This site is designed for recent university or college graduates who are having a hard time finding a job, let alone one that meets their ideals. Many graduates complete their education only to find that their dream job is nearly invisible on the horizon. If you are one of the many people who graduated feeling on top of the world with  great ideas and bounding with the energy  to start implementing them – maybe you’ve got what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

As this site grows, so will your knowledge of what your business or product idea is and how to achieve success as an entrepreneur.

E-commerce is just what it sounds like: the internet’s version of commerce. The same as it is in the physical world, e-commerce is the buying and selling of products and services online. With the growing number of people using the internet, many companies have moved partially – or entirely – online. You can now buy take-out, clothes, electronics, vehicles, vacations and even houses online. Most successful businesses have some form of online shopping available. Infact, you could likely finish your Christmas shopping online tonight – and order dinner to be delivered – without leaving your computer chair. Examples of highly successful e-commerce sites are: Amazon, Ebay, Dell and L.L.Bean. There are many small businesses out there too. Check out the inspiration and motivation links for some unlikely but awesome success stories.

I once worked for a small business that had an online presence. Their software was the store’s phone number and the clerks had to input orders into the point of sale terminal then run to the post office at the other side of the mall for rates. Trust me, you don’t want this to be you. Check out several different packages and evaluate what will benefit you the most. There are a few things to look at when deciding what software company to use to launch your business online.

First off, what kind of storefront do they offer? Can it be tailored to suit your brand? Is it easy to navigate for the type of product you will be selling? What kinds of features do they have? How many clients can it handle at a time?

How well does it operate from behind the scenes? How well does it keep track of stock on hand? Does it keep detailed records of sales that you can incorporate into your accounting software? Can it handle multiple customers looking at the same products at the same time? Will it be able to deal with foreign currency or out of province/country shipping details? Will it be able to handle different taxation rates?

Is it easy to build? The last thing you want to do is have to hire a programmer to figure out the ecommerce software you bought. Can you customize your shipping rates? Will it link with local shipping companies to give you rates?

Does it integrate with shipping and payment systems? Many consumers still don’t trust the internet (for good reasons). If the only way you can make a sale is by taking the customer’s credit card number over the internet, you’re hurting your business. Find a system that uses PayPal. Does it automatically log a pick up order with the necessary post company and compile your order as it progresses?

How are you charged for this service? How much is it just to buy the setup? Is there a monthly fee, or is it per transaction? Are additional services extra or included? Will you be charged for upgrades and if so how much?

What kind of support is included? Is there someone you can contact at all times? Is there a charge to use this service? Is it through email or can you speak to someone on the phone if you need to?

Once you’ve got yourself set up make sure you’ve looked at optimizing the chances of people finding you online. Search engine tags use features such as headings, alt tags (notes in the coding of your site), word repetition (don’t go overboard or it will work against you),  and relevant traffic and other sites that link to yours. Now go forth and be successful!

Social media networks can be used either for personal/social or business/professional networking. Find a channel and develop a strategy for getting yourself out there, because whether you love it or hate it, social media is here to stay.

Think of yourself as a celebrity! Promote yourself in the best ways possible and get your name out there. Actors create a persona by what they do and the publicity that follows. If you don’t publicize the great things you’re doing how will people know what you’re all about? Your online presence is your portfolio. Here are some tips for starting to build your online portfolio.

- If you don’t have paid opportunities to work in the field you’re interested in then volunteer. Think of it as free portfolio building.

- Post the work you’re proud of. If you accomplished something big, or did a project that really resonated with you, make sure it’s displayed for all to see.

- Get crafty. Make yourself a more interesting you by showing off your favourite features. Don’t actively hide information of course, but you do get to choose what goes into building your online presence.

- Use your passions. This will help drive you and give you energy. It will also be visible to your audience and your energy will become contagious. Think of it this way – celebrities are popular because they’re always so charged with energy and fun to watch, not because they’re better than anyone else.

- Dont be off the shelf. Be different, be unique. Show people what you have to offer and that you can help them create something different. Stand out from the crowd, stop trying to blend in.

Regardless of whether you decide to use social media to create a professional profile or not, be wary of what information you put online and how accessible it is to others. Would you want a potential employer or client seeing your ‘night out at the bar’ photo album? The best way to keep this type of situation from occuring is to keep your social account private (only allow people you’ve approved to see your page) and keep this number limited to true friends. If you accept every friend request on Facebook, each wall post you make will show up on all their homepages – and you have no control over whom they’ve allowed to see their personal page.

The best advice I can give you is to say … don’t be anti-social. Get out there and show them what you’ve got.

Although I have a Facebook page I would consider myself Social Media Illiterate. I’m scared to put myself out there … and it looks like a lot of work! However, I’ve been recently inspired by Patti Church, who I would say is a social media guru. As Patti said, it’s a whole new way of communicating, but, “the train is leaving – are you getting on or being passed by?” I’m too young to be left behind by the computer age! “Life is a Beta” … so innovate, be unique, try, fail, then learn from it and try again.

Blogs, Facebook, myspace, flickr, twitter, linked in, Youtube, wikispaces … and an ever growing network of ways for you to get out there. Show and Tell people how great you are.

‘But I already have a Facebook page, and I check out Youtube every day’, you say. Most of you are like me, simply a spectator. Move up! Be a joiner and a collector. Don’t just read what is already out there, post links to what you find that inspires and interests you. Join other people’s networks. Now Move up again! Become a Creator. Make a blog about living the 100 mile diet. Post videos of yourself doing the ultimate stunt. Set up your profile outlining your business and network with others that have similar interests. The more you participate the more you get out of it.

Be your own brand. After all, what is a brand but the sum of: messaging, visual elements, personality, promise of value, ongoing actions and behaviours. Start by creating a profile of make it a reflection of who you are .. pictures of you doing your thing, discussions of what you believe in, promote events you are going to. Expose yourself! Sure it can be scary at first … there will always be fear in life, but it’s the minority and you can conquer it. Find out what you are passionate about and it will give you initiative. Live your life, don’t just sit back and watch other people live theirs.

whyhire.me is helping people create a social media strategy, one blog at a time.

These terms are used to evaluate the effectiveness of different advertising mediums:

Reach – The number of Target Market members who are exposed at least once to your message.

Frequency – The number of times the average receiver is exposed to your message within a specific period of time

CPM – Cost per thousand of your audience members reached.

Waste – People who see your advertisement but are not in your target market.

Shelf Time - How long your advertisement remains visible. (A newspaper is gone tomorrow, but a magazine can get passed around for weeks).

Medium – What channel you use to send your message. Broadcast media: TV, radio / Print media: magazines, newspapers / Outdoor or Ambient: transit ad’s, in public washrooms, product placement, roadside billboards.

When creating an ad:

• Take advantage of your chosen medium’s strengths
• Have a hierarchy of message importance. Use size, style and position to emphasize this.
• Use tried and true layouts
• Have a call to action! “Try one today” , “Click here for more information”.
• Communicate your brand – your ad should always be on the same page with your branding
• Look professional
• Be directly tied to your campaign goals
• Be consistent with other campaign creatives

When advertising, you should choose the medium that lends best to your message. For example, a burger ad on the radio can put the company jingle in your head, but a picture can put the image in your head, and a television ad can show it in agonizingly delicious detail.

Now that got an idea what your business is all about, it’s time to figure out who your ideal market is. “Why do I have to do this?” you ask. Well, it’s so you can advertise your product in a way that it reaches the people most likely to be interested in what you have to off. This process of determining who is your target market is called Audience Segmentation. First off, Target Market is defined as: “the subset of the consumer market you wish to sell your product or service to”.

Segmentation Process:

Choose your segmentation factors and divide the market by these definitions.

There are many different types of segmentation factors. Choose the ones that are most applicable to your business, that would include many people who would be likely customers and exclude many who wouldn’t be. Basic factors include Demographics (age, education, income) and Geographics (proximity to your location, specified sections of a city/region/country). Stronger factors include Psychographics (lifestyle, personal values or belief systems, interests and opinions), Benefits (what people gain by using your product – segment least to most), Behaviour/Usage (ability to use your product, recurring need for what you offer). While this may seem like a lot, there are hundreds of segmentation factors you could possibly use. Search ‘segmentation factors’ and see what draws your eye. Try several, start again and try different ones. How aptly you can define your ideal target audience determines how specifically you can tailor your advertising to your market.

Assess each market segment for suitability.

Would they be interested in your product and would they be likely to buy it? There will be several segments that are suitable for you – pick out your primary market but don’t ignore potential secondary or tertiary markets.

Define and profile your target market.

Now that you’ve determined which market segments are most suitable for your product, expand upon your segmentation factors and describe your target market as specifically as you can. Seemingly unimportant details such as a tendency to live in rural areas could point towards daily commutes. If they’re sports fans too you could advertise on a morning sports radio talk show.

Starting to see where this is going?  Now it’s your turn to take it to the next level. Once you’ve determined who is your target market, it’s time to put together a marketing campaign to reach them. The process:

1. Define your marketing and campaign objectives.
2. Define measurables – How you will know if the campaign is successful (number of new customers, sales, profits).
3. Develop a creative strategy or theme.
4. Determine media and delivery mode.
5. Produce creatives (print advertisements, internet banners, radio scripts)
6. Focus group test. If this really isn’t financially viable don’t worry. Your hard work so far should be enough.
7. Roll out the campaign.

Evaluate the campaign afterward to determine how successful you were. Think about what aspects of your campaign worked and what didn’t seem to come across as well as you had hoped. Happy marketing!

Hopefully, your campaign was successful and your targeted audience will go from not knowing of your product to becoming a regular client. Moving from:  Awareness > Knowledge/Comprehension > Liking >  Trial > Preference > Repurchase > Regular Use. Now you’re really in business!

Know your product, know your business, know where you want to take them!

What are your VALUES?? Your shared BELIEFS in your business? What drives your CULTURE? Your BRAND? Directs your STRATEGY?

What is your MISSION?? Your Purpose. Your main Objectives for your organization. What is your reason for being?

What is your VISION?? Where do you Want to BE next year? In five years?? Be FORWARD THINKING. Where is your mission taking you and what values will help drive you there?

These are Long Term Ideas. Keep them in mind. They are your driving forces.

Although taxes and book keeping are two areas I’d rather avoid for the rest of my life – being an entrepreneur won’t allow us that luxury. While listening to guest speaker Ms. Marlene L. Grant (CGA, 15yrs experience) I’ve realized that as with most situations, there is good news and bad news. But first, here are the top ten ways Ms. Grant pointed out to us that a CGA can help you with your business.

1. Sound business advice
2. Business start-up
3. Accounting services
4. Controllership services
5. Software installation and training
6. Systems implementation
7. Estate planning
8. Financial planning
9. Succession planning
10. Tax planning and preparation

And I think these are just the obvious ones. While listening to her speak I picked up a few tips and tricks I’ll be sure to use with any future business endeavours. Now on the the bad new … and the good news!

The bad news: Regardless of your business structure your books and records must be maintained. This really is unavoidable. They must be:

• in an appropriate form to enable verification
• supported by source documents (paper or electronic – scan all papers for simplicity)
• clear and legible
• retained for 6 years after the tax year they refer to

And now for … The good news: There are many expenses eligible for tax deductions. Here are just a few:

• accounting and legal fees (so get an accountant!)
• advertising expenses
• business fees / licenses / dues
• start-up costs
• home office expenses
• rent
• travel, including vehicle and use under specified circumstances
• meals and entertainment
• …and many more

Thanks to Marlene L. Grant, CGA, who gave us these pointers. I highly recommend hiring someone to give you a few more.

Now that we’ve discussed the four legal forms of business … it’s time to get down to the inevitable: Death and Taxes. Here are a few of the main points – but getting an accountant will likely save you time and money in the long run.

Sole Proprietor:

• Income is taxed at your personal rate (along with any other personal income) T2125 & T1
• May have to register for GST and PST.
• Recommended to register with WSIB – mandatory if you have employees
• GST registration required if revenue is over $30,000 annually
• Must maintain books and records
• If income tax is payable, installments are due the 15th of  March, June, September and December
• File taxes by June 15th, due by April 30th
• business dies with it’s proprietor

Partnership:

• May have to register for GST, PST, Payroll and WSIB
• May have to file partnership return
• File your personal tax return using T2125 & T1
• May be required to make tax installments
• Keep business related money in a separate account from personal finances
• File taxes by June 15th, due by April 30th
• business dies when one of the partners does

Corporation:

• Will need to register for GST, PST, Payroll and WSIB
• Can get tax breaks by splitting income through shares
• Only taxed on  the money you take out of your company
• Will need to prepare T slips for employees (T4, T4A, T5)
• Corporate tax rate is 16.5%
• File taxes by 6 months after year end, payable 3 months after year end
• More sever penalties for filing late
• Must maintain all financial books and records
• Funds withdrawn by owners are double taxed (be on your own payroll to minimize liability)
• Business is transferable – does not die if you do

Now wasn’t that a fun post?!

Networking is one of the most important things any entrepreneur or business person can do. Some of us do it naturally, many of us don’t. If you’re still friends with the majority of the people you made friends with during college or university – you’re likely a natural. For those of us who aren’t here are a few tips.

#1 Be genuine. Use your real interest to find common ground with people you meet. Don’t lie, don’t even stretch the truth. This is your chance to make an impact for who you are. Be friendly – outgoing – interested – unique. People can generally tell if you’re faking. After all – 55% of what people understand comes from body language and 38% from your tone and how you say it. That only leaves 7% for the words you’re saying. This doesn’t mean your words don’t matter – just that first impressions and how people see you comes from the whole experience.

#2 Be specific and precise. If your words only count for 7% of the message – make sure what they do remember really counts. Don’t give them a verbal overview of your resume – tell them of your greatest accomplishment or selling point. Giving too much information all at once leaves your message open to interpretation, and your audience likely won’t remember the point you wanted them to. Have a specialty. This will make you stand out from the crowd and make you more memorable.

#3 Your business card is one of your best tools when meeting new people. This is what people take away to remember you with once you’ve put that quick meeting in their mind. Keep your business card professional, but don’t be afraid to put a bit of personality into it. Especially if you want to be different and stand out. Most importantly – use them! Even if you only meet someone briefly, give them a card and ask if they have one to give you in return. Now you can both get connected once you’ve gone back to the office.  This leads to my next point.

#4 Follow up! Just because they have your card and you have theirs doesn’t mean they’ll remember you in two months when you call them for an interview or to make a pitch. Send an email soon after meeting them, but don’t stop there. Try sending a letter – not everyone pours over their email daily. Call them – either soon after you first meet or as a follow up to an email. Actually speaking to the person reinforces your connection. Your best bet? Make an appointment to meet in person, even if it’s just for a quick coffee.

Networking expands your resources and creates positive connections that will likely come in handy in the future. Look at it as a chance to sell yourself to others before you need them – or they need you. You can never have too many good connections, and the more you practice your networking skills the easier it will come. Never let an opportunity pass you by.

Here is a brief overview of the four legal forms of business. Each one has advantages and disadvantages. Have a read through and give it some thought – but don’t stop there. Check out the government of Canada link in the resources column for more information on legal forms of business in Canada. Also check regulatory differences specific to your province or territory. Having said that, here we go with the overview.

The first is a Not for Profit. Not likely to be the first choice for many of you new entrepreneurs, but have a read anyway. A not for profit operates for public or members’ benefit, and all profits after the cost of running the business must be redirected back into the business’ objectives. You are also limited acting within the written purposed of the business – which are approved when you incorporate (which which you will have to do to become a legally recognized non profit organization). While there are some tax breaks for non profit’s, this is different from being a registered charity – which means you can’t issue tax receipts for donations.

The second legal form of business is a Sole Proprietorship. You don’t have to incorporate unless you want to register a business name other than your own, which makes this the easiest and least expensive form of business to start. Since you are in essence the business, you have all the power. You make all the decisions and the gross income is all yours. The downfall, however, is that because you yourself are the business, there is no disconnection from your personal assets and those of the business. If the business goes broke – so do you! It also makes it harder to get a loan for your business.

The third legal form of business is a Partnership. This comes in two forms; either a limited partnership, where you have investors, but they have little to no control of profits and they hold no liability, or a general partnership where all partners have equal profit control and share of the liability. In either case a partnership agreement is very important. Even if you have been best buddies since kindergarten, anything can happen once you’re in business – so get everything in writing. Partnerships are fairly easy to start and incorporate, however there is still financial risk involved if the business should fail.

On a side note, there is one benefit to the sole proprietorship or partnership that the other forms don’t have. If your business doesn’t work out and you end up losing money, but you have a second job where you are still making money, your personal tax bracket will be lowered. You’ll end up paying less taxes on your second income since your losses are deducted from your taxable income. O.k., it’s not a huge break, but every dollar counts when you’re planning your comeback.

The final legal form of business is the Corporation. Not really a viable choice for most entrepreneurs just starting up – but it’s always good to have a dream for the future. A corporation is a legal entity itself therefor there is much less liability and you have easier access to capital. The major disadvantage is that because a corporation is a legal entity itself, it is much more closely regulated than any other form of business. While there are some potential tax advantages, you should note that your profits will be double taxed – as the income of the corporation, then as personal income.

While this is a good start for deciding what form of business to start, and whether or not to incorporate, before you make any fixed decisions be sure check government resources before finalizing your plans.