News You Can Use
Helping your business to thrive.
Focus on Profit Instead of Revenue
As profitability and growth advisors, we remind you, that it is not what you make, but what you keep. Too often, business owners focus on sales without regard whether it is the right customer or whether it is a profitable service or product line. Here is an article by...
Are you running the business or is the business running you?
So often, business owners have no goals - no place they want their business to get to - and so in reality, they have no plan for getting anywhere. Each day they struggle – chasing their tails, putting out fires - just to get to the next day where they repeat once...
Creating a Dream Business
In October I was honoured to receive the 2019 Dream Practice Award at the Enlightened Business Conference in Las Vegas. It was very special because I was surrounded by my team, the people who have worked with me over the last year to make it possible. How do you...
Becoming a Growth and Profitability Expert: An Interview (Part 2)
Our last post featured the first half of an interview I conducted with Deanna Davies about her interest in growth and profitability and her passion for helping businesses achieve this for themselves. This month’s post features the conclusion to our discussion, in...
Becoming a Growth and Profitability Expert: An Interview (Part 1)
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Kingston and met up with Deanna Davies. After discussing a few business matters, we got talking about last month’s post on growth and profitability. Previously, when talking about the ideas that led to that post, I’d noticed that this...
Moving from Stagnation to Salvation: Aligning Your Business with the Four Principles of Growth and Profitability
Opening a business is relatively easy; keeping it open can be extremely challenging. According to a Forbes article from October, 2018, the old adage that most small businesses fail in their first year is more of an urban legend than an objective fact. In reality, most...
Training For Success: A New Understanding of Post-Onboard Training
After finishing last month’s post on professional development and skills acquisition, I became more interested in the role training plays in modern organizations and people’s attitudes towards it. That is, what it’s for and when it should happen. For the most part,...
Our Skills and Where They Come From: A Case for Supporting Professional Development
When we’re recruiting new employees, skills are everything. We shuffle our eyes across the lines of our applicants’ resumes, perform a quick assessment, and ask the all important question: do they have the right skills? But for something that’s so essential at the...
Stressing the Importance of Managerial Accountability
This month’s post will be the last in our series on accountability. So far, we’ve looked at where accountability comes from and the challenges that come with maintaining standards of accountability while managing employees’ strengths and weaknesses. These first two...
Managing People, Maintaining Accountability
Our study of accountability continues this month, and now that we have a fuller understanding of what accountability is and where it comes from, we can look at some of the complexities of developing a culture of accountability. Last month’s post finished by addressing...
Accountability: What is It and Where Does It Come From?
Accountability is an afterthought for many organizations. It is an element of corporate life that hides in the background until a deadline is missed, an angry client complains to the company, or something similarly frustrating occurs. When these sorts of things...
Looking Like You Don’t Care: Perceived Indifference and the Damage Done
You enter a store for the first time and survey the products available. You know what you want, but not where it’s located. Feeling a shade out of place, you crane your neck, hoping to make eye contact with the clerk, but he seems preoccupied and doesn’t notice you...
Organizational Alignment
We recently read a great article that we wanted to share with you. Organizational Alignment “Think of alignment as a playbook for the entire company, just like in sports. For a coach to make sure every player is on the same page and goals are made, that playbook needs...
Virtual CFO
As a business owner, we know you are very busy working in your business, delivering services to your customers. The whole administration and finance area just isn’t your priority when fighting the urgent daily fires. Before you know it, your year end has...
Lead Yourself First
We all have heard that great leaders exert great influence over others, that leadership is a guarantor of sustained key performances and therefore leads to better bottom lines. So how do we become great leaders? To lead others effectively you must be able to lead...
The Essential Vacation. Have you taken one?
Over the years, I can’t tell you how many small and medium-sized business owners I have talked to that have not taken any vacation time. They consider a vacation a luxury that they can’t afford. Arguments include “I don’t have time!” “The business can’t...
Fitter Employees = Higher Productivity
"Sitting is the new smoking." Who has not heard this catch phrase making its round on our national media? And it is true that uninterrupted sitting combined with physical inactivity elevates the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer...
Canada Revenue – Audits and Scams
Canada Revenue Audit The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has recently commenced a corporate post-assessing limited review project on Class 10 (vehicles) additions, focusing on tax years ended in 2015. Read what you need to know about the review » Please notify us...