Posts Tagged ‘Social issues’

Business Insurance: A Better Solution for Your Business and Succession Planning

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By Thien Ly

Many business owners/shareholders rely on their company to provide family income, personal financial security and a legacy for their next generation. If these business owners, active in the management of their business or corporations, should become very ill, disabled, or die, management is suddenly disrupted, adversely affecting the business. Financial loss may occur and a reorganization of management is inevitable. The remaining business partners/shareholders are often faced with four options:

  1. Reorganize to include heirs in the business: Disadvantages could include inexperience, incompatibility and lack of management ability.
  2. Reorganize to include an outsider: May lack the skills and experience or bring conflicting management ideas to the business.
  3. Sell out to heirs: Agreement between all on a fair price may be difficult to achieve.
  4. Buy out to heirs: Cash to purchase their shares may not be readily available.

A better solution exists, that would first guarantee heirs the full value of their shares in cash and guarantee the surviving partners/shareholders full ownership of the business. It’s a simple solution:

  1. Shareholders/partners agree, by contract (buy-sell agreement), that:
    • The shares from the business of any deceased or disabled owner will be purchased by and sold to surviving partners in the event of death, disability or illness.
    • The price will be clearly set forth.
    • The method of financing the purchase will be clearly defined from this agreement.
  2. Shareholders/owners will create a special fund through Business Life, Disability and Critical Illness Insurance that will:
    • Provide sufficient cash when needed immediately and economically.
    • Free operating capital for normal business requirements.
    • Eliminate additional borrowing or invasion of personal resources.
  3. The advantages of Business Life, Disability and Illness Insurance:
    • For surviving shareholders: Guarantees full and immediate ownership of the business.
    • For the heirs: Guarantees full value of their interest in the business, in cash.
    • For the business: Guarantees business continuity and strengthens its position with clients, creditors and competitors.

Should a business partner/shareholders die, become disabled or diagnosed with a critical illness, there can be disruption with loss to both the business and the heirs, or there can be a smooth transfer of interests at fair value for both the surviving owners/shareholders and their heirs. The choice is yours. Which will it be?

About Thien Ly, EPC, RHU

Since early 2002, upon graduating from Business Accounting and Finance, I have been contracted as an independent Advisor at Sun Life Financial. I’ve been dedicated to helping families, business owners and companies achieve their lifetime financial goals by providing clear financial advice in accordance to their individual needs. There’s nothing more rewarding in my practice then having an opportunity to work with people who appreciate my guidance in achieving their financial goals. I hold a Life & Health Insurance Licence, Investment Funds Licence, Elder Planning Counselling Designation and Registered Health Underwriter Designation. I am continuing my education by working toward additional financial designations. I’ve been a member of the Million Dollar Round Table, which is represented with the top 1% of financial professionals worldwide. I’m married to my wonderful wife, Haly, and we have two children. I spend my spare time with my family, and also play different sports: tennis, badminton, soccer, golf and swimming. I also raise funds for the Kidney Foundation. You can contact me through www.sunlife.ca/thien.ly or call 416-992-5109.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized on August 16th, 2010

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7 ways to build your brand with social media and 3 ways to ruin it.

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Social media is becoming a force to be reckoned with in terms of building your company’s brand equity and strength. And according to brand expert  Jennifer Bourn, there are a handful of steps you ought to take to maintain and build your brand’s value:

1. Secure your social media brand: Register your name and business name on a variety of social media sites. Even if you don’t plan on using a site, you might want to consider securing your name anyway for future use. NameChk.com and Knowem.com are two free sites to help you get started.

2. Keep your message focused: “By keeping a consistent message across all social media sites and platforms, you build brand recognition that pays off over time.”

3. Provide value your audience will appreciate: “Providing links to valuable articles and resources, sharing your recent blog post, etc., are all ways to help your audience and share your expertise.”

4. Showcase your personality: “Share posts that give your network a glimpse into your personal life…These posts will provide opportunities for your network to connect with you on a deeper and more meaningful level.”

5. Remember to be social: “Social networks are just that – social networks. If all you do is post information and links [without interacting] with your audience, you are missing the most important part of building a successful social media brand – building strong relationships.”

6. Keep your avatar/profile photo consistent: “Using a photo of your dog or cat is useless to your network and frankly, it makes you seem unprofessional.”

7. Help others: “When you read a good blog post, article, press release or social networking post, tell other people about it and share the link.”

How about damaging your brand using social media?

While social media has the power to help humanize your brand and connect you with your customers, Internet strategist, B.L. Ochman, cautions businesses to use some common sense when they wade into the new medium.

1. If you start a Twitter account or Facebook page, use it: “All it really takes to slow down an issue is a human being responding quickly to say something as simple as ‘Thanks for making us aware of this issue. We are checking it now.’ And then, the company has a reasonable amount of time to say what went wrong.”

2. Track your brand with monitoring tools: “The Internet is 24/7. Brand monitoring has to be constant. Pick [a tool]. Use it.”

3. Don’t keep your social media program a secret: “Corporate silos just don’t work in social media.” Make sure everyone in your company knows about your social media presence.

How have you used social media to enhance your brand? Where do you feel social media falls short?

Posted by Lynnette in Growing Your Biz, Marketing on July 20th, 2010

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The payroll maze.

One benefit of working for a large company is there’s an accounting department to do “that.”

By “that,” I mean all the number-crunching paperwork that most of us know little about and are happy to leave in the hands of someone else – until we’re a small business owner and that someone else is us.

One of those tasks is, inevitably, payroll management.

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Intuit succinctly describes payroll management as activities in two areas: payroll accounting and administration:

· Payroll accounting includes calculating employee earnings and withholding funds for taxes and other deductions like Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan premiums, recording those activities, preparing tax returns and reporting the results to federal and provincial revenue ministries.

· Payroll administration includes non-accounting tasks like managing employee and payroll information and compliance with federal and provincial laws.

Whether you handle payroll yourself, choose to outsource it to an accountant or payroll service or use payroll accounting software like QuickBooks Payroll, reporting and paying payroll taxes are ultimately your responsibility, so it’s important that the process be handled on time.

For more help and guidance in the maze of payroll responsibilities, including an online calculator and payroll tables, you can visit the Canada Revenue Agency’s website and the federal government’s Canada Business Services for Entrepreneurs site. The Canadian Payroll Association is another useful place to help you get started.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Started on July 8th, 2010

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You scratch my back …

Bartering is as old as commerce and, in spite of our super-high-tech economy and culture, it’s still around in one form or another.

If, for instance, you run a small business and don’t quite yet have the budget to hire a qualified, full-time employee to handle certain vital office tasks, a co-op student may be a smart solution – your business gets help from an idealistic employee with fresh ideas and s/he has an opportunity to gain real-world work experience.

It’s a pretty fair trade and could be a match made in heaven.

Consider these benefits to hiring co-op students from the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education:

· Co-op students are ideal to fill temporary need during staff leaves or for short-term projects.

· Employing co-op students can reduce recruitment costs by vetting students for future hiring.

· By hiring co-op students, you can provide valuable feedback to their institutions of learning and have a say on what and how they’re being taught.

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As with any hiring – co-op student or otherwise – it’s always a good idea to perform due diligence and keep some factors in mind before making any commitments:

1. Check your local college or university career centres to see if they offer co-op programs.

2. Remember that most co-op terms last about four months, coinciding with an academic term.

3. Outline the scope of work you need you co-op student to accomplish and keep a backup list of additional tasks in case he or she catches on fast.

4. Limit your co-op student’s access to mission critical information until you’re comfortable s/he can be trusted with confidential information.

5. Define and explain your expectations to ensure both you and the student are rewarded by the experience.

Your business may also be able to benefit from a tax credit for hiring a co-op student. Check with the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRDC)  for more information.

Have you already hired a co-op student? Tell us about the experience!

Posted by Lynnette in Growing Your Biz on June 23rd, 2010

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STAPLES BizTIPs 4business: Guard your customers' privacy

By Small Business Expert, Roger Pierce, BizLaunch

Privacy issues are now a number one concern for North American consumers. Privacy issues include safeguarding your customers’ personal information against misuse or identity theft, eliminating unauthorized customer contact and preventing fraud.

We live in an electronic age where our personal information gets zapped around, making it easy for thieves to steal our identities or abuse our data. It’s no surprise that consumers are demanding that small business owners safeguard their information.

Show your customers how carefully you handle their personal information and you’ll win their trust. Here’s how:

• Never share or sell your customer information, such as a mailing address, email address, income level, purchasing habits or other data, without their consent.
• Obviously, never sell their financial information, such as a credit card or SIN number.
• Control employee access to files containing sensitive customer information.
• Physically and electronically safeguard data. Use locking drawers and vaults to store paper records, or simply shred originals. Set up passwords for computer programs containing customer data and change those passwords regularly.
• Avoid blasting your customers with too many “sales” messages to avoid becoming a ‘spammer.’

You can learn more about this and other how-to topics at a free STAPLES BizLaunch Seminar or Webinar. To find one near you, please visit http://www.staples.ca/bizlaunch today.

 

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ROGER PIERCE is passionate about helping entrepreneurs achieve success. Co-founder of Canada’s largest small business training company, BizLaunch.ca, he’s launched eleven small businesses of his own and personally experienced what he calls “the good, the bad and the ugly” sides of entrepreneurship.

BizLaunch advises thousands of Canadian startups through its popular how-to seminars and webinars delivered with partners such as STAPLES.

Posted by Lynnette in STAPLES BizTIPs on March 26th, 2010

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