A growing sense of optimism shared by small and medium-sized businesses in British Columbia is being tempered by challenges that include finding the right people to help grow their business and dealing with escalating costs.
An upcoming conference hopes to deal with some of these topics while at the same time sharing ideas on how to grow and sustain a healthy business.
The SOHO/SME Business Conference and Expo is being held at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre on Oct. 20. "Our whole goal is to connect people and to provide a unique customer experience," says Moe Somani, president and founder of the conference that will bring business owners together to provide networking and educational opportunities during national Small Business Week.
Somani says small business is currently the fastest-growing segment in the Canadian economy and accounts for more than 90 per cent of businesses nationally. They face issues in several areas, he adds, including generating new customers, cashflow and managing expenses, and time management, especially crucial for the small-business owner who tends to wear many hats.
Somani founded SOHO (small office home office) in 1996 to market services to the growing small-business marketplace. The conference has grown over nine years after starting with about 400 in attendance to almost 3,000 this year.
"People are seeing a very positive climate in British Columbia in terms of doing business," he says, noting that women entrepreneurs are also a big growth area. Recruiting top talent for your business is also on the agenda, and one panelist, Brian Scudamore of 1-800-Got-Junk, says it's one of his biggest issues.
"We started with a clear vision and we found the right people," says Scudamore, CEO and founder of the Vancouver-based junk collection company.
Scudamore says many of his ideas stem from the philosophies of entrepreneur Michael Gerber, who is the keynote speaker at the conference, the first time the U.S.-based business author has spoken at a public conference in Canada.
Scudamore says he is a big fan of Gerber and his book, The E-Myth, because he believes in the philosophy that people don't fail, but systems do. "As long as you have the right systems in place, the right recruiting systems, training systems and operating systems you are most of the way toward being successful.”
Somani says business services will be the largest marketplace industry represented at the conference, though he adds that what a business requires to be successful is more related to its size, rather than the industry in which it operates.
"We focus on key business essentials that a business would need," he says. "Another thing that I'm seeing is the management of finances in a more formal or better way of accounting procedures and tax implications.”
He notes most small-business owners, especially the entrepreneurial ones, don't enjoy that side of business. "Understanding the changes in taxation, both provincial and federal, can really benefit a small-business person if they understand it to maximize their tax situation."
Optimism for the economic future of small business, especially in B.C., was also the theme of a recent report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
Dan Kelly, the CFIB's vice-president for Western Canada, says 60 per cent of their B.C. members are expecting a stronger performance for their own businesses over the next 12 months. "There has been a sort of unleashing of entrepreneurship over the last few years through some B.C. specific tax reductions and reductions in regulations," he says. "It's a good time to be an entrepreneur in British Columbia in that some of the burden has been lifted from the backs of the self-employed and small-business owners."
However, Kelly says small business still has some significant concerns. "The level of optimism does not mean that they aren't worried about some clouds on the horizon."
Rising energy costs have taken a significant toll on many small- and medium-sized businesses. Also of concern are property and casualty insurance costs, signs of protectionism from the U.S. in trade matters, and concern about the federal government's increased spending and uncertainty about whether or not there will be further tax reductions, he says.
(Jan Mansfield can be reached at jan@businessedge.ca)
