#30before30 – Google Ninja

I had an awesome end to my week and weekend. Friday I travelled to Toronto to attend a Google advertiser event. Firstly, let me say that over the last nearly 18 months of running an online business I have had to learn a lot about Google and there isn’t a day that goes by when I consider what I need to do to please Google in order to grow my business. Google had assigned me an account rep, who I speak to fairly regularly, who helps me manage my account and when he invited me to this event in Toronto, I knew I had to go.

So, on my first real business trip, I flew to Toronto and headed over to Google’s offices, which were very cool. They had a cafeteria with the biggest salad bar I have ever seen, fresh soups and so many choices of hot meals, all free for employees and guests! The event was divided into 3 activities, first was a client focus group session where we got to talk about what we would like to see from Google and how they can help us. I was blown away by the fact that such a huge company would want to hear what someone like me had to say. Then we were divided into two groups, my group was called “Google Ninjas”, which is just a really cool name and our group got to learn about the newest Google products and the best practices for using these products. At the end we were divided into small groups (mine had 4 people) with a Google rep who helped us set up our accounts to take advantage of the new product of our choosing. The day was amazing, I learned so much and feel much more confident in my marketing skills. Although this was not originally on my list of #30before30, I could not have not written about this and added it to my list, because having a meeting at google is just too cool!

After the seminar I went to my cousin’s house for a beautiful Shabbat dinner. It was the first time I had ever had been to their new house and to have Shabbat with them made me feel so at home, it was almost like being with my own parents. Dinner was delicious, matzah ball soup, chicken with potatoes, broccoli and green beans and then an amazing apple/caramel tart!

When dinner was over I went out and made a new friend, which was one of the items on my #30before30 list. We had a great time, had some mojitos and observed all of the halloween partygoers.

The next day I went for brunch with my friend Rebecca who moved to Toronto. Rebecca and I used to work together and I was really sad when she moved away to Toronto but I can say that we are very good about always making time to see each other when she is in Montreal or I am in Toronto. We had an amazing brunch at a really cute restaurant where everything, the floors, walls furniture, everything was white washed. It was pouring rain outside so brunch felt especially cozy and it was the perfect end to a great time in Toronto.

Check out these cool pics from the google event, their offices/decor and cafeteria were unbelievable.