John Goldstein Photography and Toronto Landscape TV (TLTV) -- The Blog

2012-02-02T08:36:00.003-05:00

Sparring

2012-02-01T10:20:00.003-05:00

Corporate Presentation

2012-01-31T09:12:00.000-05:00

Real Estate Interior

2012-01-30T08:39:00.000-05:00

Sparring

2012-01-27T07:06:00.003-05:00

Real Estate

2012-01-24T10:18:00.001-05:00

Hotel Room - Detail

2012-01-23T08:38:00.000-05:00

Barn Detail

2012-01-20T08:57:00.001-05:00

WWI Bi-Plane

2012-01-19T11:06:00.003-05:00

Snowy Path (Quebec City)

2012-01-18T09:59:00.001-05:00

Quebec City Panorama

2012-01-17T11:08:00.001-05:00

Nighttime

2012-01-16T09:10:00.000-05:00

Cabin and Path

2012-01-13T06:47:00.003-05:00

Lighthouse

2012-01-12T09:58:00.004-05:00

Portrait - Kelly

2012-01-11T11:07:00.003-05:00

Smelting

2012-01-10T09:16:00.000-05:00

Renting A Sailboat (Paris, France)

2012-01-09T10:30:00.002-05:00

Empty Chair

2012-01-06T08:26:00.000-05:00

Adorable

2012-01-04T08:59:00.000-05:00

Winter Trail

2012-01-03T08:48:00.000-05:00

A New Day

2012-01-02T08:57:00.001-05:00

Outskirts

2011-12-30T09:33:00.003-05:00

Lecture

2011-12-28T10:54:00.001-05:00

Parasailing Liftoff

2011-12-27T08:43:00.000-05:00

Winter Scene

2011-12-26T11:22:00.001-05:00

To The Skating Pond

2011-12-23T08:33:00.000-05:00

Union Station (Toronto)

2011-12-12T12:06:00.002-05:00

Winter Footsteps

2011-12-09T06:45:00.001-05:00

Foundry

2011-12-08T08:30:00.001-05:00

Preparing For An Evening Sail

2011-12-02T08:58:00.001-05:00

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (Waterloo, ON)

2011-12-01T09:29:00.001-05:00

10ft Panorama - Goat Island & Swing Bridge

2011-11-30T09:30:00.001-05:00

New Buillding

2011-11-29T09:29:00.001-05:00

Winter Parasailing (Quebec)

2011-11-28T08:36:00.001-05:00

Condo Building (Toronto)

2011-11-25T08:54:00.001-05:00

Jetty

2011-11-24T06:43:00.001-05:00

Waterside

2011-11-23T09:03:00.001-05:00

Wintertime

2011-11-22T10:57:00.001-05:00

Grandmother and Granddaughter

2011-11-21T08:31:00.001-05:00

Country Road

2011-11-18T08:51:00.001-05:00

Hotel Room

2011-11-17T08:37:00.001-05:00

Lecture

2011-11-16T11:21:00.001-05:00

Preparing To Sail

2011-11-15T10:29:00.001-05:00

Ready To Eat

2011-11-14T12:06:00.001-05:00

Industrial Products

2011-11-11T08:28:00.001-05:00

Remembrance Day - Inside a WWII Fighter Plane

2011-11-10T08:01:00.002-05:00

Distant People (Mont St Michel, France)

2011-11-07T09:28:00.000-05:00

The Great Stairs (Mississauga City Hall)

2011-10-31T09:11:00.003-04:00

Portrait Photography - Steve

2011-10-28T08:04:00.003-04:00

Sparring

2011-10-27T08:21:00.001-04:00

Gift Basket

2011-10-26T10:06:00.003-04:00

Clock

2011-10-25T09:51:00.001-04:00

Condo Buildings

2011-10-24T08:42:00.000-04:00

Petey The Dog

2011-10-20T09:50:00.003-04:00

Lighthouse

2011-10-19T08:51:00.002-04:00

Perimeter Institute (Waterloo)

2011-10-18T09:22:00.003-04:00

Condo Building (Toronto)

2011-10-17T08:56:00.003-04:00

Grafitti (Detail)

2011-10-14T09:33:00.001-04:00

Fence and Field

2011-10-12T10:46:00.003-04:00

Old Tower

How Does BNI Differ From Other Networking Organizations?

2011-10-11T11:01:00.002-04:00

How does BNI membership differ from other organizations?

- BNI charges more than most other referral organizations. Why? First of all, BNI is the largest organization of it's kind in the world (because it works). You have access to members across your city and around the world. I have visited numerous chapters in my city. When I visit them I get to present what I do to the group, hand out my business cards, and meet business owners that I am likely to do business with. Second, psychologically speaking, we as human being are more likely to put in a strong effort if we pay more to be a member. If your referral organization charges little or nothing, there is little incentive for members to put in their best effort, to show up on time, or to even attend all the chapter meetings. Because BNI membership is not cheap, I have found that everyone works hard to bring other members more business (they know it's reciprocal, so if they put in a good effort for me then I will put in a good effort for them), they all show up on time and attend every meeting. I have not found this to be the case in other networking organizations I have been a part of. Many of our chapter members have been a member for over 10 years now, and they all say that joining was the smartest move they ever made. Many members in our chapter get 75%+ of their revenue from referrals given to them by chapter members. Year to date in 2001, our chapter (18 members) has brought in referral revenue of $1.1 Million to our chapter's members. Compare these figures to those in other networking organizations and you will see a HUGE difference.

- BNI is more formal/structured than other networking organizations. Maybe, maybe not. I have seen other networking organizations that are just as structured, if not more so, than BNI. I initially felt that I didn't want an organization with a lot of structure, but I have come to realize that a bit of order/structure helps everyone be focused and bring in more business. Honestly, the structure in BNI is less than the structure I've seen at most other organizations, including corporations. Yes, there is an order in which the meetings are conducted, but I have found that it is an overwhelmingly good thing. Without a bit of structure, people tend to come late, not attend, talk to others during the meeting, or check their smartphones constantly. This is not a problem in my BNI chapter, and I really appreciate that. It makes me angry when members don't care enough to be there, be on time, and listen. Other organizations I've been involved with are little more than a social club. That's fine if that is what you want, but I have found that they produce little business for their members. I have been a member of BNI for less than 6 months now, and I have already had a TON of business referred to me by my chapter members. My annual membership fee has already paid for itself. I know that as I really get to know and work with my chapter members over the next year they will come to trust my work even more and will bring me much, much more business.

Listen, I am an honest person, and I like to help people. I have written this in the hopes of helping those in other networking organizations realize that they can "have more", and helping those not currently in networking organizations realize that they can easily get their own "sales team" of passionate, dedicated members working for them. Don't settle for networking organizations that don't bring you any business. Don't settle for networking organizations where nobody has an incentive to help you grow your business. Don't settle for networking organizations where membership turns like a revolving door because members don't get any benefit from attending meetings or working hard for their chapter members.

It's not hard, it's easy. Just come visit a BNI chapter for free and see the difference. Our Visitor's Day is coming up on October 25th (7am). Let me know if you'd like to attend, meet some great people, hand out your business cards, and have a hot breakfast on me.

2011-10-11T09:14:00.000-04:00

Business Executive

2011-10-10T10:26:00.002-04:00

Morning On The Beach

2011-10-07T09:25:00.000-04:00

Summer Evening

2011-10-06T07:14:00.000-04:00

Little Current, ON

2011-10-04T09:10:00.004-04:00

Playing Hide & Seek

2011-09-30T09:12:00.000-04:00

Guelph Cathedral

2011-09-29T08:47:00.003-04:00

Staring Simian

Whew! That Was A Close One!

2011-09-28T09:23:00.000-04:00

Have you ever turned on your computer and your external hard drive suddenly isn't recognized by your PC? I had that happen this morning. :-(

One of my 1TB hard drives, containing all my early video work, wasn't appearing in my list of drives. Not only that, but I was getting an error message saying that the computer (a Macbook Pro) couldn't access that hard drive. Uh oh!

It's common for hard drives to fail after a couple of years, and I could now foresee a trip to Best Buy to buy a new one today. I was also thinking about all the data I was going to lose. Well, after trying something VERY simple that I read online this morning, that hard drive is now up & running again.

I tried re-initializing the drive, tried plugging it into other Macs and Windows PCs, tried re-partitioning it -- all to no avail. Then I went online and did a search for "Data Rescue". I found a site with top-ranked data rescue software. I was about to buy a copy and try it out, but read some of their FAQs first. There was a FAQ regarding what to do when your hard drive isn't recognized by your computer. It recommend trying to turn the power off on the hard drive (mine is usually powered on all the time) and rebooting the computer. I did that, and lo and behold, the icon for the hard drive appeared on my desktop!!! I ran Mac's Disk Utility, it scanned that hard drive, and it says that it is fine. :-)

From now on, if one of my hard drives suddenly isn't recognized by my computer, I'm going to try the power-down method first.

All the best,
-- John

2011-09-28T08:40:00.000-04:00

Marlene and Lynden

2011-09-27T09:56:00.001-04:00

WWII Fighter Plane

2011-09-26T08:02:00.000-04:00

Rock Beach

2011-09-23T09:19:00.003-04:00

Boat Ride At Dusk

2011-09-22T09:16:00.003-04:00

Royal York Hotel, Toronto

2011-09-21T08:31:00.001-04:00

Baby Photography

2011-09-20T11:28:00.000-04:00

Mississauga City Hall

2011-09-19T09:08:00.001-04:00

Ski Hill

2011-09-16T08:34:00.003-04:00

Dusk By The Bridge

2011-09-15T08:11:00.002-04:00

Family Photography

2011-09-14T10:50:00.003-04:00

Family Photography

2011-09-13T09:34:00.000-04:00

Digital Artwork - The Lookout

2011-09-09T08:36:00.000-04:00

Corporate Speech

2011-09-08T09:16:00.003-04:00

Rigging The Boat

2011-09-06T08:35:00.001-04:00

Early Morning - Pacific Ocean

Featured Picture of the Day (Sept 1 11)

2011-09-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

Old Tractor

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 31 11)

2011-08-31T09:12:00.000-04:00

Beach View (Lake Huron)

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 30 11)

2011-08-30T06:22:00.000-04:00

Healthy

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 29 11)

2011-08-29T09:07:00.000-04:00

Fence, Field, and Sky

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 26 11)

2011-08-26T08:56:00.000-04:00

Ferris Wheel

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 25 11)

2011-08-25T09:08:00.000-04:00

Here It Comes!

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 24 11)

2011-08-24T09:15:00.000-04:00

Let's Go Kayaking!

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 23 11)

2011-08-23T09:50:00.000-04:00

Crossing At Low Tide (Mont St Michel, France)

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 22 11)

2011-08-22T08:28:00.002-04:00

Down At The Dock

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 19 11)

2011-08-19T09:28:00.000-04:00

Evening Dockside

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 18 11)

2011-08-18T09:14:00.000-04:00

Mississauga City Hall

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 17 11)

2011-08-17T09:16:00.002-04:00

Beach Sunset

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 16 11)

2011-08-16T06:22:00.000-04:00

Lighthouse (Strawberry Island)

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 15 11)

2011-08-15T09:01:00.002-04:00

Path To Beach And Sunset

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 12 11)

2011-08-12T08:58:00.002-04:00

Finishing Touches

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 9 11)

2011-08-09T09:09:00.000-04:00

Condo Building

Featured Picture of the Day (Aug 2 11)

2011-08-02T13:00:00.000-04:00

Baby Portrait