Trying to Make Ends Meet By Ripping Off the Boss

March 2009 from Bennett Gold Business Bulletin - “When times get tough it seems that the hidden criminal element in people may come to the forefront and employee fraud increases…”

180 View (written by Esther Friedberg Karp) - The article identifies various types of employee fraud, as well as 10 steps to prevent them. The steps all have a common element: common sense should prevail. Therefore, there are many steps that can be taken that did not make this list. For example, never let the person who writes the cheques be the one who reconciles the bank accounts. Also, arrange for employees to share and switch duties so that they can cover for each other in case of illness or absence (and so that employees can spot unusual work done by others). But most importantly, especially in a small business, the owner should not be hands-off when it comes to cash: the owner should be trained in the use of the accounting software, and should review bank statements, cancelled cheques, credit card charges, as well as source documents for payables, receivables and government remittances. I have met small business owners who depended solely on others for all these functions, without doing their own check-ups. They were defrauded by employees (including family members) and trusted bookkeepers.

Seven Ways to Defuse Angry Customers

November 27, 2008 from ConnectIT - “Flush with frustration over something gone wrong, the client or customer flies into an uncontrollable rage. Complaints crescendo into shouts, accusations fly and, sad to say, an occasional profanity slices what little silence remains.”

Sound familiar? Let’s hope not. But in case it does ring a bell, read on.

In this article, Jeff Wuorio reviews tried-and-true, old-fashioned methods for cooling off customers so that disputes are resolved with a minimum of fuss. These methods are based on making the customer feel that they are being heard regarding the problem and that they are being included in the solution.

The seven methods all start with “Let’s,” as in “Let’s go over what happened” and “Let’s get together to talk about this.”

180 View (written by Esther Friedberg Karp): These days, we’re trying more than ever to hang on to every paying customer we have, but we want to do so while retaining our sanity. I cannot say that I’ve never had a dispute with every supplier I currently have. But I can say that of I have stuck by any suppliers who have made it their mission to handle customer dissatisfaction quickly and efficiently. It’s no news that a happy customer is probably a long-term one. It is also true that a happy customer will probably refer new customers to your business. Before dismissing this as hokey fluff that belongs in a disagreement at Floyd’s Barber Shop, remember that unresolved disputes are expensive, time-consuming, and take your focus away from other profit-generating initiatives. It is preferable and can be profitable to behave calmly and with dignity in business disputes, generating goodwill and avoiding unpleasantness and extra expenses.

Don’t Get Hung Up on Marketers: National Do Not Call List Is in Effect

October 20, 2008 from the Financial Post – “On September 30, 2008, Canada’s National Do Not Call List (DNCL) went into effect. As of that date, anyone can register home phone lines and cell numbers so that telemarketers can no longer call or fax to those numbers. Registration is fast and easy, online at www.LNNTE-DNCL.gc.ca or by calling the toll-free numbers 1-866-580-3625 or 1-888-DNCL-TTY (1-888-362-5889).

Registering one’s numbers means three years of protection, starting 30 days after the registration. There are companies that are initially exempt from having the DNCL apply to them, but if they contact you, they must abide by your stated wishes to be taken off their list.

Hefty fines apply to companies who ignore the list. Finally, homeowners and home-based companies have recourse against telemarketers who infringe on their home lives and work days… ”

180 View (written by Esther Friedberg Karp) - The National Do Not Call List (DNCL) may actually work. I recently received a call from a telemarketer (less than 30 days had elapsed since I had registered my home number). I asked to be taken off their list. Promptly, I was asked if there were any other numbers in my home I wanted removed. I was also given the contact information for the company should I need to lodge a complaint. Keep in mind that new phone numbers have to be added to the registration, and that the protection lasts only three years. It’s worth visiting the website once every three years to get this kind of protection. Best of all, junk faxes may very well become a thing of the past.

100 Small Business Tips and Tricks for Effectively Outsourcing to India

February 15, 2008 from HR World – Small businesses need not be hampered by the lack of funds, staff, expertise, other resources or time to engage in work projects that can make them grow to the next level. Why not outsource: hire someone outside the company to take care of mundane yet necessary work? How about engaging someone new to provide a service that no one inside the organization has the expertise to perform? This includes “personal” or one-person organizations. And it’s easier and cheaper to do this now than ever before.

These days, outsourcing is a great way to engage in growth activities without investing scarce capital in fixed assets or some other kind of pricey infrastructure. Offering a new product or service can be done on a totally variable-cost basis: manufacturing, promotion, sales, warehousing, distribution, and billing of a new product or service can be totally outsourced. Contract manufacturers can build products for small businesses on an outsourced basis. Warehousing, distribution and shipping logistics can be handled by the major courier companies, Amazon.com and others. Amazon.com provides much of the infrastructure needed for warehousing, billing and so on.

This allows entrepreneurs to widen their spheres of influence: while they must still know their businesses, they will no longer be required to have deep knowledge of all aspects. This will free up their time to use their skills where they are most needed: in running the company rather than doing all the jobs in the company.

180 View (Written by Esther Friedberg Karp) - Outsourcing can be as simple as getting a virtual assistant for call handling, being a webmaster or executing a promotional mailing. It can get into bookkeeping, payroll, artistic design and branding, and fulfillment as described above. Naturally, different areas of expertise will call for different outsourced experts. The key is to look at the options and the costs vs. the funds available. On one hand, it’s a good thing to save money and do as many tasks as possible in-house, especially in the company’s start-up phase. On the other hand, once businesses grow beyond the stage of scrimping, outsourcing to outsiders with expertise frees up the entrepreneur and any employees to concentrate on their “core competencies” and get more revenue-generating work done.

Spending in-house time and resources on functions that are beyond the business owner’s (or the employees’) areas of expertise will result in less work done in the areas of core competency. This will lead to errors and an unprofessional image, as work is postponed and procrastination to avoid doing jobs “we’re not good at” becomes standard operating procedure.

While this article concentrates on outsourcing to India (yes, small businesses here can outsource to India – it’s not just for multinationals anymore), keep an eye on the outsourcing references at the end of the article and look for outsourcing companies on this side of the world as well. As an example, Mom Inventors Inc. will “develop, manufacture, and sell quality Mom Invented–branded products” so that only the idea is needed; Mom Inventors will do the rest.

Pushing all the Right Buttons to Help Young Entrepreneurs Get Going


January 28, 2008 from the Financial Post – “The Canadian Youth Business Foundation provides startup financing, mentoring and online business resources to entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 34. Each week, Financial Post features CYBF alumni, who discuss the hurdles faced en route to success. Jonathan Davids, whose growing online business includes the popular lifestyle Web site, TheSoko.coma, and who will soon be helping to guide other entrepreneurs as a member of CYBF's local loans committee, talks about his experience with the program.”

The CYBF is a national organization which provides up to $15,000 in start-up financing (as well as subsequent expansion financing, mentorship and resources), provided that the applicant is eligible based on various criteria which include:

• Between 18-34 years old
• Eligible to work in Canada
• Produces a complete and viable business plan
• Has been in business, fully operating, for less 1 year
• Lives or opens the business in the community which is offering the CYBF program
• Has some training / experience related to the business idea
• Must work with mentor for a period of two years
• Has a business that creates full-time sustainable employment for the applicant
• Must hold at least 51% voting share in the business (if a partnership)
• Not a full-time student
• Loan proceeds may NOT be used for the refinancing of existing debt

Typical applicants do not qualify for conventional funding. CYBF’s website proudly announces that it lends based on character, not collateral. The interest rates are low, and the CYBF offers flexible repayment schedules, and no principal repayments in the first year.

180 View (Written by Esther Friedberg Karp) – Banks are nervous these days, as they try to eliminate risk and minimize the exposure they have taken on some bad investments south of the border. The CYBF is a great way for young business owners to obtain funds and the hand-holding of experienced mentors without crying all the way from the bank.

Research rollbacks

November 2007 Article from CMA Management Magazine – "Canada has one of the world’s most generous tax-based incentive programs for encouraging research and development — the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) program. It was established in 1985 and is administered by Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA). Currently, over 11,000 companies file for SR&ED claims, which generate approximately $1.5 billion in tax credits annually.

The SR&ED allows qualifed Canadian-controlled private corporations a cash refund of up to 35% on their taxes, and public companies are entitled to a 20% non-refundable tax credit. Once you’ve applied for the program, it’s impossible not to see the benefits it brings to an organization. Companies that apply for both federal and provincial programs can recover as much as 50% of their SR&ED expenditures (Alberta and PEI are the only provinces that don’t currently offer an R&D tax credit)."

180 View (written by Esther Friedberg Karp) – It has been estimated that only 30% of eligible companies pursue the SR&ED credits. This program is often overlooked as a source of cash flow by companies and many accountants.

The CRA is not only offering money; it’s offering us help in applying for it. In addition to the assistance programs offered directly by the CRA, major accounting firms have set up their own SR&ED departments. Also, type “SR&ED” in any search engine and you’ll find many consulting firms who will take up your cause for a piece of the action.

The first step should be: get the free scoop from the CRA by signing up for a public information seminar. Use whatever resources they offer you, and then decide if your company has a shot at the money. You can decide whether you will go it alone (with CRA resources) or if you want to offload the work to a consultant for a piece of the action.

Online presence: The Great Equalizer

December 3, 2007 from The International Herald Tribune - “MOM-AND-POP retailers have helplessly stood by over the last decade as big-box merchants steamrolled over them. Online, though, small merchants are not going down without a fight.

The number of small- and medium-size retailers selling online has swelled in the last two years, from 21 percent to 32 percent, according to a survey by IDC, a consulting firm. Aided by less expensive and more sophisticated technology, stores like RealmDekor.com, CleanAirGardening.com and SitStay.com are competing with retailers as well as bigger sites like Amazon.”

180 View (written by Esther Friedberg Karp): It’s penny-wise and pound-foolish to avoid a web presence today. Naturally, the tools chosen must fit the business model of the company. You wouldn’t use e-commerce and online ordering for a small restaurant. But you would promote the restaurant with its own website complete with testimonials, and you would join consumer forums and business networking sites. In other businesses, e-commerce as a convenience for customers is a great way to grow sales, and can be either an add-on to an existing business or a launch pad on its own for a new one.

What’s Good for Entrepreneurs is Good for All of Us

180 View (written by Esther Friedberg Karp) - Many baby boomers grew up remembering the phrase “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.” Whether that was a misquoting of GM’s then-president Charlie Wilson or not was irrelevant: it was the feeling of the time in the post-World War II era.

That was so then. Times have changed and so have the fortunes of General Motors and other big-name manufacturers who were our economic rocks. Now their world is being “rocked,” and not in a good way.

It is such a different world that my maternal grandparents, for instance, who passed away in the 1980’s, would not recognize it at all.

The Institute for the Future, a Palo Alto-based think tank, and software maker Intuit, Inc., based in Mountain View, have commissioned a three-part study regarding the trends of the future, and to date the first two parts have been published and are available at http://www.intuit.com/futureofsmallbusiness.

Part One analyzes entrepreneurs, what demographic groups comprise this tidal wave of business owners, and what economic events are contributing to the explosive growth of entrepreneurship.

Part Two covers social and technological advances, which are contributing to the fact that small business is the future in this country, regardless of which country you happen to be in when you are reading this. In short, the 1960’s through the 1970’s brought social change. The 1980’s through to 2000 and beyond saw technological change. Cumulatively, they have set the stage for the economic transformation in this millennium that is screaming “small business.”

Part Three of the study, expected to be released by the end of 2007, will cover how small businesses will affect society and the economy in 2017.

Whether they are measured by sheer numbers of businesses, numbers of people involved, or the dollars that they generate, small business is where it’s at now and where it’ll be in the future for the vast majority of us and our descendants.

Barriers to entry into business have been greatly diminished or altogether eliminated by dramatically lowered costs, better systems and tools, and better ease of operation of these tools. It is now quite reasonable that a small business would have systems in place that are equal to or better than those of much larger enterprises. Small companies can play with the “big boys (and girls)” on an equal footing because they have access to cost-effective, super-efficient, and easy-to-learn options for communications, information, customer relations, promotion, financial management, and outsourced goods and labour.

Keep your eye on the Institute for the Future’s third installment. New businesses based on someone else’s revolutionary business idea are quite successful, including “mash-ups,” which combine information from several sources to create a new business. One such enterprise is HousingMaps, which brings together craigslist and Google Maps to create a new real estate business. The opportunities for creating new businesses on a shoestring are endless; the opportunities for servicing them with their outsourced needs are likewise endless. This is where the money is.