Archive for December, 2009

My desk is a MESS!

I’m an organized person—for the most part. Every file in my cabinet is colour-coded and labeled. My notes are all sequenced by date. My client records are computerized and backed up religiously. But the top of my desk?

My favourite pen has disappeared and I know it has to be somewhere under the various piles on my desk. There’s paper everywhere. I can’t remember if my desk top is oak or cherry. I haven’t glimpsed it in a long, long time.

Do I have any kindred spirits out there? Do you have a messy home office that would make me feel that I’m not alone? If so, please send me a photo and I’ll post them all (including mine) on January 8th. Click here to email us your photos.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized, Lifestyle on December 31st, 2009

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Take stock of yesterday and start fresh tomorrow – Part 2

By Donna Marrin

Yesterday, I supplied the first in a series of questions to help you assess the 2009 business year before determining your plan for the year ahead. Continue your assessment using the questions below and use the results to guide your 2010 plan.

7. Is there a local or online business network available where I can meet other entrepreneurs? Joining a group provides a valuable forum where individuals with similar interests and concerns can share news, advice and ideas. As well, the more contacts you make, the larger your potential client base.  

8. Are there certain tasks I feel ready to delegate to others? Do I have a training plan in mind for the person taking on these tasks? There is nothing more self-defeating than hanging onto tasks that could easily be delegated to someone else. Make it a goal to clear your desk of those duties that are preventing you from moving forward with more important initiatives.

9. Is my office equipment up to speed for the year ahead? Does any equipment need to be upgraded or replaced? Don’t wait for your office equipment to break down in the middle of an important project before you attend to it. Schedule regular servicing for your technical equipment and periodically check and replenish your supplies before you run out.

10.  Have I considered ways to retain and build loyalty with the clients I cultivated in 2009?  Ask your clients to participate in an online focus group. It’s a great way of getting genuine feedback while making your clients feel like stakeholders in your company. There are many ways to build loyalty: from simply using greeting cards to recognize birthdays and other milestones to offering a rewards program or referral discounts.

11. Do I have a solid plan for attracting new clients in 2010? It’s a good time to review your marketing strategy—what worked and didn’t work for you in 2009? Could there be a more effective way to spend your advertising dollars in the year ahead? If so, brainstorm a new list of potential marketing initiatives and determine which ones would work best for your business. Are you online yet with social media? If you’re not taking advantage of the different channels available to spread the word about your company, you’re missing out on a massive target market.

12. Do I need to build stress-relief into my life? It’s a fact that “life balance = better productivity.” You’re probably already aware of many ways to relieve stress—this year you need to make a plan to build some of them into your daily routine. If you know you would benefit from a walk around the block every afternoon, schedule it on your calendar just as you would an appointment, and then follow through.

Take stock—take shape—take action.

And here’s to a successful year ahead!

 

Donna Marrin is a freelance Senior Writer/Editor specializing in corporate communications and advertising. She also founded and runs the Markham Village Writers. You can visit their website at www.markhamvillagewriters.com

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized on December 30th, 2009

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Take stock of yesterday and start fresh tomorrow – Part 1

By Donna Marrin

Before you ring in 2010, use the set of questions below as a springboard for assessing your accomplishments and challenges over the past year. The results will help you streamline a solid game plan for the year ahead.

1. What were my greatest accomplishments in 2009? What can I do to expand on them in the year ahead? What specific goals are at the top of my list for 2010?  Create realistic, incremental steps that you will be able to manage on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.  

2. Who helped me achieve my successes in 2009? Have I appropriately recognized their contributions? It’s important to acknowledge the people who have supported you throughout the year. 

3. Are there outstanding objectives on my 2009 target list that I was unable to meet? Should I incorporate them into my objectives plan for 2010 or will it be more productive to override them with new objectives? It may be difficult to accept that an idea just isn’t working out, but letting go and moving on will free up the space you need to generate new and better ideas.

4. What were my greatest challenges? Do I have a back-up plan in place to deal with challenges that reoccur? Your best course of action is to prepare in advance for obstacles that may arise again in the future. List them all—large and small—then brainstorm some viable solutions.  

5. What mistakes did I make and what lessons have I learned from them? How will I use what I’ve learned in the year ahead? Some mistakes are costly, but they are also valuable learning tools. Use mistakes as your guide to making better and stronger decisions.  

6. Are there any new skills I need to learn to enhance my knowledge base?  There will always be something new to learn and by regularly supplementing your skill-set, you raise your level of expertise.

 (Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow.)

 

Donna Marrin is a freelance Senior Writer/Editor specializing in corporate communications and advertising. She also founded and runs the Markham Village Writers. You can visit their website at www.markhamvillagewriters.com

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized on December 29th, 2009

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Praise can be as powerful as a raise.

“Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.” – Sam Walton

As the year winds down and we (hopefully) put the worst of the recession behind us, it’s a perfect time to gather your team and thank them. After all, while you count on them to pull together and help build your small business in good times and bad, they look to you for motivation, inspiration, appreciation and guidance.

Management theorist and bestselling author Jim Champy says a key to building a business is engaging everyone in the endeavour:

“The inspiration for a company starts at the top, but good leadership drives that inspiration deep into the company by engaging people broadly in decision-making.”

Terry Barber, known within the nonprofit community as the Chief Inspiration Officer, offers seven principles for inspiring your employees; among them:

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· Authenticity: Share with the people in your organization where you are weak. Verbally express just how much you need them.

· Connect with others’ dreams: Use these difficult times to uncover the latent dreams and ambitions of your key talent. Tell them you are more committed than ever to helping them get to where they want to go.

· Inspire with great stories: The emphasis here is looking for and telling stories that have a lesson…What can you glean from the story of one who has gone from rags to riches or better yet, from riches to rags?

· Help people to live on purpose: Help people write down a vision statement for their life first and then for their job.

· Create a culture of inspiration: Become teachers committed to excellence and character development. Chasing numbers and making decisions by looking only at the bottom line causes us to be reactive and impulsive.

Barber concludes: “A company with a high inspiration factor attracts and keeps good talent and its employees forge long-term profitable relationships with customers.”

More inspiration talk from Barber here.

How do you motivate your team? What’s your message to them for the new year?

Posted by Lynnette in Growing Your Biz on December 28th, 2009

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Happy Holidays

All of us at STAPLES would like to take this moment
to wish you a safe, happy and healthy holiday.
May the new year ahead see an optimistic economy
and much success for you and your business.

Nobody says it better than Pebble Interactive Marketing.

Happy Holidays

from STAPLES Canada

Posted by Lynnette in Lifestyle on December 25th, 2009

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HST Part 2: Get ready, get set, go.

In spite of all the hoopla around the recently announced HST in Ontario and BC, consensus seems to be that once it kicks in next summer, the new harmonized sales tax will help reduce paperwork (after the transition of course!) and lower costs by allowing small businesses to recover the provincial part of the tax through income tax credits – something you weren’t able to do till now.

Whatever the net effect, HST will probably soon be a fact of life, so it’s a good idea to start preparing for the arrival of it now.

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BDO Dunwoody’s JumpStart resource centre for entrepreneurs offers some things Ontario (and BC) small businesses should think about before the July 1st transition date rolls around:

1. Converting your systems. Invoices, sales receipts, purchase orders and expense reports will likely need to be modified. If you have complex billing cycles that straddle the transition time, you may have some other challenges to deal with.

2. Budgeting for HST. While you’ll need to factor in implementation costs – including any required system changes – into your budget, you’ll also be able to recover previously unrecoverable PST as income tax credits, which will reduce your business costs once the HST is implemented.

3. Reviewing contracts. You’ll have to review your contractual obligations with partners to determine the impact of harmonization and even possible refund opportunities, if any.

4. More planning. You should review planned expenditures as the conversion date approaches and determine whether they’re subject to PST that can’t be recovered. If possible, these expenditures should be incurred after June 2010 so that the provincial component of the taxes paid qualifies for an income tax credit.

You’ll find more helpful transition information here.

Have more questions about the new HST? Ask us and we’ll do our best to answer or point you in the right direction.

Posted by Lynnette in Small Business Tax Tips on December 24th, 2009

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HST Part 1: Good news or bad news for small businesses?

The country is abuzz and abuzz and abuzz with talk about HST. For those of us old enough to remember the battles over the introduction of GST in the late 80s and early 90s, HST is déjà-vu.

It started when both the British Columbia and Ontario governments announced plans early in 2009 to merge their respective provincial sales tax (PST) with the federal GST by mid-2010, creating a so-called harmonized sales tax – or HST – of 12% in B.C. and 13% in Ontario.

So what’s all the fuss about?

According to a recent survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), 75% of business owners said the increased tax burden on consumers would be harmful and 44% worried about growth in the underground economy.

On the other hand, Andrew Coyne points out that Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick have already harmonized their provincial taxes with the GST to negligible to positive effect – and so have 143 other countries.

 

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So, will the HST hurt or help? I’ll leave you with these benefits for small businesses outlined by Jane Adams at KPMG Canada:

1. Despite taxes on more items not currently taxed by the PST – like commercial rents and utilities – you’ll likely end up paying less taxes on your purchases.

2. If you sell GST-taxable goods and services, you’ll be able to claim input tax credits for HST paid on most of your expenses and capital assets.

3. Even if you can’t claim input tax credits, you’ll likely save significant amounts of paperwork generated from having to deal with two separate taxes.

4. In Ontario, if your sales are less than $2-million, you may get a credit of up to $1,000 to offset transition costs.

In Part 2 of my post, I’ll outline the steps small businesses can take to get ready for HST.

What’s your opinion? Do you think the new harmonized sales tax will help or harm your business?

Posted by Lynnette in Small Business Tax Tips on December 23rd, 2009

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Office cheer’s in Season!

Guest Blog: By Jan Goode, research assistant for Season Marketing Services

I always look forward to this time of year in my office. There are twelve of us employed at Season Marketing Services, along with the owner, Michael. We always come up with fun ways to inject festive spirit into the month of December—one of our busiest and most stressful months of the year.

This year, we began early in November by setting up a drop-off bin in our reception area for staff and clients wishing to donate grocery items for the local food bank. We also expanded our collection with donations of toys and children’s clothing. So far, we’ve almost filled a second bin.

Also in November, we dragged our faithful old tree out of the storage closet and set it up mid-office where everyone has a good view of it and we all pitched in to cover it in lights. Then Michael went a little further, challenging each of us to come up with a “unique” decoration for the tree; winner gets a prize. Some of the results have kept us in stitches all month and our tree is definitely “different!” (Michael’s assistant, Jeff, won for his bobble-head replica of our IT guy, Dwayne. His prize was an alarm clock, which was hilarious, since he’s never on time :)

We took a vote and everyone was fine with playing holiday music on the office stereo, so that really adds to the festive mood too.

Several of us enjoy baking, so at some point every week, there are delicious baked goods to snack on (which means we all share the same New Year’s resolution—diet and exercise!)

Two weekends before Christmas Day, Michael invites us all over to his house to celebrate the past year and kick off the new year ahead. He caters in a spectacular dinner and we let loose and have a really great time. We look forward to Mike’s Christmas party all year!

As another ‘thank you’ for our hard work, Michael shuts down the office during the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. If we have anything pressing that needs to be done, we can just work on it from home at some point during the holidays. For the most part, nothing comes up thanks to a lot of pre-planning and teamwork.

I’m fortunate to work in a really great environment year-round. But at this time of year, our team goes the distance to make it extra special.

Posted by Lynnette in Lifestyle on December 22nd, 2009

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Panic-button gift dilemmas? Here’s some advice

By Donna Marrin

“Ok. I’m back again with my dog-eared ‘Do gift shopping today!’ message-to-self that I’ve carried around all month while vowing I’ll do it “tomorrow.” (Chewing on what’s left of my nails) Now, I’ve only got a few days left and (…itchy… are those hives?) I still have no clue what to get anyone… (OMG—there’s a big bald patch where I’ve been twisting my hair.) Helpppp!”

That was me yesterday. Just look at me now—I’m dancing on my desk because I’m done. That’s right. DONE. Wrapped up ALL my gift shopping (splurged on some hair and nail extensions too) and I’m back to breathing without having to use a paper bag. How’d I do it? A group discussion at a business networking event I attended last night armed me with a lot of super (small-budget) ideas, which I’ll now pass along to you:

1) For your staff : Gift certificates to use at their favourite stores or restaurants, or for helpful services such as dry cleaning, car wash or a week or two of service by a house-cleaning company; a desk-top digital picture frame for their desk; supplies for a hobby passion; a spa treatment certificate. A cash bonus is another alternative.

2) For your clients: Gift baskets; gift-boxed wine or champagne; chocolates; gift-packaged seasonal decorations; a business magazine subscription; a certificate for a day on the golf course; a USB drive with your logo printed on it; a donation to your clients’ charities. Or take them out to lunch.

3) For your child’s teacher: A cute custom stamp to use in class; lottery tickets; coffee-shop gift certificates; a handsome pen; a gift certificate for custom plaque mounting or lamination of a special photo; a movie rental certificate with popcorn; aromatherapy candles; a seasonal flower arrangement.

4) For your friends: Monogrammed crystal glasses; a book on a topic they’ve expressed interest in or a coffee-table book filled with beautiful photography; a leather journal; a pair of show passes for you and your friend; anything gift-boxed from the LCBO; a voucher for lessons in an activity they’ve always wanted to learn; gifts for the home; a boxed set of their favourite old movies or TV shows from the past; a “photo album on disk” of your past adventures together.

5) For you: Permission to take a moment out of your busy schedule to enjoy some down-time: find a quiet place to read a novel, put your feet up with a warm towel over your eyes, go for an invigorating walk around the block, or sink into a warm tub of bubbles.

Has the economy changed your gift-giving habits this year?

 

Donna Marrin is a freelance Senior Writer/Editor specializing in corporate communications and advertising. She also founded and runs the Markham Village Writers. You can visit their website at www.markhamvillagewriters.com.

 

Posted by Lynnette in Lifestyle on December 21st, 2009

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Can’t share the wealth? Then at least share the spirit.

Let’s face it. We all love getting a bonus during the holiday season. But everyone realizes times are tough and a financial gift may not be in the cards this year.

There are, nevertheless, a variety of creative ways you can share with your staff – and even include vendors and clients, says Barbara Kurka of Katz Media Group:

1. Let your employees decide. Set some guidelines, then get them involved in designing something they deem rewarding, whether it’s an office party, sending out gift boxes for soldiers overseas or serving lunch at a homeless shelter.

2. Use credit card points. If your business racks up points, use them to buy gift certificates for your employees.

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3. Barter. If you own a day spa, for example, approach the owner of a restaurant nearby about trading your services for a nice holiday meal for your staff.

4. Include family. Even if it’s “only” a movie pass for your employees and their family, it will be appreciated because it came from you.

5. Say thank you. If you can’t offer a financial gift this year, a simple personalized card shows you’ve taken the time to note and appreciate their service to you. And, by the way, never leave a card or gift on their chair – hand it to your employee in person. The personal touch can make all the difference.

Some other ideas to help lift everyone’s spirits around the office?

· Give them an additional day off if your company can afford it.

· Decorate your reception area with a Christmas tree, Hanukkah menorah or other festive items.

· Hand out candy canes or cookies with personalized messages for each employee.

· You can even play holiday music or movies in the kitchen or employee room.

You’d be surprised how even little things that show thoughtfulness can put a smile on people’s faces.

Finally, if your employees have received bonuses in the past but won’t this year, let them know as soon as possible. They may have made plans to use money they won’t be receiving and their disappointment could affect morale.

What successful holiday ideas have you tried with your staff?

Posted by Lynnette in Lifestyle on December 18th, 2009

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