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Nov 01 2015

Toronto Panel of Experts: Canadian Small Business Women of the Month of October 2015

Kelly Farrell, Arti Sharma, Dwainia Grey, Cheryl Rankin and Catherine McGillivray are five dynamic women who will round up our Panel of Experts this year at our Toronto

Expo.  These women are experts in their own right and have made themselves available to support aspiring entrepreneurs.  The topic of this year’s panel is Women in Business and Technology.  The Panel of Experts discussion will take place at The Atantis Pavilion on November 8th, 2015 from 12:30pm to 2pm.  Admission is absolutely free.  Find out about our ladies below and for how you can meet them and ask your questions, go to www.immigrantsmallbizexpo.ca

Panelist Kelly

Panelist Arti Panelist Cheryl Panelist DwainiaPanelist Catherine

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Small Business Woman of the Month · Tagged: Arti Sharma, Awesome Biz Online, Canadian Small Business Women, Catherine McGillivray, Cheryl Rankin, Constant Contact, Expo, Fit for Business, free, Green Lotus, Immigrant Women, Kelly Farrell, marketing, marketing strategy, Measure Marketing, online marketing, panel of experts, SEO, small business, social media, Teach Me Social, Technology, Toronto, women

Aug 12 2015

Social Media Expertise Should Never Be Free

Karima

Social media today is more than just friends getting together with friends online. It is a redistribution of wealth through the spreading of information. Social media expertise which facilitates this is at the very core of capitalism. The only problem is that most social media experts have been giving away their expertise for free and now that has become the expectation.

It starts simple enough. First I get asked to have some coffee. Then we’ll have some small talk. It won’t be long until the questions about social media begin. I’ve even received emails from friends I haven’t seen nor spoken to in years asking for advice.

We take the “social” component of social media very seriously today. I propose we begin focusing on the “media” component a little more.

Social Media Expertise Is a Skill Which Must Be Developed

Let’s be honest: social media hasn’t been around for very long. If you really stretch out the definition of social media, then some might point to the AOL chat rooms of the mid-1990s as the beginning of social media, but that’s not really accurate. In just a few years, there have been a few people who have dedicated their time to studying this phenomenon to know how it ticks. It becomes their passion.

When we are passionate about something, we love to talk about it. I give out a lot of advice myself that can be executed elsewhere, often without meaning to do so. The bottom line is this: social media experts are practitioners, advisors, consultants… and professionals.

I will not go into details about my expertise, except that I have been in the industry for over 15 years and have been involved in launching and growing some of the largest accounts in the business. I am also a hands-on strategist with an on-going online presence.

The time of a social media expert is valuable. It is worth more than the price of a cup of coffee. $5 for gourmet coffee, that is.

Here’s the Industry’s Double Standard

If you called up the average lawyer to talk about a legal problem, would they offer their advice for free?

Or what if you had a medical emergency and instead of going to the hospital, you expected to go to the doctor’s home to receive treatment?

How many teachers will come to a home after school to tutor a child who is falling behind in class?

Maybe you don’t need a college degree to become a social media expert, but that doesn’t mean the expertise isn’t valuable. There are numerous financial and brand recognition gains that can be built up over time thanks to social media expertise that no other type of media can provide. You can build leads for just dollars per prospect on social media – what other platform can say the same thing?

Integrating social media into any business opportunity is important. Creative ideas, defined objectives, and strategic concepts are all part of the package that comes with social media expertise. Some organizations may feel like this is expertise that is only worth a cup of coffee, but now more than ever, one truth still remains: you get what you pay for right now.

Getting a tidbit of advice for a cup of coffee is great. Getting the full package of social media expertise will forever change a business. That’s why it is worth the investment. If you’d like to book some time to meet with me, feel free to visit my website RedDotDigital.net, send me an email to Karima (at) RedDotDigital (dot) net or follow me on Twitter.

Karima-Catherine is the co-founder of Red Dot Digital, a digital agency that strives to deliver top-notch solutions to various clients.  Red Dot Digital drives real, meaningful, quantifiable business outcomes for companies. Karima-Catherine is also the co-moderator of #MMchat, a Twitter weekly forum which focuses on business, marketing and social media.  

Connect with Karima-Catherine:

karima@reddotdigital.net

Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Karima-Catherine Goundiam · Tagged: AOL, business, Canadian Small Business Women, capitalism, coffee, consulants, expertise, free, industry, information, Karima-Catherine, marketing, media, online marketing, Red Dot Digital, social, social media, wealth

May 09 2015

Why you should not download a legal template from the Internet

Karima

As a Canadian entrepreneur and small business owner, chances are you’ve downloaded, at least once, a legal document from the Internet. Whether for an employment contract, a partnership agreement, a finder’s fee, a non-disclosure agreement, a final invoice letter or a general agreement, you’ve probably turned to the Internet in the hope that a free template would help you cut costs. After all, the terminology looks complex enough, so we may think the document will be good to use.

Here enters Randy Ai, an employment lawyer I met through my professional networking group. A couple of weeks later, we sat down to learn more about each other and our businesses. While we chatted – him about employment law and me about how social media can help businesses establish their online presence and grow – it became clear to me that we had great synergies. Most entrepreneurs and small business owners are always looking for ways to sustain our business while keeping costs down and stay profitable. The Internet and Google is where most of us turn for responses to our questions and for free documents. One of the topics Randy Ai and I tackled was how entrepreneurs and small businesses download legal templates from the Internet, and the cases he frequently sees in his practice. The conclusion is, “don’t cheap out on legal by downloading templates from the Internet”, and here is why.

The legal document you are downloading from the Internet contains irrelevant or too much information. Chances are that the template you found on the Internet is not customized to your business and situation. In addition, most templates are American or have an American focus, so they likely won’t be valid in Canada. The document may contain a high volume of extra noise that does not apply to your business situation and just adds irrelevant information. Unless you are legally trained, you don’t know how to separate the “junk” and the part of the contract that applies. As an example, the notion of Employment at will exists in most employment contract templates you’ll find online, but as this is an American concept, it can’t be enforced in Canada. Thus, you are exposing yourself and your business to liability and in case of dispute, you will have to hire a lawyer because part of the contract is invalid.

The legal document you are downloading from the Internet is missing key clauses. When you’re using a template off the Internet, these documents are not customized for your situation, as we’ve established. That means it puts you and your business at risk of liability. In case of a dispute, this sort of template is not tailored to your needs and you might as well have no agreement. Having missing information is as bad as having too little information or inadequate clauses that don’t protect you. When you are a business owner entering into a legally binding relationship with someone else, you need a solid contract that will take into account the types of issues that may take place.

The legal document you are using is easily attacked. A template downloaded from the Internet easily falls apart, since it was not drafted specifically for you and your business. A defense lawyer could easily attack the integrity of the document and compromise its validity in court. Furthermore, as the law changes frequently, a contract is not a static document. Thus, the downloaded template you’re using may be obsolete and no longer applicable. In addition, the wording alone can make your document unenforceable and easily attackable in case of a dispute. The judge can look at your document and decide it does not make sense. By using one of these documents, you’re exposing yourself to liability.

Now that I’ve explained why using a legal document from the Internet is useless at best and, at worse, dangerous for you and your business, there a few ways you can protect yourself and what you’re working so hard for:

1 – Legal fees are typically seen as a cost instead of an investment. Spending two to three hours with a lawyer can prevent you from being sued, being dragged to court or simply having to settle and pay someone large amounts of money. If you can’t afford to hire a lawyer, you still may seek some legal advice through Legal Aid or through the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Lawyer Referral Service.

2 – If you still decide to download the template, we advise you to send it to a lawyer for review. This may cut down on costs. The industry standard is that entrepreneurs and small business owners should spend 5 to 8 percent of their initial capital on legal fees. As Randy Ai says, “If you’re not going to spend any money towards setting up your business, you are not doing your job as an entrepreneur.”

3 – Another reason to seek legal advice is that it brings credibility to your business and sends a strong signal to your ecosystem that you are serious about your success.

As an entrepreneur, I am aware that setting up a business requires lots of hard work and dedication. But there are areas where you can’t cut corners. Randy emphasized that legal advice is one of the cornerstones to setting up a successful and sustainable business. For any legal advice related to employment law, connect with Randy Ai by email (Randy@Randyai.com) or by telephone (416-716-2256).

Karima-Catherine is the co-founder of Red Dot Digital, a digital agency that strives to deliver top-notch solutions to various clients.  Red Dot Digital drives real, meaningful, quantifiable business outcomes for companies. Karima-Catherine is also the co-moderator of #MMchat, a Twitter weekly forum which focuses on business, marketing and social media.  

Connect with Karima-Catherine:

karima@reddotdigital.net

Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Karima-Catherine Goundiam · Tagged: achieve, agreement, blog, Canada, Canadian Small Business Women, clauses, dowload, employment, entrepreneur, free, google, internet, irrelevant information, Karima-Catherine, legal, legal document, legal fees, legal template, letter, networking, non-disclosure, Randy Ai, Red Dot Digital, small business, small business development, small business owner, template

Apr 16 2015

10 tips to Cut costs, Increase sales, and Save time

Jemi

For every small business, there will always be costs to be paid out. The trick is to receive more business than having to pay bills. Whether you are a small start-up company or a retail store, these tips you can do right now. Marketing and advertising doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money. With a little planning and some time, you can achieve the results you want. Try all of these tips once and track the progress. If it works, great! Do it again. If it doesn’t, note why you think it didn’t and how you would do it over again.

Tip#1 Know your customer! A pet peeve of mine is when an entrepreneur will tell me that EVERYONE is their customer. Although it is true that we can take business from anyone, there will be a group of people that will be your primary customer. This is the “type” of customer that buys from you regularly. They say 80% of your business will come from 20% of your customers. Get to know your customers very well. Learn about their buying habits, their education, and lifestyle.

Tip#2 Following the previous tip, create a customer management system. This means a database where you place all your customers information including birthdays, anniversaries, spouse’s name and number (for gifts), and any other information that you can use to personalize the experience for your customer. These types of small gestures will bring a lot of business over time and a loyal clientele base.

Tip#3 Hire a student. College and University students are looking for experience in their field. You can hire them for an hourly basis or per contract. For example, I had a business mentor that didn’t have time to punch in her receipts into her excel so she hired an accountant student to simply punch in her numbers. The student gets extra money and the business owner has more time to do what they love to do.

Tip#4 Do not go with a very elaborate website. Start with something small and simple then work your way up when your business grows.

Tip#5 Try a joint venture. During your travels as an entrepreneur you’ll find some great people in the same industry but are not your competition.(For example; a makeup artist and hairdresser) These two professions are not in competition but they do cater to same market. You can join together on marketing (IE one business gets one side of a postcard, and the other has the opposite. Together you can split the cost of printing and get your business out there twice as fast)

Tip#6 Know your competition. Do a SWOT analysis of your greatest competition. “S” stands for strengths. What does your competition do better than you? “W” stands for weakness. What does your competition lack? “O” stands for opportunity. How can you improve your business from your strengths and weaknesses? “T” stands for threats. Where can your competition really hurt your business?

Tip#7 Barter goods. When you make great connections with other businesses, you can sometimes barter for goods. This means providing a service for a service instead of using money. You may give a service of printing business cards to get your car detailed for instance. This is a win-win relationship.

Tip#8 Track your invoices, receipts, and bill payments. When you have a handle of your finances, you are able to see where you are making the most money and how. Keep a journal and calendar on when bills need to get paid and when invoices are being charged.

Tip #9 Conduct surveys regularly. The best way to improve your business is to find out directly from your customers. Give coupons or discounts to your customers for participating in the survey.

Tip #10 Give out useful information for free. Your brain is full of so much expertise. Create opportunities to showcase your talents. You can hold free webinars. Volunteer to speak at different engagements. Write articles for different newspapers.

These ten tips will increase your bottom line immediately and save you money. Not every business owner has thousands of dollars to hire an advertising agency. Become an expert in your own marketing.

For more information contact Jemi Echevarria, marketing campaign manager at

(647)785-5851 or jemiechevarria@gmail.com

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Jemi Echevarria · Tagged: advertising, barter, bill payments, Canadian Small Business Women, college, competition, connections, cut costs, entrepreneur, free, hire, increase sales, information, invoices, Jemi Echevarria, joint venture, marketing, pay bills, planning, receipts, retail store, save time, small business, start-up, student, surveys, SWOT analysis, university, volunteer, webinars, website

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