Values are defined as the worth, importance, or usefulness of something to somebody. So just what are your values and how do they affect how you do business? It is inevitable that who we are as a person would spill into who we are as a business person. Possibly there are differing degrees as to their importance, but how we feel, act and believe is part of who we are regardless of whether we are at work or home.

For myself I will not work with anyone that does not hold the same values as I do as I know that the relationship just will not work out. I am not trying to say that my values are the only values, but they are important to who I am. For example, to me my family is a very important aspect of who I am and as such I have started my own business to allow me the luxuries to work around my family. My children are still young and I value the time that I am able to spend with them. I am still able to run a thriving business as I work around my family’s schedule. When my family is at work and school I am dedicated 100% to my business, but in the same respect spending quality time with my family is also important. I will not infringe on that time. In order to work with me, my client’s must understand and respect those boundaries. Accordingly I do not answer the phones when I am with my family.

Don’t be afraid to sit down and think about what values are most important to you and set boundaries for yourself and your potential clients. Further and more importantly don’t be afraid to decide not to work with someone that doesn’t understand the importance of the boundaries you have set.

I know that we don’t celebrate Remembrance Day until November in Canada, but I wanted to think of today as a different type of Remembrance Day … Remembering where your business was one year ago today …

I was listening to someone speak the other day when they mentioned that we spend so much time worrying about where we want to go that we forget to look at where we have come. I found myself thinking about this statement and realizing just how true it is. We talk so much about setting goals and determining where we are headed that we forget to think about our accomplishments.

So, let’s all take a few minutes today to look back to where we were one year ago today. Maybe you hadn’t yet started your business, maybe you were struggling to get that first client, or that tenth client, maybe you were thinking of starting a new marketing campaign. By truly opening our eyes to our accomplishments it makes it so much easier to set new goals. Through focusing on our successes we gain the confidence to move forward. Take a minute and write down 5 of your greatest accomplishments this year. Share them with a friend, a loved one, a colleague or feel free to email them to me. Better yet why not post your accomplishments on your own blog!!

Now take the time to do the same with your life. Instead of worrying about what everyone else has, take a minute to think about what you have that someone else would give anything to have. Maybe it’s your career, your home, your vehicle, your children or maybe something as simple as your health. Let’s remember just how important it is to never take things for granted, both personally and professionally.

Every single business goes through growth pains at one time or another. How you handle them will be the key to successfully creating a thriving business.

With my business I have definitely experienced a number of growth pains, but I have taken the time to learn from each experience and allow it to improve my business and myself. I looked each adversity in the face and determined that I was not going to let adversity get me down. I had a business worth fighting for and so do you.

So if you are working from home and can no longer do it alone, what are you to do? Maybe you would love to move out of home, but the costs are prohibitive and you actually enjoy the benefits working at home affords you. So what is a thriving business owner to do? The answer is simple – outsource.

The biggest benefit of outsourcing is the ability to have a team of people working with and for you, but without the frustration of having to find the space to “house them”. Imagine being able to pick up your phone or send an email asking someone to assist you with a project. Does it really matter whether it goes 10 feet away to the next office or 10 miles to another office? By outsourcing parts of your work, you can have a team of highly skilled professionals assisting you with every facet of your business which will in turn allow you to concentrate on what you do best.

There are so many different roles that can be outsourced today, the answer to what needs to be outsourced for you and your business lies in the answer to this simple question. “What tasks are there in your business that you dislike doing the most?”

I remember when I first started my business and I thought that business cycles would never affect me, but was I ever wrong. Maybe the Virtual Assistant industry is not subject to obvious cycles such as the construction industry, accounting industry and so on. However, each and every business is subject to cycles and we would be fooling ourselves if we didn’t plan for them.

Here are just a few business cycles that we should be aware of and plan for:

1. Seasonal Cycles
The weather can play a key role in cycles within your business. Are you busier in the spring and summer or in the fall and winter?

2. Economical Cycles
Spending can be very dependant on the economy on a whole. During economic booms people are more likely to spend their money openly, but tend to be a little more frugal during a recession.

3. Psychological Cycles
These cycles can include client behaviors and the way our clients are behaving or thinking at any given moment. If you are dependent on tourism dollars, what are your clients’ vacation trends like?

Of course, there are a number of different cycles and surviving them will be dependent on being able to identify what cycles your business is affected by. Thinking that cycles won’t affected your business is a grave mistake.

Finally, remember it is important to take a good hard look at your clients and determine their cycles too as they will affect us as well. If your biggest clients are students, are you likely to have sales in the summer when they have all returned home from their studies?

Planning for business cycles and staying one step ahead will be the best way that you can ensure that you have created a thriving business.

What exactly does that phrase mean and how does “a buzz” affect your business? When I first started my Virtual Assistant business I was lucky if people actually knew what a Virtual Assistant was. As I introduced myself and my business I was met with a number of blank stares. Slowly and persistently I have begun to “create a buzz” about myself, my business and the Virtual Assistant industry as a whole.

How, you ask was I able to do that? The biggest way was through education and repetition. I gave myself and my business every possible opportunity to talk about ourselves, what a Virtual Assistant was and why someone needed me. Networking events, writing articles and getting my clients talking too, were just some of the ways that I started to get people talking. I made sure that I always, always provided excellent service to my clients and offered the ability to be a “one-stop” shop for all their administrative and bookkeeping needs. It was by being able to do this that I began to set myself aside from other Virtual Assistants. My clients began to realize that even if I couldn’t provide a particular service for them I would go out of my way to find someone that could help them. My own Unique Selling Proposition was that “I could do anything an in-house secretary could do except make the morning coffee”. I truly became their “one-stop” shop not only for administrative and bookkeeping needs, but also for anything and everything business related.

I am pleased to say that all of this hard work has paid off. More and more as I introduce myself and my business, I am being met with nods and smiles and those blank stares are becoming fewer and farther between.

So what are you doing to create a buzz about your business?

It wasn’t until I opened the “doors” to my Virtual Assistant business that I realized just how important having a business vision was; that ultimate dream or goal to strive towards. I also quickly realized just how important it is to maintain the flexibility, as a business owner, to adapt that vision to the changes, in both myself and my business, as we both grew. Even more importantly, I learned just how key it is to take the time to enjoy your journey to success.

Thanks to a program offered by my local Small Business Centre, I learned the significance of creating a solid business plan that would tell me if the ideas and dreams I had created would be feasible. In that same program, they talked about how important it was to continually review and revise our plans. I believe, as small business owners, the need to ensure our business plan doesn’t start to collect dust is not just to keep it up-to-date, but also to see just how far we have come. I don’t think we give ourselves enough time and credit to take a step back and see what we have accomplished. We spend so much time worrying about where our business is headed and looking at our vision, we forget to take a step back and be thankful for where we have come.

For myself, if someone had told me when I first envisioned my “business dream” I would have the successes in my business I have seen, I would never have believed them. I believe much of that success has come from taking the time to look backwards and enjoy my accomplishments, both big and small and to use those accomplishments as a motivation to continually move forward.

Since I set my expectations for myself and my business high, had I only taken the time to focus on my business vision and where I wanted to go, I may have found myself feeling it was taking a long time to get there. I believe this may have made the ride a lot more like an uphill climb. Instead, I enjoyed the ride and all the hills along the way. Remember the butterfly feeling you get from a roller coaster ride or from riding down a hilly road quickly? When is the last time you felt that in your business?

One of the best things I ever did for my business was to hire a coach. I have worked with several coaches each with their own style of coaching. Finding a coach that is a good fit for your business can be as difficult as picking a life mate. Here are a few tips to help you make the right choice:

1. Complimentary Coaching Call
Most coaches offer a complimentary coaching call to determine if you will be a right fit for each other. You should look for someone that you feel comfortable talking to. If you are having problems openly communicating with the coach on the complimentary call then how will you talk to them about your goals, successes and failures?

2. Be Open
Each coach comes with their own unique style. Don’t be afraid to tell your coach what you do and do not like about the relationship. If something isn’t working tell them. In order to get the most benefit from your coaching experience you have to feel that you are getting something from each and every conversation.

3. Make a Commitment
The best coaching advice will come once a coach truly knows you and your business. The more that your coach gets to know you and how you react to different situations the more likely you are to get the responses you are looking for from your coaching experience. The best relationships are ones that you are willing to commit to for two or three months at a minimum.

4. Work with Your Coach
Don’t expect your coach to have all the answers. They are there to work with you to find the answers that are right for you and your business. They are solely there to guide you to find the answers that best fit you and the situation because each situation is unique whether it seems that way or not.

The biggest advantage for me to having a coach is accountability – when I tell my coach I will work on something I am motivated to work on that because I know at the next coaching call we will be discussing it. If I didn’t have a coach as a cheerleader and urging me to take on new challenges, I know for certain that I would never have the “guts” to step outside of my comfort zone.

What message are you trying to send to your existing and potential clients and is the message they are getting the same message you are trying to send? When you become a business owner you have an obligation to your business, and more importantly yourself, to ensure the messages your business is sending reflect your core values and beliefs.

Core values in business quite often reflect the personal beliefs and values of the business owner. How you utilize those values in your marketing efforts will determine how your potential and existing clients view you and your business. Here are just a few ways you are communicating your values to others:

Business Name
The first contact others have with you and your business is your business name. When you answer the telephone, meet others in person or send out marketing materials, your name is an essential component of that “introduction”. Having a good solid business name you can stand behind is one of the most important business tools you need to create a thriving business.,

Slogans or Taglines
A slogan or tagline is an extension of your business name and allows you to further define your business. Just as your business name needs to be a name you can stand behind, so must your slogan or tagline. Try to stay away from cutesy taglines unless it is the image you are trying to send to a potential client.

Symbols
Many people exert great effort and energy when choosing a name that will reflect their personality but forget that the core values that drew them to their name needs to extend into any logos or other symbols they use to parlay that name. Be careful when choosing symbols to ensure they present a consistent and solid ideal. For example having never been to Sue’s Restaurant, if Sue uses curving letters that look like calligraphy in her logo a person might conjure up an image of a high class restaurant yet block style letters will conjure up a completely different image of a family type restaurant.

Marketing Campaigns
Always ensure your values speak through your marketing campaigns. These campaigns include brochures, business cards, Web sites and so on. For many the first contact they have with your company will not be a personal one so your marketing materials need to communicate your message. Have others read your marketing materials and tell you in their own words what your company stands for. Their “synopsis” will reveal whether or not you have “hit the mark” with your marketing materials.

How You Speak
Many people act professionally on the telephone or in person, but forget they should exude the same professionalism at all times. Remember that what you are saying, whether in forums, blogs, articles or books reflects upon you as much as if you were talking to the person in public. Be careful not to “air your laundry” in public forums or blogs as the Internet allows anyone to see how you handle yourself both professionally and personally. Remember as a business owner you always, always represent your business and not just yourself. It is okay to have an opinion on something, but does that opinion reflect how you want others to see you and your business?

How You Dress and Act in Public gatherings
Not only is speaking an important part of conveying your business to others, but so is how you act and dress. Take once last look in the mirror before leaving for any function to ensure the image looking back at you is the image you want others to see. Also, keep in mind that even if you are not attending a formal function, you are still representing your business even if you are just running to the corner store. How likely are you to run into a client or potential client along the way?

The key to creating a thriving business is ensuring that your business reflects your core values in everything you say and do. Make sure when your business is “talking behind your back” it is saying the things you want it to be saying.

Quite often people hear the terms trade-mark and copyright, but are unsure what they mean. While both trade-marks and copyright are types of intellectual property each is different from the other.

Trade-marks
A trade-mark is a word, symbol, design (or a combination of these features), used to distinguish the wares or services of one person from those of others in the marketplace. Trade-marks identify the source of the wares or services associated with the mark. Examples of trade-marks include Pepsi, Kleenex and Nike.

Trade-marks are valuable business assets. They represent the actual wares and services as well as the reputation of the producer or supplier.

By registering a trade-mark, the owner’s ability to protect the mark is enhanced. First, registration gives notice to the world of the owner’s rights in the mark. When persons select a trade-mark they will often conduct a search within the Canadian Intellectual Property Office to locate potentially confusing marks. Thus, persons selecting trade-marks will avoid using a mark that is likely to be confused with a mark that is already registered.

Second, registration of a trade-mark gives the owner the exclusive right to use the trade-mark, in association with the wares and/or services, throughout Canada for 15 years from the date of registration. The registration is renewable every 15 years thereafter.

Third, registration is prima facie evidence of the ownership of the trade-mark because the registration is presumed to be valid unless proven invalid. Thus, in a legal dispute, a person does not have to prove ownership of the trade-mark.

Fourth, the owner of the registered trade-mark may also prohibit its use in any manner that is likely to depreciate the value of the goodwill attaching to the trade-mark. Goodwill is the reputation that is connected to the goods or services that causes customers to return and repurchase the same goods or services.

The right of the registered owner to exclusively use the trade-mark is infringed when someone uses the exact same trade-mark as the registered owner or uses a confusingly similar trade-mark to that of the registered owner.

Trade-marks represent the image and reputation of a business and are, therefore, valuable business assets that should be protected through registration.

Copyright
In Canada, copyright is governed by the Copyright Act. Copyright protects original literary, artistic, musical and dramatic works. Examples of works which are entitled to copyright protection in Canada include: books, newspapers, advertisements, logos, computer software and sound recordings.

Generally, the author is the first owner of copyright. However, there are some exceptions to this general principle. For example, when an employee creates a work in the course of his or her employment, the copyright is owned by the employer.

A copyright owner has the exclusive right to control the work’s (a) reproduction, in whole or substantial part, in any material form, (b) public performance, (c) public telecommunication, (d) publication, (e) translation and (f) adaptation. The owner may also prohibit the distribution of unlawful copies.

Copyright comes into existence automatically, at the time the work is created, and, in most cases, it continues until the end of the calendar year in which the author of the work dies and continues for an additional period of 50 years.

There are many benefits to registering a copyright in Canada. The registration certificate is evidence that the work is protected by copyright and that the person registered is the owner. In the event of a legal dispute, the person does not have to prove ownership. Also, a registration gives public notice of an owner’s rights and may prevent an innocent infringement defence by unauthorized users of the work.

Copyright infringement occurs whenever a person exercises any of the copyright owner’s exclusive rights without consent.

A notice containing the year of first publication and the owner’s name should be placed on all published copies of a work to give public notice of the rights. For example, “© Jones Ltd., 1996. All Rights Reserved”. This notice may be used regardless of whether copyright is registered. The notice should be displayed so that reasonable notice of the claim of copyright in the work is given to the public.

Article Disclaimer

This article provides a general description of trade-mark and copyright law in Canada. The contents of this article are provided for general information purposes only. The article does not provide or constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Any person with a specific legal question or legal problem is encouraged to seek the advice of a qualified lawyer.

Note: The Copyright Act and Trademark Act were used as resources in writing this article

Thanks Barbara

BARBARA BIDNER
Barbara Bidner is an Ontario lawyer. She is the owner of Barbara Bidner Law Office. She was called to the Ontario bar in 1989. She became a registered trade-mark agent in Canada in 1993. Her telephone number is 519-474-4839 and her facsimile number is 519-474-4025.

Incorporating is not necessary for every business, but making that determination can be challenging. There is so much information out there and much of it is very hard to decipher. Many businesses, especially new ones, struggle with trying to decide what structure to choose not only when first starting out, but also as they begin to run and grow their business. At what point does it become necessary or advantageous to consider incorporating?

The best strategy to consider before making any decisions regarding an appropriate structure for your business is to speak with a lawyer. A lawyer can tell you whether incorporation is right for your business. Of course, I am not a lawyer myself, but through my experiences I have learned there are just a few other things you should have answers to or at least consider before consulting with your lawyer:

Is Liability an Issue for You?
As most of us realize and are aware, one of the key reasons anyone would consider incorporating would be because of the limited liability to you, the owner of the business. Since an incorporated business is a separate entity, owners are protected from most of the liabilities of the business. Many people mistakenly believe that by incorporating you are protected from all liability - this is just not true. Be sure to discuss what issues might arise in your particular business and whether you would be better protected through incorporation. Also, make sure to have your lawyer explain to you just which liability issues you will not be protected from even as an incorporated business.

Do you want your business to survive your death?
Keep in mind that incorporations continue to exist even if the owner dies. As a shareholder in your corporation, you can leave your shares in the company to someone else through your Last Will and Testament. How important is this to you and your business? Of course, for many owners who are still small and going it alone they need only consider themselves. However for others, who have employees or contractual obligations, these also need to be addressed when you discuss your plans with your lawyer.

Do you want the ability to market shares in your company?
How important is the growth of your business? Imagine being capable of raising capital for your company through the sale of shares. Only incorporated companies have this option. If this is a goal for your company, incorporation may be something you need to consider. Of course there are still options for raising capital for your business if it is not incorporated and you can also speak with your lawyer, accountant or bank manager about those options as well.

Would you benefit from the tax advantages?
Before consulting with your lawyer, make sure you also speak with your accountant. The way taxation is handled with corporations is very different from proprietorships and partnerships. At some point there will be taxation advantages to incorporating your business. Knowing what those advantages are and at what point they will “kick in” will be a key factor in determining whether or not to incorporate. The same can be said for the reverse and there are in fact, also tax advantages to having a proprietorship or a partnership. Only your accountant can best determine this based on your individual business.

How does incorporating affect a potential buyer’s opinion of you?
Not all, but some clients are more willing to do business with an incorporated business. To them having Ltd, Inc., LLC, or such, associated with your name tells them you are “swimming with the big guys”. Of course for others incorporating can have the exact opposite affect as their target market likes the illusion of the personal relationship that goes with a proprietorship or partnership. The key will be in knowing your target market and determining what their attitudes are. Unfortunately this is one area where only you hold the answers and a professional may not be able to assist you in making this determination.

Ultimately there is no right or wrong answer as to whether incorporating your business is the right choice or a necessary choice. Only you, with the help of your lawyer and accountant, can decide what is right for you and your business to ensure you are creating a thriving business.