Author: BDG News

Welcome to our Weekly Digest – stay in the know with some recent news updates relevant to business and the economy. Struggling mortgage holders could see lenders waive fees under new guidelines Ottawa has published a new set of guidelines to standardize how Canada’s federally regulated lenders offer mortgage relief to consumers struggling under the weight of higher interest rates. Canada unexpectedly posts largest trade deficit since 2020 Canada’s merchandise…  Read more

As a small business owner, you may be considering enabling a remote work environment. With the rise of technology and the pandemic shifting the way we work, managing a remote team has become a popular option for business owners looking for new and unique ways to grow their business.  However, there are both benefits and drawbacks to consider before making the switch. We’ll start with the benefits. A larger talent…  Read more

Saving money can be as fun as trying to get your office dog to stop tearing apart the office piñata you bought for your admin assistant’s birthday. But with these 5 free apps to save you money in your small business, saving money is about to get more exciting. Check them out here… 1. Wave Apps If you are a small business that writes invoices on Word, Excel or on…  Read more

Have you ever wondered why Shakira from work responds well to suggestions thanking you for your time, but Ricky on the other hand responds poorly to feedback and responds by staring blankly at the new office Nespresso machine? Well, according to Gretchin Rubin, New York Time Best Selling author of The Four Tendencies, we all respond to expectations differently. We all face two kinds of expectations: Outer expectations, such as…  Read more

It takes a certain type of unique, iron-clad grit and tenacity to be a business owner. This is because entrepreneurs face very low odds of succeeding compared to an employee: In fact up to 90% of start-ups will fail according to Forbes.com. So what is it that the 10% of successful business owners are doing to set them apart from the rest? Here are 4 characteristics of successful business owners:…  Read more

If you’ve ever been in a meeting where the projector isn’t working, the coffee is cold, and you are extremely, extremely bored, you will appreciate the excitement a little efficiency can put in the air to make your office run more smoothly. Here are some snazzy products that will make your small business more efficient! 1. Miroir Mini Projector, $169.99 Throw your dusty projector out the window (or put it…  Read more

Many folks want to become entrepreneurs because they are enticed by the control over their workday, the lack of a 9 to 5, and no cap on a yearly salary. But in reality, starting a small business can be an emotional rollercoaster. It can take up to two or three years to break even for a start up, new entrepreneurs can end up working up to 60 hours a week,…  Read more

Hide the stale Christmas cookies at the back of your office fridge, and throw the fake Christmas tree out of the window, it’s time for some new and snazzy ideas to spruce up your Christmas holidays at your small business office this year. Here are 5 products to ask for this Christmas for your office! 1. Grinch edition BarkBox for your office dog If you have office dogs, real or…  Read more

Accountants, like office coffee machines or sweaters for your office dog, can vary in quality from drab to fab. And in the same way you don’t want coffee machines or dog sweaters that break down in the first year, even though you were offered a free milk frother with them, you want to find an accountant who can work with you for the long haul and save you money. If…  Read more

  If you’ve ever been disengaged at a job, it can be a pretty empty feeling. It can vary in intensity from feeling bored, and not putting your maximum effort into a job, to feeling a pit in your stomach on Sunday evenings as you don’t want to go into a job the next day where what you do doesn’t serve your values. According to Gallup’s State of the Global…  Read more

One of the easiest ways to make big improvements in your business or life is to follow the Japanese theory of constant never-ending improvement. This means making small changes everyday which eventually produce big changes over time. For example, in your personal life, this could mean taking your office stairs instead of your elevator everyday. This may not seem like a big change to your daily life, but after a…  Read more

You’ve done it. You’ve produced _____ (fill in the blank here), and sold it to your client. They are happy. You are happy. Your office cactus is happy. And now it’s time to receive your cash so you can spend it on something wonderful like cloud accounting, hiring an intern, or ordering another office cactus. BUT, how do you know your client will pay? Have they remembered they owe you…  Read more

The office plants and moons have aligned: You’ve started a contracting business. Now it’s time to put away the office piñata and hide the broken vase from your office celebration party, because it’s time to respond to client requests. Very much like dating, when you are ready, you will get a wide gambit of potential suitors for your small business. The trick is to be selective about who you accept.…  Read more

Have you ever wondered why some people can thrive after life’s dramatic challenges and others mentally collapse? According to Jim Loehr, a performance psychologist and Paul G. Stoltz, Chairman of the Global Resilience Institute, working in peak performance and maintaining resiliency needs to be practiced. For example the average professional athlete spends most of his or her time practicing and only a small percentage actually competing. However the typical executive…  Read more

  Many Canadians who have used reproductive technologies over the past 10 years are now eligible for a tax break due to Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s 2017 budget. This will assist couples or singles who may spend into the thousands to get pregnant. A single round of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) can cost $10-15,000 and is generally not covered by health insurance. Add this to the meagre success rates of 20-35%…  Read more

Did you become an entrepreneur so that you can get away from the nine to five grind but are getting crushed by the 40-60 hours you’ve ended up working in your small business? We are here to help. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by work. But with these tips, you can move your life-work balance into your favour… 1. Stop doing things you suck at As a small…  Read more

Shame. Fear. Guilt. Power. Freedom. These are some of the automatic emotions we feel about money according to motivational speaker Tony Robbins. He believes we have trained our brains to react to financial circumstances with those emotions. We make these choices unconsciously, and therefore we often select emotions that do not serve us in a productive way. If you have negative subconscious thoughts towards money, such as “I do not…  Read more

Brendon Burchard, the world’s highest paid performance coach, surveyed 20,000 high performers such as athletes, CEOs, and founders to see what habits made them rank so high in their performance and found they all had these three habits in common. If you are small business owner or a person who wants to improve your performance, check out how these following three high performance habits can change your life. 1. Develop…  Read more

Let’s say you want to start any small business – like making dog Christmas sweaters made out of organic cotton, kale and love. You are excited. Your middle-aged dog Andy and your neighbour Sue with the blonde, curly hair thinks it’s going to be a hit. But you don’t know where to start. Well my friends, here is a little handy dandy small business guide that will get you on…  Read more

A lot of things have changed lately. The weather was awesome – now it’s rainy. Dogs and kids were running free – now they are in patterned raincoats. And the federal government had so-called loopholes for small biz owners. Now the rules may be changing. What are the proposed tax changes? Tax changes are being put in place for small businesses that are incorporated. In July, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced…  Read more