eBay Canada launches Entrepreneur of the Year search

By redefining the way people buy and sell stuff, eBay has launched a lot of new businesses. And yesterday eBay Canada launched its fifth annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards program, to identify Canada’s most successful and entrepreneurial eBay sellers.

This year eBay has also created a "Comeback of the Year" Award, for the entrepreneur who has overcome a recent personal or professional challenge.

Last year’s Entrepreneur of the Year winner was Bryan Hellwig of Iqaluit, Nunavut, who sells Inuit and Northern art online. You can find him on eBay under the name ringseal.

The winner of the 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year Award title will receive:
* $2,000 cash

* $500 towards a business-related course or workshop
* $500 in eBay AdCommerce advertising credits

The winner of the Comeback of the Year Award title receives $1,000 cash, plus $500 towards a business-related course or workshop, and $500 in eBay AdCommerce advertising credits.

Entries must be submitted by August 9, 2009. For more information or to enter, visit: www.ebay.ca/entrepreneurs

Did you know? eBay members trade $2,000 worth of goods every second. Out of 24 million Internet users in Canada, one in four is registered on eBay.

The Epic Struggle of Jack Poole

Between now and the end of February, you'll hear a lot about Jack Poole, the chairman of VANOC, the organizing committee of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

But before heading up one of the best-organized Games committees ever, Poole was a classic Canadian entrepreneur: a hard-working Saskatchewan boy who made and lost a fortune in Western real estate through Daon Development (remember them?). He has since emerged as one of BC’s top entrepreneurs and philanthropists, and a survivor of pancreatic cancer.

Poole’s story is told in an inspiring article by Gary Mason in BC Business (“Never Say Quit”). You can read it online by clicking here.

To whet your appetite, here are a few of Poole’s quotes from the story:

“It was a real lesson for me. Never keep secrets from your banker.”

“I don’t have any money, but I’ll sign over everything I’ve got.”

“We were extremely successful but had not factored into our plans the recession of 1982 and interest rates of 23 per cent.”

“I came from nothing. And I can go back to that. I can. But if you want me to stay and work this thing through, I will. If you don’t, I’m happy to leave. But don’t threaten me.’”

“My personal wealth went from a paper worth of $100 million to a negative worth of $5 million.”

“I’d never go that route again.”

“One of the things God gave me was the ability to recognize talent, and it’s been one of my great strengths. Anything I’ve achieved is because of the people I’ve hired to do it."

“Every time you win something, it has to hurt a bit, doesn’t it?”

Yes, it's a business profile that reads like a movie. Read the story right now at http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca/bcb/top-stories/2009/07/02/never-say-quit

Sign of Progress?

"At Harvard, informal debates are said to be breaking out in faculty lounges about whether professors should focus more on teaching students how to run businesses that are sustainable in the long term, rather than just pawning off the latest hedging techniques."

That's Bradford Plumer, writing in The New Republic, on business schools' growing feeling of responsibility for the financial crisis.

One Harvard professor confesses that business schools still need to begin a conversation about their broader purpose in the world—a question that involves pondering “the fundamental relationship between the economy and society.”

Read the full story here: First, Kill All the MBAs .

WANTED: Young, Fast-Growing Companies

If you run a young, fast-growing business, or you know someone who does, PROFIT Magazine WANTS YOU!

The deadline is coming up fast to submit candidates for the PROFIT HOT 50, the definitive list of Canada’s Emerging Growth Companies.

Now in its 10th year, the Hot 50 ranks companies by two-year revenue growth (year-end 2006 to year-end 2008). It's a cool list of the country's next generation of growth stars!

A PROFIT HOT 50 ranking can inspire your staff, attract new clients and investors, and spark relationships with other dynamic companies. HOT 50 companies receive:

* coverage in the October 2009 issue of PROFIT Magazine and online year-round at PROFITmagazine.ca;

* Plus, a complimentary invitation to GrowthCamp, an exclusive three-day summit at which PROFIT HOT 50 leaders share ideas, learn from experts and make valuable contacts.

Since I started this program, and GrwothCamp, I gotta tell you: people swear it's the most incredible business event they've ever attended.

If your firm was launched in 2005 or 2006, enter the PROFIT HOT 50 today! The entry deadline is July 10, 2009 (that'd be Friday).

For more information or to enter online, visit http://www.profitguide.com/awards.

Or call 1-800-713-GROW.

(Okay, one last story. In the mid-1990s, we had to fight hard at PROFIT to get one of the last good 1-800 numbers (713-GROW).The experience was so interesting that we even wrote a short article on the growing competition for cool toll-free numbers. At the time, few people realized there was a number shortage, and a growing secondary market.

Little did we know then that the smart money was already buying up Web addresses....

Sigh.)

Need help with your R&D projects?

My column this week in the Financial Post looks at a brave new resource for innovative businesses: a government-funded program that helps connect innovative companies with grad students interested in doing commercial R&D.

The program, MITACS’ Accelerate, is bridging the gap between Canada’s universities and its private-sector innovators. Last year the program created 600 placements, and this year it’s expected to arrange 1300 more!

Excerpt:
"The beauty of Accelerate is it's made for companies of any size, but priced for small businesses. A four-month internship costs companies $7,500 (federal and provincial governments chip in to match that amount, thus meeting Accelerate's fee of $15,000). For that price, a company gets help describing its project, links to the best sources of help, the services of a grad student for four months (including some expenses), and hands-on monitoring by a university professor."

For the full story, click here.

On Guard for Whom?

Happy Canada Day!

Kudos to Wellington Financial for identifying a worrying trend yesterday: a steep decline in bank lending.

In their blog post, Bank business lending down for 5th consecutive month, the Toronto-based supplier of bridge financing & venture debt dug into the latest Bank of Canada data and discovered that "the stats aren’t pretty."

Here are the totals of “Business loans to Canadian residents for business purposes:”

December 2008: $191.967 billion
January 2009: $186.086 billion
February 2009: $184.168 billion
March 2009: $184.5 billion
April 2009: $182.228 billion
May 2009: $180.619 billion

As Wellington points out, "A 5% drop in drawn business credit in the space of 5 months."

And as they ask, "what’s a $100 million line of credit program from the Business Development Bank of Canada (only for “strong balance sheets”) going to do in the face of a 5-month, $12 billion withdrawal from the system? By the time the program is up and running, loans will have been reduced by another few billion dollars."

As Wellington concludes, "The free market is doin’ its thing, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it." Though that strikes me as a non-entreprneurial sentiment.

Starting an accounting firm?

I received an email yesterday from a youngish entrepreneur who wants to start his own accounting firm. He asked if I knew of any good books that could help him start out.

Sadly, my reading list rarely runs to titles about starting your own accountancy, but I decided to help if I could. Here's my response.

Hi xxxxxx. I haven't read any such books, but a search for "start accounting firm" on Amazon brought up a few titles. The best looks like Starting and Building Your Own Accounting Business by Jack Fox (Paperback - Dec 27, 1999)

Buy new: $50.00 $37.16
36 Used & new from $14.80

You can also Google the phrase, "start accounting firm." I found quite a few resources that look pretty useful.

And of course, talk to people who have done it. In my experience, most entrepreneurs are happy to talk to younger people just starting out in the field - even if there's a chance they will be competing against each other at some point. Most business owners were dependent on others for advice when they started out, which makes them feel strongly about helping others when they are in a position to do so.

Hope this helps. All the best

Rick

The Future of Online Publishing

Media today are panicky about the future of publishing. The old model seems broken, and no one (except maybe Steve Ballmer - see previous post) knows what the new model will be.

In his column on Masthead Online, editor Marco Ursi mused the other day that if publishers expect to charge consumers to read their content online, "it better be a hell of a lot better than what they can get for free on The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, Slate, Salon, Pitchfork, Politico, Gawker, TMZ, SB Nation, The Sartorialist, Epicurious, YouTube, etc. It should also probably be better than every print magazine still being sold on newsstands, and more interesting and entertaining than Mad Men, Radiohead, Malcolm Gladwell and World of Warcraft."

He was just trying to start a discussion on the future of media content. So I took the bait and submitted the following comment:

You get it, Marco. Magazines know how to engage readers in their own ink-and-paper paradigm, but their potency fades fast when up against the million free midway rides on the Web.

In many ways, however, all websites are just digital magazines. They use diverse combinations of information, entertainment, design and practical utility to aggregate audiences with common interests. I believe there is no reason why magazine brands can't make money on the Net – but first they must make peace with the technology.

They have to abandon the single canvas of the printed page, and learn to exploit the diverse applications of the Internet to do what they have always done – inform, amuse and serve their audiences.

(Part of this is recognizing what magazines do best. Flipping through a magazine is the ultimate killer app – the ability to browse at will, work backwards through the book, and discover surprises on every page adds up to a huge competitive advantage over other media.)

But we also have to respect the power and potential of the Web. We need to use our creativity to find new ways to tell stories, whether it’s through text, illustration, sound, video, interactive applications or user participation.

Right now, most magazine websites seem mainly to pour plain text into preset templates. And then publishers complain they can't get people to spend time on their sites.

Magazine editors and publishers must open their minds and wallets and offer online users what they want. (They're called users, not readers, for a reason.) If we continue to give them repurposed text, they will continue to shun magazine sites in favour of other sources of information and entertainment that “get it.”

"All content will be digital"

In a speech this week in Cannes, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer predicted that within a decade, all traditional content will be digital. "All content consumed will be digital,” he said. “We can [only] debate if that may be in one, two, five or 10 years."

"There won't be [only traditional] newspapers, magazines and TV programs,” he said. “There won't be [only] personal, social communications offline and separate. In 10 years it will all be online. Static content won't cut it in the future."

He also warned that the global advertising economy has been permanently "reset" at a lower level, and that traditional broadcast and print media will have to plan business models around a smaller share of the advertising market. (Of course, he speaks as someone who runs a digital advertising business that generates revenue of $2 billion a year.)

"I don't think we are in a recession, I think we have reset," he said. "A recession implies recovery [to pre-recession levels] and for planning purposes I don't think we will. We have reset and won't rebound and re-grow."

I think Ballmer is right about the reset. But I don't believe he is right that all media will be digital.

I think the demand for newspapers on newsprint will continue for one more generation. And I think magazines in particular will survive, because no digital system seems likely to beat the convenience of a foldable, browsable, tear-the-good-pages-out magazine.

In fact, I argued yesterday in a note to Masthead.ca, the news site for Canada’s magazine industry, that the experience of browsing a paper magazine – with its texture, its convenience, and its ability to surprise – is a “killer app” that the Internet can simulate, but will never match.

What do you think?

You can watch Ballmer's speech here.

No more sacred cows

Toronto branding consultants Blueprint recently held a “Leaders’ Lunch” with executives and leaders from business, politics, philanthropy and the arts. The topic: what will business look like on the other side of the recession?

(It’s like they’ve been reading my recent Post columns.)

Here are some of the findings, as supplied by Blueprint.

The shock to businesses will create unprecedented change (where most companies have for decades been content with the status quo)

* Businesses have let internal barriers or external market conditions inhibit their will to make tough decisions; the severity of this recession has given them “permission” to eliminate sacred cows

Consumers will continue to become more demanding faster than the rate at which business changes to meet their needs
* any trends toward austerity during the recession will reverse as consumer confidence returns

Companies are becoming more open to non-traditional ways of doing business (e.g., they will leverage partnerships more often, and become more open to non-traditional methodologies)

* Increasing numbers of women at top levels will result in a more collaborative approach to business

Implications for your business:
- Is your business really changing fast enough to keep up with your customers’ changing needs?
- Does your organization believe that perceived barriers are real?
- Do your people have the courage to challenge sacred cows?

7 Sins In Building Customer Relationships

In his latest e-newsletter, US marketing consultant Jim Meisenheimer says most salespeople overlook the fundamentals of establishing rapport and building relationships when they meet new prospects.

“Instead of reaching for your sales brochures,” he says, “try reaching out to your sales prospects by demonstrating your interest and curiosity about their business and their customers.”

Meisenheimer suggests you'll build sell more if you avoid these seven sins:

1. Selling too early. Use the first call to establish credibility and start building a relationship with your prospect.

2. Talking too much. Selling starts with listening, not talking.

3. Asking the wrong questions. Although most people know that open-ended questions are the best way tool for learning, Meisenheimer says most salespeople still lead with “closed” questions (e.g., who is your current supplier, what's your budget?).

4. Forgetting to do “the little things.” One of the quickest ways to grab a new prospect’s attention is to do little things for him or her (e.g., sending them a hand-written note or an “FYI” article of interest).

5. Talking to the wrong person. “The best advice I can give any sales person is to start at the top of an organization when you're trying to get your foot in the door. Most salespeople do just the opposite because they fear being rejected.”

“If you start talking to the wrong person, a person who is not a decision-maker, and you begin to build a relationship, it becomes extremely difficult to wiggle your way around this person to see the ultimate decision-maker.”

6. Defending your price. “You can never win the price war by defending the price… Always focus on the value of doing business with you and your company.”
(And it’s best if you can quantify that value in real dollars.)

7. Not having an attitude of gratitude. Never be too busy to say thank you (to the receptionist for getting you in to see the decision-maker, to new customers, to old customers, and to the customer-service rep for helping your customers).

Yes, most of know all this stuff. But it’s like flossing your teeth: a lot more difficult to do than to prescribe.
More from Jim at www.meisenheimer.com/

No more "What I Should've Said ..."

Have you ever found yourself at a loss for the right words in a business conversation? And then kicked yourself a few hours later when you realize what you should have said?


In my PROFIT column this month I look at a new book by two Canadian entrepreneurs that will arm you with the right thing to say: Perfect Phrases for Managing Your Small Business, by Robert Bacal and Nancy Moore.


An excerpt from the column:


“The right words let you wiggle out of tight corners and regain the high ground...


Say you’re in a taut negotiation. She has just delivered her final offer. How do you get more? Saying “That’s not good enough” could jeopardize the deal.


Bacal and Moore offer multiple suggestions for pushing back:


* “I think your proposal is a good one, but here’s what I think we need to do as well.”

* “I feel that your solution won’t address all of our problems.”

* “I want to agree with you on this, but there’s an important aspect of the issue that I don’t feel we’ve addressed yet.”


What's particularly cool is that Bacal and Moore are Canadians, a husband and wife consulting team living just outside Ottawa.

In my interview with Bacal, he said his idea of a perfect phrase offers more than simple solutions: “A perfect phrase helps you get your point across, but it also stimulates your own thinking on these issues.”

Click here to read the full story.

Recovery: So what?

My column in the Financial Post this week looks at the coming recovery, and asks if it will be really that different from the current recession.

Excerpt:
“If you've been sitting around waiting for economic recovery to bail out your business, forget it. You control your own recovery.
Re-evaluate the way you create value for your customers. Maximize your relevance to your target market. If customers have been putting off buying, don't assume their chequebooks will burst open once the Bank of Canada declares the recession over.”

Click here to read the full story.

Ron Dembo, part 2

Ron Dembo just asked the PROFIT 100 CEOs how many measure carbon in their business. One hand went up.

Three years from now, he advised, the number will probably be 100%. "That's what's coming," he said.

"The age of cheap energy is over," says Dembo. "We have to live more sanely. If your business is dependent on cheap energy, it won't be cheap going forward."

Should your business be getting ready for carbon trading?

"This country is so well positioned to be a leader in green business," says Dembo. "This is a huge opportunity. Just open your eyes and grab it."

Live blogging Ron Dembo

Ron Dembo founded financial software company Algorithmics, and now runs a green tech company called Zerofootprint, which develops carbon-management software. As closing keynote speaker at the PROFIT 100 Summit, he confessed that he started Algorithmics without a business plan.

Dembo got into risk-management software for financial institutions while a professor of mathematics at Yale University. He says Algorithmics dominated its market because it saw the future more clearly than its competitors.

And the future for entrepreneurs today, he says, lies in greening the planet. He now sees global warning as "the mother of all risks."

With global warming an increasing threat, Dembo says it's just a matter of time until we measure and tax carbon consumption. "Your kids will have a lower footprint than you, or the world will just go to hell."

Dembo's idea is that Ontario should "reskin" its tall buildings to create an insulating and energy-generating layer on the outside that will actually save landlords money. He says it's the perfect growth industry for Ontario, and will generate energy savings equivalent to the entire transportation sector.

He suggests Canada and Ontario would have done better to invest $10 billion in training autoworkers to retrofit buildings, rather than bury it in the black hole called General Motors. He would like to see Ontario become a leader in green technology, and to do that ZeroFootprint is sponsoring a prize for green building projects - the biggest prize for architects in the world.

Sadly, says Dembo, our cars today are smarter than our buildings. Making smarter systems for buildings could be the entrepreneurial opportunity of tomorrow.

"Canada has to triple or quadruple its attempt to deal with productivity," says economist Don Drummond. Trouble is, the recession has diverted us from this priority. (See the front page of yesterday's newspaper, where the Liberals are threatening to force an election becaue we don't pay people enough to not work).

If we don't invest in machinery and equipment, "what is tomorrow going to look like if we are not more productive than we are now?"

And now the questions begin.

"Where do you see the Canadian dollar stabilizing?"
Drummond says "stable" and "the dollar" shouldn't be used in the same sentence.

Based on economic strength, says Drummond, we don't warrant a dollar priced above 85 cents US.

But he sees the loonie rising to parity with the US$ later this year, and then falling back down to 90 cents (because our competitive position erodes at parity).

"Where do you see inflation in the coming year?"
"There is no technical reason inflation should be a problem," says Drummond. Except for the US government inflating its deficit.

Drummond blog, part II

The only bright spot in the Canadian economy is the higher value-added manufacturing sector, says Drummond. With a strong niche positiion, you may not have to worry about competing with southern U.S. manufacturers that pay $16 an hour. "If you don't have the niche," he says, "you're going to see wage decompression."

BUT - there will still be some shortages of skilled labour, though not as dire as some have predicted. Demand and supply will adjust, says Drummond, but it will take time and money. Some wages will rise, and some production will be shifted to other markets.

Times have not been kind to labour, says Drummond. Newcomers to the workforce now earn 25% less (in real terms) than young people entering the workforce in 1980.

Live-blogging Don Drummond at the PROFIT 100 Summit

Don Drummond is senior vp and chief economist at TD Bank. He is now telling the PROFIT 100 conference that Canada has too many eggs in the US basket (75% of our exports go there).

The US has a declining rate of global productivity growth, although its productivity growth is still twice that of Canada (we're below 1%).

We averaged 2% annual productivity growth in the 1960s.

The good news is, he does see an end to the recession. After a negative second and third quarter in the U.S., he says the fourth quarter should be positive. He sees 1.6% annual growth in 2010 (and 2.5% growth in Canada).

"We will have a cyclical bounce-back in Canada in 2010," says Drummond, although he notes that growth will be slower than the previous average levels of 3.4%.

Did you know Canada was the only industrialized country to gain manufacturing jobs in the 1990s? Drummond explains "that was just a temporary head-fake from the undervalued level of the Canadian dollar."

Worzel part 6 - Scenario Planning

Forget strategic planning based on your best-guess future.

Embrace scenario planning: instead of developing one possible future, you develop a range of the most probable possible futures and build contingencies for each.

Good tool for times of uncertainty. Better than betting everything on one outcome, and then being wrong.

Also lets you focus more granually on specific areas to improve.

Worzel, part 5

Innovation is key to the future. But most organizations aren't very good at it, says Richard Worzel. In fact, they don't even like it.

Three reasons why:
* You have to take risks.
* You have to do things you're not good at.
* You have to be willing to fail.

"The heart and sould of innovation is the ability to make correctible mistakes."

The problem is, too many North American companies wait till a new product is perfect. "When the rollout of your product doesn't work the way you want it to, you have to be willing to change it."

You need an attitude of continuous improvement. "Kaizen" turned Toyota into the world's largest car maker. "Look for small improvements," says Worzel. Wal-Mart saved $21 million in one year after demanding that detergent mannufacturers produce more concentrated product, reducing packaging size and weight, and ultimately reducing Walmart's shipping costs.

"Don't wait for the big honking improvement, because it may not come." Small improvements may be bigger than you think they are.

Worzel, part 4: Technology

"Facebook changed the complexion of the American election."
"Ten years ago, Microsoft dominated the software business. Apple was a dying company..."

Over the next year, the rate of change will accelerate, as computing power is still increasing faster than ever. Big changes coming in robotics, automation. (Google HRP-4c.)

"Robots today are like toddlers that have just fgured out how to stand up and take few steps. They are going to get bettter and better... In the next few years you will see them coming into the workplace and the home."

"The changes of the next 10 years will be at least twice as dramatic as in the last 10 years."

Big changes coming in marketing. If you're not on Facebook, you are writing off everyone in their 30s and below.

Worzel, part 3- demographics

Futurist Richard Worzel says the boomers are now between 42 and 62. They are starting to think about retirement. But they will stay active and involved in the workplace, even after retirement.

"Boomers have always changed the rules. Always have, always will."

They will travel, they will work, they will play, they "will transition to retirement."

Boomers are the second-most brand loyal generation, behind their parents. They want cool cars (Minis, not mini-vans.) They want to travel, but not by back-pack.

Next generation, the Baby Boom Echo (born 1977-1997), is the biggest generational bulge out there. Very skeptical, least brand-loyal. But they will become the biggest consumer group. Very tribal in how they communicate and buy.

Two other groups you need to target: Immmigrants (the only reason the Canadian population is still growing). Tend to settle in big cities (mainly Toronto, with a minor on Vancouver). Very varied in how they behave as consumers. Platinum Rule: "Do unto others as they like being done unto."

Other big market: Women. They are already involved in all the big purchases of the economy. Over the next generaiton they will go from being the "second sex" to "the first sex" (ie, CEOs, premiers, presidents) .Mainly because there are fewer barriers now, and more role models to copy and be inspired by. (58% of all Canadian post-secondary students are womne). "Tomorrow's leaders are going to be women."

"Actively seek to do business with women rather than grudgingly doing business with them because you can't find a man to do business with," says Worzel. "The glass ceiling is not just going to be broken - it's going to be shattered."

More from Richard Worzel: Food

There used to be three Fs in farming: Food, Feed and Fibre.

Now there are three more sources of income: Industrial feedstocks, Fuel, Farm-aceuticals. Farmers have lots of choices about what to grow and where to grow it. Result: price of corn going up, and crises in Germany and Mexico as beer, corn prices soar.

"There will be more pressure on food prices, because farmers have more alternatives."

Plus: more pressure on food prices because Chinese (and other developed nations) are consuming more calories (especially meat - which takes six times as much input per calorie as grains).

Says Worzel: "Think about what this means to you before it happens to you."

Live-blogging the PROFIT 100 CEO Summit

Here at the Granite Club in North York, Ont., futurist Richard Worzel is launching his presentation on the future, and what we can do about it.

The CEOs of 120 of Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies are sitting in rapt attenion.

I will be live-blogging till my battery runs out.

Worzel starts by saying, "Predicting is easy- it's being accurate that is difficult."

First big insight: If the recovery is stronger than we expect, "we could see the highesst inflation since the 1970s."

He notes the Chinese, who own the biggest chunk of US debt, have said they're uncomfortable with the US debt and the value of the US dollar. "Suppose," says Worzel, "they hold a treasury auction and nobody comes?" Result: the US will have to print all its own money supply (instead of just some of it), which could lead to an even greater financial crisis.

The first question you should ask: "What if I'm wrong about my [economic] expectations? What will happen, and what could I do about it?"

Clearly, the risks are too great today to rely on just one outcome.

Phoning without Fear

Susan Aldridge is the cold-call queen.

Based on reader reaction, my 2005 PROFIT column on her cold-calling consultancy was one of the most popular articles I've ever written. (And why not? Everyone hates cold-calling, and few know how to do it right.)

Susan is conducting a one-day cold-calling workshop in Toronto on Tuesday, June 23. If you or any of your staff need a refresher course in telephone sales and prospecting (and who doesn't?), this session comes highly recommended.
Place: Seneca Colege (Finch Ave. West at Don Valley Pkwy)
Cost: $495
Contact: susan@outspoken1.com, or 905-841-9951

My original story seems no longer online at www.Profitguide.com. So just for you, I have copied and pasted the original draft of the column into the comments, below.

For those in a hurry, here is the original sidebar that ran with the story:

Susan Aldridge’s Top Cold-Calling Tips

1. Smile when calling!
2. Never stop dialing: it may take 10 calls or more to reach a prospect.
3. Don’t ask, “How are you?” Say, “I’m wondering if you can help me…”
4. Track all your calls and your results.
5. Find an Accountability Buddy. Share your goals and keep them updated on your progress.
6. Don’t stop calling till they ask you to.

Deep in the Heart of Taxes

I took part in an interesting webcast today on Ontario’s transition to a harmonized sales tax (HST).

In July 2010, Ontario will phase out its 8% PST and add 8 points to the GST (currently at 5%). The result will be lower taxes to business (since the GST is a flow-through tax for business), but a tax increase for consumers (since PST was charged mainly on products, and rarely on services, such as manicures or electricity).

The goal is a laudable one – to reduce business paperwork by instituting a single sales tax regime. I have written before that this is a good thing. The change will also reduce the costs of investing in business equipment, helping Ontario manufacturers modernize at a lower cost than their U.S. competitors.

My concern is that the transition could be handled better. But mine was a lonely voice on today’s panel, which included Harinder Takhar, Ontario’s minister of small business, an ADM of the federal Finance department, two accountants, and the owner of a manufacturing business which is looking forward to reduced investment costs under the HST.

But I believe the consumer-service sector could be hurt by this change. When the price of haircuts, couriers, renovations, landscaping, lawyers and real-estate fees (not to mention new homes valued above $500,000) shoot up 8% next July 1, a lot of consumers will be forced to make tough choices. And those entrepreneurs will have to determine whether their markets can absorb that increase, or whether it will have to come out of their profit margins.

The provincial government will get their 8% - even if it reduces the entrepreneur’s take-home pay.

Ontario is lowering other taxes to make up for this increase – but of course your business has to make a profit before you can benefit from lower business tax rates.

The other problem: the federal government has offered Ontario more than $4 billion as an incentive to harmonize. Ontario has chosen to distribute most of it in the form of a $1,000 grant to every family in the province. So it’s a giveaway to a lot of people who won't need it, and not much help to those who will.

Yes, the HST will be good news for many businesses, especially exporters and B2B players. But the trusty, unsexy B2C sector will take a hit.

You may be able to view the video of the panel discussion at www.directengagement.com.

NOTE to Ontario entrepreneurs: Will your company benefit or suffer under the HST? Ask your accountant to work you through it. Now is the time to start planning your transition – and tightening up your systems to make sure no input credits will go unclaimed.

Go ahead - be unfair!

Here’s a new recession-fighting strategy: Dominate your market by being unfair to your competition.

Burlington, Ont. consultant and speaker George Torok, the guru of Power Marketing, has written an article advising you to create so much value for your clients that your competition will scream, "Not fair!"

How can you be more unfair to your competition? George offers five tips:

1. Offer more value than your competition.

2. Break some "unwritten" industry rule. (Find a technology that lets you take the lead, such as 24-hour ordering.)

3. Educate your clients about your industry. (Example: make a list of tough questions for buyers to ask your competitors when they shop around).

4. Form alliances with sellers of related services.

5. Criticize your competition. (Consumer testing enabled Pepsi to claim it tasted better than Coke.)

You can read George’s full article here, or click here to check out his other articles.

"What did you do in the recession?"

There are opportunities in every downturn. You can read about how some of Canada's coolest companies are taking advantage of the recession by reading my feature story in the new June issue of PROFIT.

In "Thank goodness for the recession," I interviewed more than a dozen PROFIT 100 CEOs - the leaders of Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies - to find out how they are making the most of the meltdown.

I had all kinds of interesting responses, including companies taking time out to train their teams, hiring lower-cost sales help, buying up used equipment at auction, asking suppliers for more credit, eschewing low interest rates to invest in inventory, and expanding into new international markets.

CBC Dragon Robert Herjavec of Herjavec Group even got into the action, telling us about his new venture managing clients' computer-security operations. It's lower-margin than his regular business, but it creates closer customers relationships, and enables him to hire lots of good people now on the job market at reasonable cost.

For more real-time, made-in-Canada success stories, click here.

Childproofing the Family Business

My column this week in the Financial Post looks at a key problem facing family-owned businesses (which make up >80% of the Canadian business landscape): How do you engage the second generation and prepare them for their roles as heirs and maybe even future CEOs?

I talked with members of the Bragg family from Oxford, NS, home of the Bragg Group, which is the world's largest producer of wild blueberries and one of Canada's biggest cable/communications companies. Last month it was also named Canada's Family Enterprise of the Year.

As founder John Bragg told me, "It's a fallacy to say that families always get along. Not very many of them do, especially if there's money on the table."

Bragg's objective is to get his four children thinking like stewards of the family firm, rather than CEOs by divine right, or even just heirs.

"I want them to think of themselves as trustees, rather than inheritors," he says. "If it's an inheritance, you think it's for you. If you're a trustee, you know it's for the next generation."

You can read the full story here: http://www.financialpost.com/small-business/story.html?id=1673228

Know thy customer

My column in this week’s Financial Post looks at the growing pressures for businesses to “know their customers.” In these times, if you're not trying every day to get closer to your customers, they are probably drifting into the clutches of someone else.

Sample excerpt: Three steps to knowing your customer
· Have open, regular communications with your customers that let you initiate discussions on all aspects of your business relationship -- and hopefully, on trust-building personal and non-business issues as well;
· Solicit feedback that encourages prospects and customers to raise their concerns about your products and services (it's better to have dissatisfied customers talking to you than to their friends);
· Show sufficient interest in your customers that you not only learn why they buy, but how they satisfy the people who buy from them.

You can read the whole column here.

New PROFIT 100: Real Heroes for Hard Times

PROFIT Magazine’s 2009 list of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies comes out on Thursday, but the new list is now available online by clicking here.

The PROFIT 100 list has always been your roadmap to Canada’s new economy: the companies and industries that are actually growing fastest and strongest. (And of course the list is actually 200 companies long, not just 100). Many people use the list to better understand where the economy of tomorrow is headed; and of course other people use it as a great source of prospects, or a list of companies that are always hiring.

Trends this year:
· The No. 1 company is Allegro Mobile Solutions of Mississauga, Ont., which develops software for mobile business applications and devices. With 2008 sales of $17.7 million, it has enjoyed five-year sales growth of 8,741%.
· Average 5-year growth rate of the top 100 firms is 2,262%. Even the 100th-ranked company (IntelliNet Technologies Inc. of Richmond, BC) grew by 899%.
· 76% of PROFIT 100 firms made a profit in 2008.
· 73% of PROFIT 100 firms are exporters.
· Research in Motion breaks a PROFIT 100 record by qualifying for this list for the ninth time. (Few companies ever make it more than twice.)

For more information and insights on the P100, click here and here and here:
· Intro
· PROFIT 100 List
· NEXT 100 List
· Overview
· No. 1 company profile: Allegro Inside
· Success stories
· Best Practices
· From the editor: Heroes for Hard Times
· 2010 Nominations

Or just click here to see PROFIT editor Ian Portsmouth talk about the list yesterday on the Canada AM morning news.

2009 Family Enterprise of the Year

Congratulations to the Bragg Group of Companies from Oxford, N.S., which yesterday was named the 2009 Family Enterprise of the Year by the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise (CAFE).

The award, sponsored by KPMG Enterprise and Royal Bank, recognizes significant achievement in a family enterprise.

The luncheon featured insightful presentations from three finalist companies: the Bragg family, represented by Matthew Bragg, Director of Sales in the Food Group; Toronto-based Pizza Nova, represented by founder and president Sam Primucci,and Jarlette Health Services, a manager of long-term care facilities based in Midland, Ont. It was represented by second-generation president David Jarlette.

In a release, Matthew Bragg commented that, “The recognition of family as the core of our business really makes this a special honour. We are very proud of our history and equally excited about our future.”

(Seriously, why do people write such boring press releases? Watch upcoming issues of the Financial Post for an interview with the Braggs, where I hope to bag better quotes than that.)

All three family finalists deserved their honours. Who knew Oxford controls 40% of the world’s wild blueberry market? Or that Pizza Nova has more than 100 locations in southern Ontario, the U.S., Cuba and… Romania?

“It was the most difficult year to judge we have ever had,” said CAFÉ CEO Lawrence Barns. “The Bragg family is certainly a deserving recipient for this award and a model of a thriving family business.”

John Bragg is the fifth generation of family entrepreneurs based in Cumberland County, NS. He represents the first generation in Oxford Frozen Foods and the related businesses he founded in 1968. All four children of John and his wife Judy are involved in the family business.

CAFE is a great organization. Founded in 1983 by 14 entrepreneurs who believed family businesses share unique challenges, CAFE now has 14 chapters across Canada. If you have a family business (and most businesses qualify), consider signing up.

Your kids will thank you. Maybe even your parents.

7 reasons to be grateful you’re an entrepreneur right now

I found this inspiring article today at the website of The Strategic Coach, the Canadian-made entrepreneur-training program so many business owners swear by. I’ll give you the highlights – see the original post for the full details.

Seven things entrepreneurs should keep in mind in this economy:

1. The need for new, better, and different ways of doing things is more evident now than it has been for decades. Entrepreneurs specialize in the new, better, and different.

2. You have invaluable assets that the market can’t touch. Among them are the abilities to create value, find solutions, mobilize talent, sell people on what they need to make their futures bigger, and make your visions real.

3. If you’ve lost money in the markets, you can make it back in your business. This is a tremendous advantage that the non-entrepreneurial world doesn’t have.

4. Most entrepreneurs do their best work in times like these. Challenges and uncertainty bring out entrepreneurs’ best instincts for creativity and innovation.

5. Unlike others, you have the ability to insulate yourself permanently from external economic shocks. Every day in Strategic Coach®, we see entrepreneurs whose progress has not been negatively affected by what’s going on in the world.

6. There is a model that works. Many Unique Process entrepreneurs in Strategic Coach® are reporting every day that, even in the toughest of times, their businesses are growing and thriving.

7. Your entrepreneurial life will keep you going and growing. Heavy lifting builds big muscles.

Don't stop now. Read the full article here.

Thanks to Dan Sullivan for being so far out front for so long.

Leave your competitors in the dust

GTA readers, circle your calendars.

BC-based strategy consultant Roy Osing, former Chief Marketing Officer of Telus and author of the just-published BE DIFFERENT or Be Dead: Your Business Survival Guide, will give a public talk on Tuesday, June 2 at the McNally Robinson book store at Don Mills Centre (DOn Mills at Lawrence Ave. E.) The 8 pm -9 pm pm event will undoubtedly include signing copies of his book.

I have seen an advance copy of BE DIFFERENT or Be Dead, and it's an epic piece of work brimming with tips and tools for differentiating and strengthening your business.

Osing's starting point is "the ONLY" statement, in which he challenges you to find ways to describe your business as "the only" source of whatever it provides. "We are the only ones who..."

Among the examples in his book are this line from Queen's University's MBA program. "Only Queen's provides personal development coaching to build on your individual strengths."

Osing offers a practical, hands-on approach to performance enhancement and more effective marketing. He says it's "based on solid business principals that have been successfully implemented in the real world and will leave your competitors in the dust."

Go to www.bedifferentorbedead.com for more info on the book, Roy's blog, and other tools and resources.

Recognizing Daniel Gelbart

Congratulations to Canadian entrepreneur Daniel Gelbart, who is receiving an honorary degree today from the University of British Columbia.

Though not a household name, Gelbart is an extraordinary engineer whose genius for invention has produced significant contributions to communications and electro-optics. He co-founded Burnaby-based Creo Products, which revolutionized the printing and imaging sectors industry in the 1990s. By 2005 Creo had 4,000 employees, and it was acquired by Kodak for a cool $1 billion.

As an eight-year-old in Israel, Gelbart had his own laboratory in his parents' home. At the age of 12, he received an award for child inventors from the Weitzman Institute. In 1973 he immigrated to Canada, where began inventing and developing innovative products. He now holds more than 100 patents.

Among his many important inventions are the mobile radio data terminal, the digital film recorder, which won the Research and Development 100 award; and the world's first optical tape recorder.

Having retired from Kodak, Gelbart is now tackling new challenges in the medical field.

He also teaches in and advises UBC’s Mechanical Engineering department. According to UBC, “this year, he is teaching a graduate course about industrial sensors and actuators, for which he is freely giving his time and personally providing all needed equipment and material resources.”

Can we clone him?

Forgotten orphans of the Internet

In a new blog post, marketing guru Seth Godin breathed new life into a neglected form of marketing: banner ads.

As you probably know, banner ads sell for real cheap these days. Nobody clicks on them. In these days of measurable social media (online search, pay-per-click ads, web metrics), etc., they're the forgotten orphans of the Internet.

But wait a minute. Godin reminds us that banner ads are good for one thing: branding.

If you want to drill your product name into people’s heads, what could be better than a cheap medium like banner ads that let you dominate online sites where your customers congregate?

Here’s Godin’s money paragraph:
“Banner ads are fairly worthless in terms of generating clickthroughs... you have to trick too much and manipulate too much to get clicks worth much of anything. But, if you build ads with no intent of clicks, no hope for clicks... then you can focus on ads that drill your name or picture or phrase into my head. 100 impressions and you're almost famous.
A household name. Not for everyone, but for people who matter.”

You can click here to read Seth’s blog. It’s always rewarding reading.

Notes from a Dragon: "Just ate a scorpion"

Dragons’ Den has been shooting its fourth season this month, and has just a few days to go. I haven't been in to watch the tapings yet, but it sounds like an extraordinary season. The quality of pitchers was extremely high across Canada this year, and at least one Dragon is having the time of his life.

W. Brett Wilson, the Calgary-based oil and gas magnate with a soft spot for hard-luck stories, is chronicling his Dragons’ Den experiences on Twitter. If you haven't discovered the gold that is Twitter, this is a good way to start. Begin by following the Twitter posts of interesting people, get to know a little more about them, note what kinds of posts or topics resonate most with you, and then start thinking about what you might write in your own Tweets.

(Your Twitter posts will be a series of short promotional, biographical or impressionistic notes that eventually form an ongoing, collective profile of you, your interests, your values and professionalism. It's a great way to promote yourself or your business with authenticity and passion.)

You can find Brett Wilson’s Tweets here. His most recent post is my favourite. It shows so much energy and personal charm:

“So close to done. We have looked at almost 185 deals. Done some great stuff. And seen some of the wildest ideas. I love Dragons Den...”

(I also like this one, from Saturday, May 23: "Just ate a scorpion. So did Jim Treliving. What will Dragons Den think of next...?"

Read & Tell

One of my favorite Canadian entrepreneurs is Jim Crocker, a multi-PROFIT 100 winner who now consults through his company, Boardroom Metrics, and blogs and Twitters as well.

Jim had a great blogpost earlier this week distilling the highlights of the May 11 issue of Fortune Magazine. Lots of insights you can benefit from.

Excerpt:

“Page 12. 'Gun Money'. Bizarrely, the gun and ammunition business in the US has exploded (sorry) over the past year. Remington just announced a backlog of almost $300 million. Up from $115 million a year ago. Smith and Wesson shares are up 338%! There is a backlog of 1.3 people waiting for background checks to purchase firearms.”

His post, entitled “Fortune Teller,” is full of little gems like this. Click here to read the whole post.

Free money?

An entrepreneur recently wrote me to ask if I knew of any government grants to help companies invest in technology, such as specialized industry software. I replied and said I didn't know. So I decided to ask the readers of this blog. Feel free to drop me an email [rick (AT)rickspence.ca] if you know of any help such as this.

Here is the text of my reply to the entrepreneur:

I'm afraid I don't know of any government aid of the sort you describe.
Your accountant may know if there are any grants like that available.
You could also ask the folks at the Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham, Ont., which has run several seminars on financing alternatives for small business. http://www.iscm.ca/ In fact, they have another session scheduled for May 28.
Finally, you might look into whether the software you are seeking is available as a "service", ie, for a monthly fee rather than an upfront pricetag.

If anyone has a better answer, please let me know.

Stimulate Your Business

Stimulate Your Business... and Prosper in a Brutal Market.

That's the title of a creative and timely marketing session being put on by two crackerjack business experts in Burlingon, Ont., this Wednesday, May 20.

(Full disclosure. I am friends with both - but I gain nothing from promoting their seminar.)

Both George Torok and Kelley Robertson have been quoted in this blog many times for their proficiency in marketing (George) and selling (Kelley). I have seen both of them speak, I have talen a course from Kelley, and I have hired George (and paid him full rate) for a conference I put together in Montreal two years ago.

I hear so many Canadian entreprenurs who are suffering in this recession. So many Canadian entrepreneurs who don't know how to market themselves, and don't have much confidence when it comes to selling, either.

Well here we have two experts in their fields sharing their expertise for a full day. They're taking a bit of a gamble putting on their own summit, betting that Canadian business people will take time out of their busy days to plunk down $295 to improve their marketing and sales skills – and I really hope it pays off for them.

You could spend days wading through their books, or you could hire them for several thousand dollars a day each. Or you could go to their seminar on May 20 and learn how to prosper in this economy from Kelley and George in person.

And since they're offering a 100% money back guarantee, you have nothing to lose. If you don't learn anything useful from these guys that will make you a more effective marketer and salesperson, you'll get for your money back. No questions, no hassles.

Whenever Canadian experts on small business get together, they always lament the lack of sales and marketing skills among our entrepreneurs. We make great products, we make great business leaders, but many Canadians simply missed out on the selling gene.

Why not spend on professional development? If it doesn't take, George and Kelley will pay for it.

Click here to learn more about this seminar. You have nothing to lose but excuses.
Place: Holiday Inn Burlington.
Time: 8:30 am to 4 pm, Wednesday, May 20
Priority: High

(Charles Marcus, a motivational expert, is also on the program. I don't know him, but I’d recommend George and Kelley any day.)

The most powerful tool in small business

My Financial Post column this week looks at small-business advisory boards. I am currently working with Ajmer Mehmi, a recent MBA graduate from Vancouver Island University, to promote the creation of a central database and knowledge centre for advisory boards, to help more business owners benefit from these powerful tools.

This week’s Post column sums up some of the results from an online survey we conducted earlier this year of Canadian business owners on the subject of advisory boards. We concluded that advisory boards are tremendously useful for growing companies that want to become more focussed, effective and resilient – but that most entrepreneurs never get started because they have no idea how or where to recruit potential advisers.

Read the column to learn about our solution.
http://www.financialpost.com/small-business/story.html?id=1583309

Let me know if you have any ideas on how to move this project forward.
And watch for part II in the Post on Tuesday, May 19.

Bankruptcies still heading up

This just in: Personal bankruptcies in Canada up 57% in March from a year earlier.

There were 10,578 personal bankruptcies filed during the month, up from 6,736 in March 2008, acording to the federal Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.

On a monthly basis, consumer insolvencies were up 17.3% in March, from 9,020 in February.

I suspect bankruptcies are a lagging indicator - one of those stats that continue to haunt us even after the economy has turned the corner. Anyone know for sure?

Surprise! Andy Nulman on The Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Andy Nulman is one of my favourite Canadian Entrepreneurs. A co-founder of the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, as well as mobile-content producer Airborne Mobile, he also runs one of my favorite business blogs, on Surprise Marketing.

Having just written a well-received book on the subject earlier this year (Pow! Right Between the Eyes: Profiting from the Power of Surprise), Andy has now become a superstar. And tonight at 12:30 EDT, he's on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, talking about his book and reminiscing about his days with Ferguson and other famous comedians.

Andy's appearance was taped on April 1. You can read about that experience here.

Tune in tonight if you can. They're both entertaining guys, so it should be a lot of fun.

A startup is like facing a recession every day

Many people have wondered if there is wisdom in Twitter.
I like this recent Tweet from Mississauga, Ont.-based growth consultants SpyderWorks:

The beginning years of a business are like facing a recession every day. But there’s no better training ground.

10 Recession Tips

Mandie Crawford, founder and chief roarer of Roaring Women, asked me earlier this week if I had any tips on managing through recession. I'm rarely lost for words, so I put together a short article on 10 recession tips - stuff I have learned recently, written about in my columns, or used in my speeches.

Things like:
Measure your marketing.
Leverage partnerships.
Figure out how you can offer more value to your customers.

You can read the whole story here.

Recession: That which does not kill us...

As a postscript to an email exchange the other day, I asked an entrepreneur I know how his business is doing. He responded with much more than I bargained for.
His comments below are slightly edited to preserve his anonymity.

Hi Rick:
I’ve got to tell you that I have learned so much about business in the last six months.
Our clientele was mostly U.S.-based companies. Our budgets got cut or eliminated so we lost over half our business. It nearly killed us.

We reacted by redefining our business model. By tackling smaller businesses and creating a monthly residual service, we pulled through. We are now squeezing the most profit possible out of the jobs we have.

Basically we got lean, eliminated unnecessary expenses and expenditures and got totally focused on our clients.

Last year we grew so fast that I kept hiring bodies and throwing them into the mix. We grossed a lot of money but had no profit at the end of the year.

Knowing what I know now, I would like to go back in time and do things our new way. I can’t help but think of how much profit we could have had.

The good news is we pulled through and I’m now slowly growing the business in a more intelligent manner.

Cheers!

Cheers indeed. Here's to learning from our mistakes!

Baby Boom: Still the way to bet

"Baby Boomers represent one out of every three adults in the U.S. Boomers control 70% of the wealth in America. Every day 10,000 Boomers turn 50 years of age.

"Boomers spend $2.3 trillion annually on consumer goods and products, which is $400 billion more than any other generational group."

Mac McKinley writes a cool blog on the baby boomers, national (i.e., U.S.) issues, and business.

There's life in the post-war generation yet. Click here to catch the gray wave.

What you need to know about Twitter

So here it is late Wednesday, and I am blogging about my Financial Post column this week on Twitter.

I Tweeted (wrote a Twitter message) about it on Monday. Twice.

And that essentially demonstrates the difference between Tweeting and blogging. One is convenient, the other requires thinking. And who has time for that any more?

Blogging is a great way to get across a continuing series of messages to your marketplace or community through ongoing short essay-type articles posted directly to the Web.

Twitter is like mini-blogging, except you are allotted a maximum of 140 characters, or about 20-25 words.

Blogging means you have to think about what you are going to say, and how you are going to structure your message. Then you have to type it up and format it for the Web. Even a minor post will probably take 10-15 minutes, and often much more.

And if you're not the type who likes to string two sentences together, blogging can be a daunting challenge.

Twitter, by contrast, is blogging on speed. No time for niceties about paragraph construction, developing your argument, communicating multiple ideas. Just one or two sentences, and ZAP!, you're done.

It turns out you can communicate a lot in 20 words. But if you know what you want to say, it needn't take more than a minute or two.

Which makes Twitter a perfect medium for today's attention-deficit times. People who don't have time to compose essays writing short, singular messages for people who don't have time to read.

I started out thinking Twitter was a toy, but now I realize it's a powerful specialty medium that almost anyone can use. Plus, it builds community faster than blogging, or websites. And it's viral: you follow other people, and then you start following the people that these other people follow.

Relationships ensue.

So my Post article goes into this stuff in greater depth. And in the spirit of Twitter, I wrote it entirely in paragraphs of 140 characters each (give or take 1 or 2). It's annoying, but I think it works.

Click here to read the story.

Let me know what you think.

Next-to-free promotion tips

A friend asked me by email today for advice on promoting a two-day event he is working on. This (with a few details left out to preserve his anonymity) is pretty much what I told him:

How to spread the word? Put together a press release about how powerful events like these can be. Tell why events like these are so popular now, and what makes yours special. Email your release to every magazine and newspaper in B.C. Also to every blogger on these issues you can find, and every site related to this industry, regional business groups, etc.

Have you considered pay-per-click advertising (eg Google Adwords)? You bid for appropriate keywords that might be used by your prospects on their Google searches - eg, "business," "stress", "sales," etc. You can restrict its visibility to BC (or any other geographic area), buy as many keywords as you want, and pay as little as you wish. And you pay only when someone clicks through to your website or sell page. It's the perfect ad medium for entrepreneurs selling niche products.

Another great site to check out is Yahoo Answers. You can search for people's questions related to the issues you help with, and then offer them a solution based on your experience. And in your answer you subtly promote your upcoming event. You may not sell many tickets on that site, but it has a lot of traffic and is well regarded by Google.

To get more attention, you might even offer a contest - say, announce you’re giving away a free ticket to the person who writes you the most creative (or moving) Twitter post (retweet) saying why they would like to attend your event. Get people excited!

Be bold. Be confident. This is work, but it's all healthy relationship-building. And an investment in learning what works and doesn't.

Bustin' Loose

I've been having an amazing, uplifting week talking to people across Canada who run Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies.

I’m writing a story for PROFIT Magazine that requires interviwing about 18 different CEOs of companies that will appear on the next PROFIT 100 list, coming June 4.

These are the coolest, most upbeat people in Canada. They face the same recession all of us do, but instead of complaining about the wind and weather, they see this as a great time to do business. While their competitors are cutting back, they are busting loose: hiring, investing, acquiring, training, marketing, launching! They are moving forward with confidence and daring.

And no, it’s not just because they have a bigger war chest than you do. In some cases, they simply feel uncomfortable standing still. They're trying out new ideas because they think turbulent times create perfect opportunities to approach clients, prospects and markets with new ideas and creative solutions.

I can't tell you more – my editor would shoot me. But what if 18 successful people whispered in your ear that this was an amazing moment in time, full of opportunity for those with the guts to seize it? Wouldn't it make you feel a little better about your business?

Presume for a moment that they're right. What chance could you take that would help you create amazing new value for your customers?

Change or Die

Speaking to the Business and Professional Women’s Group in Oshawa yesterday, I met a woman who works for a funeral home that is offering scrapbooking classes. And another woman who works at a cemetery that offers a power-walking course.

How appropriate! My Financial Post column this week looked at the changing funeral sector, and how the attitudes of funeral directors must change if they are going to survive the big consumer shift away from burials and church funerals toward cremation and “celebrations of life.” And now I was meeting people who embody this changing market approach.

Attitudes are changing, but slowly. According to funeral directors I have spoken to, staff training, marketing and promotion are still foreign to many businesses in this profession. But I have never met a sector with so much opportunity if they can just learn to think "outside the box."

(I am pleased to say I avoided using that pun in my article.)

Excerpt:

“Today, sales people in all industries are trying to position themselves as trusted advisors. Insurance agents, financial planners and sellers of computer systems all want to be known for their ability to provide valuable counsel. But funeral professionals are already recognized experts. They provide a clear mind and strong shoulder for mourning families. And this is their moment to step up.”

You can read the full story here.

Pandemic in Progress?

Today may have been the tipping point: people are starting to get very worried about the swine-flu breakout in Mexico that is starting to spread around the world.

Health authorities in Canada and elsewhere have long considered a flu pandemic to be inevitable. (They normally occur every 30-40 years, and we're long overdue.)

I had a conversation on this subject with a municipal health official just last Tuesday. He said Toronto, having been a centre of the SARS epidemic, was well prepared to respond to a pandemic. But when I asked him if business was well prepared with contingency and continuity plans, he just grimaced and shook his head.

Time for a reality check. A new pandemic (or perhaps just the fear of one) will harm many businesses. If people are afraid to congregate in groups, or even go outside, how will that affect your company? Who will buy your products? How will you get work done if half your employees decide to stay home? How will it affect your supply chian? What if things get worse?

You need a plan now.

In case of pandemic, public authorities may impose such controls as social distancing, school closures and restriction, cancellation of large public gatherings, travel restrictions and border measures. Let's hope things don't get out of hand, but prepare just in case they do.

Reassure your employees. Adopt work-at-home plans. Examine the potential impact of closed borders, reduced travel, hoarding of food and water, consumers declining to shop (or go anywhere, for that matter), the sobering costs of fear and doubt. Let's hope none of this happens. But as the Scouts say, Be Prepared.

Three Globe stories today on swine flu developments:

* Swine flu confirmed in Canada

* Mexico on edge as reports of swine flu cases climb

* Flu fears prompt quarantine plans, pork bans


Download the INFLUENZA PANDEMIC: Continuity Planning Guide for Canadian Business, from Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.

Download the City of Toronto Pandemic Influenza Plan


It may well be that all we have to fear is fear itself. But look how the news has these people Twittering already. (I did a Twitter search for "pandemic" - these posts all took place in just 5 minutes. The fear and doubt are just starting:

askool: Who else in the central valley is a bit paranoid about this Swine Flu pandemic? #swineflu
half a minute ago from Tweetie · Reply · View Tweet

CivilActivist: RT @Alonis: IN: (AP) State officials say IN is prepared 4 a swine flu pandemic, altho they haven't seen any cases of the illness thr.
1 minute ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet

SativaDreams: For info on the pig>bird>human flu pandemic go to Alex Jones' infowars.com. Is this a weapon?
1 minute ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

TrustedAdvice: WHO says world better prepared to deal with possible pandemic http://ff.im/-2nKEo
1 minute ago from FriendFeed · Reply · View Tweet

blueair: RT @ajkeen "kill 2 birds with one stone: understand Internet & pandemic with one bk RT @gleonhard: "read 'The Power of Network" by Cushman'"
1 minute ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

damiendamien: Bruce Sterling, smartest person I can conceive by a light year quells my pandemic doomlust http://tinyurl.com/dyakt2 (expand)
2 minutes ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

srlm: UN warns outbreak of SWINE FLU in mexico might become a GLOBAL pandemic. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8019566.stm
2 minutes ago from TwitterFox · Reply · View Tweet

plutoniumpage: Apparently, Bobby Jindal is giving a press conference on the swine flu. "Something about 'pandemic monitoring..." (I made that quote up.)
2 minutes ago from Nambu · Reply · View Tweet

KellyHK: Thanks GOP for trying to BLOCK pandemic preparedness. Do the words Captain Tripps mean anything to you wingnuts? http://tinyurl.com/chhzwb (expand)
2 minutes ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

Alonis: Indiana: (AP) State officials say Indiana is prepared for a swine flu pandemic, although they haven't seen any cases of the illness there.
2 minutes ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

Campus68: With current fears of swine flu emerging around the world, here's a live report from Dec 68, during the last flu pandemic: http://is.gd/uKGH (expand)
3 minutes ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

soozarty: @robluketic I'm w/ u r: swine flu concerns. The last pandemic (1917-8) killed 40 million. & that was b4 airplanes.
4 minutes ago from mobile web · Reply · View Tweet

singaporenews: Gauge pandemic plans, take preventive steps: THE swine flu outbreak in Mexico brings back memories of the 2003 S.. http://tinyurl.com/cwqx9s (expand)
4 minutes ago from twitterfeed · Reply · View Tweet

jreed: @briska so zombies in one city, epidemic. Zombies in major cities in north america, pandemic?
4 minutes ago from txt · Reply · View Tweet

NeilGilbert: Is it time to be worried about a flu pandemic yet?
5 minutes ago from TwitterFon · Reply · View Tweet

The Bright Side

I was talking to an entrepreneur yesterday about a project he is working on. It was so thrilling to hear him say:

"The market couldn't be better right now for what I want to do. There's lots of space on the market, and the landlords don't care about the convenants and conditions they used to attach to real-estate deals."

An important reminder that tough times create big opportunities for those who think ahead.

Survey finds entrepreneurs take hit to keep paying staff

A new survey from American Express finds Canadian small business owners digging deep to overcome economic recession. Amex says they are taking “bold and sometimes extraordinary steps, like cutting their own salaries, to keep afloat.”

The good news: nearly a third of Canadian small businesses plan staff increases over the next six months. And 70% believe that their business situation will improve over the next six months.

The American Express Small Business Monitor finds that even in today’s tough times, 76% of entrepreneurs believe that the rewards and opportunities of running their own business outweigh the risks and challenges.

Startlingly, the survey found that one in four Canadian small business owners have stopped taking a personal salary. Another quarter have invested personal funds in order to continue to support employees during the current economic downturn.

More traditional cost-saving tactics include cutting back on expenses (60%),curbing personal spending (48%), and increasing customer value (46%) to improve cash flow during the downturn.

Attesting to the long-held belief that a business's greatest asset is its employees (see previous post), the survey's respondents indicated a willingness to sacrifice to retain talent and keep employees happy, including the continuation of bonuses (30%) and pay raises (28%).

Respondents to last fall’s Small Business Monitor said they were hoping to ride out the downturn making many changes to their plans or practices. Now entrepreneurs report that they have already taken steps to protect their business, such as:

- Hiring freeze (38%)
- Salary freeze (34%)
- Stopped taking a personal salary (25%)
- Investing personal assets in the business (34%)
- Introduced flexible work hours for employees (26%)
- Reduced employee hours (25%)
- Re-evaluated supplier relationships (29%)

Still, the survey finds only 17% have resorted to laying off staff, and only 8% expect to do so over the next six months. Instead, 28% expect to be hiring over the next six months, even if it's part-time or contract staff.

You can read the full press release here.