Category Archive

The ubiquity of internet access in North America has changed everything, from our modes of communication to the way we shop. In the United States, Amazon has become one of the top retailers for everything from televisions to groceries; it has the variety of the department stores of old, with none of the challenges of keeping a large store well … Read More

If you’re a business with customers, you’re engaged in CRM; if you’re a business without customers, you’re probably still engaged in CRM, just in a very different way. CRM is short for customer-relationship management, and in some sense, it’s everything we do; whether you’re looking to acquire customers, retain customers or relate to customers, you’re trying to manage the customer … Read More

Creating a successful small business is all about using your funds in the most effective way possible. Oftentimes, that means developing a team to shore up the skills that you lack; inventory management, customer service, research and development, and marketing all generally require experts working as a team, especially if you have the funds to establish a department for each. … Read More

Accountants are so useful for businesses small and large, we had to split the content into two parts! During Part I, we discussed how an accountant can help a start-up during the preliminary phase; it’s mainly by making sure all your ducks are in a row, so to speak, before you start pitching your business and making sales. In essence, … Read More

Whether you are a start-up or a long-running business, you’ll always be looking at your costs; where you can recoup money, and where cuts can be made. Sometimes, professional services are at the top of the list of things to cut, mainly because the price of ongoing professional services can seem large, and the benefits they give aren’t as clear-cut … Read More

Starting a small business is a rollercoaster of emotion; daunting, exciting, confusing, exhilarating; sometimes all at once! When you’re starting a small business, you want all the help you can get; funding and loans, expertise and information, friends and partners. It’s a shame that so many small business owners aren’t aware of the plethora of resources available to them; enterprise … Read More

Creating a market for budgeting is a strange and tricky thing; you want to get a good return on investment, of course, and your marketing campaigns can create lifelong relationships with new customers. When you’re a new or unknown business, your marketing is your make or break; you might have the best product in the world, but if no one … Read More

Today, we’re going to take a short break from the business startup guides to ask you a question: what’s your vision? What is the indelible influence you want to leave on the planet after you’re gone? If you had to sum up you or your organization’s desires and ambitions in a single phrase, what would it be? Think about it … Read More

Your business is almost ready to roll at this point; you’ve secured financing, created and registered your business name and structure, created a marketing plan, evaluated the risks and opportunities inherent in what you do, and are just about ready to start providing the goods or services you aim to provide. You may be capable of handling a lot of … Read More

The structure of your business will play an essential role in determining your responsibilities as the business owner. Your business structure will depend on what type of financing you’ve secured, your risk for liability claims, and a wide variety of other factors. There are three types of business structure we will look at sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation. Sole proprietorships … Read More