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How Small Businesses can Benefit from the Canadian Budget

In efforts to stimulate the economy, the Canadian Government has included a number of changes in the 2009 budget to help small businesses. In fact, there’s so much in the budget that I had to write a second posting in order to touch on a few other facts that I found beneficial.

Now I haven’t read through the entire budget word for word, but from my quick overview of the sections that I thought were most relevant to small businesses, here are my top ten points all small business owners should be aware of:

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Home Renovations Tax Credit

There are big opportunities  in the 2009 Canadian Federal Budget to help retailers boost their business. In the 2009 Canadian Federal Budget announced on January 27th, The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Finance Minister, included a Home Renovations Tax Credit (HRTC).

How the Temporary HRTC Will Work

The proposed HRTC will provide a temporary 15-per-cent income tax credit on eligible home renovation expenditures for work performed, or goods acquired, after January 27, 2009 and before February 1, 2010, pursuant to agreements entered into after January 27, 2009. The credit may be claimed for the 2009 taxation year on the portion of eligible expenditures exceeding $1,000, but not more than $10,000, and will provide up to $1,350 in tax relief.

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Consistent employee communication is crucial in building a successful company. I recently had a not-so-great experience with a member of my team that I’m sure would sound a little too familiar to many of us. Have you had a new employee join your team, show up eager to work, perform extremely well for the first few months, and then something starts to go wrong?

Their work starts to slide, they start showing up late, their performance starts to go down hill, and they seem to start losing interest in their job. You may blame the employee and think he or she is just not ambitious enough for you or your company. But is this a fair assessment?

When a person comes to work on their first day, they usually want to do a good job. If you’ve done a decent job at hiring the right person, they’ll be eager to learn and to contribute to the company. This is what you get on the first day. Now it is up to us to nurture this. So how do you do it? I suggest you take a look at your orientation process and your performance review process.

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Make a Strategic Business Plan

Ensure success in 2009 by making a strategic plan for your business this year. After a hectic Christmas season, and a January clean up, February for most retailers means the start of a fresh new business year. This is a time to reflect on 2008 and finalize plans for the year ahead, both for you and your business.

I challenge all of you to take a few hours away from the office and your store, and dedicate some real focused time towards strategic planning and goal setting. Ideally, you’ll be able to get away for a full day with your key person (or people) to do this. In my books, a full day means a full day. As hard as it will be, don’t even step foot inside the store for one entire day.

To help you in your planning process, I’d like to share a two-part thought process that has served me well over the years.

Part One – Long Term Outlook

First, it’s important to really think about what you want your business to look like in the future. Take time and think five years out.

-          Where do you want to be personally five years from now?

-          What will your business look like given your personal goals?

-          Do you want to grow your company? Or would you rather keep it the same size and grow profitability?

-          Do you want more independence from your business?

-          Do you want to expand your business? Open at another location? Move locations?

-          Do you want to retire?

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Welcome to a new blog solely dedicated to providing ideas and insight that will help drive success for independent Canadian retailers. I’m Andy Buyting.

You might be wondering who I am and what I’m all about. I’m an independent retailer based in Atlantic Canada. My business, Green Village Home & Garden is one of Canada’s most successful retail home & garden stores. My family has operated the business for more than twenty years in Fredericton, N.B..Today we operate two stores in Fredericton and Moncton. We also operate a landscape service company in Fredericton with plans to launch our services toMoncton area residents in time for the 2009 season.

In 2007,I published The Retailer’s Roadmap to Success: 33 Secrets for Driving Your Business to the Next Level.

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