10 Tips for Starting Your Own Business

If you hate your job and want to switch careers one excellent but daunting option is to start your own business. You might be crafting and selling a product. You might be offering a valuable service. You might simply be making food / catering.

Regardless of what you do you want to be professional about it and if you quit your old job because you hated it then there are definitely some tips when it comes to building your own business...

1) Do what you love!

You aren't going to enjoy this new role of being self-employed unless you really love what you are doing. After all, you hated your old job - why would you switch to something new that you will hate anyway? You're going to devote a lot of time and energy to starting a business and building it into a successful enterprise, so it's really important that you truly deeply enjoy what you do.

2) Start your business while you're still employed

How long can most people live without money? Not long - unless the business you are making involves growing/hunting/fishing for food. And it may be a long time before your new business actually makes any profits. Being employed while you're starting a business means money in your pocket while you're going through the early stages.

3) Don't do it alone - Get a business partner if possible!

If you can't find a business partner at very least you need a support system while you're starting a business. A family member or friend that you can bounce ideas off and who will listen sympathetically to the latest business start up crisis is invaluable. Even better, find a mentor or, if you qualify, apply for a business start up program. When you're starting a business experienced guidance is the best support system of all.

4) Get clients or customers first

Don't wait until you've officially started your business to line these up, because your business can't survive without them. Do the networking. Make the contacts. Sell or even give away your products or services to gain reviews. Start marketing immediately and always be ready to impress a potential client.

5) Write a business plan

The main reason for doing a business plan first when you're thinking of starting a business is that it can help you avoid sinking your time and money into starting a business that will not succeed. Have other people look over your business plan and look for gaps / ways to make it more profitable.

6) Do the research

You'll do a lot of research writing a business plan, but that's just a start. When you're starting a business, you need to become an expert on your industry, products and services, if you're not already an expert. Learn what your competition is doing. Joining related industry or professional associations before you start your business is a great idea to learn whatever everyone else in the industry is doing right - and what they are doing wrong.

7) Get professional help

You don't have to be an expert on everything. If you're not an accountant or bookkeeper, hire one (or both). If you need to write up a contract, and you're not a lawyer, hire one. You will waste more time and possibly money in the long run trying to do things yourself that you are not qualified to do.

eg. Get a professionally designed website by a local Toronto website designer. And get local SEO so you can advertise your business online locally. (I can recommend a company if you want.)

8) Get the money lined up

Save up if you have to. Approach potential investors and lenders - including friends and family. Figure our your financial fall-back plan. Don't expect to start a business and then walk into a bank and get money. Traditional lenders don't like new ideas and don't like businesses without proven track records.

9) Be professional office supplies / printing

Everything about you and the way you do business needs to let people know that you are a professional running a serious business. That means getting all the accoutrements such as professional business cards, a business phone and a business email address, and treating people in a professional, courteous manner.

One of the companies I recommend for this is VistaPrint, which sells business cards, brochures and a variety of other printing products like online photo albums. When I asked around VistaPrint was a company many people recommended, and I now recommend it to others too.

10) Legal and tax issues

Is what you are doing actually legal? Does your business need to be registered? Will you have to charge taxes / HST? Will you have to have Workers' Compensation Insurance or deal with payroll taxes? How will the form of business you choose affect your income tax situation? Learn what your legal and tax responsibilities are before you start your business and operate accordingly.

Ontario government admits to dropping the ball on horse racing

The Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ted McMeekin, has finally come clean to the Ontario horse racing industry that the ministry made a mistake by rushing the decision to end the Slots-at-Racetracks Program (SARP).

Why is this important you might ask?

Let me explain.

Years ago the OLG (Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.) and the horse races were the only legal ways to gamble in Ontario. Then along came the casino in Niagara Falls and similar locations. Gamblers began to flock to such locations and the Ontario government realized that casinos were extremely popular and profitable, so why not have more of them? So they came up with a scheme wherein they offered to put slot machines at Ontario racetracks, so that gamblers could gamble at the slots 7 days per week and not have to travel that far to find legalized gambling. (The horse races do operate every day of the week, but not all racetracks have daily races. Instead many use tele-theatres for betting so gamblers can bet on races happening in the USA and even overseas in Australia, Japan, Britain, etc.)

Now to get the permission of the horse racing industry to have slots at racetracks, they sweetened the deal by agreeing to give them a share of the profits. Otherwise the horse racing industry would have been taking huge losses by allowing their competition to setup shop and not see a single penny of the profits when some gamblers choose slots over horses.

With time however what has happened is that the demographics of gamblers have changed. The people who bet on horses are typically older, often retirees or pensioners, and they are dwindling in numbers. In contrast the younger generations of gamblers want instant thrills and don't want to wait half an hour for a horse race to start. So as time progressed it eventually reached a point wherein the profits between the horse betting industry and the slots industry was split roughly 20 percent to 80 percent.

So much so that the slots was basically propping up the horse betting industry - and the horse breeding industry as a whole. Without the extra income from gamblers, horse breeders would have to either quit and do something else or they would need to move to a country that still has a robust horse betting industry.

So when Ontario government realized they were basically propping up an industry some idiotic paper-pushing bureaucrat apparently got it into their head that it would save the government a lot of money if they pulled out of slots industry and took all the slots away from the horse races, and effectively shut down both horse betting and horse racing - and horse breeding! - all at once, it was the result of penny-pinching bureaucrats not realizing what they would do to an entire industry.

Basically it would demolish it. Horse breeding isn't just about raising race horses. That is the thoroughbreds. But there is also a market for horses meant for hobbyists, show jumpers, and so forth that would be hurt in the process. If you remove a large chunk of the pie from an industry that is so interconnected it causes the other parts to wither.

So the Ministry of Agriculture began rushing through the whole process in their efforts to shut down both the slots and horse races... with their goal of driving the horse betting industry out of business, and then 1 year later, buying up the old land and reintroducing slot machines - except this time they wouldn't have to share profits any more.

What is more is that they have even admitted to doing this.

While conducting an interview, Agriculture Minister Ted McMeekin admitted his government "dropped the ball" on horse racing and stated that he hoped that the government would be "A little bit more collaborative then we’ve been. And that we’ll listen better than we have. And we will quit trying to wedge issues."

Now to be fair, the horse racing industry is now basically suing the Ontario government for deliberately trying to squash their industry - an industry which in Ontario effects about 55,000 jobs. That is like trying to shut down 3 or 4 automotive plants and not expecting them to protest.

One MPP issued a release on Monday stating that the Ministry of Agriculture "picked an unnecessary battle with the harness racing community and for what? To come back almost a year later and say ‘sorry I was wrong’? If the Minister had sat down, weighed the pros and cons and actually talked to those in the industry then we wouldn’t have had this crisis and he wouldn’t have to issue this mea culpa. [yada yada yada] ... start doing the research and listening to the people."

The bureaucratic decision to try and shut down horse betting/racing needlessly risked over 55,000 jobs in Ontario’s once thriving horse racing industry and alienated many rural communities.

Now we should also note that you can also do horse race betting online, so you technically don't need to go to a horsetrack any more to bet on such things (but its still fun to go if you just want to see the horses and make a few small bets). Such websites are typically for the USA horse betting industry, and also allow greyhound betting, betting on football, sports such as golf, tennis, cricket, rugby, motor sports, soccer, snooker, basketball, baseball, cycling, hockey, cycling, darts and even UFC.

And I suppose that just goes to show you that the USA just loves to gamble a lot.

Rob Ford is making Mel Lastman look like a genius

According to Mel Lastman, Mayor Rob Ford is making former Mayor Lastman “look like a genius.”

Mel Lastman, who was Toronto’s outspoken mayor from 1998 to 2003, said Wednesday at a Brampton Bad Boy store opening that Rob Ford’s stubbornness is putting the city in jeopardy.

“All I know is since I’ve left (politics), I look like a genius,” said Lastman, age 79.

“I’m not a genius, obviously, but he makes me look like one. I know him, he’s stubborn and stubborn sometimes is good, but not constantly. You can’t be that stubborn and run a city.”

Since taking the mayoral office in 2010, Ford has had his fair share of public turmoil — controversies, lawsuits, conflict-of-interest, allegations of nepotism and Rob Ford's patented "foot in mouth syndrome".

Lastman, who also was no stranger to controversy during his years in the political realm, said Ford’s reign is dividing the city. Lastman was he first mayor of an amalgamated Toronto — one that incorporated six municipalities and Metro council.

“He’s given credit for things and that’s fine, but the city is all confused. It’s in different camps and it’s crazy to divide it. When I became mayor it was the biggest merger in history,” says Lastman. “I didn’t divide the city, and that’s what is happening now. A mayor should not be any party, as a mayor. He’s got to be an independent and he’s got to be what’s right for the city and it’s not working that way. That makes me sad.”

Truly it is a testament to how dumb and stubborn Rob Ford is. Even when he realizes he has made a dumb mistake, he sticks to his mistake stubbornly because he doesn't want to flip-flop on an issue. So instead he just looks even more stupid for not admitting his mistakes.

Rob Ford may go down in history as the dumbest mayor Toronto has ever seen.

Stuckism show in London turns eyes

Stuckism was founded by Charles Thomson and Billy Childish in 1999 with 12 artists to promote contemporary figurative painting and oppose conceptual art. It has since grown to an international art movement of 233 groups in 52 countries. The name was coined after Childish’s ex-girlfriend, Tracey Emin, said he was “Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!” The concept struck, the Stuckism movement brought forth several Stuckist manifestos in an effort to draw other artists to their cause, including one where the term "Remodernism" was coined.

This month the Bermondsey Project Gallery at 46 Willow Walk, London UK will host a special event titled: "Stuckists: Elizabethan Avant-Garde" and will run from Friday the 5th to Sunday the 21st of October, open 7 days a week, 1 – 6 pm. A press launch will be held on Thursday the 4th at 6:30.


For more info about the event visit www.bermondseyproject.co.uk or phone 020 7036 2416.

The special event will include paintings from over 30 Stuckist artists from the UK and abroad.

For more information on Stuckism we recommend reading "A Stuckist on Stuckism".

If you are looking for more information on other art movements check out the following art history links:


Abstract Expressionism  
American Scene 
Constructivism 
Cubism 
Dada  
Earth Art 
Fantasy Art 
Impressionism  
Neo-Gothic Art  
Neo-Pop Art  
Neue Sachlichkeit 
 Pin Up Art  
Pop Art  
Precisionism  
Prehistoric Art  
Romanticism 
Salon de la Rose Croix 
Social Realism 
Stuckism 
Surrealism 
Video Art 
Visionary Art 
World of Art