Business | Economic Development Corporation

Canadian Spies Scolded for Using Logo on Accessories

Sometimes we work in places where we have to look professional, and certain things are okay in some environments but not in others. The best thing to do is to always be modest in dress; don’t be too revealing, and don’t be too trendy. We never know when it’ll come to the boss’s attention, so being safe is better than being sorry.

Some businesses require that their employees keep the location secret, and they make them sign statements where they swear not to divulge the goings on there. A business like that would do well to seem invisible, like spies. But not like Canadian spies – their government had to make an announcement that all Canadian spies should stop wearing clothing and accessories that have the CSIS logo or name on it.

New Memo: Canadian Spies Have to be More Discreet

No more hats, purses, key chains or other items with the crest logo and CSIS on them. These types of items aren’t sold in stores around town, they’re only sold at a small, secret gift shop in the basement of the CSIS building. Nobody is supposed to know about it, but it’s there.

The Canadian Press revealed that it had gotten a copy of the document via access to information regulation, and it warned all spies to be more discreet. They acknowledged that most civilians don’t recognize their logo, but given the Internet and increasing media attention, the spies are apt to be recognized.

That secret gift shop puts out a secure online catalogue of their goods that’s only available to the spies’ mailing lists. But, now that the press has gotten ahold of the document, it’s even published pictures of the items the memo talks about. Anyone who wasn’t aware of them or their logo is fully aware of them now!

Rumor has it we’ll be seeing them show up on eBay soon.

Filed Under: Business, Finance Tagged With: Business, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Financial Planning, Financial Services

Rearranging The Budget

If you have a solid budget plan for your business and you have followed it to the letter, you have been able to keep your business in the black. Each budgeting dollar is accounted for and you know exactly where your money is going. However, in times of need, such as a recession, the budget may need to be completely redone. You may basically need to rob from one coffer to fatten another. A little creative bookkeeping can help. While you may be over budget for some parts of your business, you may be under budgets in other areas. Normally you would just work within your means and keep the budget that has worked for you. During a recession, however this budget is not working and you need to free up some more cash flow. Keeping in mind that you will return to what works best for the company after the crisis, you can free up some unused cash as needed.

For example, you may have had to cut your staff, which would of course free up some salary budget as well as possibly some of the Human Resources budget. You may need to put that money to good use in some extra advertising, maybe some public service announcements about how your business is in the recession with everyone else, suggesting ways you can work together to get through. Offering discounts or special payment plans may be just what is needed to get the consumer to choose your business. Of course these discounts and special payment plans will need to be covered, and you may need to rearrange the budget time and time again until you are comfortable.

You may find during a recession that you have actually learned a better way of doing things. To survive the recession and find a better way to do business, may make you believe it was not all that bad.

Filed Under: Business, Spending Tagged With: Accounting, Budget, Business, Cash flow, Expense, Recession

Economic Challenges

The business that survives the economic challenge of the recession is a rarity. Many, many businesses go under during difficult financial times. The challenges are too severe, and they buckle under the pressure of having to keep their customers satisfied at times when they have no money or cash flow to keep them afloat. Keeping a level head and weathering the recession is difficult at best, challenging to say the least. Trying to balance keeping the employees happy in times when you may have had to cut benefits, take away overtime and suspend time off, as well as convince the staff to continue to produce the same quality service or product is difficult. Keeping your staff and employees informed of what is going on and what you are doing to address each issue as it occurs will keep anyone from feeling as though they are being pushed out or taken advantage of.

The money and cash flow is a different story. You will find you are more creative than you thought. You will come up with ways to keep the product coming. Challenge your employees at this time. Make them aware that new ways need to be found to keep the product moving and the money flowing. Ask for their help and let them know that this is for their own good too. If the business can stay profitable you will not have to resort to more cut backs or even lay offs. Most employees are more than willing to pitch in when needed. It is to their benefit as well. You will find that it is just as important to them as it is to you, to have your business making money.

When you and your employees come together for the cause of keeping your business open and running smoothly, you will be surprised how resourceful you all can be.

Filed Under: Economic Development Tagged With: Business, Recession

Creative Financing

The world of high finance. Businesses need money to run. That is a fact. It is also a fact that during a recession there is not a lot of money to go around. It is imperative that businesses find other ways, new ways to create a cash flow that they can use. If there is not a lot of money coming into the business, the business needs to do some creating financing to keep things running smoothly, and to keep their product or service ready and available to all who wish it or need it.

There are loans that you can take. There are short-term loans to get you through. Do not take these loans if you are not confident that you will be able to pay them back within the proper time frame. This can be more damaging to your business then anything. You can use the revenue from your larger purchases to finance your smaller purchases. Keeping your money constantly working for you is the best way to keep the product or service out there for the consumer. Constantly keeping an eye on the money coming in as well as the money going out will give you a good idea as to where you can best dip in to fill the void in another section. You can run a special perhaps on some overstock you have. If this was paid for a while ago, all the money made from the sales can be generated back into purchasing current stock needed to stay up and running.

Creative financing is an art, a badly needed art in these difficult economic times. If you can find ways to finance the purchase of the items that generate the most income for your company, you will have a better handle on surviving the recession, and you might just learn a new trick.

Filed Under: Finance Tagged With: Business, Finance

Business Trend: Quick Capital

For every large business that falls prey to the economy, there are hundreds of smaller ones that are being forced to close their doors. One culprit for small businesses being forced to close is the lack of available cash flow. Selling goods and services to consumers and other companies who neglect or default on payment forces a cash flow shortage on the business provider, thereby effectively crippling their business.

Small businesses have long been leery of doing business with traditional banks, and this is especially true in today’s economy. Large banking institutions are cautious when lending to small businesses. The result is that small businesses are often at a loss of where to turn to secure more working capital.

All too often small business owners turn to their company and personal credit cards for purchasing supplies or to pay for repairs, upkeep and overhead. This can quickly add up to a staggering amount of money that becomes difficult to pay back, especially considering the amount of interest credit cards charge.

Another possible source of capital is the personal wealth and assets of the business owners. Here again small businesses run into trouble as owners apply for second and third mortgages on their homes to finance their business. Personal assets such as stocks are liquidated, leaving little for retirement or as a contingency should the business fail.

The solution to many of these problems is a service like PayDay One. Payday loans make a business out of supplying small business owners and individuals with short term cash loans to help them stay financially afloat. Business owners can quickly and easily secure money to help pay for equipment repairs or to resupply, and pay it back gradually at rates that are not going to send them to the bankruptcy lawyer. Payday loan services are seeing a growing trend in businesses using their services. Consider following this trend next time your small business runs into a cash shortfall.

Filed Under: Business, Finance Tagged With: Business, Payday loan, PayDay One, Small business

Is There A Recession Proof Business

During a recession everyone suffers. That it is a time when people pull together as a country. Very few businesses are not touched by a recession. For example someone selling fur coats for a living may just have to close his or her doors. During a recession most people do not see the need for a fur coat and when using your hard earned money just to pay the bills, a new fur coat is the furthest thing from your mind. However, the healthcare industry, direct health care, seems to be recession proof. True people are not running to the doctor for every sniffle, so this business may feel a little pinch, but emergencies arise and cannot be pushed aside. If you are sick, you are sick, and your family is counting on you. You need to get your problem taken care of. The same thing applies to pharmaceuticals. While the competition heats up, the recession is not likely to rock the prescription world. There are too many people dependent on medication for their health. During a recession you may find that new and better ways of controlling whatever condition it is you have come along, pharmaceutical companies are not going to go under during a recession.

For the most part, luxury products and the businesses that produce them will feel the greatest pressure from a recession. These are the businesses most likely to close their doors first. When people cannot afford their own mortgages they are hard pressed to see a luxury service or item as necessary. If these types of businesses can survive during the recession, chances are they will once again flourish when money is once again free flowing. The necessity businesses will survive because they are providing a service that is needed all the time. The only challenge for them is to keep their costs down, so they too can weather the recession.

Filed Under: Business, Recession Tagged With: Business, Recession

The Economy Affects Your Business

If your business has anything to do with purchasing or selling a product of service you will indeed by affected by the economy. In poor economic times, any and all business suffer, or at least feel the effects. Money is tighter, people are not spending. In a flourishing economy, there is more money flow. The dollars are easier to come by and people are spending. There are exceptions in both directions. For example, everyone needs gas to drive to and from work. You would definitely consider gas a necessity. While people are trying to cut back and conserve, gas is something they are always going to buy. You cannot wake up one morning and decide that you are no longer going to buy gas. You will not be able to get to work and you had better pray the kids never miss the bus to school. You might purchase a more fuel efficient car and car pool where you can, but you will buy gas at some point. Therefore the economy will have an effect on the gas business, but nowhere near as much as other businesses.

Restaurants, for example, can suffer greatly during poor economic times. You do have to drive to work, but you do not have to go out to eat. You do not have to sit in a restaurant. The art of cooking is coming back during this recession. Going to grocery store and creating your own meals on a shoestring budget are much more economical than ordering take-out or going to a sit down restaurant. This type of business is highly effected by a poor economy. You might get to go out to dinner once in a while, though. Tough times force business like restaurants to run great deals in order to entice people to come out of the house and buy dinner.

Filed Under: Business, Finance Tagged With: Business, Economy, Insurance, Private sector

Learning From The Recession

Was your business ready to survive this recession? Did you plan enough for the lack of sales and the decrease in customers? Have you been able to keep your business going during these difficult times? The recession poses many challenges, challenges that most businesses would rather not face. None of us chose to face the recession. The recession just happened. It landed smack in the middle of flourishing businesses and record sales, a time when the American consumer was just working all the overtime available and spending his hard earned money. As the recession occurred, purse strings tightened. The consumer no longer had expendable cash on hand. The longer recession, the more difficult the survival for most businesses. Businesses all over are longing, day after day, for an end to the tight budgets, cutting corners and jumping through hoops for the few customers they are able to rake in.

However, if we can see good come from hardship, and we all should, there are new things learned every day the recession continues. Businesses all over are learning new ways, creative ways of keeping their product or service running smoothly, and available to the public. Many businesses who work on orders only are learning that more point of sale transactions occur during recession. While impulsive buying is way down, the fact that if you have the cash at the time you want the item, people tend to buy it. If you have to order it and wait for it, another, more important purchase can come along and eat up the money you had ear marked for your purchase. Having enough of your product on hand, or enough people to perform your service, can make a cash-strapped consumer choose your service or product over another one.

Keeping your product or service available at all times can help you ride the recession into prosperity again.

Filed Under: Business, Recession Tagged With: Business, Consumer, Insurance, Recession, Retail Trade

The Challenge Of The Business Loan

Your business has done well. You have enjoyed a long and prosperous relationship with your customers. They have kept your business flourishing. In a recession even the most loyal customers have to tighten their belts. The lucrative flow of cash can slow down to a trickle or stop altogether. It is not that your product or service has changed, it is just that most people do not have the luxury of doing all of the things they can in more affluent times.

Of course you want to keep your business going. You understand that you may have to cut back on certain things, tighten the corporate belt as well. You obviously do not want to compromise the quality of your product or service, or the availability to the customer. You never know when someone might have a few extra bucks that they will spend on your product or service.

Your budget is stretched to its limit as well. Unless you have a rich Uncle Vinny who can loan you a lot of cash without breaking your legs, you will need to venture into the world of the business loan, and guess what? The loan companies are just as strained, and more than ever, are requiring more to get a loan. If you have been a savvy businessman or woman you have made sure that your credit is impeccable. This is very important when delving into the loan world. Your company has been stable and steady, another very important piece of the puzzle. Do not try to borrow more money than you need. It will just take you longer to pay it back and your goal is to get back to being independent and profitable. Presenting a confident business proposition, along with your good name and credit, you should be able to get a loan to help you through the tough times.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: Business

Should I Start My Business Now?

You have a service that you can provide or a product to sell. You have researched what you need to start up your business and you are ready to go. Is this the best time to start a business? Maybe a recession can be the best time for you to start a business. Since starting your own business means you have either invested a lot or most of your own money, or you have investors who will need to know that your business is turning a profit, you need to be sure that this is your time.

If you have a business that requires marketing, is that all in place? Do you have the right marketing people working for you, and have they been able to stay within your budget? Do you have a management team? Maybe this is a small business and you are the management team. That can work too. When you become a conglomerate you can always hire a management team to work for you. Are you going to need employees? Will you be able to offer your employees enough incentive for them to help make your business successful? Keeping the employee happy, as well as the customer is the perfect balance.

Maybe a recession is the perfect time to start a business. If you have a business where you can start out small and build, what better time to build? You will be learning lots of creative ways to keep the customer happy, as customer dollars are the way to a successful business. If you have all your ducks in a row, and you are prepared to maybe not be so successful at first, this may be exactly the right time for you to start your business. With little extra money to go around, at least you will know that if you are successful, imagine what could happen in times of prosperity.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: Business, Small business