Kelowna Financial AdvisorBusiness Succession Planningspecialist to entrepreneurial business people
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WHERE TO NEXT | Monday, February 22, 2010 Blue Ocean Strategy - Club Penguin and Disney in KelownaHave you ever wondered how a super idea is born? A business revelation that takes your business or job income from going along nicely to extreme success...
A few years a go I read a book called Blue Ocean Strategy. It was given to me from the CEO of Value Partners Investments in Winnipeg. The premise of the book is creating a market that is your own. There are red oceans where all of your competitors duke it out for market share and there are Blue Oceans. The Blue Oceans are where you want to be.
A Blue Ocean is creating a service level or a product that is one of it's own. It is so unique that there is no competition. If you are looking for a Kelowna example of this I encourage you to read the success story of Club Penguin.
In this example social media was a decent common place with myspace, hi5, MSN etc etc. Club Penguin focused on the 6-14 age group and went where no-one was truly providing a solid service. Look around you at your competition and what everyone is doing, is there a way you could tweak your existing business or job duties to make it more efficient, more exciting or easier for the consumer.
Have a great Monday Morning!
Dustin T Serviss - Kelowna Financial Advisor
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 When should I incorporate my businessRecently I was asked during a client meeting, "when should I incorporate my business?"
The question has come up in the past and I thought I would take 2 minutes to describe a few of the benefits of incorporating your business.
One of the benefits of setting up and having a corporation is the option of paying yourself a salary or a dividend and you can defer un-needed income until future years. A usual rule of thumb is a business owner should routinely receive some income in the form of a salary. By taking some "salary" income it will allow you to; contribute to CPP, establish income for RRSP contribution calculations and also show income for child care expenses as well as setting up Individual Pension Plans.
There is another rule of thumb that as a business owner you would pay yourself a salary (bonus included) to a level that gave you the maximum RRSP contribution room ($124,722 - 2010), the rest of your income would be taken in the form of a dividend. A simple tax strategy lies in the fact that you do not have to pay tax on dividends until the following year.
An example would be; if you took a dividend in January you would not have to pay tax on it until April of the next year. This 16 months would give you time to invest the money (possibly a Tax Free Savings Account) and possibly produce a profit before you even had to pay the tax.
If you are an owner/manager considering incorporating, seek the appropriate tax and business specialists. We work very closely with local specialists and can introduce you to the right professional for your business.
We hope your expectations have been met and we have delivered on our promises, if not please let us know where we can improve. As a value-added service to my clients, friends, followers and fellow bloggers, I make myself available to act as a sounding board. You might have a friend who asks about me, or you feel compelled to make an introduction to help someone out. If that happens I will make time to offer objective advice that they can use to make an informed decision.
Take care
Dustin T Serviss - Kelowna Financial Advisor Monday, February 15, 2010 De-Winterizing your Boat in KelownaIn working with a number of Canadian business owners and entrepreneurs I see a common trend no matter where you live. Yes you are busy but you all have a common trait that toys and liesure are a part of your life.
Whether it is boating in the Okanagan or making the commute from Calgary to Ferny to go snowmobiling, you are all doing something. In this segment I will focus on all the boaters out there.
Here is a great article on de-winterizing your boat. I am aware it is February but by I am givng you ample time to print the article and get organized.
As always if you have any questions feel free to send us an email or give us a call.
Take care
Dustin Serviss - Kelowna Financial Advisors
Saturday, February 6, 2010 IPAD - What a tool for Kelowna Entrepreneurs!IPAD (by Apple) for Kelowna Business Owners
As someone who is traditionally a late adopter I may have to rock that trend after being exposed to the:
IPADI think the world will not like this plate like unit but over time the will embrace it. I on the other hand believe getting intimate with this tool early on will be beneficial to business.
With the power of all the functions and the sleekness of the design as the price comes down I may even get on the band wagon and get one. I foresee myself probably getting one a lot sooner only for the reading capability of the IPAD.
As most of you know I love to read and the way I read now could be a lot more efficient. I usually read as any normal person would but when I come across something that really resonates with me I will fold a small corner on the bottom of the page. I will then using my finger nail make a strike on the page where the specific spot was that I liked.
I will continue reading and repeating the above step. Once I am finished the book I will go back through and re-read the flagged sections. These flagged sections will give me something to flip through if I am waiting for someone on only have 5 minutes to read. If time permits I will make notes in a word document about the specific spots and really try to focus on them so I can easily implement them in my daily life (personal and business).
Using the IPAD will allow for digital marking of those key areas of the book and I assume you would even be able to print it out if you desired. The IPAD will give you a central location to store your books and essentially bring your library anywhere...
Please watch for a "how to" video on my Kelowna Financial Advisor Youtube Channel shortly.
IPAD Introduction VideoTake care
Dustin Serviss - Kelowna Financial Advisor Tuesday, February 2, 2010 Kelowna Business Owners using FacebookIf you are not currently on Facebook you need to get on it in some way shape or form. Put a simple picture of you or something that represents you. Complete the simple fields in the information tab and presto you have a profile that millions of people can potentially view.
I recently took my token once every 3 year vacation to Mexico. We were at our resort and Jody needed to send one short email. The internet area at the resort had a wall of computers down one side and about 4 feet behind the chairs of the people using the computer were the waiting chairs... All the computers were full so my spouse and I waited patiently... and waited and waited...
As our irritation level started to rise since we only needed to send one quick email I started observing more closely what these people were actually doing. Now, here was 4 complete strangers, different age groups and visibly from different countries all very focused.
What I observed was shocking... they were all on Facebook, that wasn't that surprising to me, what was surprising was how they were using it... They were clicking on ads, browsing around applications, checking out pages and of course clicking on their friends content.
Here are people on a tropical vacation, 30 degree weather outside, a resort with more adult activities to do than you can imagine, AND THESE PEOLPE ARE CLICKING ON FACEBOOK ADS. Navigating to outside websites and checking out what the ads were about.
If you are not using FB ask me how to set up your account. If you are using it and you would like tips or tricks on how to make your Facebook account more effecient for networking or business growth, ASK me and I will help you.
As an example I have over 2700 friends, if each of those friends has 300 people in their friend list that means every morning when I update my status 810,000 people see the update... That is online marketing and it works.
Seriously if you have questions - just ask.
Take care
Dustin - Kelowna Financial Advisor Categories: capital dividend account | eligible dividend | income splitting | intestacy | life insurance | tax deferral | tax planning | |||
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