Advisory Email - February 2020

In the view of transparency, below is an excerpt from an advisory email I sent this month:

It’s good to be back in Vancouver! Nothing like a little travel to help you appreciate the little things.

February is my first full month of self-employment, and it sure has been productive.

Teaser: ValueHiring is rebranding to ClassyNarwhal. Learn more about why and read about my detailed plan of action with predicted financials in my extended blog post here. This will be the last email you’ll receive under the VH brand.

UPDATES 🎉

As mentioned previously, I’m exploring the pivot towards directly providing soft-skill training. Traction is strong. Workshop registration by the numbers:
- Mar 4, Networking Mastery – 122
- Mar 18, Art of Negotiation – 38
- Apr 8, Ideation – 18
- Apr 22, Language of Persuasion – 30
- May 6, Time Management & Productivity – 37
- Feel free to share the entire series with a friend using this link.
I’d like to think I’ve done a great job with building and maintaining my network, only 5 days back in Vancouver and I’ve already received 2 soft solicitations for employment and closed a $3,000 project. Looking forward to sharing some of my tips & techniques at the upcoming Networking Mastery workshop if you’ll be there!

LESSONS 🎓

From the workshops
- Registrations are strong with little to no promotion efforts, I’ve only shared them on Eventbrite, Meetup, and these newsletters so far. A good indicator that there’s strong demand for developing these skills.
- Numbers above are from Eventbrite + Meetup RSVPs, there may be some overlap where the same people register on both platforms. As the workshops are free, I’m expecting a 30% attendance rate. Should still be a good crowd.
- The first & last workshops are getting good numbers. I may have to experiment with the titles of the rest (I suspect they’re a little too general). Or, they may simply be topics that are less popular.
I have to make room to sincerely appologize to the SFU Enactus club here. I offered to speak at one of their events this weekend but totally ghosted.
- Dealing with a jetlagged baby is really messing with my sleep/working time.

GRATITUDE WALL 🤝

Laura Zubick & Jennifer Chin from Unbounce for hosting 2 of the 5 workshops.
Bruno Souza Gomes for the opportunity to support young entrepreneurs (12-18 years olds) in developing their soft-skills and understanding of entrepreneurship through a Startup Academy program that I’m designing for Digital Media Academy.
Chuck Lee & Raphael Rocha for referring my workshops to the students at Tamwood College.
Robert St-Jacques (Bob) for thinking of me and considering me for a possible role at a new company that he may be joining.
Leejoo Hwang for supporting with connecting me to the many student groups at UBC & SFU.

ASKS 🙏

Still looking to confirm a venue for the Mar 18, Apr 8, and Apr 22 workshops. Let me know if you’d like to host.
I’m looking for 2-3 volunteers to support with registration & door duty for the workshops, do let me know if you’d welcome the opportunity to support!

Advisory Email – February 2020