These simple steps will help you avoid poor cash flow management - the downfall of many profitable businesses
Your hard work, great ideas, solid customer base, and popular products or services are nothing if you can’t effectively manage your cash flow. It’s one of the biggest challenges for any entrepreneur. “Even a profitable, fast-growing company can face a serious cash flow crunch while waiting for money to come in,” writes the Business Development…
Make sure your vision for a website meshes with your designer's. Otherwise, it could be expensive, frustrating, and devastating to your small business
Every business today needs a website but finding the right team to help build it isn't easy. There is no HomeStars for companies that design and build websites in Canada. We have many clients who've had terrible experiences with website building. Either the strategy for the site doesn’t align with the results, the content doesn’t match…
Are you giving marketing the respect it deserves?
One of the biggest mistakes new entrepreneurs make is to underestimate the power and importance of marketing. Right from the earliest days of a startup, marketing deserves a seat with the big boys: finance, human resources, operations, product development and sales. It shouldn't be an afterthought. And it’s not fluff. “Marketing is a core part of…
Increased productivity leads to a stronger competitive position, higher profits and better quality
Paying attention to productivity leads to better profits in one-third of the Canadian small and medium-sized companies that measure their overall productivity index. Seems like a slam-dunk, doesn’t it? But a 2016 survey of more than 1,500 Canadian entrepreneurs by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) showed that less than half of Canada’s small and…
You may be qualified to run your business, but that doesn’t mean you’re qualified and ready to write your own business plan
You may be qualified and ready to run your business. But that doesn’t mean you’re qualified and ready to write your own business plan. Whether you’re testing the waters on your business idea, looking for funding, or attracting equity investors, the quality of your business plan – and the soundness of your financials – is…
Two simple questions can help you establish the framework of your business and save you headaches down the road
When you’re ready to get going on a new business idea, you need to answer two questions to determine if your business should be a sole proprietorship or a corporation. “Eight out of 10 people who come through my door tell me they don’t know much about business, the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) or taxes,” says Bill Crysler, an Ontario-based…
You need a clear marketing strategy, prepared staff, the correct giveaways, quick follow-up on leads and plenty of energy
If you aren’t including trade shows in your marketing mix, you may be missing out. Exhibiting at a trade show immediately levels the playing field between you and the other guys, no matter how much bigger, richer or more established they are. Every business pays the same square-footage rate to get in front of people…
If your business isn't delivering top-notch customer or client service today, you’re likely not long for this world
Ensuring you deliver rock-solid client service is key to your future. If your business isn't delivering top-notch customer or client service today, you’re likely not long for this world. In virtually all sectors, competition is fierce and customers can search and switch to the other guy at the drop of a hat. Here are some…
Do you eat failure for breakfast?
Turns out your attitude is the most important factor in your success or failure as an entrepreneur. Not personality. And not character. Oh sure, whether you are outgoing or risk averse, full-to-the-brim with new ideas or resilient – can all make a difference. Vince Fowler is a Calgary-based leadership coach, speaker and owner of Vested…
Operating a business while your brain and body are worn down and in a suppressed state will affect your ability to make sound decisions
Big ideas and small pockets, long to-do lists and short of help. It’s a recipe that can take 12 to 18 hours a day on full-throttle as you juggle the demands of human resources, accounting and budgeting, sales, customer service, webmaster and marketing. If you’re one of those small business entrepreneurs who feels the pressure…