This is the weekly Report on Small Business newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web, or if someone forwarded this e-mail to you, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters on our signup page.
It’s Small Business Month, which means there are many events about entrepreneurship happening across the country. If you’re in the Toronto area, Startup & Slay on October 13 is a full day event for early-stage businesses, featuring panels on managing money and boosting your social media strategy. I’ll be there too, speaking on a panel about getting media coverage.
Also spurred by Small Business Month, The Globe has launched a new Small Business Resource Centre. It features detailed information on how to launch and scale your company.
The Globe and Mail is also looking to hear from you. Our Financial Facelift team is looking for self-employed people, artists, freelancers, contracts and small business owners. Get some free advice from The Globe about your unique financial situation by requesting to be part of our Financial Facelift series. You don’t need to use your real name for the article. Email your situation to finfacelift@gmail.com. - Sarah Efron, Globe and Mail Small-Business Editor
New CMHC guidelines could open doors to financing for self-employed
Muhammad Arif Omari, a driver from Edmonton, was set to renew his mortgage in September when he was told he wouldn’t be able to switch to a new lender offering a lower rate because he was self-employed. Mr. Omari, a truck driver who did not like the long stretches away from home, quit his job over the summer after many years, with plans to become a self-employed cab driver. But he soon learned no new lender would approve a mortgage under the circumstances, despite the fact he had enough savings to cover payments and other household expenses, and his wife was employed. Story
Toronto small-business owners urge municipal candidates to take action on property tax
A temporary measure to cap increases in the soaring property tax bills Toronto small-business owners are facing expires in December and candidates in this month’s municipal election are being pressed to find a long-term solution. Story
Doug Ford vows to scrap key Liberal labour reform legislation
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is vowing to scrap labour reform legislation from the previous Liberal government that raised the province’s minimum wage and introduced a range of other worker protections, a declaration that comes days after his government said the law was under review. Ford’s comments, made in the legislature Tuesday, caught the opposition off-guard and upset those in the labour community who have been supporters of the law known as Bill 148. Story
Alberta has the highest minimum wage in the country following raise to $15
Alberta now has the highest minimum wage in the country, following a raise today – to $15 an hour – that’s garnering mixed reactions. When NDP Leader Rachel Notley became premier in May, 2015, Alberta’s minimum wage was among the lowest in Canada, at $10.20 an hour and $9.20 for employees serving liquor. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour was an important election promise. Story
Gut-check time: Should you be an entrepreneur?
What qualities make someone a successful entrepreneur? Bruce Whitaker says you must have a creative mind, be able to see opportunities and innovate. Then you need to put together the necessary resources. Story
Research matters - make sure you nail down your small-business niche
When it comes to researching a new business idea, health-care entrepreneur John DeHart doesn’t cut corners. Even long after he launches a business, the co-founder of the successful Nurse Next Door franchise, whose latest venture is Live Well Exercise Clinics, continues to analyze the market and his competition to find new products and services that will help the business grow. Story
Buying an established business? There are right ways and wrong ways to do a deal
After leaving Beenox, the video game company he founded and ran for nearly 13 years, Dominique Brown was looking for a different type of business to sink his teeth into. The entrepreneur had a non-compete agreement that prevented him from going back into the video-game industry for a year, so he turned his attention to another passion: chocolate. Story
Use a private medical clinic? It might boost your life insurance premiums
If you use a private medical clinic − like Medcan, Medisys or the Cleveland Clinic − it may cost you more for life insurance. In some cases, it may cause a postponed decision or an outright decline by an insurance carrier. This may not seem significant to some individuals, but for business owners, this can have a huge impact on how you go about setting up shareholder agreements, buy-sell arrangements, key-person arrangements, permanent life policies, split dollar critical illness or other wealth, succession planning and tax-planning strategies that involve the use of life insurance or other related products. Story
Ruffolo leaves OMERS Ventures after ‘unparalleled’ run
Venture capital investor and Canadian technology cheerleader John Ruffolo is leaving one of the country’s largest pension plans, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. Story
WHAT WE’RE READING ELSEWHERE
Instant Pot is launching a Walmart-exclusive cooking blender
Instant Pot, the all-in-one pressure cooker that replaced many a crockpot and rice cooker in the kitchen, is now coming for your Vitamix. The Canadian company behind the cult favourite Instant Pot announced that it’s releasing a new product called the Instant Pot Ace 60 cooking Blender, available exclusively through Walmart. The Verge
Vancouver startup aims to open real estate investing to the masses
Vancouver-based Stephenson and his business partner, Stephen Jagger, have been through seven companies over the past 18 years, he says. In 2013 the pair sold Ubertor, now Canada’s top provider of real estate websites. Their newest business, IMBY, aims to open the property market to people who don’t have the hundreds of thousands of dollars typically required to enter it in cities like Vancouver. “What’s wrong with real estate is it hasn’t changed,” Stephenson says. “Current real estate is established to be binary: either you’re all in or you’re all out.” BC Business
Labour shortage in Parry Sound-Muskoka dominates RTO12 tourism summit
James Murphy made it clear there would be no shying away from the elephant in the room. “You can have the greatest product in the world, but if you don’t have service staff then it’s not worth anything,” said Murphy, executive director for the regional tourism organization RTO12, also known as Explorers’ Edge. “We need to take a look at our workforce development.” Muskokaregion.com
Small businesses dealt cruel blow by power outage
Some Ottawa businesses are hurting after the prolonged power outage caused by last week’s tornadoes forced them to throw out tens of thousands of dollars worth of perishable food. Weekends are usually busy at Marché Hintonburg Market, with customers lined up to the back of the store. CBC
Sarah Efron