Building your own Business in Canada

Problems and Wisdom

It would be really great if folks, who have been through the mill of starting their own businesses in Canada, would post their experience and wisdom here. This could potentially be one of the most positive ways of helping new arrivals in this country to contribute to the Canadian economy and be successful. Those who have the intention of starting their own business here, would then have a good place to get practical wisdom on the situation and have a place to ask questions.

Hendie,

Is híérdie dalk díé plek op die forum om die vraag wat ek per e-pos aan jou gestel het, te vra.

Harry,

As Hendie sê 'ja', gaan Cathy en ek baie hulp nodig kry van híérdie forum.

Pierre K.

Hi Harry

There are great opportunities to make good money in Canada for SA enterpreneurs. There are also a lot of pitfalls and it is wise to get referred to good lawyers, accountants, bankers and reliable sources before jumping into anything.
The tax breaks for business owners here are very good and a great incentive for people to consider their own businesses.

For a FREE e Copy of my book, "How to Start Your Own Business with No Money and No Risk, e mail me at robin@dollarmakers.com This book sells worlwide on Amazon.com for US$14.95 and it is libraries across North America.

My website contains free information as well: the Fifteen Critical Criteria by which people should evaluate any business they're getting into or buying, plus the 8 Business Myths Debunked. These facts will help them to avoid dangerous pitfalls. www.dollarmakers.com

This information can be of assistance to SA immigrants who want to make their financial dreams come true in Canada and also have th time to enjoy this great country.

A famous merchandising tycoon told the following story at a conference:

"There was town out in the Old west that had two general stores. Harry, who owned one of them was a workaholic. He opened early, stayed in the store all day and closed late. Even so, he barely made a living.

Larry, who ran the other store, came in at nine. At ten he went out back where he kept some cattle, and made all the cows turn and face north. After lunch, Larry went out back again and made all the cows turn and face south. This practice was repeated every day

Larry's store was successful and he became wealthy."

The speaker then asked his audience if anyone could tell what principle of merchandising was illustrated by the story.

A guy in the back stood up and said, "That's easy. The point is if you want to be successful in merchandising, it is important to rotate your stock!"

I was wondering why Pick 'n Pay had all their tomato sauce bottles upside down the other day

Hello Harry,

This is Rob Arthurs.

I am a Certified Business Coach & Consultant I have been self-employed for 19 years in a variety of businesses in BC & Alberta.

It is always amazing to watch new immigrants come to this country and try to set up businesses without any intelligence on the market place or people. Think of Canada's provinces & territories as countries we do business differently in every province we all may read the same papers and honor the same flag but doing business in Toronto is much different than Vancouver or Edmonton and so are the people!

Toronto is "get the deal done quick."
Vancouver is, well... Lifestyle! Slower pace.

Vancouver has a population of 2.5 million but it is made up of islands, so to speak. The North shore for example is 200 thousand and those people don't drive to Richmond and vise versa because of the landscape here and bridges you never really get access to the whole population. So do your intelligence!

P.S. I was born and raised in Canada
Thanks

Rob Arthurs

Harry: I did a bit of a layout edit for you. Hope it'sOK!
Hendie: Trimmed to remove service advertising. Please honour our advertising requirements.

Great subject.

I do not believe it is possible to start a business from scratch is a absolutely new environment, not unless you have lots of money and that is not the case with most folk that are leaving SA. Unless they have stashed money outside the border for some time. But there are folk that would want to invest Ca$300k in a business. My desire for this to happen is because I would like to join up with a business that is established but unable to grow due to lack of funds to finance the growth. I assume the person is unable to get funds from the banks to finance the growth and more important also needs a partner to share the long hours and take control of the operation side of the business.

I would not start a business myself and invest such money's after reading a handbook nor would I do so without the knowledge of a history that shows good potential.

Hi Rob,

Welcome to SACanada. Born and raised in Canada is good!

I guess the only slight mod I'd like to make to your statement on the subject of the North Shore, is that they heavily commute to Burnaby across the 2nd Narrows Bridge and across the Lions Gate Bridge to Vancouver City. The North Shore also has one of the densest hight tech populations in Canada, quite a number of whom commute to Richmond's high tech area...but generally bewail that commute and would like to escape it. They treat the mountains as their playgound and the City as their entertainment, but the North Shore as their culture and home. I believe they treat visits to the rest of the Greater Vancouver Area as largely a burden or a special trip for a good price. That's just my perception, having lived here about 5 years.

By the way, I suggest you make use of our Commercial Section where you can get a really good deal from Hendie, the "Big Chief" of our forum.

Hi Rob,

Great to see you on this forum. I think the imput from someone who is Canadian born and raised can shed a lot more light on the market and the business of Business Ownership. I know that you know many successful South African Business Immigrants (since I have met you through various people on several occasions) to comment on what they should have done to achieve success sooner and what they did have personality and character-wise to achieve what they did.

I would suggest you take Harry up on his suggestion to advertise in the commercial section. I understand there are many immigrants that will still be coming in and will consider the business ownership option and will have many more questions, so it would be good if we had a resident business guru.

On this note I can say that Rob's seminar's are good to attend and answer many questions that I never thought of to ask when I started my consultation business.

I would also suggest you place a brief hello in the Foyer. But anyhow, once again welcome Rob.

Hi Rob,

Welcome to SACanada, and thanks foir your "local" perspective on business. We can certainly do with that!

You will forgive me for trimming down your post a little to remove the service advertising parts. We do not allow outright advertising in the regular discussion forums, but ask that folks advertise their wares and services in our Advertising forums. Interestingly, you are the second business coach who visit our forum. Marilyn Johnson of Calgary also did, and was impressed enough to place an ad to support our efforts. You're welcome to follow suit. The advertising guidelines are set out in a Help Article.

Welcome aboard!

My Apologies Hendie & Group! I assumed after reading Robin's notes with his URL's. I should have read the fine print!
Rob A

No problem Rob. With regards to Robin though, he is one of our advertisers and a strong supporter of the forum, and South Africans trying to make it in Canada. He is always available to offer advice at little or no cost to anyone who is prepared to listen to his ideas.

If you read the article that I referred you to in my previous post, you will find all the information you need in order to advertise your services here too.

Hi Rob, welcome here.

Maybe you can add some local perspective to my posts I have put up about starting a business. As I am still in SA, I have only been able to give general advice. Hopefully one day the advice will be more specific...

[QUOTE]It would be really great if folks, who have been through the mill of starting their own businesses in Canada, would post their experience and wisdom here. This could potentially be one of the most positive ways of helping new arrivals in this country to contribute to the Canadian economy and be successful. Those who have the intention of starting their own business here, would then have a good place to get practical wisdom on the situation and have a place to ask questions.

I would be interested in some specific response to this statement. More specifically is you were a new arrival and started your business without having lived and networked in the area.