Aug 11, 2016
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Opportunity.To
Where your career takes off...
“What If?” Here is a fun little animation from Taiji Brand Group and Giant ant for Community Futures. The minute and a half long spot has a really nice look to it, with fluid animation, a great color pallet, nice script and story line, and great visual layouts from scene to scene.
Getting your small business ready for Christmas
Yes, it's that time of year again. The holidays are coming and getting you, your staff, and your businesses ready is no little task. Below are some key areas to keep in mind.
Marketing
Many people are reluctant to shift their thinking to everything Christmas. The festive season can be stressful for your consumers, so why not try to be a resource instead of overwhelming them with aggressive promotion? Provide your customers with something they can actually use, like advice on how to prepare a shopping list or how to throw a dinner party.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" If you executed a successful email campaign for Easter, then who's to say it won't work for Christmas?
Some companies may have a marketing plan; others, well, let's just say they like to fly by the seat of their pants. It is never too soon to start putting final touches on your holiday marketing plan.
Make sure your inventory stocking is stuffed
Most business will expect an increase in sales therefore will have to make sure they have adequate stock. Equally, make sure you don't overstock, or you may have cash tied up in unsold inventory.
Getting enough Elves on the shop floor
Your employees may have to work overtime, or sacrifice time over the holiday season to help cover longer store hours. Make sure your staff is aware of holiday hours. Prepare a holiday schedule with your employees well in advance, to help relieve any confusion or disgruntled employees. Throwing a staff Christmas party can be a great way to say thanks to your staff and let them know that you appreciate what they have brought to the organization. If a party is not in your budget, simply acknowledging their hard work can go along way.
Some may hire temporary staff to cover shifts. It's a good idea to bring these employees on prior to the holiday rush. Make sure they are trained in customer service, cash, product knowledge, etc.
Holiday Decor
When decorating your business for the season you should consider the following : Location, Consumers & Budget. While you can create a welcoming atmosphere in your physical location, remember to dress up your virtual store too.
Don't forget about gift certificates
Gift cards and certificates create convenient gift options. These sales generally carry over into the next year and the recipient generally spends more than the value of the certificate.
Mind Mapping for Small Businesses: What Is It?
What is it?
Mind mapping is simply drawing out your ideas (and no I do not mean drawing out as in wasting time, I want you to sit down pen to paper and draw something or because we are in the 21st century I suppose it can be mouse to monitor.)
How does it work?
In the middle is your main idea with branches of sub-idea and from there even smaller braches can arise. By mind mapping you can discover what your big picture idea is, and from there what the major and minor categories are; what you need to address first. By deciding to draw a mind map of your business it will help you with thinking/re-thinking decisions. You can also map out how many steps something will take; if you didn’t map it out, things may be forgotten or you would have never thought of a new idea.
What does it look like?
A mind map can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Visual learners may use color coding to have all the ideas that are based on emotion one color with logic another or ideas that are similar to be the same color. Where as someone who over thinks about ideas or topics they should draw quickly, without pausing, or editing to help get their true needs out. What you are thinking is important so use capital letters (also if all employees are collectively mind mapping capitals help everyone see the words.)
What can I mind map?
You can mind map anything, whether to keep your business small and home based or to expand and buy a store front. It can help you decided if you need to hire more people, and how many. Mind mapping is the way to organize your business.
http://www.gavrielshaw.com/sales-marketing-management/small-business-marketing-strategy/
Creating Opportunities - Ag Producers
Helping Peace region agri-businesses become price makers instead of price takers is the catalyst behind a unique value-added agriculture cluster created by Community Futures Grande Prairie and Region (CFGP).
The “Creating Opportunities” project was to work toward diversifying the agriculture industry and ‘grow’ agricultural entrepreneurs (agri-preneurs). Through a series of roundtable discussions and workshops, project coordinators were able to gain insight into the current issues facing regional agricultural producers and then work to implement strategies to help businesses thrive and grow.
The strategy of the entire project was to improve the agri-preneur’s business position by increasing their knowledge and connecting them to what they needed to succeed.
After just six months, some companies were realizing 50 to 100 per cent growth, several created new food products while others gained entry into new market channels or geographic areas. Overall, all businesses reported a significant improvement in their business planning focus, awareness of existing programs and how to run their businesses more effectively.
Community Futures is proud of our agri-preneurs, and all they are accomplishing. In the coming weeks, we will be showcasing some of them on our blog.
Welcome to Our Blog
Community Futures Grande Prairie and Region has been a success for more than 25 years. The purpose of the CF program in western Canada is to support community economic development, diversify the economy, and maintain and create new employment. The organization has been a part of some wonderful things, including but not limited to: our youth camp NAYEC, business counselling and financing, Ventures program and our Self Employment training.
Community Futures wants to show off our clients! We have worked with so many wonderful people and have helped them create great businesses, that it's time we told the community who they are and what we do. Throughout this blog, you will learn about companies you may have already heard about, but do you really know them? You may also learn about new businesses you have never heard of, but will want to go find about about after hearing about them here! Keep an eye on our Facebook page to see when we will be showcasing the next client.
If you are interested in starting a small business, and would like your business to be showcased on our blog, contact Community Futures and see if we can help you become a small business owner.
Are you an entrepreneur? Here are some characteristics:
self-motivated
smart networking skills
time management
effective communicator
creative
innovative