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Aug 10 2017

Tips to Save on your Energy Bill when you work from home

Written by Canadian Small Business Women on behalf of our sponsor, Just Energy.

 

Households and small businesses in Ontario pay time-of-use prices for electricity that change according to the TIME OF DAY and DAY OF THE WEEK. The peak periods also change by SEASON. What this means though, is that households have to pay attention to the on-peak and off-peak schedule for Electricity rates and schedule their appliance use in the home around this schedule. For those of us who work from home, this means that we are often using the majority of the electricity in our house during on-peak hours.

Follow these tips to reduce your energy usage and save money:

  1. Upgrade to energy efficient appliances. Since 1992, the US Environmental Protection Agency initiative, Energy Star, has reviewed and rated energy efficiency in appliances, products and companies. Look for the blue star on new appliances to ensure that you are purchasing energy efficient appliances. Old home appliances that should be upgraded include heaters, hot water tanks, dishwashers and laundry machines.
  2. Use energy efficient light bulbs. LED light bulbs use up to 90% less energy and last 15-25 times longer than standard bulbs, meaning they need to be replaced less often.
  3. Reduce heating and cooling costs by using proper insulation, and using blackout or heat absorbing curtains on the windows.
  4. Unplug electronic devices that are not in use. All electronic devices will still consume electricity when they are turned off. Unplugging devices that are not in use, or using power bars that can be turned off will prevent your electronics from over-using electricity. Unplugging laptops and mobile devices that have already reached full charge will also help save their batteries by not over-charging.
  5. Compare electricity and natural gas costs with companies other than your local utility.

Just Energy now offers “My Time”, a unique electricity product which provides you with a single rate, no matter what time of day. Furthermore, with My Time the price you pay for your electricity will always be lower than mid-peak and on-peak rates.

Switching from your local utility to Just Energy ensures a hassle-free and cost-effective way to manage your home’s energy usage. Please call your Trusted Energy Advisor at 416.937.5090 for more details about this offer. Alternatively, visit justenergydeals.com/csbw to learn more and sign up today on more offers.

Just Energy is a proud sponsor of Canadian Small Business Women. Talk to a Just Energy representative at one of our upcoming events. Sign up today to win a Just Energy Office Package at NorthSpace in North York. Offer lasts until 23rd August*

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Canadian Small Business Women, Just Energy · Tagged: advice, affiliates, Canada, deals, energy use, hydro, just energy, Ontario, save money, sponsors, Tips, work from home

Mar 19 2017

Niagara Small Business Seminar Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

C.S.B.W. HOSTS EXCITING SMALL BUSINESS SEMINAR

THEME: Crossing Borders: Innovate, Integrate, Motivate

Canadian Small Business Women is proud to host our 8th Small Business Seminar.  This time around, we will be in going back to Niagara. This special ‘Crossing Borders’ edition of the Small Business Seminar series offers hands-on business building workshops delivered by industry experts in addition to 30+ local vendors showcasing their business and business support services!

The event is being held on May 17th , 2017 at the Hilton Garden Inn, Niagara-on-the-Lake, 500 York Road, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada from 9am – 5pm.

Admission Tickets are $30.00 CDN in advance and $40.00 CDN at the door.  Admission entitles you to full entrance into all workshops and the exhibitor hall.

Who should attend?

  • All entrepreneurs (men and women)
  • Start-ups
  • Companies seeking cross-border expansion
  • Businesses seeking cross-border visibility
  • Companies seeking global expansion

Why should you attend?

  • Receive business building tips from our experts
  • Attend workshops to help propel your business
  • Network with industry leaders
  • 30+ Vendors, showcasing local businesses.
  • Featured workshops by local experts in Sales, SEO, Marketing, Financial Wellness, and more!

Featured Speakers

  • Bassem Ghali, Founder of Green Lotus – Speaking on “5 Ways to Outrank Your Competitors Online & Generate More Sales!”  This SEO Session is designed for business owners and marketing specialists who want the knowledge, skills, and ability to implement and manage a successful search engine optimization strategy, and track results!
  • Julie Flippin, Founder and Business Strategist at Small Business Savvy, speaking on the topic of “Sales + Million Dollar Process = SUCCESS”  If you want to change your conversation to be authentic, trust based and up level your sales skills then this biz seminar is for you! Learn from Sales Expert Julie Flippin how to create a sales process from the beginning to the end so that you can make your sales goals a reality this year.
  • Carolyn Dickinson, Success Coach of Super Mom Entrepreneur, delivering “3 Steps to Building a Stronger Business”. Learn rituals that will enhance clarity, growth and success in your business.

Canadian Small Business Women understands the challenges women entrepreneurs encounter when starting and growing a business.  Gaps in access to financing and services for women entrepreneurs have been identified, and Canadian Small Business Women wants to help.  We are committed to helping women find the necessary resources to take their businesses from the planning stage to a reality.

 “If you cannot reach 100%, start with 10% and build on it until your original dream is realized.” – Dwania Peele, Owner & Executive Director of Canadian Small Business Women.

Established in 2013, Canadian Small Business Women, is a network that aims to provide aspiring small businesswomen a place to find all the resources required to start a business.  We provide women with on-line support and advice from industry experts at our seminars and workshops. Our vision is to provide women with the tools and confidence to successfully start and grow their business.

To learn more visit www.canadiansmallbusinesswomen.ca , info@canadiansmallbusinesswomen.ca  or call us at 416-528-5453
Eventbrite - Small Business Seminar - Niagara

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Canadian Small Business Women, Events · Tagged: buffalo, crossing borders, niagara, niagara falls, Ontario, Press Release, seminar, Small Business Seminar, vendor event, Workshop

Mar 21 2015

Can Your Brand Become a Movement?

selfy photo

I just spent the last 10 days or so at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival.  Not to be confused with the very popular music festival, SXSW Interactive is a yearly pilgrimage of the Internet faithful to Austin Texas, that happens right before the music part of the festival.  There are upwards of 72 000 registrants at the festival, not to mention all of the speakers, and all of the people who don’t actually register for the conference but who travel to Austin for the networking and business opportunities.  Suffice it to say, it is packed!

The conference takes place in the giant Austin Convention Centre, and in every hotel in the downtown core, offering literally hundreds of possible sessions every day.  It is, in a nutshell, barely controlled chaos.  But it is also a unique opportunity to hear from some of the brightest minds in digital content, marketing, innovation, and forecasting.

Every year, there are themes: there is always a buzz, an undercurrent of new thinking.  This year, there was one standout theme that will change the way I think about marketing my business.  That theme is that what we think about marketing and branding, and even building our businesses, is broken.

Now, some things that were said were not new; things like:

  • The customer is in charge: social media has meant that our customers often know more about our products than our sales staff, before we even know that they are interested in us. As a matter of fact, the average person is already 57% of the way down your sales funnel before you even know they exist, having gathered lots of information about your business and your products from friends, reviews, searches, and other touch points that you don’t control.
  • Your brand is not something you can easily control: it exists as much (or more) in the minds of your customers as it does in your own marketing department. Consumers today interact with brands as if they are people: they want to trust them as much or more than they want to find their products or services competent.
  • Our decisions are not rational, they are primarily emotional. We make decisions based on guts, feelings, intuitions, and connections.  Think about buying a house (or in my case, a pair of shoes).  The spreadsheet goes out the window when you get that signal from your emotional brain that says “I’m home”.

What was new was a different way of looking at how brands, businesses, and their marketing departments need to adjust to this new reality.

 

Storyscaping

One of the most compelling cases I heard was from Darren McColl, the Global Chief Brand Strategist for Sapient Nitro.  Sapient Nitro was the company responsible for the  “Best Job in the World” campaign , an incredibly successful tourism campaign for Australia that was rolled out on a very low budget.  McColl talked about how, contrary to popular wisdom, brands are not built by telling a great story.  Rather, they are built by creating compelling experiences or worlds within which the company, the product or service, the employees and other stakeholders, AND the customers coexist, and interact with the brand.  It is described in their blog and book as Storyscaping.  Storyscaping is a move from advertising and storytelling, which they refer to as “Story Yelling”,  to creating participatory storyscapes.   He points out that brands need more than a great story: they need a storyworld that leaves room for the customer to integrate the brand into their life and their story.

 

Brands as Movements

John Hagel, Chairman of the Centre for the Edge at Deloitte, took this idea one step further.  Hagel’s talk was all about brands and movements, and he made an important distinction between story and narratives.  As Hagel points out, a story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.  It is told to a listener, and doesn’t really involve the listener.  In contrast, a narrative is something different.  A narrative is an idea, it is a story that doesn’t have an end, in which the listener is involved and in fact, is empowered to create the ending.

For example, a story might be told about an immigrant family who comes to Toronto and makes their life here.  A narrative is “Ontario: the land of opportunity”.  There is no ending to that narrative, it is dependant on the individual to create their own ending should they become involved in the narrative.

Narratives are Storyscapes.  They are open ended, experience-based worlds that great brands create.  Think about the Apple brand, and its devotees: the narrative is that the world can be a different, better place if we just “Think Different”, think outside the box, think creatively.  Apple doesn’t really tell stories, rather, it invites customers to take part in what feels more like a movement and what has been referred to as a religion!

 

Making Change in my Business

The simple way that I bring this back to my own business is by asking these questions:

  • What is the feeling I want my customers to have when they interact with my products or services?
  • What is the experience I want them to share with their friends and colleagues?
  • How can I invite them to participate in helping me make the world a better place with my business offering?

You don’t have to be Apple to create a narrative or storyscape around your business, you just have to think in a radically customer-centric, customer-experience, customer-first way.

 

For more resources and information on Content Strategy and to download a detailed description of what content strategy entails, go to analyticalengine.ca/resources or download a Content Strategy Info graphic at http://bit.ly/1qY9tYp.

Christine McGlade is a Business Analyst, Content Strategist, and Usability Consultant.  With over 25 years experience in the media business, Christine helps small business, social enterprise, and Not for Profits how to leverage the power of the Internet to grow their business.  Learn more about Christine at analyticalengine.ca

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Christine McGlade · Tagged: Analytical Engine, Austin, Austin Convention Centre, Austin Texas, Australia, Best Job in the World, brand, brand image, Brand Strategist, business, business development, business opportunities, Canadian Small Business Women, Centre for the Edge at Deloitte, Christine McGlade, Content strategy, Darren McColl, entrepreneur, Global Chief Brand Strategist, interactive, John Hagel, listener, movement, Ontario, popular music festival, Sapient Nitro, small business development, social media, South by Southwest Interactive, South by Southwest Interactive Festival, stakeholders, Story Yelling, storyscaping, SXSW, SXSW Interactive, Texas

Dec 07 2014

Mentoring Girls

Sheralyn

 

You may have read two books that have received plenty of press: “Thrive” and “Lean In.” Both addressed the importance of creating space at the boardroom table for females in a leadership role. Programs and organizations like “Girls on the Run,” “Because I am a Girl,” The Girl Guides of Canada and even companies like General Mills (who together with Big Brothers and Big Sisters created the  “Go Girls” initiative) promote specific, forward thinking opportunities to include, mentor, support, engage and foster positive body image and the success of women and girls.  While we may wish it to be faster, women in politics, business and in positions of power are growing.  Yes, it’s about time but there is still significant room for improvement.  How can you play a role?

Get together with your favourite networking group and choose to support a charitable agency that promotes and educates women and girls.  Women lending a hand to other women will empower women around the world. Through The Leadership Forum, a group located in Caledon Ontario, I have been lucky enough to be involved in an initiative where empowerment is the long – term goal. Can you do the same? “Strength in numbers” as the saying goes, the more women working together toward the common goal of female success, the more likely we are to achieve it.

Steps such as these are important and necessary but true female empowerment starts at birth. Literally.  Parents need to read books to their daughters like “The Paper Bag Princess” and “The Princess Knight.”  Yes they are “princess” stories but these girls rock! They are empowered Princesses making their own choices and enabling their own future through determination and resolve.  Next, we have to educate our daughters. Sounds like a simple concept as we have access to free education in Canada and it’s a great system too.  But are we doing well enough?  Do we encourage our daughters to strive for success in fields like science and math? Do we encourage “non-traditional” careers in engineering, rocket science or technology? For that matter, why are we still referring to these careers as ‘non-traditional?”  Queen Rania, of Jordan (a somewhat traditional and male dominated society) is known for using her position to speak out about the empowerment of girls and women.  She states: “When you educate a girl, she becomes a woman who lifts herself and her family out of poverty.” So educate girls and you also empower them to choose WHATEVER direction they wish. If you are going to take the time to open one door, why not open ALL of them.

While educating your daughters, lift them up emotionally, nurture their inner strength and foster in them a spirit of confidence and “can do” ability – that they are capable of anything. Encourage healthy eating and healthy body image and expose them to appropriately sized role models, not the artificial “Barbie” doll airbrushed images that exist in media today. This means closely monitoring their access to social media and taking the time to discuss what they see while there.  Do you work for an organization that uses and promotes technology or work independently in that field?  If so, perhaps you could volunteer your time and talents to a local community organization that is working to support young women to use social media in a positive way. Help that organization to get their message out into the world.

From a career perspective Moms, it’s time to get real with your girls. By this I mean, establish clear and realistic goals for yourself so that you are modeling SMART goals for your daughters.  Women, it’s time we stopped trying to “do it all.”  If you are working outside of the home, you likely don’t also have time to be the perfect housekeeper, the chauffeur or the “Martha Stewart” of the kitchen.  In trying to be all things to all people you are setting yourself up for failure and sending a message to your girls that they too must strive to multi-task themselves to death.  You’re suggesting it isn’t just a career that defines them but their ability to be “perfect mom and wife” too.  It’s unrealistic. Admit it. Once you do so, figure out ways for everyone to share in the workload, establish daily routines where everyone contributes to the care and keeping of the house and your daughter will learn that SHE is important, her CONTRIBUTIONS are important but that EVERYONE is responsible for the successful operation of a smooth running home.

If you are working from home or support your family by staying at home, model that not as the “second choice,” “being stuck at home” or that “it doesn’t really count as a job” but treat this too with dignity, value and as having importance.  It IS the most important job in the world if it is done with care, consideration and with proper reverence attached to the “value add” you are bringing to your family.  Teach your daughter (and let’s face it ladies, each other) to respect and value the contributions of any choice a woman makes in helping this world run smoothly. We need the SAHM’s just as much as the work outside the home mother. Each makes a valuable contribution to our society and each, in a different way, acts as a role model.

So, whether you are a small, solo entrepreneur or working for a large company, join organizations that promote and foster girl empowerment.  In your community embrace opportunities to interact with young women, act as role models or contribute to causes that support them.  Bring your daughter to work and if you can’t, find places where they can be accommodated. If your daughter wants to be a firefighter, go find a female firefighter and ask her to walk your daughter through the station, talk about the challenges she faced and how she overcame them.  If you can contribute time to an organization that promotes girls, do so.  We all have different expertise, share some of yours with others. Join in the Junior Achievement “Economics of Staying in School” program and teach it at local elementary schools sending a strong message about staying in school and about women in business. If you belong to any networking or community organizations, use those too as an opportunity to get out into the community fostering and encouraging young women to be successful in whatever way they define it. BE the woman you want your daughter, niece or granddaughter to be. Respect the choice they make – then go out of your way to help them achieve it!

As Owner and Principal partner of “Writing Right For You” Sheralyn is a Communications Strategist – working together with entrepreneurs to maximize profit through effective use of the written word. Looking for web content that works, blog articles that engage or communications strategies that help you get noticed?  Contact Sheralyn today. Sheralyn is also the mother of two children now entering the “terrible and terrific teens” and spends her free time volunteering for several non-profit organizations.

Sheralyn Roman B.A., B.Ed.

Writing Right For You

Communications Strategies that help you GET TO THE POINT!

416-420-9415 Cell/Business

writingrightforyou@gmail.com

LinkedIn / Facebook / www.writingrightforyou.weebly.com

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Sheralyn Roman · Tagged: Because I'm a Girl, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Caledon, Canada, Canadian Small Business Women, careers, charitable, conributions, Economics, Economics of Staying in School, educating, education, empowered, engineering, General Mills, Girl Guides of Canada, Girls, Girls on the Run, Go Girls, initiative, Jordan, Junior Achievement, mentoring, moms, networking, Ontario, organization, Queen Rania, rocket science, Sheralyn Roman, small business development, SMART, Strength in numbers, The Leadership Foru, The Paper Bag Princess, The Princess Knight, women, Writing Right For You

Aug 08 2014

Networking in the GTA

There are a slew of networking events in and around the GTA this week.  If you are a serious networker and interested in making valuable connections, then you need to be at these events.  Personally, I will be making an appearance at all of them because they are worth it!

 

AUGUST 9TH:  BROUGHT TO YOU BY CANADIAN SMALL BUSINESS WOMEN

 This event features vendors and 6 Business Building Workshops.  You will have endless opportunities to network.

Small Business Seminar

 

AUGUST 10TH: BROUGHT TO YOU BY MONARCH GIRLS

This event will feature loads of health and wellness opportunities as well as some pampering.  You will get a chance to network as well.

MonarhGirls-Logo

AUGUST 13TH:  BROUGHT TO YOU BY UNLEASHPR

 This event gives you a chance to network with up to 1300 entrepreneurs as well as workshops from the biggest names in business.

 summer networking bash

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Events · Tagged: Atlantis, Awesome Biz Online, business development, Business Woman, Canadian Small Business Women, Dwainia Grey, Dwania Peele, Girls, Jennifer Beale, Monarch, Monarch Girls, networking, Ontario, Ontario Place, seminar, small business, Smashing Limitations, summer, Toronto, Unleash PR

Jul 01 2014

Khalilah Brooks: Canadian Small Business Woman of the month of June 2014

Khalilah Brooks 2014 headshot

Khalilah was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia on September 10, 1977. Like most singers, Khalilah grew up in the church singing with her family. Khalilah learned through song, there was joy, tears and praise. At the tender age of 16 Khalilah really began to flourish when recognized by David Woods, the Artistic Director of the Black Artists Network of Nova Scotia.

David Woods gave Khalilah her first break to dance for his production group” Voices”. It was here where she discovered the need to perform. In 2002 Khalilah took the lead vocalist in the band “Faith in the Making” where she performed steady throughout Ontario until 2004. After the band parted Khalilah continued to preserver and joined a Hip hop group called “DaMovemeant” where she joined forces with two male artists to create a new Canadian sound.

Khalilah was recognized by American Modeling Talent Convention (AMTC) in 2005 where she traveled to Kansas City Kansas and ranked top 10 out of thousands of competitors for her unique style and vocal skill. Khalilah also did a short film where she made an appearance playing the character of “Sadie” the rebel biker in the film called “Sitting Kills”.

Her journey to Toronto since September 2009 has already been successful. She’s performed at local Toronto hotspots such as Sydney’s and Jo Mamas, Placed 2nd in the Istars Zack Warner competition for singer / song writer in April 2011, and 2nd place for her vocals in the “La Musique Circle” competition in May 2011. You might have seen her perform at Famous PEOPLE Players Theatre in Toronto as their lead female performer or News Talk 1010 jingle. Khalilah also plays an important role in the Toronto community working with Mentoring Junior Kids Organization (MJKO) through the sport of non-contact boxing.

Khalilah is now the founder of B-AM Children’s Entertainment a Musical Theater Story telling Company performing live shows where she plays the character Aunty B, teaching children how to love themselves and others and in June 2014 Khalilah published her first children’s book called “Feels Good to Be Kind.”

 

Our Q & A with Khalilah Brooks:

 

*What inspires you? 

I get inspired by the innocence and laughter of children; it triggers joy and an overwhelming feeling within my heart, it allows me to connect to a greater purpose.

 

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

The very thought of having an idea that turns into a  dream and then to see it manifested is my great achievement as a business owner and of course becoming an author and  writing my first children’s book.

 

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

If you are a small business owner and know that as long as you have a vision and you can reach each challenge one at a time and of course Stay Groovy (singing) while doing it.

 

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

In the upcoming year our business will have more stories to share and merchandise for purchase. 

 

You can connect with Khalilah Brooks via the following:

kbrooks@b-am.ca

www.khalilahbrooks.com

www.auntyb.ca

Phone: 647.884.7546

Twitter

Facebook 

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Small Business Woman of the Month · Tagged: American Modeling Talent Convention, AMTC, Aunty B, B-AM Children's Entertainment, band, Black Artists Network of Nova Scotia, Business Woman, Canadian, Canadian Small Business Women, Canadian Sound, church, DaMovemeant, dance, David Woods, entrepreneur, Faith In The Making, Famous People Players Theatre, Feels Good to be Kind, Halifax, hip hop, hotspots, Istars Zack Warner, Jo Mamas, Kansas City, Khalilah, Khalilah Brooks, La Musique Circle, Mentoring Junior Kids Organization, MJKO, Musical, Musical Theatre, Musical Theatre Story Telling Company, News Talk, News Talk 1010, News Talk 1010 Jingle, non-contact boxing, Nova Scotia, Ontario, perform, praise, rebel biker, Sadie, September, singer, Sitting Kills, small business owner, small business owners, Sydney's, Theatre, Toronto, Upon A Star, Voices

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