E DMO N TO N J O U R NA L e d m o n t o n j o u r n a l .c o m
W edne s da y, J uly 2 , 2 0 1 4
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CAPITAL IDEAS capi ta l id e ase d m o n to n .c o m
P R O J E C T L E A D E R : K A R E N U N L A N D , 7 8 0 - 4 2 9 - 5 5 3 0 ; h e l l o @c a p i t a l i d e a s e d m o n t o n . c o m
CAPITAL QUESTION:
UPCOMING:
What do you wish you were told when starting a business?
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Entrepreneurs share advice for beginning a new venture Andrea Spevak, co-founder of Sendioso (sendioso.com), advises new entrepreneurs to watch their spending. “Only spend money on the things you actually need in order to launch your business. Use the free trials and free services rather than the high-priced services with all the bells and whistles. Don’t be so concerned about setting up your business properly at the start; instead, spend your energy, time and money on your product.”
“Have a soft opening before your grand opening to work out all the kinks.” — Kelsey Bulmer, co-owner of Cerulean Boutique — ceruleanboutique.com “Dream big but keep yourself grounded. There’s a good reason why the phrase ‘slow and steady wins the race’ applies to business. Take your time and think things out. Often when rushing into things, we end up making errors that cost us time and money.” — Dan Dromarsky, capital partner at Enviro-Plus Business Services Corporation — enviro-plus.ca “Failing your way forward is part of the process. Learn from the failure and find a new way to do things, then execute them.” — Chris Gowing, business developer at Dynasty Marketing — dynastysystem.org “I wish someone stressed to me the importance of saying no, and how it’s a critical component of running a successful business while also prioritizing a personal life.” — Natalie Harper, managing director of Harper PR — harperpr.com “It’s not going to go exactly as you planned. You have a vision and a dream of how things will unfold, and there is a good chance that is not how it will happen. Be prepared to change everything you’ve planned, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get to your end goal — you just may have to take another path to make it work!” — Stacey Hogbin, partner of Wevive Fitness — wevivefitness.com “I wish someone had told me how much time I’d spend at my laptop. As a designer, I thought most of my time would go towards creating events and spaces, but bookkeeping, spreadsheets, promotion, research and email are a huge part of my work and business, and all of those tasks require significant amounts of time at a desk. Had I known, I would have paid more attention to developing good exercise habits early.” — Christina Ignacio-Deines, designer and artist at I-D BOHEMIA Lifestyle, Events and Interiors — idbohemia.com “I wish someone would have told me not to devote every waking hour to my business during the first two years. It’s a very hard thing to do, but you need to maintain your relationships and have some downtime, even when you’re just starting out. I felt I could handle working 12 hours a day for six or seven days a week during the first two to three years; I survived it, but it took a major toll. I wish I would have hired staff sooner and asked for more help.” — Brenda Kerber, owner of The Traveling Tickle Trunk — travelingtickletrunk.com
“The thing I had wished I paid more attention to was planning for growth and treating my small business like it was big and booming already. It’s important to get useful systems and procedures in place and try them out before your business grows and expands; it will save you time in the long run.” — Melissa Mainville, owner of Flourish Design & Merchandising — flourishdesign.ca “Build your business for sustainability today; don’t build it for the vision of tomorrow, otherwise you’ll have too many assets and too much overhead too early. Grow at a natural pace, live by your vision and know your market potential, but don’t start with infrastructure to meet the anticipated sales of tomorrow. The best challenge is the burden of growth, while the worst is the burden of excess.” — Darryl Moore, vice-president of Executrade — executrade.com “That it would be harder than I ever thought, that I would need more money than I planned for, that my revenues would be much lower than I projected, and that sleep and vacations would become luxuries. That said, it’s all worth it as long as you’re having fun and can see progress.” — Ashif Mawji, CEO of NPO Zero — npozero.com “When starting a business, get a business coach, create a plan, do the work, stay focused and surround yourself with people who support and encourage you. Get away from any naysayers! No one can do it alone, so get some funding for your startup business expenses. You’ve got to spend money to make money. Finally, have fun — life’s too short to be miserable.” — Pat Mussieux, founder of Wealthy Women Leaders — wealthywomenleaders.com “Schedule time for things that are important to you in advance, because once your business takes off, you’re not going to have a spare moment. When I launched my first business, I had time for everything, so it never occurred to me that that could change. Had I known, I would have scheduled family time, hair appointments and car maintenance (I am still driving around with winter tires).” — Pam Robertson, founder of Robertson Digital Media — robertsondigitalmedia.com “Find ways to be part of the community you want to do business in. Part of being successful means creating strong networks of like-minded people. When the going gets tough, you will have a pool of people to turn to. Find ways to give back to the community, though; don’t just take — you will see a much larger return on your investment and it’s the cheapest form of effective advertising.” — Trina Shipanoff, general manager of Night Market Edmonton — nightmarketedmonton.com
These are answers to a question posed by Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business. Here’s his take: “Over the years, I have helped a lot of entrepreneurs start their first business. One common thing I have heard is that it is more challenging than what they imagined. Long hours, stress, big investment — a lot goes into making a business successful. On the other hand, successful business owners almost always say that they wouldn’t change a thing. Starting their business was still worth it despite the long hours and massive effort it initially took, because gave them their freedom and opened their eyes to a whole new world of opportunity.”
An eWomenNetwork Accelerated Networking Event When: 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Where: Millwoods Golf Course (4540 50th St.) Admission: $38 to $48. Learn more at ewomennetwork.com
JULY
Marketing With Permission
JULY
Digital Alberta Awards
SEPT
E-Town
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A workshop with Kurian Tharakan on Canada’s new anti-spam legislation When: 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Where: Northern Alberta Business Incubator (13 Mission Ave., St. Albert) Admission: Free. Learn more at nabi.ca
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An event to recognize leaders in innovation, creativity and digital media in Alberta Where: Royal Alberta Museum (12845 102nd Ave.) Admission: Learn more at awards.digitalalberta.com
11-12
PH OTO S U PPL I E D BY A N D R E A S PEVA K
“Don’t let the fear of risk, failure or the unknown stop you from pursuing your dreams to start a business. Often the things we worry about the most never come true. Follow your heart.” — David Bayda, business services manager at The Business Link — canadabusiness.ab.ca
How to Shine Online and Reach Millions With Your Message
JULY
it
A festival for the entrepreneurially minded Where: Shaw Conference Centre (9797Jasper Ave.) Admission: $49 to $399. Details at e-town.ca.
Have an event that Capital Ideas should know about? Contact us at hello@capitalideasedmonton.com
“There’s a long list. However, one thing I wish I was told is to get into an annual process of adjusting pricing. Even if it’s a nominal inflationary increase, it’s much better to do that each year than to have to increase by a substantial per cent after multiple years of no change.” — Bryan Smith, president of Bluetrain Inc. — bluetrain.ca “Learn how to sell — nothing else matters if you don’t have sales.” — Howard Suissa, founder of Suissa Design — suissa.ca “As an employee, you can get through your to-do list and have the satisfaction of crossing things off until you reach the end. When you’re a business owner, there is a never-ending todo list. Seriously, it’s a bottomless pit. You’ll need to have a different perspective on worklife balance to hack it. You need to shift your mindset to look at priorities, because there are so many things that need your attention.” — Sherman Tsang — co-founder and CTO of TwoFold — gettwofold.com
COMMUNITY QUESTION: How do you keep your top talent? This week’s question comes from Capital Ideas member Chris Vilcsak, president of Solution 105, a company that helps organizations make sense of their energy costs. “The ‘talent crunch’ is well underway,” he writes. “What innovative steps is your company taking to retain your top talent?” You can answer the question in two ways: · Open today’s Capital Ideas email if you’re a member, or · Visit capitalideasedmonton.com. We’ll publish the best answers, along with your business name and website address, on July 9. Find out more about Chris’s team at solution105. com.
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