One of my favourite pastimes is playing golf. Every chance I get, I take the opportunity to get outside and play a round. Not only do I love playing it, I also enjoy watching and staying up to date with the PGA Tour players. Golf is a mentally and physically demanding game; to become a…
Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is a provincial agency who works at arm’s-length from the provincial government to administer non-profit funding programs. For over 30 years OTF has provided a critical source of funding for non-profits, branches of charities, and aboriginal organizations to plan and execute community-based initiatives. Most non-profit grants provided by the Ontario Trillium…
Ontario’s dynamic agriculture industry continues to grow and diversify thanks to key investments from federal, provincial, and local sources. Canadian government funding programs, in addition to advocacy initiatives for local food consumption, have helped agricultural producers and processors increase revenues and introduce new products and services. This approach has been a key factor in the…
What if everything your business has been doing since its inception was flipped upside down and the complete opposite approach was enforced? This is the concept behind W. Chan Kim and Renée A. Maurborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy, which was created based off of primary research conducted on over 150 businesses across more than 30 industries…
Business professionals can learn a vast amount of leadership skills from competitive athletes. There are powerful similarities between elite athletes and business leaders; both are hard-working, dedicated, and persevere through challenges to become better than they were the previous day. Business leaders and athletes both strive for goals, work hard for marginal gains, and endure…
Canadian businesses should evaluate the benefit of entering international markets to grow, as export expansion has been a key pillar to many businesses growth. Beginning to export, however, poses a number of challenges for small businesses within Canada. Often times, business leaders are successful within their industry however lack the expertise or connections needed to…
Cold calling, phone calls, snail mail, and networking events; the traditional components of a sales process were tried and true. Then the Internet was invented and sales processes were changed forever. This article will reveal the impact of the Internet on sales and how it can be used to improve a business’ reach through new…
Selecting a piece of technology to incorporate into your business can be a daunting task. If you don’t keep up with technology, you can easily be left behind in a world of capabilities you know nothing about. I recently went through this process when purchasing a new printer for our office, and thought I would…
With the relative weakness of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar, many Canadian small businesses have ramped up exporting activities south of the border. The lower costs of buying from a Canadian company has made it very attractive for American businesses to purchase from Canadians. This trend is even impacting consumer markets with many…
Attracting and retaining skilled labour is an increasingly difficult challenge that many Canadian businesses must overcome. In 2014 nearly 60% of businesses responding to a Management Issues Survey by Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) indicated it was one of their primary concerns. To eliminate this challenge, the Canadian government is now offering increased assistance through…