Canadian Business Blogging Resource Small Business Unplugged

Susan Ward over at the Small Business Canada Blog has written "A Business Weblogs Primer" that is true to it's title. She answers eight questions including: What is a blog? Why should my business have a blog? Is there any downside to having a business blog? "Whether you're just curious about the explosion of blogs across the 'Net, thinking about setting up a blog, or already have a business blog, clicking [...] Read More


2006 Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Award Nominees Announced Small Business Unplugged

"Forty-nine top entrepreneurs who have demonstrated leadership, drive and innovation have been chosen from an impressive list of nominees as Prairies region finalists in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2006 awards." Reviewing this list is fascinating to see the wide diversity of business types. From a company that specializes in Flax Seed products to a manufacturer of micro-electro-mechanical systems shows that a small business can really come from almost anywhere and [...] Read More


Nafta put the Shata to Canadian Softwood Small Business Unplugged

Via Blogcritics.org Richard Marcus writes a relatively balanced update on the progress of the $5 billion US and Canadian Softwood lumber dispute in his "Canadian Politics: Softwood Lumber, The GST, And A Trip To Washington" is important to Canadian Small Business because many of the contractors and sub-contractors that provide services to this industry are small business owners. He points out that the US is only returning 80% of the $5 [...] Read More


Blame Canada! DoD Says to Beware Canadian Coins The Wireless Weblog

According to the AP's Ted Bridis, who describes this as being "high on the creepiness scale," the U.S. Department of Defense has warned its contractors to be wary of Canadian coins, suggesting that some coins have been modified with embedded RFID tags in order to track people. "The government said the mysterious coins were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between [...] Read More


BootStrapMe makes great business blogs list BootStrapMe

Thanks to UK blogger Sanjay for including BootStrapMe in his "Great Business Blogs of '06" list. Among Sanjay's other picks were fellow Creative Weblogging contributors Greg Balanko-Dickson of Biz Plan Hacks and Deborah Brown of BizInformer. He also mentioned Creative Weblogging executive editor Anita Campbell. (Anita, thanks for the heads up on this post!) We're in good company. Other blogs to make the list include: • Guy Kawasaki's "How to change the world" • Seth [...] Read More

Sponsored Post: Days Sales Outstanding Calculator Small Business Unplugged

Cash flow is the name of the game for most small businesses. When you are running a business, it doesn't take long to figure out that if you are not managing your cash, you can get into trouble. You may be growing your sales, but still not have enough money to pay the bills -- all because you are not collecting receivables promptly. And in some cases, slow collections may [...] Read More


Sponsored Post: Accounts Receivables Small Business Unplugged

Is it taking longer to collect customers outstanding invoices? What is the trend collecting your Accounts Receivables? It is not uncommon to see the financial health of your customers change over time but a little known secret can help you catch credit problems before they occur. It is pretty standard to check credit on new customers but smart companies check the credit on their existing customers. Using the same D&B database [...] Read More


Sponsored Post: Credit Decision and Sales Qualifying Tool Small Business Unplugged

"You might as well have no business than bad business." I was told. Not sure exactly what he meant I asked, "No business?" "Right, let me explain. Bad business happens when you invest a lot in developing a prospect or customer and they don't pay you. So after giving them the best service, training, and support they do not pay you or pay you a lot later than the terms agreed [...] Read More


Grow Your Sales in 30 Days Bizinformer

I just love entrepreneur magazine. There are wonderful little facts, tidbits and articles. In the cover article "30 Days to Sales Success" they discuss a 10-step action plan. Better yet - if you go on their website, they have the action plan written in an easy-to-print chart with the 10-steps and a brief description of each one. The author, Barry Farber, suggests that you take little steps - pick one of [...] Read More


Effective Post-operative Pain Control Reduces Hospital Days Straightfromthedoc

Less stay in hospitals after surgery will not only reduce the patient's incurred bill but will also reduce the risk of exposure to hospital-acquired infection and associated complications. Besides, who would want to stay longer in the hospital? Aside from the ambiance being generally depressive (however, 5 star-hotel-like your hospital is, don't you find it depressing?!), I most especially hate doctors and nurses making rounds on unholy hours when you just [...] Read More

Canadian Business Succession Planning Resources Small Business Unplugged

To continue the discussion started "CFIB States 2 Million Jobs To Be Impacted Due to Lack of a Succession Planning" here is a page from the Canada-Ontario Business Service Center on Succession Planning. What is Succession Planning? "For many small business owners, the term "succession planning" can mean the idea of passing along your business to a family member or friend. In reality, succession planning is about finding the right [...] Read More


Succession Planning Requires Time To Plan Small Business Unplugged

I was reading in the Toronto Star that "Being a Millionaire is no longer a big deal. In Canada there are now 232,000. That's a decent-sized city. Add in spouses and children and you've got the better part of a million Canadians living the life of a millionaire, or as many people as in six of our 10 provinces." The number of millionaires in Canada grew at a rate of 7.2 [...] Read More


Book Review: Business and Succession Planning Small Business Unplugged

Back on December 5th I reported that Canadian Accountants Say Two-Thirds SME Business Owners Retire Next Decade: I Say Buy a Business!. I purchased their book on succession planning and got it just before the holidays. I have yet to finish reading the entire book yet can say that overall they have done a good job. As I thought about the process of succession planning or developing an exit strategy and my [...] Read More


Children to Run Business? Biz Plan Hacks

Will your kids be running the company in the future? The Small Business Trends website has six tips for getting children involved with the business. One of the positive things about the list is that they say that you should be supporting your children no matter what they decide. Give them everything they need to be a success whether if it is your business or something they want to do. One [...] Read More


Home Business Planning Software Products Home Based Business

In preparing a business plan, many resources and support services can be taken advantage of; some of these include sources of written information (books, portals, etc.), mentoring programs, trainings, consultancies and electronic planning templates (software). The latter being the most popular these days. A business planning software is a great tool to assist you in creating a business plan, making cash flow forecasting, financial projections, developing a business's strategic plan [...] Read More

2006 Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Award Nominees Announced Small Business Unplugged

"Forty-nine top entrepreneurs who have demonstrated leadership, drive and innovation have been chosen from an impressive list of nominees as Prairies region finalists in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2006 awards." Reviewing this list is fascinating to see the wide diversity of business types. From a company that specializes in Flax Seed products to a manufacturer of micro-electro-mechanical systems shows that a small business can really come from almost anywhere and [...] Read More


Nafta put the Shata to Canadian Softwood Small Business Unplugged

Via Blogcritics.org Richard Marcus writes a relatively balanced update on the progress of the $5 billion US and Canadian Softwood lumber dispute in his "Canadian Politics: Softwood Lumber, The GST, And A Trip To Washington" is important to Canadian Small Business because many of the contractors and sub-contractors that provide services to this industry are small business owners. He points out that the US is only returning 80% of the $5 [...] Read More


Great Observations from 14 Year Veteran Entrepreneur Small Business Unplugged

There are numerous lists all over the Internet. Some are strange and silly, but this post by Steve Pavlina is a good one, "10 Stupid Mistakes Made by the Newly Self-Employed." What I like is how he has told his own story. Here are a few excerpts from his lengthy but worthy post - make sure you visit especially if you plan on starting a business soon. Having been a [...] Read More


Blame Canada! DoD Says to Beware Canadian Coins The Wireless Weblog

According to the AP's Ted Bridis, who describes this as being "high on the creepiness scale," the U.S. Department of Defense has warned its contractors to be wary of Canadian coins, suggesting that some coins have been modified with embedded RFID tags in order to track people. "The government said the mysterious coins were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between [...] Read More


Entrepreneur interviews on Energybyte BootStrapMe

Photo: Jane M. Sawyer, morgueFile And still on the subject of Romanian entrepreneur Cristian Dorobantescu, I received an e-mail recently about a new launch which he hopes will be sort of a "reality show for entrepreneurs". No, there are no audio or video podcasts yet, but Cristian seems well on his way with his first installment of Entrepreneur Interviews, part of a growing fleet of websites including his Small Business Entrepreneur blog [...] Read More

Canadian Business Outsourcing Opportunity at Small Business Unplugged

Canada's close proximity to the US positions Canadian companies to be viewed as a 'near shore' alternative according to Outsourcing News. "Our overall labor costs put Canada midway between the U.S. and India, and we have other advantages like geographic proximity to the U.S. market," said Scott. "But a lot more focus is needed if Canada's near shore IT services industry is to keep pace with job losses in other areas. [...] Read More


2006 Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Award Nominees Announced at Small Business Unplugged

"Forty-nine top entrepreneurs who have demonstrated leadership, drive and innovation have been chosen from an impressive list of nominees as Prairies region finalists in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2006 awards." Reviewing this list is fascinating to see the wide diversity of business types. From a company that specializes in Flax Seed products to a manufacturer of micro-electro-mechanical systems shows that a small business can really come from almost anywhere and [...] Read More


Nafta put the Shata to Canadian Softwood at Small Business Unplugged

Via Blogcritics.org Richard Marcus writes a relatively balanced update on the progress of the $5 billion US and Canadian Softwood lumber dispute in his "Canadian Politics: Softwood Lumber, The GST, And A Trip To Washington" is important to Canadian Small Business because many of the contractors and sub-contractors that provide services to this industry are small business owners. He points out that the US is only returning 80% of the $5 [...] Read More


Home Business Opportunity Pricing Tips at Home Based Business

Pricing a business opportunity or anything you intend to sell through your home business for that matter, will either break or make your business. So, if you'd like to surmount this one setback of making it big in offering a home business opportunity consider the cons of pricing high and low: Too Much High Priced Business Opportunities: The problem with high ticket business opportunities are twofold: 1. your field of prospects [...] Read More


Avoid Home Based Business Opportunity Scams: Agencies to Consult at Home Based Business

Aside from these tips on avoiding work-at-home business scams and checking through the Better Business Bureau or BBB, did you know that there are other institutions you can consult to check whether the home based business opportunity you're eyeing on is just about to scam you? CollegeRecruiter's Sue Morem included the following: * The Attorney General's Consumer Division * The Federal Trade Commission * FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, Washington, DC 20580. Phone: [...] Read More