The 5 W’s of Human Resources

Whether you’re a business owner or an employee, understanding the role of HR within an organization can be beneficial for everyone. From managing employee relations to ensuring compliance with labor laws and regulations, HR plays a vital role in the success of a business. But where exactly does HR happen within a company? And when…

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Preparing for Alberta’s Impending Labour Shortage

A baby boomer looking pensive while thinking about Alberta's labour shortage

With rumours of an impending recession hitting the headlines, many economists are sharing a slightly more positive outlook for Canada. While they’re predicting a period of minimal growth for most of the country, Alberta is expected to weather the storm better than most provinces. At a recent BDC event, I learned that Alberta businesses are…

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Demystifying marketing through education

demystifying marketing

Growing a business of any kind follows a similar series of events and priorities. These include hirings, launches, partnerships, and a whole lot of other decisions and investments. Growing a business is also time-consuming. Heck, prioritizing where you’ll be spending your dollars can feel like a full-time job in itself. We get it. As entrepreneurs,…

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The importance of building community around your brand

Building community around your brand takes a concentrated effort, but lessons can be learned even from the building of communities we live and work in every day. “I have only one purpose, to serve the community. Everything else will follow through.” – Ralph T. Scurfield.  The late Ralph T. Scurfield was truly ahead of his…

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Adopt a learning mindset in your marketing

As I wrote in our previous blog, a solid marketing strategy is the only way to properly focus your resources on achieving your business goals. Once you’ve developed a marketing strategy, there’s no need to feel like the canary in a coal mine when it comes time to implement. Marketing is a big investment into…

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Don’t spread your focus too thin

Some things are better spread thin. Marmite comes to mind. Even those who love it (I stand bravely as one of those people) know a little goes a long way. But focus is not one of those things. Focus is more like ice if we’re picking abstract comparisons. You can build some incredible things with…

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Does your idea of outsourcing need an update?

Once upon a time (or “back in the day” if you prefer), outsourcing had a bad reputation. People associated it with negative identifiers like cheap, rushed, and disconnected. If those are the kinds of qualities you still think about when you think about outsourcing today, it’s time for an update. Outsourcing should be part of…

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The mall had it all, until it didn’t

What can we learn about business adaptation from dead malls? The connection is even more clear than you might think. “I want to live in a mall where the temperature is always the same and people are nice.” – Kevin Meaney, Comedian I am obsessed with dead malls. What are dead malls, you ask? They’re…

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Keeping your current customers happy

Customer retention, or customer loyalty, is one of the most important aspects of sustainable success. But it’s often overlooked. How to win customers and influence the ones you have “Customer satisfaction is worthless. Customer loyalty is priceless.” – Jeffrey Gitomer Having more customers is better than having less. More customers mean more sales. And more…

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Is your marketing budget on a rocket to nowhere?

I spent more than two decades in the entertainment industry, where I reported on new movies. The competition for audience dollars was fierce. Studios that spent $100M+ to make a film often invested an equal amount in marketing, advertising and promotional events. Sometimes the studios’ excessive spending was the stuff of legend. One of the…

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Marketing strategy: The key to diversifying your revenue

If you weren’t already aware of the benefits of diversifying your business revenue, the last year has made it abundantly clear. Depending on limited sources of revenue including individual products or services, major clients, or markets, leaves you vulnerable. If something impacts your main revenue driver and you don’t have revenue streams that can offset…

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