The Times Of Canada September 2020 Issue

The

The Times of Canada Sept 2020

SEPTEMBER 2020

TIMES Of Canada

VOLUME 01

SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP

CELEBRATING SOUTH ASIAN BUSINESS

Cover Story

A NEW GENERATION

ENTREPRENEUR

ADVANTAGES of FREELANCING

AS A CAREER

BORROWING MONEY from

FAMILY & FRIENDS

LEAD GENERATION

for your BUSINESS

$ 2.99

NEW – BUSINESS DIRECTORY 1

The Times of Canada Sept 2020

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

The Times of Canada Sept 2020

Dear Readers, Let me begin by wishing everyone good health. I am pleased to announce a few positive changes at The Times of Canada. To begin with, we are back in business after a near crippling pandemic lockdown. We were able to make this comeback largely due to the support of our readers and advertisers who encouraged us to keep going and not give up.

Given the current uncertainty and the struggle that most small businesses are facing, we have decided to change the focus of our magazine to supporting small businesses in the South Asian community. There is an urgent need for a magazine that promotes and celebrates South Asian businesses and we have decided to make this our new focus.

Leading this new focus will be our new Managing Editor, Rajula Gupta. Rajula has an extensive background in Business Development, Marketing, Franchising and General Management with over 30 years of proven successes in leading business initiatives in a diverse range of industry segments all over the world. Apart from being a seasoned Business Coach for the past 15 years, he is also a Business Columnist at the OHerald, the leading daily newspaper in Goa, India since 2016. His business and media experience will be great asset to our magazine and I am looking forward to all the new ideas he plans to bring to the magazine.

As a first step, we are launching this first ever digital issue with a clear focus on business and we have changed its format to present you with valuable business content written by a panel of experts.

We have also created a special Business Directory section to focus on small businesses and lowered our advertising rates to help them promote their business in these challenging times.

VINAY SHARMA Publisher & MD

The Times of Canada Group

Our next print issue is planned for November and its focus will be new car launches and car dealerships. Future issues will focus on specific industries like restaurants, real estate and immigration to name a few. I look forward to your continuous support and encouragement in assisting Rajula and his team in building our magazine as the leading voice for all South Asian businesses in British Columbia and beyond. In the meantime, please be kind, be calm and be safe.

Sincerely

THE TEAM SEEMA SHARMA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

RAJULA GUPTA, MANAGING EDITOR

Seema founded the Times of Canada

Rajula is an entrepreneur, international

along with her husband Vinay Sharma. She

business coach and newspaper columnist

has an extensive background in retail and

with the OHerald in Goa, India. He has

customer service and looks after the overall

an extensive background in business

management of the magazine. She loves to

development and marketing and in his spare

spent time with her free family and friends.

time like to cook and travel.

MINU GUPTA, CREATIVE DESIGNER Minu is an Artist & experienced Graphic Designer in print, web, social media & UX UI. Her sense of current trends and minimal approach towards creative gives magazine a new uplift. She teaches kids, teens & adults drawing - painting regularly. Listening music, dancing are her other passions.

MADHU OZA, ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER Madhu is an experienced Administration Manager with excellent office management and people skills. She is the backbone of the magazine and ensures its smooth running by co-ordinating with the entire team. She loves to cook & makes excellent pickles & ladoos.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Ramandeep Kaur

Panna A Ladha

The opinions expressed in each article are the opinions of its author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Times of Canada Magazine. Therefore, The Times of Canada Magazine carries no responsibility for the opinions expressed thereon. Any form of reproduction of any content in this magazine without the written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. Š 2020 The times of Canada Magazine. All rights reserved. #207-7928, York Centre, 128 Street, Surrey BC V3W 4E8 604-834-4940 | www.thetimesofcanada.com | info@thetimesofcanada.com

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The Times of Canada Sept 2020

me e t

SHLOK

A NEW GENERATION

ENTREPRENEUR

I

first got to know about Shlok when her mother Ketaki sent us an email with his story. Let me tell you a little more about Shlok. He turned 6 this past October is in Grade 1 and attends South Meridian elementary school.

As with all small kids his age, he was thinking of opening a lemonade stand this summer as his first step into starting a small business of his own.

However, his dad Chaitanya had other ideas. He knew that Shlok loved dogs and other pets and so he thought of gifting Shlok an instant camera so that he could take pictures of pet owners with their pets in the neighborhood. As it was an instant camera with the picture coming out in minutes, he suggested that Shlok sell the picture to the pet owner in exchange for $5.

Their idea was to teach their son early in life about the hard work involved in earning money. They also wanted him to learn some important life lessons and hence they made a pact with Shlok

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that the $5 earned from each photo would be divided into 3 equal parts. The first part would be donated to a charity which in this instance was the SPCA, the second part would be invested in stocks to create a college fund for when he grows up and the third part could be spent on any toys, games or anything else of Shlok’s choice.

In just over a month, Shlok had taken over a 100 pictures collecting $560 all over the lower mainland and beyond including White Rock beach, Stanley Park and Whistler. The pets included cats, dogs, parrots and even a fish.

His experience taught him the value of kindness not just with people but even their pets.

On reaching this unique agreement, his dad quickly ordered the camera and the films and mom Ketaki made a poster stating – Pet Photos for $5. She even went one step ahead and created a Facebook page called “Photo Patrol - www.facebook.com/photopatrol” The first business of a young entrepreneur had started to take shape and they were ready to go out to aim and shoot on August 1, 2020.

The month of August passed quickly and on it’s last day, a very proud Shlok accompanied his parents to the Surrey BC SPCA Education and Adaption center and handed them a cheque of $200, just over a third of his earnings as promised to his parents. He has

kept $180 aside to invest in his higher education fund and with the rest bought himself some clothes, treats and a Lego challenge set.

If you are wondering what Shlok is going to do next, he is planning to do this every summer and his next organization of choice is the BC Children’s Hospital. The entire team at The Times of Canada wish him the very best and are confident that one day he will once again be on our cover as a very successful entrepreneur.

by Rajula Gupta

As Shlok started to go out for daily walks with his parents, he would not hesitate to approach people with pets and ask if they would like their picture taken for $5. The question always bought a smile of amazement and they all happily obliged. Most pet owners were thankful to him for creating this wonderful instant memory with their pets and they started to carry the picture with them in their wallets.

A few neighbours even went ahead and wrote a thank you note along with a generous donation and personally dropped off the envelop at his home. He did encounter his fair share of rejections but always took the “No” in his stride and remained focused on getting more and more pictures.

Just watching him do this everyday, one neighbour even remarked to his mother that one day he would make a very successful businessperson and she was all praises for his parents for teaching him such valuable lessons about working hard and making money while also giving back to the community.

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The Times of Canada Sept 2020

BORROWING MONEY FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS FOR A

BUSINESS

“BEFORE BORROWING MONEY FROM A FRIEND, DECIDE WHICH YOU NEED MOST�

- Proverb

W

ith adversity comes opportunity. You have a great business idea and you cannot wait to get started. Your family and friends might discourage you from taking a risk at this time, however you are convinced that you can make your business idea work and you want your family and friends to help you by lending you some money to get started.

Money is a sensitive subject when it comes to family and friends. There is

a general perception that if money is brought into the relationship, it may change for the negative due to the fear that the money may never be returned or if the promise to return the money within a certain time is not met, then it may cause tensions within the relationship. On the flip side, you may be surrounded by a supportive family and great friends who may be more than willing to help you out and lend you some money. If you do decide to borrow money from family and friends

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The Times of Canada Sept 2020

for launching your business idea, there are some rules to follow: WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN – It is best to write a good business plan and put all your thoughts and ideas on paper.

The first draft of a plan is more about communicating your vision effectively and showing a road map of how you plan to become successful in the first year. Do not worry about changes in the future due to circumstances as a business plan is a work in progress and is updated constantly with the changing dynamics of how your idea evolves in the first year.

DISCUSS THE BUSINESS PLAN – Have an open discussion about the merits and demerits of your plan with family and friends. Listen carefully to their feedback, even if it is negative and take detailed notes. After the discussion, give some serious thought to their comments and make changes to your plan if required to make it better.

Share your modified plans and you should notice a positive change in their feedback. Keep repeating this process until you have a good plan in line with the thoughts and comments of family and friends. This is important if you want them to trust you with their money.

PRESENT THE FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS – Once your plan is ready, it is time to discuss the money situation. Ideally, you should have some of your own personal savings to invest in your business. This will give confidence to family and friends and assure them that you are willing to put your money where your mouth is and risk your own savings first. Your plan should have details on how much money you need at what stage and based on these requirements, you should only ask for as much money as you really need at every stage.

DISCUSS THE RISKS AND THE CHANCES OF FAILURE – On this issue, honesty is the best policy.

Launching a new business is a big risk and the failure rate is 95% and this must be discussed with the people who trust you and are willing to lend you money.

They must understand that you may not be able to return the money to them if you fail and they should only be willing to lend you an amount they can afford to lose and not have to worry about in the future.

WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO WITH THEIR MONEY – In order to build trust and assure them that their money is going to be used for important investments in the startup, inform them of what you plan to do with their money. If you plan to buy an asset like a computer or machinery, get them to buy it in their name. If you are faced with failure, they can walk away with their asset and try to sell it to recover some of their investment. The more information you provide them, the more assured they will be that you are using their money for the right reasons.

SIGN AN AGREEMENT – Regardless of the fact that you might be borrowing money from your parents, siblings, close relatives or friends, you should sign an agreement with them when you take their money.

The agreement should be clear on the amount, the repayment period and if there is any interest involved. This agreement will help you when it comes to dealing with the tax authorities as a time will come when they will want to see a clear paper trail on where the money has come into your business.

This also means that whatever money you take from them should come to you via official banking channels and should

go into a business current account (which you should setup right from the start).

THINK VERY CAREFULLY ABOUT THE PROS AND CONS – Your relationships with family and friends are more important than money and you should carefully consider the pros and cons before asking for money.

Pros include the fact that they might agree when others like banks and investors say no, they may offer you flexible repayment terms and will tolerate delays, offer you interest free money (ideally you should pay them some interest) and you can get the money quickly without too much red tape or documentation. Cons include the possibility that they might interfere in your business as their money is involved, your relationship might get negatively impacted if you don’t pay them back as and when promised and should you fail and lose their money, it would carry a lifetime of guilt and stigma unless you find another way to pay them back in the future.

The key to a great relationship is communication. Always take the people that have trusted you with their money

into confidence and keep them informed of all the developments that are happening in your startup (both positive and negative) on a regular basis. I wish you all the best.

by Rajula Gupta

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THE TIMES OF CANADA SEPT 2020

for Your

S S E N I BUS SUNIL KHATRI

A

fter generating thousands of leads online and millions of dollars in revenue, these are some of the ways I can suggest to anyone to generate leads online for most of the industries.

There is a saying, it takes 5X more effort to find a new customer so better to retain the existing customers and also reach out to the old/ in-active customers and either convert them or ask for referrals.

SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILE OPTIMIZATION: Social Media is proven to be a Lead Generator for most of the businesses, of course if done correctly. We see almost more than 50% of the time, social media profiles/ handles are not optimized. A common mistake, writing “Self Employed� in the Bio but not specifically writing what you exactly do. So please keep yourself updated with the algorithm and update your profiles.

LEAD AN ONLINE WORKSHOP OR SEMINAR: You might have noticed that after Covid-19, lots of Online Workshop/ Webinars have popped up. People are hungry for knowledge and very open for online learning. Businesses are sharing what they know and generating leads online.

POST AN ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN WITH AN OFFER FOR A FREE CONSULTATION: Free is the top marketing word in the sales industry.

Use your knowledge and provide a free consultation and generate leads.

REVISIT LOST OPPORTUNITIES:

PAID ADVERTISING: Paid advertising has been so far the quickest way to generate leads. Platforms like Google and Facebook have great targeting and retargeting options. Best part, there is no long term contract and you can always test it before committing to it.

MARKETING AUTOMATION: Life can get busy. Create an Email/ Drip Sequence and put it in auto mode.

It is important to have a great CRM which can do the heavy work while you are busy. Modular apps have made

it super simple for different apps to communicate and get the work done when you are not around.

EMBED A MEETING SCHEDULER ON YOUR WEBSITE: As a business owner, you should be easily accessible by your target audience. Having a Meeting Scheduler on your website and on social media tools can really trigger your audience to book a time on your calendar. Provide some value on the page and let your meeting scheduler generate leads for you even when you are not around. Google My Business listing provides a link for appointments publicly, make sure you are using it too.

SUNIL KHATRI is an experienced Digital Marketer with a demonstrated history of working in the North American region. He is a strong marketing professional skilled in Online Sales, Business Development, Growth Strategy, Social Media, and Marketing Automation.

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BUSINESS DIRECTORY

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The Times of Canada Sept 2020

F O O D

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The Times of Canada Sept 2020

S E R V I C E S

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A U T O

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F I N A N C E

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I M M I G R A T I O N

Immigration matters could be tricky

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A C C O U N T I N G

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L E G A L

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The Times of Canada Sept 2020

R E A L E S T A T E

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The Times of Canada Sept 2020

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Everything you need to celebrate

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