In business one must always consider the big picture. Sure you can sit in your home office and dream or plan your way to a successful business. You can create the best product, come up with the best service or have created the ultimate mousetrap but if you don’t think big enough you won’t get out of the starting gate.

Harris Kern painted a vivid ‘big picture’ scenario in relation to business with the story of 3 bricklayers working on a scaffold. One said he was making a living, the second said he was making a wall and the third, god love him, said he was building a cathedral. Read the rest of this entry

Your Marketing Plan needs to be relevant, prioritize your opportunities, able to utilize your resources and be actionable.

1. Market Research
a.Who, what, when, where and why.

2. Positioning
a.Define your clearly defensible position in the market
b.Your pricing must meet client demands and expectations Read the rest of this entry

I dreamed of being an entrepreneur so I could manage my own life, create my own opportunities, be the man I always wanted to be and be able to work when and where I wanted.

I always wanted to have an office in my house and be independent. As recently as 1999 businesses were not really considered professional or a serious enterprise unless it was located in a retail or office environment. Read the rest of this entry

1. A Clear and Realistic Financial plan You must realize that a banker, an investor or possible partner is going to want to be able to understand the basic financial position of your business. You should be able to put together a Start-up budget and have the basic skills to put together a pro forma (forecast) for the next 2 years of your business

2. Detailed Market Research Do you know the type of customers you want to attract, the size of your market and what those people expect or want from you? Have you done your market research? Have you developed your demographic analysis and your psychographics? Read the rest of this entry

I’m Canadian, born and bred, and proud of it. I’ve noted here some observations I’ve made about us.

• We’re very polite. If you run into our new car we may say oh my goodness, are you ok?
• Contrary to public belief, Canadian soldiers do not torture people in Afghanistan, we’re too nice, we have other people do it
• We really like taxes cause it pays for all the good things we like , like universal healthcare and roads
• We are kind to celebrities, we’ll  ignore you in an elevator so we don’t get embarrassed asking you for an autograph Read the rest of this entry