Business In Alberta

After reading this section, follow the links on the left menu. The purpose of this section is to see if you are ready to write a business plan for your new business idea.

In March of 2007 I completed a study of small business start-ups. This study, which was built from about 50 hours of interviews, research, and readings resulted in a better understanding as to why there was an incredibily high failure rate for new businesses. Here are a couple paragraphs from the executive summary of that report.

For [region removed], marketing is the domain of the accountant – often an afterthought. When an entrepreneur generates an idea they may approach an accountant to measure their business idea’s feasibility. The idea is reviewed and the client is asked to write a business plan. Though this plan does contain a subsection called the marketing plan it is generally nothing more than a sales forecast. There is no advertising plan, no location consideration, price (a banker actually provided assistance on this from practical knowledge, not knowing she was developing price points), or any other marketing elements.

The figures presented in a marketing plan are often accepted on good-faith and their accuracy is at the entrepreneur’s peril. The accountant will take the sales projections and build the necessary financial reports, based on industry standards for that particular sector and region, to determine feasibility. The consensus of the expert group is that the majority of businesses fail due to poor planning. This is not a comment toward the accountant but the entrepreneur responsible for developing and carrying out the business plan.

Wow!

That's a pretty harsh way to open up this section. But, if you don't want the brutal honesty of starting a business then don't do any research. I had no idea what I was getting into over fours years ago. I remember those meetings; there were seven of them. Every meeting sounded the same - brutal honest truth. Those two paragraphs, from the noted executive summary were the words of a Chartered Accountant, two bankers, two goverment-level business development agents, and a marketing instructor I studied under.

Tips for New Business Owners

1. Get all advice from unbiased sources
2. Put together a full well explained business plan
3. Show that plan to people that you can trust
4. Be very very very open to criticism
5. Be open to even more criticism!
6. Keep your day job (if possible)
7. Stay tax compliant!
8. Start with a professional but low cost website
   business cards, and voice mail on your cell.
9. Keep all of your receipts
10. Write a killer "Elevator Speech"
11. Practice your sales pitches (this is your revenue source)
12. Set goals, track them, and surpass them
13. ABC - Always be closing.
14. Network with everyone. Later, network with only those who can help you.
15. Call me and I will help you with all of the above.