Your browser (Internet Explorer 7 or lower) is out of date. It has known security flaws and may not display all features of this and other websites. Learn how to update your browser.

X

Navigate / search

4 Tips to Help Your Self Employed Dream Come True

What’s your personal passion?

What drives you crazy each and every time?

If you could change one thing in your immediate community, what would it be?

These are just some of the questions you should ask your self in order to start thinking about your entrepreneurship dreams.

If you are like me then you have been working in the corporate world or for the same employer for a very long time.In my case I’ve been with my employer for over six years, yet it seems like it was only yesterday that I started.

Despite being gainfully employed for over six years with the same employer, numerous promotions, more money and greater perks – I still dream of being fully self employed one day.

I actually really like working in Marketing,  but I equally enjoy being my own boss.  I hope to one day become a successful full time entrepreneur. Despite having two mini side businesses on the go – office cleaning company and a successful online blog – I’ve yet to take the leap to fully work for my self.

If you’re dreaming of becoming self employed and starting your own business you may want consider these four tips:

1. Target a Niche Market

In my early days schooling days in Marketing, there was heavy talk about focusing on niche marketing. Find that niche, and run with it.You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but rather find a need that would appeal to your niche market – whoever they might be. Robert Deluce started Porter Airlines, based out of Toronto’s island airport. His visions was simple – offer effective, short-haul, hassle free flying experience for travelers. Rather than going to the airport, and dealing with all the busyness, you can fly out of the island airport for a fraction of the price and avoid all the typical airport hassle.

2. Persistance is Key

It can take years before a business becomes profitable. Most businesses don’t make it past the first year – most throw in the towel and head back to the corporate world and the security of a guaranteed paycheck.

Starting a business, running one, and driving forward isn’t easy, and if anyone told you it was….well they lied.

The key to being successful is to never give up; there will be obstacles, setbacks and in some cases you’ll be on the brink of falling off the edge, but start up business owners will never have success if they give up.

3. Have a Vision

Many people want to open a business but opening just another business on the corner or just another location in a shopping mall won’t get people’s attention.  Having a solid vision is much more important, because let’s be honest – this world doesn’t need another business that already exists, and probably has been around for generations.

How will your business be different from the rest?

Devon Brooks (from Vancouver) opened a new concept of hair salons that offer blow dry’s only.  There are no haircuts and no hair coloring, just washes and blow dry’s. There are now 25 locations of her blow dry only concept hair salon (Blo Blow Dry Only) throughout Canada and the US.

4. Start Small – Think Big

Focus one day at a time. Starting a business is like a puzzle, you start at one end with a few pieces, and slowly over time you build the puzzle, and it keeps getting bigger and bigger. Think of the steps you need to take to get your small business to where you want it to be? Where do you see your business headed in the future?  Think realistically about the growth of your small business, do you need employees? Where will you work from? Who are your target clients?

As a wise man once said to me: “Slow and steady wins the race”

Readers, are you still dreaming of starting your own business? What’s holding you back?

Cheers!

Eddie

 Photo Credit (caribb)

6 Start-up Tips For New Entrepreneurs

How did you become an entrepreneur? Was it something you always wanted to do or did you have an ‘ah ha’ moment that propelled you into a new career path?

For my self was it was a comfort level I already knew existed. Having been employed full-time out of school for nearly five years, deep down I had an itch to become my own boss. That’s how I imagined it growing up as a kid with dreams of business ownership and the ability to create something out of nothing.

Despite the failure rates surrounding any start-up business, I wanted to give my business idea a go, and succeed while avoiding to become another negative statistic.

Almost four years later after the launch of my commercial cleaning business, the drive to continue being a business owner still exists within me, and the business its self is thriving. That’s why I wanted to take a minute today, and share with you 6 tips when starting your own small business.

1. Research Ahead

Research is typically dull and boring, but researching your market, competition, industry trends, target market is essential to inform you on what steps you need to take to make your business a success.

2. What makes your different?

Every industry has its big players, and the bottom feeders that get a bone thrown their way. In order for your business to succeed you need to have a clear idea about what problem your business is solving, and how are you going to do it differently than your predecessors

Ask your self: What am I going to do in order to do things better than my competition?

3. Listen & Accept Feedback

You’d be surprised at how many people have poor listening skills. They let their egos get in the way. Rather than being students of the business, they throw their half-ass knowledge out. You can be different though, by simply listening, asking and accepting feedback. Trust me, this is where you’ll learn a lot about your business and possibly about your self as well.

You’re probably thinking now; “This is so obvious.” However, you’d be surprised at how many new small business owners forget about basics like this.

4.Try to Have a Debt Free Start-up

Poor cash-flow is one of the biggest reasons why small businesses fail to make it to the next level. Failing to manage money properly in the early stages of your business can make the numbers hard to stack up. One sure way to avoid cash-flow pitfalls is to have a debt free start-up or with little debt as possible. Maxing out credit-cards will only make it harder down the road as the monthly bills keep on piling up. Eventually you’ll be paying everyone else, and have nothing left over for your self.

5. Outsource As You Need To

In the every early stages of your small business you’ll probably be the marketing person, accountant, advertising rep, sales rep and the general office clerk. Eventually business will start to pickup, and your skills will be more useful elsewhere. This is the point where you need to suck it up, accept it, and spend a little money by outsourcing certain tasks.

More importantly, you as the small business owner needs to recognize that you won’t be great at everything. So, why not pass it onto someone who’s more skilled and knowledgeable.

Develop a relationship with your accountant, graphic designer or your printer, treat them as a business colleague vs. an expense. Eventually through time and many business transactions, you’ll develop a relationship beyond a business, and these people will become someone you can bounce ideas off, and someone who’ll make recommendations for your business as well.

6. Test and More Test

Thousands of people right now are holding down full-time jobs while starting a small business. I was one of those people, and for the most part still am today. My day doesn’t end at 5. It instead continues sometimes well into the night. People who work like this are often referred to as the 5-9 shift, although in reality the hours are much longer.

The beautiful part of testing the 5-9 shift is that you don’t have to commit to your business full-time, still earn a living, and more importantly test whether your small business and being an entrepreneur is right for you.

Readers, can you suggest anymore tips for new entrepreneurs?

Eddie

Your Tax Options For Going into Business for Yourself

Tax season is over, and I’m happy to report that I was left owing $1,800 to taxman. No surprise though, my income rose 23% over the same time last year. I was pretty impressed, hence for not being surprised that I’m owing. But, after ever tax season, I’m often wondering how can I improve for next year?

Self employment is the answer, and whether you choose to go full-time or part-time, self employment can be big help to help to elevate a healthy income.

Choosing what you do for self employment part-time or full-time is not as important, as long as it’s legal. You can offer a service or a sell a product, the choice is yours.

There are benefits to self-employment, which will be discussed in this post. Enjoy.

Tax Break

Anytime you run a business you’ll be entitled to claim a deduction for any expenses incurred to earn income from the business provided the amount is reasonable. The types of expenses can vary by the type of business, but there are some common expenses that are often claimed such as office expenses, rent, advertising and so on, and other expenses are unique depending on the type of business you own.

Here’s a quick list of things to consider to claim as expenses:

  • Advertising
  • Promotion
  • Meals/Food
  • Entertainment
  • Memberships
  • Subscriptions
  • Office Supplies
  • Employee Expenses
  • Home Office
  • A portion of your mortgage interest
  • Rent
  • Property Taxes
  • Telephone
  • Internet
  • Repairs
  • Vehicles expenses such as oil changes and gas, repairs, car washes etc..
  • And many other expenses depending on the type of business you operate.

There are three common tax structures to consider when starting any business: Corporation, Proprietorship and Partnership.

Let’s look at each option a little more in depth.

1. Proprietorship

This is when you’re in business by yourself, for yourself. This is the simplest structure out the the three to use because it’s as easy as letting others know you’re in business. There is little government regulation, and it’s low-cost to set up of $75 to register a business name is very inviting. The drawbacks of a proprietorship include unlimited liability for the obligations of the business. In other words if your business get’s sued, you’re technically getting sued.  At tax time, any income you brought in through your business  is reported on your personal tax return (Form T2125). There are generally fewer opportunities for creative tax planning in you’re a sole proprietor.

2. Partnership

A partnership arrangement is simply two or more partners carrying on business together with a view to creating profit. The benefit of partnerships can include a pooling of the skills of different individuals and perhaps access to more capital to start and grow a business. The partners are often jointly and liable for the obligations of the partnership. Unless you structure limited partnership, any hiccups by your partner or partners, you’re essentially on the hook. Any income at tax season, including losses is divided amongst the partners  to be reported on their personal tax returns. Choosing your partners carefully is critical, and a written partnership agreement is a must.

3. Corporation

A corporation acts as a separate legal entity and is treated seperate from you for tax purposes. Incorporating your business gives you additional tax planning opportunities. A small business corporation is often entitled to a “small business deduction” which results in the first $500,000 of active business income being taxed at just 11 per cent federally, plus provincial taxes, putting the average tax rate at about 15 per cent. This is probably one of the biggest benefits of creating a corporation. As a general rule, if you expect to incur losses in your first years of business, you may be better off operating as a proprietorship so that those losses can be applied against other income you might have. Incorporating generally makes more sense once you’ve grown in size and profitability.

Thanks for reading, and wishing you nothing but the best with your business endeavours.

Eddie