Squash Unforeseen Co-Owner Contentions with a Shareholders’ Agreement
This week on Write-or-Die Girl, lawyer Alex Koch schools small business owners on preventing future shareholder squabbles by firming up company terms in writing. All individuals starting a business set out with best intentions. However, most businesses go through both good and bad times, as circumstances change along the way. When a company is owned […]
The Change Leadership Conference: Responding to Change Better & Faster
A diverse group industry leaders recently flocked to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to hear two of this planet’s most in-demand speakers on leadership and innovation—John C. Maxwell and Jeremy Gutsche—as well as some of Canada’s foremost change agents, discuss leading change successfully in today’s business environment. “Without change, we remain stagnant, expose our organizations […]
Working your website hacks
Are you fascinated by HTML? Would you like to deepen your understanding of website coding? Me neither. I just want my website to generate some business every now and then, and not crash in the process. I met Opal Gamble, website whiz and all-around-amazing human being, last year when I started volunteering for Caregiving Matters, […]
The savvy entrepreneur’s step-by-step guide to starting a business in Ontario
I sure wish I had known Alex Koch, founder and principal at Insight Legal, when I decided to pursue my passion as a full-time profession. Don’t get me wrong: entrepreneurship has its perks. But the legalities involved are pretty prosaic, for a right-brained creative like me. In this week’s Write-or-Die Girl column, Alex breaks down […]
Write-or-die girl
Since embarking on this teeter-totter ride of full-time business ownership last year, I find myself evolving into a keener observer and more confident risk taker. My personality hasn’t changed much—a bevy of quirks complemented by a bizarre 35-year raw-tomato addiction—and I’m physically healthier, now that I plan my work schedule around my gym schedule. If […]
Blogging for Google juice
While millions of fierce business competitors are salivating for just a sip of sweet, rich Google juice to quench their SEO thirsts, one small business owner has managed to keep his cup overflowing. “You can bolt to the top of Google’s search rankings by consistently publishing fresh, authoritative content that other people want to read […]
Coffee Shop Etiquette
Most reasonable professionals are aware that there are certain behaviours that are inappropriate in an office setting. For example, whistling while you work is likely to irk your neighbours, and poor hygiene is just plain icky! Alas, there don’t seem to be a set of etiquette rules for independent workers at my headquarters where the […]
How to select the appropriate structure for your business
In business, as in life, ignorance of the law is not a legitimate defence for violating it. Thank goodness Alex Koch, founder and principal at Insight Legal, is committed to simplifying the legal aspects of entrepreneurship for small business owners. I’m thrilled to have her share her legal expertise on business structures, in this week’s […]
Productivity advice for the time-starved entrepreneurs
Abacus Co‐Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Jeff Goldenberg has a full-time staff of 11 but conducts business as if he has an army of 100. That’s because Jeff is a hardcore growth hacker who has learned to leverage the handiest digital resources and apps to reclaim his time and increase his work output. Last week, […]
Stretching my way to a holistic brand identity
Lately I’ve been really into yoga. For those who don’t know, yoga is a gateway activity that can lead to all sorts of far-out hippie beliefs and bizarre holistic health practices, many of which I find myself exploring with an eagerness to become more deeply enlightened. When I put it out to the universe that […]