1. Editor's Column
(Column/Editor's Column)

How is the economy affecting you? Have you noticed any changes? Until September I was working on a project for a large company, but when that finished they said there was no new work. I got the same

2. Coffee For Link
(Articles/Business Topics)

...will be a tasty reminder. Until next time. Duncan P.S. If you are interested in getting a link on Big Dreams, click here. How To Write An Appreciation Speech Appreciate your frien...

3. Letting Money Get In Your Way
(Articles/Personal Development)

... You will be seen as a quitter and that will not help you with others who might have helped you and your dreams. I prefer options 3 and 4 over options 1 and 2, since you do end up successfully achi...

4. Be Happy
(Articles/Personal Development)

I was talking with someone on LinkedIn recently, about happiness. He asked what makes you really, truly happy deep down. The question implies my happiness is controlled by external sources. To a

5. Love Your Job
(Articles/Personal Development)

This was one of those days where things just clicked togther for me, and I had to share it with you. I was just reading a book called Alpha Project Managers, by Andy Crowe. The first thing the autho

6. Flying Bed
(Articles/Personal Development)

This weekend we proved that a bunk bed can fly, and we did it without FAA certification. It also taught me you can have too much confidence in your abilities, to the point that it blinds you to the

7. New Year's Switch
(Articles/Personal Development)

As you try new things and achieve results, the results become a tangible record of your achievements. You learn that you can do more than you thought you could, and it leads to self-confidence a

8. Burst Pipes
(Articles/Personal Development)

Just when things are at their worst, success is just around the corner. The darkest hour is before the dawn. You have to persevere, to persist until you succeed. Last weekend, we went to our ca

9. Editor's Column
(Column/Editor's Column)

... health and what we can do in this area? If you would like to send in an article, I can publish it in Big Dreams and make you famous. See our submission guidelines for details. On Big Dreams I recentl...

10. Stay On Top
(Articles/Business Topics)

Stay on top of your key customers or you'll lose them. Follow up with them regularly. If you don't, you can expect that your competitors will. How do you define "key customers"? Are all

11. Kayaking Alouette Lake
(Column/Editor's Column)

It just amazes me just how beautiful British Columbia is. Last week we bought some new kayaks, and on Sunday we went kayaking on Alouette Lake, here in British Columbia. We arrived at the boat launc

12. Kayaking Buntzen Lake
(Column/Editor's Column)

This Saturday we went kayaking on Buntzen Lake , here in British Columbia. We arrived early at the boat launch around 8 am, since I read that the park has limited parking and they close the ent

13. Are You Talking To A 3?
(Articles/Personal Development)

Communication skills are great, but do they always work? Not everyone responds the same way to your fancy techniques. Sometimes you need to take a step back and look at things. "I have comm

14. Do You Realize You Have a Learning Style?
(Articles/Personal Development)

By Charlie Badenhop Like most every human being, I'm guessing you learn some things well while struggling to learn other subjects. If so, join the club! This article will give you some insight int

15. Business Game - Interests and Skills
(Articles/Game)

Your Interests And Skills Good idea! Start with your interests and skills. What you love to do and are good at may have business potential. If you can find a way to earn a li

16. Business Game - Mission Statement
(Articles/Game)

Mission Statement Good idea. It is important to have a sense of purpose. Start with your own personal mission, and then expand out to the mission of your business. You should choose a

17. Elastic Band Theory
(Articles/Personal Development)

...our thoughts. Many people in the first group would be called leaders, who shape their life based on their dreams and vision, and move boldly forward. The other group would be those who are victims of ...

18. How To Get Appreciation
(Articles/Personal Development)

I have talked about appreciation, mostly from the giving side. I talked about how it can help in business and personal lives. Customer appreciation is especially important if you want to remain in bus

19. The Teacher Will Come
(Articles/Personal Development)

...t I kept my eyes open. I asked for his business card. I went to his website to take a look. Behold! Big Dreams ! There's the answer; I found a way to share my ideas. Whether it is a care...

20. Continuous Learning
(Articles/Personal Development)

It is important to keep learning new things. In The Artists Way, the author says to continually re-stock the well of your mind with new ideas. In Darwin theory, the law of requisite variety says t

21. Business Spotlights
(Articles/Business Topics)

A business spotlight is the opportunity to give a presentation about your business at a networking meeting. Most Chamber Of Commerce meetings or networking meetings offer spotlight opportunities to

22. Toast Speech
(Articles/Miscelaneous Articles)

I have been a member of Toastmasters since 1992, and always have lots of fun there. A while ago I decided to present a speech on the topic of toast itself. You can see the mind map of the speech I p

23. We Have Moved
(Column/Editor's Column)

As of today we are now on a separate domain www.bigdreams.ca. Big Dreams has been around for over 12 years now. It started as a print version, published monthly, and soon moved to the web around 1

24. Customer Appreciation
(Articles/Business Topics)

I often say, if you have a finite budget for marketing, you should spend less on advertising and invest it in your customers in some form of customer appreciation. You will get a better return for y

25. Finding Your Dream
(Articles/Personal Development)

...s and so can you. So when I talk about having a dream, it does not imply daydreaming or sleeping types of dreams. Stephen Covey, in his book The 7 Habits of ...

26. Customer Service
(Articles/Business Topics)

How you take care of your customers is a key factor in your business success. If you take good care of your customers, then you get to keep them as customers, plus they will multiply.

27. Worrying
(Articles/Personal Development)

Since I got lots of interest in my last article on worrying, here is some more on the topic. Do you spend too much time worrying about things? Do you feel that it is cutting into your ability to

28. Dare To Dream
(Articles/Personal Development)

... looked out the window of the restaurant. “Can you imagine what a world it would be if we all lived our dreams? If everyone was doing something that they truly loved, rather than just getting by?” ...

29. Talking Horse Saves Life
(Articles/Personal Development)

...any people give up, when success is in sight. They just don't know how close they were to achieving their dreams. It is important to realize that you always have a chance to succeed. You are only trul...

30. Small Business Networking
(Articles/Business Topics)

Networking is ideal for those of you who are starting out in business, with no existing clients and a limited budget. The investment is more of time than of money. There are plenty of opportunit

31. Referrals
(Articles/Business Topics)

It is the easiest sale when the customer is already sold on you, your company and your product or service. They already know of the quality of products and services you provide, and they come pre

32. Cute Puppy Pictures
(Articles/Miscelaneous Articles)

A couple of years ago, I worked on a web site for a company near here. They sell all sorts of cool equipment, unrelated to puppies of course. At one point, I made up some silly pictures with puppie

33. How To Write An Appreciation Speech
(Articles/Business Topics)

So you have to prepare and deliver a speech, expressing your appreciation to one or more parties, for something they have given to your cause or done. Perhaps you have received some kind of awar

34. Visa Cheques
(Column/Editor's Column)

This is a true story that happened to me. I have a Visa card, like many people do. And from time to time, the Visa company sends in the mail, some promotional cheques. The cheques are tied to your

35. More on Appreciation Speech
(Articles/Miscelaneous Articles)

I was looking at the stats and saw that my article Appreciation Speech, was one of the top searched for items on here. I guess there are a lot of people out there with something to appreciate.

36. Mentoring: Building the Stars
(Articles/Business Topics)

(I wrote this article a while back for the SPC, hope you like it)  As a project manager in a software company one of the biggest challenges is to f

37. Managing Customer Expectations
(Articles/Business Topics)

An important topic is managing customer expectations. If you can meet or beat their expectations, you have a chance to keep the customer happy. It is very much about communicating with the customer

38. Moving Forwards
(Articles/Miscelaneous Articles)

... getting out of neutral. One of the key things you need to do is to take action to achieve your goals and dreams. Momentum is a force of nature. [[Newton's first law]] of motion is described...

39. Photo Exhibition
(Articles/Miscelaneous Articles)

Photo Exhibition For the whole month of March 2006 I have an exhibit of photographs at the Terry Fox library in [[Port Coquitlam]]. Any day during the month of Mar

40. Don't Worry, Be Happy
(Articles/Personal Development)

There used to be a song of this title, and I think it is still excellent advice. Worrying about things does little to help you. Being happy will do you plenty of good. Happy people do much bette

41. Wake
(Articles/Personal Development)

...omewhere with your life? If not, then perhaps it is time to make a change. Duncan (From the best of Big Dreams) ...

42. Role Models
(Articles/Personal Development)

Whether you like it or not we are all role models to others. Whatever you do or don't do, and how you do it, people notice. You are a product of your environment, and by environment I mean th

43. Gravy Pots
(Articles/Personal Development)

More kitchen wisdom for you. A task I got to do a lot of was washing pots and pans. There were these huge pots that we used to cook soup, or gravy, or curry sauce. They would be kept simmering for

44. Fridge Theory Revisited
(Articles/Personal Development)

In July 1994 I first published Big Dreams, and in that first issue was an article on "Duncan's Fridge Theory". That was over 10 years ago. It was one of the most popular articles, even t

45. Editor's Column
(Column/Editor's Column)

...ick, wounded, and we are all in it. Complaining about things does not help cure them. Duncan Editor, Big Dreams ...

46. Three Tools for Goal Setting
(Articles/Personal Development)

By Mike Nissley Would you like to set goals?   Would you like more time to get those goals done? Do you have a specific plan to achieve those goals? For the nation, this is the

47. Take a Marketing Lesson from the Girl Scouts
(Articles/Business Topics)

Take a Marketing Lesson from the Girl Scouts Bite-size Your Products & Services by Lee Steele In tough economic times, there’s much we can all learn about marketing from the Girl Scouts. Ye

48. Anger Management Practice: The gift of forgiveness
(Articles/Personal Development)

By Charlie Badenhop This anger management Practice draws on the dual wisdom of Aikido and scientific research. "The gift of forgiveness" will help you explore how to change long term ang

49. Potato Chips
(Articles/Personal Development)

Have you ever had some sort of addiction that you always wanted to deal with? Read on. My friend said she had a problem, she was addicted to potato chips. She could not stop eating them, and it

50. Points of Contact
(Articles/Business Topics)

Think in terms of the customer experience, and what impression customers get from doing business with your company. There are a sequence of points of contact, the moments of truth, where you and t