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CanInnovate


Nov 21, 2018

Blake Cronyn is Ironman, ultramarathon runner, Guinness World Record holder, Nike Pacer, technology entrepreneur and twin. When he is not in front of a computer, he on the pavement either on a bike or in his shoes (Nike only). Humans are tool builders; Blake use technology as a tool to enhance his mental and physical capacities in order to maximize my potential. He is also the President at rBux.

Humans are tool builders; Blake use technology as a tool to enhance his mental and physical capacities in order to maximize our potential. He is also the President at rBux.

 

Episode Overview:

Hey innovators! I've got another tasty treat for you. This week's episode I get to talk to the president of rBux. It's almost like "our" Bucks which tells you that this episode is for everyone those that want to get rewarded for telling your friends about what you've bought and what you recommend. And those retailers and companies that are looking for some way to kind of partner with the actual general public that is utilizing your services.

It is kind of a WIN-WIN. Blake also share about how the importance and how the best practice of throwing spaghetti at the wall can help you really figure things out. He shares the anti sloth best practice out there and how action conquers fears.

 

Guinness World Record and Business Ventures

Blake is a Guinness World Record holder for the longest TV watching marathon in history and it was sponsored by Bell Media. And they did a publicity stunt for the unveiling of Crave TV. The ironic thing is that Blake don't actually watch a lot of TV but when they told him about their experience he obviously was ecstatic because I wanted to get a Guinness world record and be the best in the world at something.

It is in that occasion that he met his partner Bruce Clark who is the CEO of rBux and Blake is the president.

Life happens when you're busy making other plans - Sapna

rBux is a social platform that allows anyone to market themselves for our partner companies and its performance based marketing where members get compensated according to the value that they create. It is also platform that allows you to share products online and if it leads to sales rBux will geta percentage. rBux is for people who sell products, it is for people who share products and it is for people who buy products and can get compensated in terms of financial rewards or point systems.

rBux which phonetically sounds like our box stands for referral box or reward box and it's all about the concept of getting compensated for referrals which we think don't get properly compensated in our society so we create a product that will solve that problem. Essentially you can redeem them for products at any of our partner retailers or brands or you can cash them out for local currency.

 

The whole idea of rBux come about:

 

Bruce Clark is the CEO and he's the visionary and they came up with the idea around 15 years ago. He is a very successful he's a very successful retailer and essentially he noticed it as a problem that people made referrals but seldom got compensated and that's a huge problem because word of mouth sales are a great low cost way to market products and lead to sales. And so he thought if he could create a system that incentivized word of mouth sales more and then this would be a huge benefit for not only himself as a retail store owner but for others. So Blake met up with Bruce and pitched on the idea although Blake had no involvement in the creation of it. Instead, Blake helped with the execution which is arguably just as important.

People who create that value share share the benefits of the value they create as well.

 

What excites me most about this industry:

Right now we are e-commerce focused and there's a lot of products selling online. However, Blake and his team are hoping to get into the services, in store and expand to bigger ticket items such as automobiles and even real estate. But let's start with where we are now with e-commerce and products which is an unbelievably exciting industry to be in because so many products are being produced at a frequent pace.

 

Lessons Learned:

  • The importance of finding out what works for you.
  • Fire bullets and then cannonballs.
  • It's essentially finding out what works.
  • Trying a little bit of everything but finding out what works and then doubling down and putting more effort behind the thing that really works.

 

Quotes to Live By:

“Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears” - Ben Franklin

Action conquer fear

Complexity is the enemy of execution

 

Productivity tool:

 

Book Recommendation:

How Google works by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg

The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

EMyths Revisited by Michael Gerber

The Digital Economy by Don Topsccott

 

Hotspot

  • The Ossington Strip - Toronto
  • Ride Cycle Club - Toronto
  • Paris Paris - Toronto

 

About rBux:

rBux, uses technology to empower anyone to create and develop their personal brand for social sharing.  rBux provides the online tools and education to help expand their reach and the ability to monetize their own social influence. From influencers building out their lifestyle brand to customers interested in developing passive income, rBux makes it easy to participate in social commerce.

rBux started operations in 2015 and is the evolution of retail. The brainchild of Bruce Clark, owner, and operator of The Muskoka Store, a destination retail brand housing unique and useful cottage products located in Muskoka, Ontario. In his search to encourage customers to recommend products, rBux was born.

rBux is social commerce, using social media and online media to cultivate social collaboration to assist in online buying and selling of products. The rBux platform was specifically designed for influencers and the evolution of Retail. By letting influencers promote products and create their own personal referral gallery, you empower them to recommend products that reflect their own lifestyle brand. With the ever-growing amount of products available online, people want to see products recommended by people, these word-of-mouth referrals create a feeling of shopping authenticity.

 

Connect with Blake:

 

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