Despite their relatively small numbers, fast-growing young firms generate approximately 10 percent of new jobs in any given year

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With this in mind if we offered you a FREE Business Course over 5 weeks twice a week in the evenings where we’d teach you “How to Build a Successful Small Business” Would you attend?

Over the last 14 years that I have trained business owners. The most successful business owners we have trained:

1. Attended a BizLaunch business training program where they learnt how to develop a business plan and business model
2. Have a few mentors they meet regularly with
3. Work harder than the average person
4. Have a great attitude
5. Create jobs

To build a great economy you need to:

1. Identify entrepreneurs with a great attitude
2. Teach them how to build a successfull business
3. Help them perfect their business model
4. Offer them on-going mentorship and coaching
5. Offer them the opportunity to network locally and internationally with people that can help them grow their business

….. and they’ll create jobs. So if you’re in Economic Development follow these simple steps and you’ll grow the economy and create jobs.

1.  Decide if email is the right way to communicate. It may be a better idea to make a phone call, send a fax, meet one-on-one or write a letter
2. Ensure that you use an interesting subject line that gets attention
3. Start off your email appropriately. It depends on your relationship with the person. Some people still like to be called Mrs or Mr, especially in places like Russia
4. Keep your emails short and get your point across quickly. Use bullet points. Nobody reads long emails. Avoid using jargon
5. Ensure that you personalise the email and that you spell people’s names correctly
6. Ensure that you include a signature file
7. Check that your email gets your point across clearly and do a spell check before you send an email

I often offend people with my short to the point emails so be careful

March 9^th at 2pm EST – (WEBINAR) Sources of Finance for Business Growth – Grants, Loans and Free Money

March 9^th at 6.30pm – (In Store Seminar) 5 Small Business Strategies for Social Media

March 10^th at 2pm EST – (WEBINAR) Develop a Business Plan to Boost Your Sales and Profits

March 10^th at 6.30pm – (In Store Seminar) How to Use Offline and Online Networking to Grow your Business

March 11^th at 2pm EST – (WEBINAR) The Art of Successful Networking Offline and Online

March 11^th at 6.03pm (In Store Seminar ) How to Improve Your Website and Develop an Online Marketing Strategy

For a full list of seminars visit: http://www.bizlaunch.ca

I am in Svetlogorsk, Russia training small business advisors and really enjoying myself. The more I work internationally the more I realise the only thing that stops you growing your business globally is your confidence. If you offer a great service in Canada why can’t you sell it anywhere else in the world?

• To grow your business internationally focus on developing great relationships

• Accept that there are some cultural differences but the basic business principles are the same everywhere

• Do research on the country you’re visiting but remember you’re the expert. So share your expertise and knowledge

• Get a good interpreter that understands you and gets your point across

• Be prepared to answer lots of questions about your country and how similar or different it is

• Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions

• Try the local foods, spend time with locals and tour cities you visit

Travel, see the world and make money

When travelling one thing I always expect is good customer service, but I am often let down by people that just don’t get it. To ensure you’re giving your customers great service stick to these basic rules:

1. Ensure that your employees smile at customers. If you’re in customer service you must master the art of the genuine smile

2. Greet customers like you would guests to your home

3. Always say please and thank you

4. Try and memorise people’s name and call them by their name

5. Always under-promise and over-deliver

6. Answer the phone with a smile within 3 or 4 rings

7. If  you’re in retail  escort customers to a product or department they’re looking for rather than just pointing directions

8. Ensure that you and your employees are neat and well presented

9. If you’re in retail  ensure your employees wear name badges

10. Train your employees how to offer brilliant service

I am in Latvia this week and in Russia next week training entrepreneurs and small business support experts. People often ask me: how do I get this work? So let me tell you my story. I first worked in Russia in 2001. I met Peter the head of a project in Nizhny Novgorod in 2000 at a small business development conference in Turin, Italy. He was looking for a small business expert to evaluate a project he was working on in Russia. He asked me if I would be interested in working on the project, I said yes and that’s how the relationship started. He then moved to a new project in Kaliningrad and asked me again to work with him in 2009. So it takes a little bit of luck, saying yes even when you’re not sure you can do it and maintaining relationships. The project I am working on in Latvia is through a contact I met in Belgium at another conference a few years ago. So how can you grow your business internationally and export your products and services:

• Identify the ideal countries for your product or services
• Start off by doing online research
• Use this tool to check if you’re ready to export http://www.exportdiagnostic.ca/
• Use this site to find free export help http://www.tradecommissioner.gc.ca
• Forum for International Trade Training http://www.fitt.ca/home.htm
• Attend trade missions
• Go to international tradeshows www.tsnn.com
• Network with other exporters http://www.tisanet.ca/
• Develop relationships with local and international chambers of commerce
• Never give up

Free BizLaunch Webinars

Simple Systems to Manage Your Time and Build a Great Business – Tuesday, March 2nd at 2pm  EST

Great Presentation Skills Perfect Your Pitch and Grow – Wednesday, March 3rd at 2pm EST

5 Social Media Tools You Can Use to Grow Your Business – Thursday, March 4th at 2pm EST

Attend these web seminars and get free discount coupons from Staples

by Amanda Sutton

I’m happy to submit my first guest post for BizLaunch.ca. As their publicity and communications consultants, Catalyst Communications Choreography along with my associate Marc Hill wanted to share how we achieved national media coverage using their proprietary information and a great idea!

The following case study will outline step by step how we turned a timely piece of information into a survey that led to national coverage for BizLaunch in The Financial Post and other newspapers across Canada.

With the rise in social media and the recession still a looming topic for many small business owners, we decided to look ahead and conduct a survey in December 2009 about where entrepreneurs planned on spending their marketing dollars for the coming year.

With a set of 11 questions, we were able to distribute and acquire responses from over 200 small business owners in a very short period. The results lead to some interesting observations – among them was the fact that out of a list of the most popular marketing tools, Public Relations was ranked as the most important to small business, ahead of social media marketing and SEO.

We set to work on publicizing the results of the survey:

1. Create a newsworthy story angle

2. Write an interesting release featuring survey results

3. Contact and engage business editors

- Create a pitch note and emailed to reporter with link to the news release

- Provide quotes and other experts around the same topic

- Follow up with media to offer assistance with story development

Our approach worked, and the journalist went on to build a story around the PR statistics from Bizlaunch’s survey and even engaged other PR experts for their opinion and point of view. The other benefit is that I was quoted in the article, a rare feat for a PR person!

Public Relations is about telling stories, so if you want to be featured in the media make sure you find a story to share. Through the use of the tools available we created a story that was timely, interesting and relevant.

What has been your greatest media relations success story?