With half of small businesses failing within their first year of operation, one of the main reasons is because most entrepreneurs are focusing on increasing sales, rather than lowering expenses. As a small business, it’s likely that you won’t have the budget that the big giants have, meaning every penny counts. To help keep you…
Cutting corners on insurance and legal agreements is a risk that could undermine all your potential success
Starting, running and growing a small business involves a lot of “bootstrapping”: digging into your own resources, financial and otherwise, to get things done. But there are legal matters many entrepreneurs either make poor decisions about or avoid altogether. Insurance “If I had one thing that surprises me, it is the avoidance of insurance,” says…
Quickly and easily access financing with the ability to customize loan amount and repayment timeline
PayPal has launched the PayPal Business Loan, enabling small business owners to easily access loans between $5,000 and $100,000 at competitive prices. In a news release on Monday, the company said small business owners can quickly and easily access financing with the ability to customize loan amount and repayment timeline. "Applying for a traditional loan…
Sharing our struggles with staff and family, and explaining the financial situation to suppliers may be humbling, but it relieves the weight of our shame
We all feel shame some time. Usually we feel this powerful emotion when we do something that doesn’t quite match up with our personal values. As a child, we might have felt shameful if we told a lie to our parents or were mean to a friend. As a teenager, we might have felt the…
Too many valuable assets never get identified, measured or capitalized on a company’s financial statement. Those include workforce and corporate reputation
I remember it well: the CEO of the company stood before the cheery assembly of wide-eyed employees brandishing a newly-released report and declaring, “This is the start of our next great journey together, building a more sustainable company and a better, more sustainable, future.” I then followed the CEO and his team to their top…
It is time for conventional banking institutions to enter the 21st century
I once chatted with a group of technology specialists and one of them asked an important question: “I know what intellectual property is, but what’s an intellectual asset?” It seemed to me that this is the most important concept in the modern world of tech, for (presently invisible) assets are the missing link in creating…
Danilo Terra of ATB Financial’s equipment finance team talks about overcoming hurdles to success and the green shoots of reinvention and new industry that await Alberta
Danilo Terra is director of equipment finance at ATB Financial. Can you explain what your role is with ATB Financial? Terra: I believe Alberta business should have the equipment required for success and my job is to do my best to provide them with the capital they need. Here in the equipment financing group for…
Meghan Meger is regional president (Prairies) of BMO Private Wealth. Within the next decade, North America will experience the biggest transfer of wealth in its history. How many Canadian business owners will be impacted by this? Meger: It truly is unlike anything we’ve seen before. We anticipate approximately five million Canadian business owners to transition…
Assets grew 3% to $16.4 billion; deposits increased by 3.6% to $13 billion
Edmonton-based Servus Credit Union reported net income (after dividends, patronage and taxes) of $22.7 million for the second quarter of its fiscal year, up 7.1 per cent from last year’s second quarter. The credit union’s assets grew three per cent to $16.4 billion; deposits increased by 3.6 per cent to $13 billion; loans expanded by 3.7…
Despite government hyperbole, small businesses know that innovation is difficult, costly and sometimes reveals unfortunate truths
A handy term that invokes sweet dreams of big scores for small businesses everywhere is ‘innovation.’ Government officials, burdened with the otherwise boring work of economic development, are obsessed with it. Its mere mention, they think, virtually guarantees a contact high. Hey folks, their websites screech, roll up and read all about our “Superclusters Initiative,”…