Having been an entrepreneur for over 30 years, a young man asked me to comment on What Keeps Entrepreneurs awake at night.  That question resonated deep within me.

On many nights, a fine scotch put me to sleep when faced with what appeared to be insurmountable problems each of us faces.

The primary thing that I have learned over the years is that we fail to leave the Technician role we start out with according to Michael Gerber, author of the E-Myth. Gerber says there are 3 people in the head of each entrepreneur, the Technician, the Manager and the Entrepreneur. There exists a distinct difference as each of us grows through those roles and levels in our businesses. Read the rest of this entry

Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra is a 15 time All Star. He won the American League Most Valuable Player award three times, played in 14 World Series, and set a number of baseball records, any one of which would assure a lifetime of fame and fortune for most people. But what is Yogi best known for? His slips of the tongue. Which is understandable, if you go around saying things like “It’s deja  vu all over again!” and “I’m as red as a sheet.”

On the surface, his off-kilter pronouncements are just amusing mistakes. But look a little deeper, and you will find Read the rest of this entry

Location Intelligence is one of the most powerful tools to help the entrepreneur in setting up a retail operation. You’ve no doubt heard of demographics and maybe even psychographics but there is an art to finding a location and the combination of all 3 is ‘location intelligence’.

Demographics refer to the selected population characteristics as used in marketing or opinion research. Commonly-used demographics include race, age, income, disabilities, mobility, educational, home ownership, employment status, and even location. Read the rest of this entry

April 2009, 6000 new businesses started in British Columbia, 35,000 in Canada. (http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=1576582).

Hard to believe but it also changed the face of the unemployment figures for the month and the first time in several months where this figure has not increased.

Why? Well the unemployment figures represent people unemployed looking for employment if you start a new business you are taken off the stats of the unemployed. Some consider Self Employment the last resort if you are out of work. Read the rest of this entry

I like to think there are 2 prerequisites that are no brainers when it comes to deciding whether or not you take the leap from that cozy, no-end in sight, badly managed, dead-end job to your new business endeavour. Sure you’ll be soon wondering where your next contract will come from or when your next customer will walk through the door of your shop but you will be self employed.

The 2 considerations are Passion and Timing! Read the rest of this entry