Business & Personal Finance

Small Business Network with Special Guest Diana Olsen of Balzac's Coffee Roasters

The Small Business Network's next meeting is Tuesday, April 9, 2013 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Business, Science & Technology Dept. at the Toronto Reference Library.

Our special guest is Diana Olsen of Balzac's Coffee Roasters.  After her talk, there will be time for questions.

Learn about different business resources and network with others starting or running a small business.

The Small Business Network meets at the Business, Science & Technology Information Desk on the 3rd floor at the Toronto Reference Library.

See you then!

Doing your own income taxes

 

If you have a simple tax return to file why not fill it out yourself instead of paying an accountant or other service? There are a number of helpful resources both online and in print that will make your task an easy one.

1. The best place to start is with Revenue Canada where you will find all the forms and guides necessary to complete your return. In addition, you will find an online video series that will help you fill out your returns. If you have any tax-related questions, such as how long you need to keep your returns, whether you even need to file a return, or where to get a tax package, go to Revenue Canada's "All about your tax return" to find your answers.

2. The Certified General Accountants of Ontario yearly tax planning guide provides a number of tax savings tips for Canadians.

3. In addition to their tax guide, the CGA has launched a Tax Portal  that provides tax information and links to numerous related websites.

4. For information on tax credits you might be entitled to, take a look at Canada Tax Credit.

5. The Ontario government has also provided answers to numerous tax-related questions, such as tax credits, refunds, and links to laws at the Ministry of Finance website.

The Toronto Public Library has numerous books to help you with your income tax return.  From guides on how to fill out the return to books on how to save on the taxes you pay, borrowing books can save you a lot of cash!

Here are some titles to get you started:

 

Generation Next - programs for a new breed of entrepreneur

The North York Central Library's Business Department begins a three part series this week focusing on career and business opportunities for people ages 18 to 25 or Generation Next.  This demographic has been profiled in a recent Pew research report.

And while these programs are geared for this age group, two of the programs in the series would be of interest to any beginning entrepreneur.  The series includes:

April 3, 2013 : Presented by Donovan Dill, entrepreneurship program manager from Youth Employment Services (YES) -  Entrepreneurship 101: Tips on Starting Your Own Small Business 

May 27, 2013: Presented by entrepreneur Mahyar Fotoohi, Chairman & Co-founder of Unified Computer Intelligence Corp -  Secrets of a Technology Start-up.

and for those who want to explore other career options there is:

May 21, 2013: Presented by Cassandra Jowett, content manager from TalentEgg.ca -  How to Hatch Your Career through Networking.

All programs are free.  For more information or to register please phone 416-395-5613.

 

 

Retiring thoughts

If you are of a certain age, retirement becomes more of a reality with each passing year.  I know for my group of friends the word "retirement" is either on their lips or in their thoughts and will be for the next few years.  So any news item that comes up that mentions that magic word, catches my attention.

A few recent items in the news touching on retirement caught my eye.  Since many people think of relocating when they move,  MoneySense magazine's 8th annual  listing of the top cities in Canada to live in seemed like a good thing to look at since it included a list of the top cities to retire in. They are:

   1. Victoria

   2. Saanich

   3. Kingston

   4. Burlington

   5. Ottawa

   6. Toronto

   7. Joliette

   8. Saskatoon

   9. Stratford

  10. Winnipeg

What made these cities standouts?  Some factors included cost of living, weather, crime rates, access to medical care, to name just a few. 

Worrying about outliving your retirement savings is also another concern of people considering retirement.  Traditionally, people who own property have considered this as a source of funding for their retirement years.  But according to a survey that recently made the news, done by the Investor Education Fund and posted on their Get Smarter About Money.ca  site, found approximately half of those surveyed never have considered using their homes to fund their retirement.  The full report can be downloaded from the website - it makes for interesting reading.

And speaking of interesting reading, why not check out a few of these recent titles on retirement planning?

         

     

Enjoy your retirement planning!

Adding Pinterest to your business social media toolkit

By now most people are used to seeing the wide range of logos associated with social media and sharing information.  The most common - Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Tumblr - now have a new member of the club - Pinterest. 

Pinterest, if you are not familiar with it, is a site where members can "pin" images, videos of things that they love or are interested in.  How could this be used by a business, you might ask yourself.  Well, in a number of different ways.

Two new books that we recently added to the collection - Teach Yourself Visually Pinterest by Janet Majure (which by the way is a great introduction to the site and this series uses many screen shots to assist you) and Pinterest Power by Jason Miles and Karen Lacey offer some great insight for using this tool for business use.  Some tips they offer include the following:

Some categories are a natural fit for using Pinterest - the seven most popular categories of pins include:

food and drink, do it yourself and crafts, home decor, women's apparel, weddings and events, hair and beauty, hair and beauty and kids.  If your business addresses any of these, then perhaps you should consider Pinterest in your social media campaigning. 

A few reasons to market your business with Pinterest include:

• Take advantage of potential customers discovering you visually rather than by search engines
• Your content doesn't have to be actively managed - the promotion happens with repins
• Set up is relatively easy and low overhead is required to maintain a Pinterest prescence.

Some strategies to consider:

• Add a "pin it" button to your site, next to images that you would like to have pinned.  
• Add a follow button to your site.  You can encourage visitors to your site to become followers on Pinterest.  This can lead users back to your website or your profile on Pinterest, increasing traffic to your site.
• Even if your website is not visual, you can still use Pinterest by pinning images related to your business and then edit the links to go to your website.  You can search for public domain images using wikimedia or flickr (especially images that are part of its commons collection).
• You could also add a guest board to your Pinterest page - thinking of a topic that your customers might like to contribute to.  Create a board on the topic and invite users to contact you. 
• Conduct a contest.

Check out the two titles listed above as well as a few of the new titles that we have on this social media product:

     

       

And don't forget to have a look at Toronto Public Library's Pinterest page!

 

Money Matters Spotlight: Tom Hamza

 

On Wednesday March 27, 2013 at 6:30-8:00 pm in the auditorium at the North York Central Library Tom Hamza, President of the non-profit Investor Education Fund (IEF), will discuss eight Universal Money Truths that apply to everyone regardless of their financial situation.  Learn practical tips on budgeting, saving, borrowing, investing, and protecting your money from fraud.

Free. Call 416-395-5613 to register.

Women-run Businesses in Canada

Recent data from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey indicates a noticeable increase in women-run businesses in Canada.  An article entitled Canada sees spike in women-run businesses by the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service states that approximately 950,000 Canadian women were self-employed in 2011.  The number of self-employed women climbed by 23 per cent between 2001 and 2011.  In comparison, the number of self-employed men grew by 14 per cent.

According to TD Economics, forty-seven per cent of small and medium-sized businesses were entirely or partially owned by women in 2012. 

The Canadian Trade Commissioner Service's article highlights the view of two businesswomen about the opportunities and challenges of working in international business.  Both businesswomen suggest the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service can help female entrepreneurs by assisting with international market challenges and developing a network of local contacts. 

If you are a self-employed woman, learn how the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service and its Business Women in International Trade program can help you to grow your business.  Specifically, the program may help to:

• Facilitate access to information specific to women entrepreneurs, including: support networks, government resources, events, and services available to Canadian business women
• Partner for success with key stakeholders to leverage supplier diversity procurement opportunities with Fortune 500 companies through trade missions
• Provide targeted support, market intelligence and key contacts via the Trade Commissioner Service network, available in +150 embassies and consulates world-wide

The Toronto Public Library also has many resources that may help women in starting or running their own businesses. 

Business Inc., an eight-week business program being offered at the Toronto Public Library in partnership with the City of Toronto and the Toronto Business Development Centre, may be able to help you with starting a business as well as boosting your plans.  Please visit the Business Inc. page for details.

It is also recommended that you visit the library's recommended websites for Business, Finance and Economics.  Under the subcategory Small Business and Entrepreneurship, nine websites have been identified for Women and Business.

Here are a few of the numerous titles available at the Toronto Public Library that could be of assistance:  

For more titles, search the Toronto Public Library catalogue with the recommended subjects of businesswomen, self-employed women, and/or women-owned business enterprises.

The Canadian Penny's Demise

In the Economic Action Plan 2012, the Government of Canada announced it would phase out the penny from Canada's coinage system.  The decision to phase out the penny was due to its “excessive and rising cost of production relative to face value, the increased accumulation of pennies by Canadians in their households, environmental considerations, and the significant handling costs the penny imposes on retailers, financial institutions and the economy in general.”

A transition date of February 4, 2013 was set after which the Royal Canadian Mint would no longer distribute pennies.  Instead, the Royal Canadian would start collecting one cent coins for melting and recycling of the metal content.  Six billion pennies are expected to be surrendered by Canadians over the next six years.

On February 4, 2013, businesses were encouraged to begin rounding cash transactions.  For those interested in the Rounding Guidelines, they are available at the Royal Canadian Mint web site.

There are also pages dedicated to frequently asked questions for Consumers, Businesses and Charities.

A History of the Penny page is likewise available for those interested in the coin's history.  At present, the Currency Museum of the Bank of Canada has a small exhibit on the coin.  According to The Ottawa Citizen, the CENTimental Journey exhibit chronicles the history of the penny from 17^th-century France to the present day.  The exhibit showcases different pennies used between 1693 and 2012.  It also prominently features the last penny struck by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on May 4, 2012.  The exhibit runs from January 15 to July 2, 2013.

For books about Canadian money in general, check out the following three titles at the Toronto Public Library:

Canadian Coin Digest 2nd Ed.	Canadian Dollar Chaos	Money and Exchange in Canada to 1900

The Bank of Canada has an excellent publication on their web site entitled A History of the Canadian Dollar by James Powell.

The Pampered Chef

 

In 1980 Doris Christopher, former home economics teacher and stay-at-home mom, decided to supplement the family income by selling quality kitchenware by doing in-home presentations to small groups of women. The key to her success was in demonstrating the ease and versatility of the products by preparing food during her presentations and selling products that she felt passionate about. In her first year she did $50,000 in business and soon after The Pampered Chef was born.

With $3000 in start up money Doris built a business and made it an international success by creating a mission that resonates with most people: To bring families together at the table for shared mealtimes. The company continued to grow even through the 1990's as other party plan merchandisers began to lose business due to changing lifestyles. It spread to the UK in 1999 and Germany in 2000. In 2002 Doris Christopher sold The Pampered Chef to Warren Buffett. Today, The Pampered Chef is a multi-level marketing company with an international workforce of 60,000 that still continues to offer high quality kitchen products.

To read more about The Pampered Chef and other direct selling companies, take a look at these books:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Small Business Network meets March 12th, with Special Guest Veronique - Owner of Crêpes à GoGo

The Small Business Network's next meeting is Tuesday, March 12, 2013 from 6-7 p.m.

Our special guest is Veronique, owner of Crêpes à GoGo, a French crêperie.  Veronique will talk for fifteen minutes about her experiences on starting and running her business.  Afterwards, you will be able to ask her questions.  Then there will be lots of time to network!

The Small Business Network meets on the 3rd floor of the Toronto Reference Library.  See you then! 

Ra