Spectacular Seniors: Kucki Low

Kucki Low's story is filled with adventure with amazing twists and turns. She  triumphed over adversity to become South Africa's first female airline pilot. Today she reaches audiences worldwide with her presentations as a speaker and her book, This is Kucki Low, Your Pilot Speaking. Her life is now being made into a feature film, many of the shots taken in Africa. 

Drawing on her many stories and adventures she takes her audiences on an exciting journey filled with laughter and introspection. She shows you how to use joy and laughter to make your business and your life soar to success, to triumph over adversity and to live a happy, fulfilled life. She has spoken at many conferences and been a guest on numerous TV programs.

She is still available to speaking engagements if you care to contact her through her website, http://kuckilow.com 

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Social Media Tips for 2016

With all the constant changes in social media and it’s getting to the point where only those who keep up with the changes are able to use it successfully for marketing. However, there are a few things anyone can do to create more traffic and sales using the media platforms.

1. Audit your social media – What are you and your company doing right now with social media? Hootsuite, that company that provides a way to combine all the social media platforms for every post (among other useful services), has provided us with a template to audit your company’s media. It’s a free download: https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-marketing-plan/ The form contains a spreadsheet to list all your media platforms, passwords, usernames, daily connection numbers, even the demographics of who connects (target audience). Also included should be branding consistency with cover and bio photos, logos, descriptions and accurate, up to date company information.
2. Set some goals – who is going to be attracted to each media platform, what kind of content will be posted, how often and who can we predict will see it (reach) and respond (conversion)? Probably your goals will need to change, so just predict what might happen using past history or by observing your competitors’ sites.
3. Get involved with social media influencers, people with thousands of followers. This is a bit like the old celebrity endorsement. However, with social media you can do more than asking someone to use your services or products. Just following them on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin groups or Instagram categories (hashtags) can provide traffic back to your media sites. Posting questions and replies on their sites means your name will go out to all their followers.
4. Use live streaming. This is especially useful during a large event. What is going on right now? Send it out and put a face to your posts. Live streaming – just a short video taken from your cell phone with the right lighting and sound quality – can be a great addition to other more informative or educational stuff. People want to know “the story”, the adventure. It’s the reality TV side of things.
5. Use promotions and contests – Here are some examples that have worked well. Be creative!

• Like this post to enter the contest for a free membership/product. Winner to be announced on March 30.
• Use the following coupon code to purchase a _________ for only $5. Promotion ends on Wednesday, so hurry to this site. (link to the sales page). Code: QQBVarm4C9

Using social media advertising and paid ads can be quite expensive. If you want to try advertising, my advice is to start with a small budget till you find out what is working for you. Here is the point of hiring an expert as this person could save you a lot of time creating and monitoring the ads for you. Each platform and company is different so some experimentation is vital.

Spectacular Seniors: Sandra Reams

Would you like to live in a heritage museum? My next guest does just that. Sandra Reams has lived as a caretaker of the Michaud House, the oldest house in Langley, BC for 19 years now. You'll hear her describe her unique life in the centuries old house. What a great place for an artist who appreciates antiques!

If you would be interested in visiting Michaud House, watch for the ad in the local paper in July and again in December when Sandra holds an open house for the public. Alternativley you can join her mailing list by contacting sreams@shaw.com. The house is not open to the public on an on-going basis.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please download other episodes of Spectacular Seniors. Better yet, subscribe so that you can be notified when new episodes are released. This is Vicki signing out for now.

 

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Spectacular Seniors: Andrew Barber-Starkey

My guest for this episode of Spectacular Seniors is Andrew Barber-Starkey. He started out his adult life making money on the oil rigs for 3 months of the year to support his passion for hang-gliding. After some of his friends and acquaintances died while hang-gliding, he decided to move on and joined the corporate world as a salesman for Zerox. In 1993 he changed again and became a business coach. He has become quite successful at this job, measured in both money and success of his students. His ideas about Centers of Influence will really expand your ideas of what is possible in marketing. He says he's not done yet, and you'll hear all about his future plans in this recording.

 

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Spectacular Seniors: Una Festor

Today's interview is with Una Festor, a small woman with a huge presence. Coming from Cape Town, South Africa to Vancouver, Canada in 1966 she began teaching music at an elementary school. She had a choir, guitar and recorder groups and a band. Later she taught language and math as well as music with over 300 students every week.

Now she's joined the ForEverGreen company and focuses on helping people improve their health. You can connect with her at: una@business-bc.com 

 

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Spectacular Seniors: Laurie McLean

Here's a person with so many qualifications and so much experience it's amazing a person can accomplish all this in one lifetime. Laurie has not only worked but excelled in the following fields: occupational therapy in extended care, home renovations. She has a Red Seal Trade Qualification in painting and decorating, one of the few women in BC to accomplish this. She's also worked in media productions, distance education and para-legal work.

About 6 years ago she embarked on her own business helping the elderly with home repairs. Since she used to do this same service for her won grandmother, she calls it Handy Granddaughter. The goal is to keep seniors in their home for as long as possible and to provide reasonable priced help. 

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Spectacular Seniors: Cal Lypkie

Here's an interesting man who has a wealth of both practical and course knowledge. As with the others I've interviewed he's extremely active as you'll hear. Cal Lypkie worked in the moving and storage business for over 30 years. Then he managed an apartment complex for 9 years after his wife became sick.

Now he's involved with two Toastmasters clubs called Professional Edge and Spontaneous Speakers. In addition, he's putting together his own business called Destiny Developments Unlimited. He'll tell you all about it. 

Here's his address if you want to contact him: clypkie@telus.net 

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