FINANCIAL POST
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COMMUNITY QUESTION
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST CHANGE YOU MADE THAT HELPED YOUR BUSINESS TAKE OFF? Business owners share what has given them the biggest boost “The biggest change I have made is to embrace the entrepreneur role in my business, and start working on my business rather than in it. Being busy is great, but it’s not very rewarding, especially when you are busy with the wrong stuff. Getting back to creating and remembering the roots of why I got into business allows me to do my best work and be happy, which creates great results!” Jackie Appleby, founder of Jackie Appleby: Digital Assistant, jackieappleby.ca
“One of the best things I did to help my business take off was adding an online shop to my website. I tried to make it as easy as possible for people to place their orders while still including all the design and colour options. This didn’t happen overnight. It took a few trials and many changes to get it to work for almost every customer. It’s always going to be a work-in-progress, but it has helped me grow my business and has helped with my time management.” Valery Klassen, owner and designer of Sun 7 Designs, sun7designs.com
“While I could never work with just one type of client, narrowing my target market to a couple of key areas of business really accelerated my growth. Becoming known as a specialist in your industry is the fastest way to build a referral network with other business owners, and it also helps with search-engine marketing as well.” Sean Phillips, owner of Riverwood Photography, riverwoodphotography.com
“We joined the local barter exchanges, and right away business skyrocketed and hasn’t slowed down since.” Amanda Schewaga, owner of The Marketing Girl Inc. (themarketinggirl.com), says that the biggest growth came after she stopped seeing her business as just a hobby. “From there, I invested more time into developing my business, I hired an awesome coach, I set goals and looked at ways to be more innovative, and I developed viable, recurring revenue sources. In the past year, I have doubled my business’s income, and the best part is all that focus created really happy clients.” P HOTO SU PPL IED BY : A M A NDA S C H E WAG A
“The biggest and most rewarding change is to stop going it alone. I’ve expanded my team and hired mentors to guide me to my next level of success. In this world of free information accessibility, it’s easy to think that you can succeed on your own in business. But truthfully, you can’t. You will run out of hours or energy. Now I’m more focused on being fully supported so that I can do what I do best.” Paula Onysko, owner of Paula Onysko Coaching & Consulting, paulaonysko.com
“The biggest change I made was realizing that I needed to work on the business and not in the business. I started small by working with a business coach, and set out weekly tasks to delegate my work and gain better focus on strategic planning. I began to think differently about my role and understood that trying to do everything was holding me back … By changing my role, prioritizing my tasks, delegating and focusing on my business, I was able to take it to the next level and experience the growth I was now prepared to manage.” Megan Armstrong, owner of Dogma Training & Pet Services Inc., dogmatraining.com
“Learning the difference between hourly pricing and value-based pricing. I still have a few hourly clients who are on fixed budgets, and they need that sense of knowing exact dollar-per-hour cost. However, by realizing that the value I create in an orderly space is beyond an hourly rate, I can charge package fees accordingly. The result of creating an organized system is so far-reaching, and years later I will hear from clients who are still benefiting from the methods we implemented.” Kelly Hipkin, owner of Organized Lives Ltd., organizedlivesltd.com
“I worked much harder trying to develop a reputation and gain traction as an independent business broker for a couple of years. Joining a franchise gave me instant credibility, vast resources and the infrastructure to immediately put me into the fast lane. I saw an immediate change in the attitude of my prospects, which has translated into more clients and more revenue.” Steve Fylypchuk, president and broker at Murphy Business Alberta, murphybusinessalberta.ca
“The biggest change I made with my business was asking my existing clients and network of family and friends for referrals. Often we assume they will refer everyone they know to you, but this normally isn’t the case. Asking for the referral directly has helped me increase my business and grow as a result.”
Shawn Alain, president of Viral In Nature, viralinnature.com
“In the middle of my first year of business, I changed my target market, which was a big mistake. I was so bogged down in deals and chasing clients who didn’t value what I did that I lost sight of why I started the business in the first place. I pivoted for the second time, but I reverted back to the niche market that welcomed me with open arms in the first place. Since returning to my core mission, the business has flourished and I am happier with my work.” Dana Goldstein, chief producer at ChicFlicks Video, chicflicks.ca
“You must always have your eye out for great people; I call it unicorn hunting. Recently, our business needed to expand because the quality of our service was dropping off. We had to make the choice to extend ourselves and take some new risks to make sure we could have the right people in place. This was very stressful and scary, but is working out great, so far.”
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CAPITAL IDEAS UPCOMING JAN. 13: 2015 BUSINESS FORECAST Two of Canada’s leading economists, Todd Hirsch and Pierre Cléroux, deliver their entrepreneur-centric economic forecast for 2015 ■ Where: Delta Bow Valley (209 4th Ave.SE) ■ When: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ■ Admission: From $20. Register at calgarychamber.com APR. 16: LEADERSHIP SERIES — I C O N S O F A L B E R TA A full-day event dedicated to building the leadership capacity of female business owners ■ Where: Hotel Arts (119 12th Ave. SW) ■ When: 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. ■ Admission: $200 to $300. Register at awebusiness.com APR. 16: CELEBRATION OF ACHIEVEMENT Alberta Women Entrepreneurs pays tribute to an exceptional entrepreneur who has achieved recognizable success ■ Where: Hotel Arts (119 12th Ave. SW) ■ When: 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. ■ Admission: $135 to $200. Register at awebusiness.com Have an event that Capital Ideas should know about? Contact us at hello@ capitalideascalgary.com.
C A P I TA L QUESTION
How do you reward your employees?
Michael Tighe, managing partner of Solid Site Inc., asolidsite.com
“I live in a small, conservative community that struggles to value knowledge-based business coaching, which is my primary service. To move my business forward, I had to begin prospecting in larger, more business-focused communities. That meant I would have to say goodbye to my largest customer because the time needed to devote to this customer was on a daily basis. That time commitment would not enable me to travel to other communities, but I did it. It took a year, but I generated sales that surpassed what I had lost with that large customer, and it also boosted my confidence in working with other businesses that appreciated my expertise.” Lynda Kavanagh, owner of WOW Communications & Training Corp., salesandmarketing.tv
“We created a better awareness of the services that are available to seniors who want to remain in their own home. Some of the ways we did that was by reaching out to the community and marketing to our target audience, with a focus on how we can help them, and sharing other sources that are available for funding assistance and support.” Michael Scott, vice-president of business development at Care to Share Senior Services, caretoshare.ca
“A well-known business coach in Calgary said to ‘get out of the basement’ at a speaking event. Of course he wasn’t being literal … he was touching on the loneliness that can plague ‘solopreneurs’ like myself. I had been networking from my home office, but taking his advice to heart I started working from coffee shops from time to time and started attending more networking events in the evenings. I can’t stress enough the importance of business owners putting themselves out there and meeting as many people as possible.”
Recognizing and celebrating hard work can be integral to keeping your employees happy, but how that happens varies from business owner to business owner. That’s why Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business, is curious to hear from you. How do you reward your employees? You can answer the question in two ways: Open today’s Capital Ideas email if you’re a member or visit capitalideascalgary.com. We’ll publish the best answers, along with your business name and website address, on Dec. 18. For great information on businesses in Alberta, visit atb.com/wegrowalberta.
Brad Celmainis, owner of Brad Celmainis Consulting, bradcelmainis.com
Des Nwaerondu, advisor at Sun Life Financial, sunlife.ca/desmond.nwaerondu
These answers were in response to a question posed by Paula Onysko, owner of Paula Onysko
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