Female entrepreneurs make an outstanding contribution to the Canadian economy, their local communities and their families. It takes a special combination of skill and ability to manage the demands of entrepreneurship or self-employment while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Women seem to be masters of multi-tasking – running a small business, many from home, while juggling the demands of young families and aging parents. Many men have these abilities too, but the success rate of female-run micro-businesses is higher than that of men – making us want to investigate the characteristics of female business owners more closely. Let’s look at some recent research on female entrepreneurship and success rates from Dr. Robert Hisrich’s The Female Entrepreneur:

1. Female entrepreneurs as a whole undertake more research and planning in the pre-start-up stage of their businesses. Women are generally willing to spend more time to lower the risk of an action than are men. This is one of the reasons for the higher level of success of female-run businesses – we know that planning, research and preparation is associated with higher levels of success in small business.
2. Women are in general well organized and good time managers – additional demands placed on women due to multiple and overlapping roles they may fill in their lives, particularly if they have a family. Small business success requires development of exceptional organizational and planning skills, and women who hone these skills in their daily lives seem to transfer them naturally to business.
3. Women tend to be more conservative and manage cashflow and budgets well, particularly in the early stages of business development. This bodes well for the bumpy ride of early-stage entrepreneurship, when making do with what you have or stretching your dollars can mean the difference between success and closing up shop.
4. Women, in general, are more likely to seek advice and counselling in business sooner and more often than are men. The propensity for men to try and figure it out on their own in business is one of the factors that lead to higher levels of business failure for men.
5. Women’s communication styles are more likely to be collaborative than competitive. Women emphasize relationship-building, team-building, collaboration and co-operation more often than men in business.

Of course, Dr. Hisrich points to areas of weakness for most female entrepreneurs as well. Things we need to work on are: negotiation skills, developing stronger business networks, taking more calculated risks (like obtaining a loan to grow a company’s product line or marketing strategy), and becoming more comfortable with the financial and accounting functions of our companies. In 2010, we compiled a list of challenges faced by female entrepreneurs, and we think many of them are still prevalent today.

Do you have any female entrepreneurship success stories? Are you, or do you know, a female entrepreneur who’s got a great small business? Sound off in the comments!

We love reading business blogs, and also love sharing great small business facts and advice with our fellow entrepreneurs. Here are some business blog posts we liked this week. We hope you enjoy them, and let us know what you think!

• “Organize Your Home Office” For A Workable Office Space at Small Business Trends
• 11 Proven Keys for Getting Your Emails Read at Blogtrepreneur
• Is Your Tablet Bad For Your Posture? That Depends on How You Use It at Techvibes
• Is Your Startup on Google+? at Babson Entrepreneurs Blog
• Some bad customer feedback can make your good customer feedback shine even brighter at The Small Business Blog

According to Statistics Canada, 28% of Canada’s 1.4 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are rural-based. Running a small business can be challenging at the best of times, but rural entrepreneurs and  communities face a number of additional hurdles: Outdated industries, technology replacing human labour, and a steady trend of out-migration by youth. Rural-based entrepreneurs, particularly those in remote areas, can be challenged even more by access to education and training, increased distance to markets and business services. You may also be be affected more by the level of taxation, insurance rates, low profitability and government regulations than urban-based businesses.

Diversifying your rural business can help. Reducing your business’ dependence on one industry or income stream can help you weather the storm if things get rough. Here are six ways to help you diversify your rural business.

1. Engage existing customers. Know what they are buying from you and what they’re not.  Keep track of the products and services you sell every day.  Find out what customers love about your products and services, and what they wished you would offer.  According to MIT professor Eric Von Hippel, seventy percent of new product ideas come from customers.  If you don’t ask, how will you know what your customers want?
2. Engage new customers. Take a close look at your product or service offerings.  Are there customer segments who are not currently buying your products that could with a little product tweaking?  EZGO did just that.  They modified their successful golf cart product line and started selling them to shopping malls and airports and have recently launched their first street legal vehicle.
3. Take stock of your company’s strengths or core competencies.  Can those strengths be leveraged into a new product and new market combination?  Caterpillar leveraged their brand awareness as a global leader in the heavy equipment industry with the launch of Caterpillar Apparel.
4. Challenge your competitors.  Conduct a competitive benchmark – that’s a fancy term for snooping your competition.  Visit your competitors if you can – become a customer. This works best for retailers businesses obviously but your goal is to find out what they are offering, how and how well.  Can you do better?
5. Think ahead. Where is your market going?  What are they doing?  What are their likes and dislikes?  Conduct an environmental analysis of trends that may impact you, your business or your customers in the future and position your business accordingly.  Look for emerging trends in society, technology, the economy and in politics.
6. Investigate partnerships. Is there a business in your area that isn’t direct competition and could work well with your business? For example, a carpenter could partner with a local craftmaker and double their selling power at markets. A group of such businesses working together could mean a boost in local tourism, as well.

Diversification can reduce your business risk and maximize your opportunities to grow business operations while leveraging your company’s resources, materials, talent and success so far. You’ve heard the expression, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket!” That’s the best reason of all to pursue a diversified strategy.

Small businesses have an advantage over larger businesses – they’re small! They’re efficient, flexible and adaptive – responding quickly to changing customer tastes and needs. Another area where small business can outdo bigger businesses is in productivity.

How to measure – and then increase – productivity in your small business

Productivity is naturally easier to measure in manufacturing businesses. In a service business, productivity can be measured by the number of services provided in a certain period of time. However, failed services aren’t always easy to find and measure. Service companies rely instead on measures of customer satisfaction, and the number of complaints received. Improving productivity in labour-intensive service businesses is challenging because these businesses can’t rely on increased automation to improve efficiency the way manufacturing firms can. Nonetheless, small service firms are still finding ways to improve productivity. Some doctor’s offices, for example, combine booked and walk-in appointment times in their medical practices which makes the most efficient use of a doctor’s time, and provides more access to the doctor for their patients.

Many product and service businesses are making use of internet technology, web-based stores and e-commerce to streamline customer transactions – customers can see if a particular product is available in inventory before they get in the car. The speed at which business transactions are occurring is increasing, and customers have more access to information about the products and services they plan to purchase. This makes them better educated and more knowledgeable.

Uncovering avenues to productivity and efficiency

Improving small business productivity in the operations process involves an analysis of workflow, individual jobs, equipment, technology, physical layout, working conditions and customer feedback options. This usually means that you’ll need to answer the following questions:

• What customer experience are we after? Have we asked customers what their expectations are?
• What does the workflow to create our product or service look like? Is it being done in the most efficient way, with the least amount of waste?
• Is there duplication of effort in people’s jobs?
• Do we have the right equipment? Can we afford to buy better, more efficient equipment?
• Do we have the computing and telecommunication technology to get the job done well?
• Can we arrange our physical layout to improve productivity or communication among employees?
• Does our physical layout enhance employees’ productivity, or hamper it?
• Do our employees have what they need to do their jobs well – proper lighting, office furniture, supplies, relaxation areas?
• Do our customers have several convenient ways of communicating with us? Do we regularly communicate with our customers?

Each small business operations situation is unique and should be analyzed for ways to improve operations efficiency and productivity. An electrical contractor who works out of a service vehicle can insure that his workspace (the truck or van) is properly stocked with new and replacement parts, and appointments can be booked in a way that reduces travel time and ultimately customer costs.

Sometimes the most efficient way of doing something gets buried under years of doing something the same way. We know, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We’re not suggesting that you do – but we are asking to you to improve productivity and efficiency over the lifetime of your business. You and your customers will benefit.

Yesterday, CBC’s Marketplace aired an episode called “Canada’s Worst Customer Service: Store Edition.” The episode is geared towards large chains, but we strongly recommend that every entrepreneur brews a cup of coffee and takes some time to watch it. The episode is full of wonderful cautionary tales we can all use about how not to treat customers, and just how hard it is to get them back once they’re upset. I’ve highlighted a few of the main points I took away from the episode.  You can watch the full Marketplace customer service episode here.

• Ensure all customers are at least acknowledged in stores. Your employees don’t have to be experts on every product you sell, but they should be willing to personally make sure the customer is taken care of – even if it is by a different employee. No customer should be told simply, “I don’t know.” They should be given options and advice.
• Don’t fall under the misconception that no complaints = satisfied customers. In the video, we can see customers more willing to just walk out instead of complain. And you can be sure their friends would have heard all about their poor customer service experience if they’d gotten the chance to walk out.
• If something does go awry and a customer is dissatisfied, don’t barrage them with self-promoting marketingspeak (especially if it’s about how important customer service is to your company – oh, the irony!). Just do whatever is necessary to make them feel like they’ve been heard and understood. Make it right for them.
• Give all employees the power to take the right steps if a customer is unhappy. They may not be able to offer discounts or give gift cards, but they can certainly listen, empathize and then take the proper course of action. This could even be as simple as giving the customer contact info for a manager, or you. Simple as that!
• Never forget that low prices aren’t the only factor that draws customers to do business with you. If your prices are great, but customers are given the runaround by employees or ignored, how often do you think they’ll return?
• If your business does use social media, monitor it regularly. You never know who’s counting on your attention.

Did you watch the Marketplace customer service episode? What did you get out of it?

Well, we did it! Another year of the entrepreneurial journey is coming to a close for everyone. To commemorate the end of the year, we thought we’d take a look back at some of our own small business blog posts we especially enjoyed in 2011. We hope that these posts, and others, were of some value to you this year, and we hope you join us for more fun in 2012. May you have a safe, happy and prosperous new year!

• Thinking like both a business owner and a venture capitalist – and how it affects a pitch
• Are you recording your entrepreneurship memories? Will you be ready when Oprah calls?
• Are you a business accelerator?
• Understanding your prime time for small business productivity
• White rabbits: Target marketing
• Do you have to be an expert to start a small business?
• The challenge for young entrepreneurs: proving yourself
• How has your lifestyle changed since becoming an entrepreneur?

It’s the end of December, which means you’ve probably seen your fair share of “end of the year” lists. We have too, and wanted to share some of our favourites from the business, social media and entrepreneurship blogospheres. Enjoy!

• Some cautionary tales from Inc., including Bizarre HR of 2011; and
• Top 12 Social Media Blunders of 2011
• The 25 worst passwords of 2011. A must-read for all small business owners.
• From Popular Science, 10 Top Inventions for 2011 (not a business blog, but all you inventive entrepreneurs can find value in this one)
• A Year’s Worth of Occasionally Disturbing Research on How to Get Ahead from Harvard Business Review.
• In January, Mashable posted a list of 10 Websites to Watch in 2011. Take a look – what do you think of the predictions, almost one year later?

Do you have any business-related year in review list you’d like to share?

You may be wondering: “What happens if I don’t file my GST or HST return on the deadline?”

Here’s a hint: The taxman cometh.

Don’t think for a minute you can get away with not filing your GST/HST return. There are major penalties and processes in place for those who fail to or are late filing. Failure will result in a 1% penalty of the amount owing, as well as 25% of that 1% multiplied by the number of months the return is overdue. Yikes! If you haven’t filed, you’ll receive a Demand to File, along with a $250 penalty if you don’t follow through with a return. Interest will also be charged on overdue amounts, equal to the base rate of 4%.

HST accounts (applicable in BC and most eastern provinces) are considered trust funds collected by taxpayers on behalf of Canada Revenue Agency. If you fail to turn in the HST that you’ve collected, directors of companies can be legally responsible for any unremitted HST. In other words, if the company doesn’t have enough money to pay for the HST, it could come from the directors’ personal accounts or retirement savings.

If you’re audited, you’ll receive a statement of earnings of audit adjustments. You will then have 30 days to analyze and discuss the adjustments with an auditor. After 30 days, a Notice of Reassessment will be sent out explaining the results of any assessment of your GST/HST return along with any changes made. If it turns out you owe, you’ll be sent a GST/HST Amount Owing Remittance Voucher (form RC 159.) Don’t worry – CRA always makes it easy for you to pay up.

Now that we’ve put the fear in you, check out CRA’s website for information on how to file your GST/HST return. Bonne chance!

It’s the time of year when you’re likely looking forward to cozy nights with a hot drink or fun with family and friends. These are wonderful things, but don’t forget to pay attention to your small business empire before you get too settled in. It won’t be long until we’re ringing in the new year – what kind of shape will you be in?

The holiday season is actually a great time to get organized – to close out this year and to plan, strategically and financially – for what’s around the corner. There are some simple things you can do to wind down your business year properly, and get set for 2012 so you can hit the ground running in January. Nothing feels better than being prepared – not even eggnog!

Get your financial records house in order for 2011

Your accountant or bookkeeper will love you forever if you present well-organized and documented files and records soon after your fiscal year end. Sounds like a headache, but the “shoebox” method of filing receipts just doesn’t cut it – shoe boxes are for shoes, not your financial records. And there are likely other areas you could spruce up too.

Here’s our list of five things to tackle between holiday festivities:

1. Update your payroll records, report all 2011 paycheques on T4 slips, and make sure all your other deductions are in order.

2. Organize your accounting files, records and receipts to get ready for income tax season. This includes completing inventory records and putting expense receipts into categories by month.

3. Streamline your contacts list – remove old contacts and duplicate records, and update current contacts, adding to your professional networks such as LinkedIn.

4. Update your personal productivity and technology tools – download updates and templates and make sure your current apps are still working for you.

5. Create a to-do list for the first week of January and make appointments now with key advisors, especially your bookkeeper and accountant – before they get booked up.

Hit the ground running in 2012

Winter can be a slow time for many businesses, especially at the end of the year. But, by taking this downtime to prepare your business for what lies ahead, you’ll start 2012 refreshed, prepared and ready for anything.

Five more things to keep you busy and out of trouble:

1. Review your 2011 business goals. What worked well and what didn’t? In 2012, do more of what worked in 2011. Simple.

2. Develop a strategic plan – a roadmap for getting from point A to point B. If you don’t have a strategic plan, create one – and follow it. We’ve got a one-page business plan template at our website.

3. Take a close look at your marketing, human resources management, financing and operations. Is there anything you could do better? (The answer is yes – there’s always room for improvement!) Get working on some ideas to become more effective.

4. Confess if you’re in the dark about how social media can help promote your business. And make a decision to learn more about at least one of these tools. Read some business blogs or tweets as a first step – your grandchild can show you how. Or Google for a “how-to” guide.

5. Clean up your act! Delete old files, get rid of spam, back up your business records onto a disc, memory stick, cloud server or hire a company to do it for you on a regular basis. Set up a good online file folder system so you don’t have to scroll through 347 inbox emails to find something your accountant wants.

Have questions about year-end preparation? Ask a GoForth Expert online any time. Not only will your question be answered by one of our experts, we’ll post it on our website. You’ll be helping other entrepreneurs who may be wondering the same thing. How charitable of you – perfect for the holiday season!

“Where do I get the money to start my business?” is perhaps the most common question entrepreneurs ask. Of course, this question assumes that they know how much money they need to start their business in the first place.

Develop a plan that outlines funding sources for your small business

Where you go for funding can be different for every small business. Several factors influence the type, cost and suitability of financing for your small business, including:

• Stage of the venture process. Are you in the start-up phase? Are you growing your small business? Is your business well-established?
• Your small business’ achievements and financial performance to date
• The state of the industry your business is in
• The type of technology your business is based on (if any)
• Potential growth of your venture
• Number of years before an exit strategy is available for investors
• Investors’ required rate of return on their money
• Amount of money you need
• What your company is worth
• Your goals for your company
• Investors’ terms and conditions

There are many other factors that will come into play when it comes to choosing the most appropriate sources of funding for your business.

Generally, a new small business can be funded in one of two ways: equity (ownership) or debt (loan). With equity financing, you exchange a piece of ownership of your business for the investment capital – you’re giving up part of your company to receive money to start or grow. The amount of your company you give up is negotiable, but it’s related to the size of the investment and the value of your company. If you fail, investors lose their money – you’re under no obligation to repay the investment. With debt financing, you borrow money and repay it over time to the lender. If you fail, you’re still obligated to repay the loan in full.

Money is just one factor of a successful small business

Most new entrepreneurs believe that if they have enough money, they can make any business model into a successful business. Sadly, there is nothing further from the truth. A bad idea is a bad idea is a bad idea, no matter how much money you throw at it.

The reality is sufficient start-up capital is only one element of a successful new business. Research shows that the small business owner’s reputation and depth of their social network are important to securing financial help. Not all businesses need start-up capital – but for most, the need for money comes at some point in their business’ life. So, develop a solid financial strategy, but remember that money is but one pillar of a strong small business.