Feb 21 2018

Small Business Seminar: GTA East

Small Business Made Easy – Technology & Marketing Tips for 2018

As entrepreneurs, we are always seeking ways to streamline our processes. What better way to do so than to rely on technology? We will provide tools that will make your marketing and business operating lives much easier in 2018.

Why be a guest?

You will get full access to all our vendors/exhibitors who will provide valuable information to assist with building your business and easing the burden.
You will also get free downloads, hard copy workbooks, and reference books.
Full access to two 2 hour workshops
Lunch
Swag Bag
Exclusive discount to CSBW items

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AGENDA

8:30am : Registration Begins and open networking

10:00am – 12pm: Workshop I

How to Master Social Media Engagement in 15 Minutes a Day

Step Up Your Facebook & Instagram game to reach new customers with a pain free strategy. Includes the Social Media Marketing Workbook: How to Master Engagement in 15 Minutes a Day

12pm – 2pm: Lunch and Networking

2pm – 4pm: Workshop II

Leveraging Mobile Technology for Small Businesses

– Strategies, Tools and Techniques to Acquire & Retain Users

Mobile apps have been a key element for many disrupting business models, and it’s no surprise more and more startups are relying on it to build their businesses. However, with so many apps out there, you’ll have to be smart about yours to make sure it doesn’t end up on the Apple Store graveyard. From tech trends and user behaviour to marketing strategies and tools, learn all you need to overcome the app startup’s biggest challenges: to acquire, retain and convert users.

5pm: Event Closed

Interested in being a Sponsor?

Get access to over 150 small business women who are seeking tools and advice to grow their business. Sponsoring our event provides you with not only in person access to all our guests, but also visibility on all our social media channels, websites, and mailing lists. Your business will be seen by over 20k people!! Email us at info@canadiansmallbusinesswomen.ca for more details.

SponsorshipPackage_CSBW 2018

Interested in being a Vendor/Exhibitor?

ONLY 10 SPOTS AVAILABLE AT THIS EVENT

APPROVED VENDOR LIST

Arbonne

CCV Insurance and Financial

Empowerpreneur Books

Canada Business Ontario

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

The Village Hive

Embrace Your Destiny

Bell Canada

Guarano

Get’er Done Marketing

Get exclusivity in your area of expertise!
Full access to all workshops
Full access to all guests
Lunch
Swag bag
You will also get free downloads, hard copy workbooks and reference books.
Business name listed in the program
Business name listed on the event website

Vendor cost: $300 + HST

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Jul 19 2015

Okay – What's Really The Best Way To Build Equity?

As a professional mortgage agent serving the Greater Toronto Area, it’s a question I get asked all the time, what is the best way to build equity?

Most of us already know that our home’s equity is the amount of our home which we own minus the outstanding balance and interest on our mortgages. However, traditionally people often appreciate there as being only three ways to actually build equity. First off, we pay our mortgage each month. With every mortgage payment we then own a little more of our home and add a little more to our home’s equity. Alternatively, we attempt to add equity to our home by increasing our home’s market value through physical alterations and renovations. This and by hoping that our home will appreciate in value as consequence of favorable market conditions.

However, as well as physical alterations and paying off as much of our mortgages as quickly as possible, there is fourth way to build equity. In fact, if you’re serious about building equity, you perhaps shouldn’t be thinking about taking out a mortgage on a property at all. Instead, you should perhaps be thinking about taking out a Home Equity Line of Credit, or as it is popularly abbreviated, a HELOC.

What? What’s a HELOC?

Okay, it sounds new, a little bit intimidating and if there really was a viable way to build equity quicker than by attacking your mortgage with everything you’ve got, surely somebody would have told you about it by now? Wouldn’t they?

Well, actually no. You see, HELOCs have actually been around a long time. One of the key differences between a HELOC and a traditional mortgage, however, is that mortgage brokers get paid a lot more money to sell mortgages than they do HELOCs. In fact, many banks don’t actually provide any incentives at all for brokers to sell HELOCs.

Why? Three words: No Compound Interest. With a Home Equity Line of Credit, you only pay interest on the remaining balance of your mortgage. This alone can save people thousands, if not tens of thousands in interest and significantly shorten the length of people’s overall borrowing terms.

Sound to good to be true? It gets better. With a HELOC there are no early repayment penalties and you can pay as much or as little as you want each month. In fact, with a Home Equity Line of Credit, you even have the option to just pay the minimum outstanding interest on your balance each month. Compare that alongside a traditional mortgage with compound interest, early payment penalties and penalties on even so much as paying too much of your mortgage off per annum, and the HELOC is a hands down winner when it comes to people really looking to build equity.

Okay, so what’s the catch? Well, there is one, but not really. Qualifying for a Home Equity Line of Credit is essentially just the same as qualifying for a traditional mortgage. However, with a HELOC people aren’t able to borrow more than 80% of their home’s appraised value. Likewise, HELOC interest rates are open and fluctuate with the prime, often making them a little higher than traditional mortgage interest rates. However, for people who feel like they want to run for cover at just the mention of variable interest rates, the HELOC has another bonus. – If you ever feel that the prime rate is going too high, you can lock in the rate and turn a HELOC into a traditional mortgage. And let’s just remember, if times ever look like they are not going in your financial favor, a traditional mortgage doesn’t let you decide how much or how little you can afford to pay each month now does it?

To HELOC or not to HELOC?

If you’re serious about building equity, a HELOC is definitely something which you should therefore be thinking about. Remember though, if you do decide that a HELOC might be in your best interests, your bank is likely the last place where you should head for impartial advice on actually getting one.

To your Wealth!

Amina

Please “like” my facebook page here Please follow me on twitter here

Apr 01 2015

Stephanie Lowe: Canadian Small Business Woman of the Month of March

Stephanie Lowe, the founder of Destiny Wellness Centre, is a Registered Kinesiologist, Personal Trainer and Yoga Teacher. It was during her undergraduate years that she developed her passion for health and fitness while working with Varsity sports teams, the Toronto Track and Field Centre and the York University Fitness Centre. Stephanie also experienced her own transformation during her personal health journey to successfully lose 70lbs through a balanced regime of healthy eating and exercise. She designed and taught her first “Women on Weights” Fitness class and has since then continued her passion for empowering women through health & fitness.

It was following her employment with various physiotherapy clinics, Hospitals and Rehabilitation companies that she saw need to provide an environment where people could address their health needs in a Wholistic environment. Many people looking for a fitness program suffer from chronic pain, repetitive strain injuries and the like. People with serious health conditions also have a need for strength and conditioning programs that assist in increasing function following a rehabilitation program; it was here Stephanie decided to bridge the gap. After pursuing a post graduate degree in Clinical Kinesiology and Orthopaedic Assessments, Stephanie was inspired to open the Destiny Wellness Center in 2014 an expansion of her personal training studio opened in 2009. The clinic is where she is able to merge her passion for fitness (i.e., personal training, yoga and nutrition) with her love for rehabilitation (i.e., exercise therapy, aquatic therapy and therapeutic group classes). The centre also offers massage therapy, naturopathic medicine and other wellness related services.

Stephanie works within the local community providing rehabilitation services to individuals suffering from:

musculoskeletal & soft tissue injuries
arthritis and diabetes
rehabilitation from motor vehicle accidents
strokes

These services are delivered in a variety of settings such as in-pool, in-home and in-facility exercise therapy. Fitness services are promoted via a number of formats including personal training, a Ladies ONLY boot camp, community events, and seminars, DVD’s, online coaching and corporate wellness programs.

Her passion for yoga has inspired Stephanie to create a unique fusion class called YogaCise (a combination of stretching and toning exercises) to help people stay fit using yoga. She also uses yoga and relaxation techniques to facilitate the rehabilitation process in her private Yoga Therapy sessions.

Our Q & A with Stephanie

What inspires you?

I am deeply inspired by the people I work with and the amazing life changing transformations they achieve. I LOVE knowing that I am helping people live healthier more fulfilling lives. The confidence they build, the challenges they overcome… it’s amazing what people can do when they start believing in themselves and start reaching for the things they thought were completely out of their grasp!

I am also inspired by my passion to serve women. I have always had a special place in my heart for their health needs and personally identify with the weight struggles of younger girls. I feel as women we are up against so many odds and I want to empower them to develop self love, good health, confidence and community. When we come together in love there is little we cannot accomplish.

As a small business owner what achievements make you most proud?

I am most proud of the culture and community that the Destiny Wellness Center has created in our 6 years of business. Our boot campers, yoga students and personal training clients have collected toys and raised funds to assist orphans in Haiti. We sponsored 4 orphans through our YogaThon in Oct 2014! We have also held events to support the Breast Cancer society and other local charities within the Oakville/Mississauga community. It’s wonderful that so many people have been able to develop long lasting friendships while also transforming their health and lives through fitness programs and charity events at Destiny Wellness Centre.

I am also proud to have developed “a voice” in our community. I had the opportunity to hold a 1 year fitness segment on Rogers TV that provided fun fitness solutionsto the community. Short 10 minute routines addressing yoga for pregnancy, family/group fitness, how to stay fit during the holidays and more. In addition, Stephannie has given seminars to hundreds of women and hundreds of teenage girls as a guest speaker on topics of health and fitness in various venues including women’s workshops, local businesses and schools across the GTA.

What advice would you give to other aspiring small business owners?

I would advise to clearly create a “vision” of what you would like your company to look like; and how would you like it to run. All of your processes, efforts and investments should consistently lead you to your end goal, building your vision.

I would also encourage entrepreneurs to enjoy the journey! You will make mistakes along the way, things will certainly go wrong. Take those bumps in the road as learning experiences to build upon instead of viewing them as failures and dead stops.

What new things can we look forward to from your business in the upcoming year?

Destiny Wellness Centre holds monthly events for the community that encourage a sense of community and health. Some of these events include a vision board workshop, “Yoga on the Beach, a “Yoga and Wine” charity fundraiser and a Paint night! The vision board workshop help women set a clear vision and purpose for their lives, we incorporate meditation and yoga to prepare for the session. “Yoga on the Beach” is an annual event. We meet along the beach for an afternoon of sun, yoga and relaxation. Our Yoga and wine events feature a guest speaker and we address topics such as fear, forgiveness, menopause; whatever topics I hear are of interest to the Destiny Wellness Community. The paint night will be a new charity event to raise funds for a microfinance initiative in Haiti for women.

This spring and summer you can expect our usual fun and exciting programs such as our Ladies ONLY Boot Camp, YogaCise (yoga with weights) and the launch of our two new therapeutic classes on Osteoporosis and Maintaining a Healthy Back (therapeutic classes designed specifically for individuals suffering from Osteoporosis and chronic back pain).

Connect with Stephanie

Web: Www.destinywellness.org
Phone:4168187837
Address: 1115 Clarkson rd N, Mississauga

Email:
Info@destinywellness.org
Stephanie@destinyfitness.ca

Social Media:
Facebook

Facebook

Twitter

Feb 20 2015

VENDOR AND NETWORKING EVENTS

Looking for ways to promote your business? Trying to build strong relationships? Don’t get left behind this year. There are many opportunities to network, promote your business and build your brand in the GTA. From networking to exhibiting, there are many events to choose from. Remember to budget your networking and exhibiting accordingly and ensure that you are getting the bang for your buck. To help you, we have listed a few events happening around the GTA. Maybe I will see you at a few!