Archive | July, 2009

Other People’s Recycled News | July 13-19

20 Jul

Consumer confidence ‘remarkably resilient’: survey

“Even in the face of a slew of negative news stories filling this month’s airwaves and broadsheets — some that even suggested we are in the downward cycle of a W-shaped recovery — consumer confidence has remained remarkably resilient”

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A pickup truck and a load of ambition

Mr. Risley and Mr. MacDonald took the business from a small lobster distribution company to about $300-million in annual seafood sales by 2002, the same year that Mr. Risley was named one of Canada’s top entrepreneurs by Profit magazine

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6 Startup Friendly Industries

Some, such as landscaping and elderly services, find opportunity in serving an aging population. Others, such as fashion design and community food services, find opportunity in the grim economy itself.

Survey: Entrepreneurs are Optimistic

Entrepreneurs have just weathered six months of the worst economic conditions in decades. Obviously, you know very well how your business is faring, but do you know how your experience compares to that of your peers?

Are You Building a Consumer-Facing Company?

In essence, corporations opt to look at design challenges from the inside and for the inside. Anything that happens in the outside world is subjected to interpretation by the insider’s design point of view. Then, of course, other inside stakeholders take that point of view and morph it into a more standardized design mandate.

The big 5 mid-year game-changing questions

My sector of entrepreneurship/career coaching/online marketing has exploded. Everyone is realizing the need to think differently about work, and diversifying streams of income is critical for career resilience.

Leadership Tactics: Brute Force vs. Consensus

Does brute force work for women who are leaders in business? Many would be considered the naughty B-word if they were too forceful. Here’s what I’ve noticed over the course of my female business career: women tend to wait and gather more information to make solid and informed decisions.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-19

19 Jul

  • Since we’re talking sales: RT @TheArtOfRetail: Christmas in July. Retailers starting Christmas season already
    http://tiny.cc/UugAx #
  • More good news: Businesses more optimistic about sales, hiring in next 12 months: survey – http://bit.ly/4huUto #

You Work Hard – What’s the Best Way to Relax and Recharge?

17 Jul

whate28099s-the-best-way-to-relax-and-rechargeAs a leader of a company, it is very important that you take the time to recharge your batteries from time to time. Without a strong, focused and energized leader, a company cannot thrive. However as an entrepreneur and small business manager, you often work more hours than anyone else. That’s okay, but you have to remember to have some downtime as well.

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5 Way to ‘Weather the Storm’ – Boosting Sales in Bad Weather

15 Jul

boosting-sales-in-bad-weatherWeather affects sales and revenues in nearly all retail and service based businesses. Great weather brings people out but poor weather will keep people at home indoors.

June-July has been challenging in the eastern part of Canada weather-wise. As a result, I’ve spoken to many business owners who are struggling with sales right now.

When discussing the weather with a few members of my team recently, I remembered a saying from my mother – “You can never control what other people do, you can only control how you react to it.” That made me think about the current weather conditions – “We can’t control Mother Nature, we can only control how we react to her.”

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Making the Most out of your Small Business Monthly Sales Reporting

14 Jul

making-the-most-out-of-your-small-business-monthly-sales-reportingTracking performance on a trailing 12-month cycle will highlight trends and take the seasonality out of your reporting.

It can be extremely difficult to get a sense of how your company is doing when tracking performance indicators such as sales, gross margins, expenses, profits, average sale, customer count, etc. by any other method than on a trailing 12-month cycle.


If you track sales for the past month or year–to-date, it will tell you just that, what comparable sales were for the past month, or the year-to-date. It says nothing about where your company trend heading, whether sales overall are heading up or down. What about if your biggest season is Christmas, but for some reason this year sales come a little earlier than in previous years. (more…)

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