BMO Bank of Montreal and PROFIT Magazine Business Coach Podcast

Hundreds of thousands of Canadian women are in business for themselves and the vast majority of them are mothers, thus the term mompreneur. That means the average Canadian mompreneur is trying to manage their business while managing a young family. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Amy Ballon and Danielle Botterell about just how tough this balancing act can be. In the past decade, they’ve given birth to five children between them plus Admiral Road Designs - the Toronto based producer of personalized blankets. To top it off, they’ve written Mom Inc. “How to raise your family and your business without losing your mind or your shirt”.

In this special 100th episode, Ian seeks to uncover the best business advice and secrets of success of three of Canada’s very best entrepreneurs. Robert Herjavec of Dragon’s Den fame, Global Sustainability leader Bruce Poon Tip and billionaire, Michael Lee-Chin. Here is the twist. Every question will contain the number 100.

It’s no secret that agriculture is big business in Canada. According to the most recent numbers from Statistics Canada, primary agriculture represents nearly 2 per cent of Canadian GDP and nearly 3 per cent of total employment, a number that grows exponentially when you include all of the businesses that are involved in the agriculture sector. What’s less well known to Canadians are agricultural issues. Agriculture touches each of us every day, which makes the issues of Canadian farmers important issues for us all. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Ron Bonnett, the President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

Simple strategies for more effective websites is the subject of this episode of the Business Coach Podcast. There are simply too many bad websites out there. Unfortunately, yours might be one of them. But even if your website gets a passing grade, there are probably some easy ways to make it even more effective at attracting customers, boosting your revenues or reducing your costs. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Peter Freer. Peter is the principal and client strategist of MessageWorks Communications, a marketing and communications agency located in Toronto.

The right insurance is an important tool to protect any business from the many threats they face; from property and personnel loss, to legal liabilities and income shortages caused by circumstances beyond their control. The trick is determining what kind of insurance you really need and how much you should pay for it. Helping companies solve the insurance puzzle is the stock and trade of commercial insurance brokers. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Debbie Thompson, the Director of Business Development for Beyond Insurance Brokers in Whitby Ontario and an Executive Director of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario.

Every business wants positive cash flow, but what should you do with that cash once it starts to pile up? Saving it for rainy day isn't necessarily the best answer. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Bob McMahon, a chartered accountant and partner with BDO Canada LLP. Bob regularly provides his clients with advisory services in the areas of business operations, corporate structuring, tax planning, succession planning and financing.

A lot of entrepreneurs have built vibrant enterprises thanks to the growth of outsourcing. It's long been the domain of big business, but outsourcing has been catching on with small business in recent years often as a way to cut costs in a brutal economy. However, expense reduction isn't the only reason to outsource. In fact, it's not usually the best reason to outsource. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Blair Severn. Blair has been a practitioner of outsourcing for the past 15 years; first as a corporate executive and more recently as a consultant who helps assemble outsource teams to execute corporate strategy. He's the president and managing director of Azure Corporation in Newmarket, Ontario.

Corporate philanthropy has been practiced for about as long as there have been corporations to speak of; but the notion that companies can do well by doing good has really crystallized only in the last couple of decades. Nowadays business and philanthropy have come even closer together in the social enterprise; an organization that exists to advance social causes but employs many of the same principles and practices as a for profit business. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with David LePage, a 30-year veteran of the non-profit sector in Canada and the U.S. Presently he is program manager at Enterprising Non-profits which provides grants and technical assistance to non-profits in support of their social enterprises.

According to a recent survey by HR Consultancy Right Management, 84 percent of American workers will seriously consider leaving their current employer for greener pastures in 2011, a number that’s well up from the depths of the U.S. recession. Although the survey did not include Canadian workers, it’s safe to paint a similar picture north of the border. So now is a good time to ask yourself: How will I stop my staff from jumping ship? In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Razor Suleman, founder and CEO of I Love Rewards which offers employee incentives and recognition programs to corporations around North America.

As we approach International Women’s Day it’s a good time to take the pulse of female entrepreneurship in Canada and learn about a unique growth opportunity for woman-owned businesses. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Betty Wood, who is a longtime supporter of female entrepreneurship through such initiatives as the Global Banking Alliance for women of which she is a founder, and her own female focus marketing firm, W Consulting Group. Presently she is Lead Strategist, Women Business Initiatives, for Ottawa-based WEConnect Canada, a certification program that helps women-owned businesses access corporate diversity programs.

Who are Canada's smartest bosses and what makes them such prosperous practitioners of workforce management? In a nutshell, they're masters of creating employee engagement which correlates closely with financial performance and other key business metrics. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Einer Westerlund, the director of project development at Queens Center for Business Venturing and co-lead of the 50 Best Small and Medium Employers Project which is a joint effort of Queens and Hewitt & Associates - a global HR consultancy.

Call it the impossible dream of entrepreneurs, to have a product that sells itself. The harsh reality for most business owners is that salespeople must do the selling. I call that a harsh reality not because I have anything against salespeople, but because the supply of good salespeople falls well short of demand. So every time you hire a salesperson you had better choose the right candidate. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats Matt Cook. Matt is president of SalesForce Search Limited, a specialized recruiter that appeared on the 2010 PROFIT Hot 50 ranking of Canada's top young growth companies.

Of course, you can't always get what you want, but you can improve your chances of obtaining the credit you want, when you want it by developing a productive relationship with your banker and a good understanding of how financial institutions make lending decisions. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Derral Moriyama. Derral is BMO's senior Vice-President of Commercial Banking for the Greater Vancouver area and a past contributor to PROFIT Magazine and the Business Coach Podcast.

It could be the most dreaded letter that any business owner can receive: a notice from the Canada Revenue Agency saying that you are about to be audited. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Paul DioGuardi of Toronto-based DioGuardi Tax Law whose specialty is the negotiation of tax amnesty settlements.

It could be the most dreaded letter that any business owner can receive: a notice from the Canada Revenue Agency saying that you are about to be audited. In this episode of the Business Coach Podcast Ian chats with Paul DioGuardi of Toronto-based DioGuardi Tax Law whose specialty is the negotiation of tax amnesty settlements.