the day to day details of running a business and lose the focus of working on getting new business. One way to help in that area is to colour manage your time which I won’t get into here (read the article in the November posts). However one addition is to make sure that any marketing activities and business meetings are similar colours. For instance if your business meetings are in light green, then client contact or marketing would be a dark green. When you look at your calendar for the month you should see green everyday. If not then you need to work more on contact with clients.I suggest reading the article “Capitalizing on Life” that talks about goals and then the “Colour Manage Your Time” article from November. Make 2011 the year of success!