Women Entrepreneurs and Mompreneurs

Are you a woman with a great business idea? Did you know that in Canada, “four out of five businesses launched today are started by women”? According to a May 8 article called “In the Company of Women” by Lisa Wright in The Toronto Star on page U1 (a special section on Small Business), there are “821,000 self-employed women contributing $18 billion to the Canadian economy”.

Networking Groups and Websites for Women Entrepreneurs

Should you be interested in starting up your own business, consider contacting networking groups like:

Company of Women: www.companyofwomen.ca
Women Who Excel: www.womenwhoexcel.com
Athena Oakville: www.athenaoakville.ca
Women Entrepreneurs of Canada: www.wec.ca
Businesswomen in Trade: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/businesswomen/menu-en.asp
The Business and Professional Women’s Clubs of Ontario: http://www.bpwontario.org/public/home.php

The Canada-Ontario Business Service Centre’s Resources for Women (formerly Industry Canada’s The Network for Women Entrepreneurs) page offers an introductory “Women in Business Info-Guide”, a Q&A section (networking, business planning, mentoring, financing) and an extensive online business tools section.

When or if you require financing, check out the website for BDC, the Business Development Bank of Canada. A portion of their site called “Woman Entrepreneur” is dedicated to Canadian women entrepreneurs.

Want to do some reading? Your local public library might have just what you want; a search on entrepreneurial women at the Oakville Public Library indicates that there's lots on this topic.

Mompreneurs

A subset of women entrepreneurs who are growing in numbers are mompreneurs. The term “mompreneur” refers to women who have left the corporate workforce to care for their families and during this time have started home-based businesses; these businesses are generally based on the creation of products/services that they have found a need or desire for during the care of their young children and families and that still allow the business founder to balance her home and work lives.
In February, 2008, the CBC website profiled mompreneurs as a trend on the “Fortune Hunters” page. “The Mompreneur Trend” profiles three women and their businesses. Don’t forget to check out the SavvyMom Mompreneur of the Year Award website, celebrating innovative ideas by Canadian mompreneurs.

More on Angel Investors

Angel Investors Continued...

(see also Angel Investors: An Alternative Source of Financing for Small Business, a post in this blog dated April 23, 2008 which also features several links to angel investor groups)

Profit magazine featured a great article in its May 2008 issue called "Private Investing: After the Handshake" written by Kara Aaserud. Ms. Aaserud reviews how angel investing can result in a double-edged sword business relationship between entrepreneurs and their angels.

This article links to related, previous Profit or Canadian Business Online articles:
1. "Two Days in the Dragons' Den: Tips for Pitching Your Business Idea" focuses on pitching your product idea to various types of investors; this article appeared in the June 2007 issue of Profit and was written by Rick Spence.
2. "Angel Investor Groups: Heavenly Bodies" reviews the process of getting in front of angel investor groups and what to expect; this article was written by Jeff Dennis in Canadian Business Online and appeared on December 5, 2007.

Find Out More about the Elusive Teen Market

Do you have a product or service that you think would appeal to the teen or youth market? How do you find out more about this market that represents a large demographic having a fair amount of disposable income?

Check out the census portion of Statistics Canada’s website for demographic information by age and sex. The Portrait of the Canadian Population in 2006, by Age and Sex, 2006 Census paints a good picture of Canadians according to their age and sex and where they live in every province or territory. Starting on page 16, check out the descriptions and age pyramids province by province. You will see differences between 2001 and 2006 and, generally, the aging of the population with most provinces exhibiting large demographic “bumps” in the baby-boomers and children of the baby-boomers (born between 1975 and 1995).

PBS Frontline produces “incisive documentaries covering the scope and complexity of the human experience”. One of the recent documentaries is called “The Merchants of Cool: A Report on the Creators & Marketers of Popular Culture for Teenagers”. The show can be viewed online or you can read the interviews and reports. One of the companies profiled on this site that specializes in “cool hunting” or research on youth culture is Look-Look.

Should you wish to do some reading on selling to teenagers, check out your local public library for copies of books like Alissa Quart’s “Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers”.

Angel Investors: An Alternative Source of Financing for Small Business

If you have exhausted your pursuit of traditional bank financing, you may want to consider using an angel investor to get that great idea off the ground. Read on to find out more about who these angels are, what they can do for you and where you can find them.

What is an Angel Investor?

Typically, an angel investor is an affluent individual seeking to invest in a startup company and provides their own capital for that startup. In return, an angel investor generally expects some form of equity and control in the company. Sometimes angels group together in a syndication to pool the financing; they are known as angel groups or angel networks. Angel investors may also be corporate investors who are looking for strategic synergies from an alliance with an entrepreneurial company.

Find out more:

Wikipedia’s “Angel Investor” article gives further background on angel investors.

Entrepreneur.com has a how-to page called “Angel Investors” which is devoted to the concepts of what an angel investor is, who might use one, how much they cost, what the investor expects in return for their capital and how and where to find them.

An article appeared in the March 17, 2008 edition of Canadian Business called “Angel Investors: Spreading Your Wings”. Written by Megan Harman, this article discusses exploring all financing options like those provided by angel investors.

Where Can You Find an Angel Investor?

Check out About.com Canada’s article called “How to Find an Angel Investor”.

Below are some links to some organizations that bring investors and businesses together in order to secure financing and allow businesses to grow:

The National Angel Organization (NAO) considers itself to be “Canada’s Voice of Angel Investors”. The NAO’s directory includes links to 21 angel groups from 8 provinces in Canada as well as links to U.S. national and regional angel groups.

The Angel Capital Education Foundation (ACEF) provides information on angel investing and lists 22 Canadian angel groups with links to their websites from across the country in its ACEF directory. There are many more links to American groups and ones located in Mexico.

Calling itself “North America’s professional alliance of angel groups”, the Angel Capital Association (ACA) is an association of 265 angel organizations in the U.S. and Canada; the ACA member directory with Canadian and U.S. links is also available online.

Online Desktop Sharing for Small Business

Do you have team members, colleagues, suppliers or customers who are offsite or located in other parts of the country or world that you want to share information with or conduct meetings with and you don’t have the time, money or need to get together in person? Do you want to conduct an online meeting without installing software on your computer or servers? How about allowing your online meeting attendees to be able to share their mouse or keyboard to allow for live collaboration? Do you want to host webinars? What about conducting virtual training? Do you want to share files? There are more and more online desktop sharing applications that allow you to do all of these things without installing any software. The great news for small business is that some of these services are free. Here’s a list of some of these fee-for-service and free-service providers:

Yugma: http://www.yugma.com/
Share your mouse and keyboard (remote control); not just for tech support
Use an online whiteboard and allow meeting participants to make comments or edit work in progress
Record your meeting
Share files
Compatible with Skype
Fee-based professional service with subscriptions allowing you to connect with 20, 100 or 500 attendees

LiveLOOK: http://www.livelook.net/
Share your screen but not your mouse or keyboard
Per Minute Plan: $0.025/minute/participant for up to 100 participants
Monthly Plan: $39.99/month (U.S.): includes 15 participants per session but can allow up to 100 participants

TeamViewer: http://www.teamviewer.com/
Remote control for tech support
Share your screen (e.g. for product demos and presentations)
File transfer
6-Month Use Term, premium packages available

Mikogo 1.0: http://www.mikogo.com/
Free
Host online meetings with up to 10 users simultaneously
Screen sharing plus remote control of keyboard and mouse
File transfer

Dimdim: http://www.dimdim.com/
Audio/video/screen sharing
Free for up to 20 participants
Professional product starting at $99/year for more than 20 participants

Vyew: http://vyew.com/
Free for 20 participants with ads. Plus pricing starts at $6.95/mo for up to 25 participants, 5 with no ads. Professional pricing starts at $13.95/mo for up to 45 participants, 15 with no ads.
Show your desktop in real-time and show your cursor (e.g. point to something on your screen); no remote control
Screen capture, whiteboarding tools
Upload files and collaborate
Broadcast your video with your webcam

Here’s a couple more:
WebHuddle: http://www.webhuddle.com/
Lotus Unyte: http://www.unyte.net/
HelpMeetingPresenter: http://www.hostpresentation.com/

Statistics Canada's Market Research Handbook: Great Info for Small Business!

Statistics Canada released the latest edition of its Market Research Handbook on April 8, 2008. This 378 page document is available to download for FREE. Should you wish to review a paper copy, check with your local public library in the next week or so as many of them will receive copies for use in their collections.


Why should you use this handbook? It contains tons of annually-collected statistics plus census 2006 data suitable for planning and growing small businesses with topics such as:

• Population Demographics, including B2B Demographics
• Labour Market and Income Statistics
• Consumer Expenditures
• Housing and Household Characteristics
• Macroeconomic and Financial Statistics including Supply Chain
• International Trade
• Business and Industry Statistics including Business Demographics
• Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations
• Projections
  
  

Rising Minimum Wage: Hurting Small Business in Canada?

At a time when the Ontario economy is taking a downturn, small business owners are being forced to cope with a rising minimum wage. Six provinces in Canada raised their minimum wage effective either March 31, 2008 or April 1, 2008 with more set to rise later this year. Ontario’s minimum wage will be the highest at $8.75, up from $8.00. By 2010, it will be $10.25 which is an increase of 10% a year since the increases began in 2003. See the table below for rates in all the Canadian provinces and territories. Aimed at fighting poverty, a rising minimum wage is likely to take a hit on small businesses that are already paying more for things like insurance and utilities and who generally have a thin operating profit. Manufacturers, in particular, have voiced concerns about the poorly-timed increase; in February alone, the manufacturing sector lost 24,000 jobs according to the Statistics Canada website (note that manufacturing "represents 11.6% of total employment"). Many economists indicate that the timing will undoubtedly lead to job losses.

Called “Minimum Wage Set to Rise”, The Toronto Star, published an article on March 30, 2008 by Andrew Chung, profiling the economic arguments.

Says Elaine Flis, Ontario Vice President for the Canadian Restaurant andFoodservices Association (CRFA) in a news release, "Numerous economic studies have concluded that targeted tax relief, credential recognition and job training programs are far more effective ways to reach those in need."

To read about the NDP’s viewpoint on the need to raise the minimum wage, check out “Raise the Wage”.

Report Flags Poverty Concerns in Ontario is an article from the Canadian Press that appeared in The Globe and Mail on April 2, 2008 which details the point of view of anti-poverty activists.

Minimum Wage Across Canada

Alberta $8.40 as of Apr.1/08 up from $8.00
Alberta Employment and Immigration

BC $8.00
B.C. Ministry of Labour Citizens’ Services

Manitoba $8.50 as of Apr.1/08 up from $8.00
Manitoba Labour and Immigration

New Brunswick $7.75 as of Mar.31/08 up from $7.25
New Brunswick Dept of Post-Secondary, Training and Labour

Newfoundland and Labrador $8.00 as of Apr.1/08 up from $7.50
Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Relations Agency

Northwest Territories $8.25
Northwest Territories Education, Culture and Employment

Nova Scotia $7.60 as of May 1/07
Nova Scotia Labour and Workforce Development

Nunavut $8.50
Government of Nunavut

Ontario $8.75 as of Mar.31/08 up from $8.00
Ontario Ministry of Labour

PEI $7.50 as of Apr.1/07 going up to $7.75 on May 1/08 and
then $8.00 on Oct.1/08
PEI Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour

Quebec $8.00 going up to $8.50 on May 1/08
Quebec Commission des normes de travail

Saskatchewan $8.25 going up to $8.60 on May 1/08 and then $9.25
on May 1/09
Saskatchewan Advanced Education, Employment and Labour

Yukon $8.50 as of Apr.1/08 going up annually on April 1st
Yukon Department of Community Services

Human Resources and Social Development Canada also includes a chart indicating current and forthcoming minimum hourly wages for experienced adult workers in Canada