Off the Ground Blog
10 Business Books to Read This Summer
With summer finally here, we have launched our #sbalibrary campaign on Twitter to inspire the B.C. business community to kick back and enjoy the nice weather while checking out a great read. Every day until the end of August we will be tweeting out a business book recommendation from either one of the great libraries in British Columbia or one of our followers.
Industry Overview: Portrait Photography
Portrait photography involves capturing the likeness of a person or persons using various photographic equipment- in either a studio or at a specific location. This type of photography is particularly popular for special occasions such as weddings, engagements, and births. In order to operate a successful portrait photography business, photographers need solid business management skills, along with experience behind the lens. This field has been greatly impacted by advents in technology; however the industry is expected to grow moderately in the coming years.
Why Every Small Business Needs To Promote Itself On LinkedIn
According to data released from LinkedIn in 2016, the platform has more than 433 million users in over 200 countries around the world. Based on a study of more than 5000 businesses, HubSpot reported that LinkedIn has the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%. This number is much higher when compared to other platforms like Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%).
Industry Trend: Embracing Millennial Employees
One of the biggest industry trends of 2016 is the need for businesses to embrace millennials.
Five Quick Tips For High-Tech Small Business
Vancouver is establishing itself as a prime location for technology start-ups in Canada; this emergence will provide benefits to the technology sector. Tech businesses need to get these five things right to establish themselves and grow. The five key components to successfully starting a high-tech small business are listed below, along with additional resources for further reading.
Eight Green Business Ideas
The world is clamouring for products and services that protect the environment. A recent Nielsen survey found that 42% of North American consumers are willing to pay more for green products and services. There are many ways that environmentally conscious businesses can tap into this demand.
As Loonie Sinks Export Becomes Attractive to Small Businesses
The loonie’s value has hit a decade low and while this is generally bad news for the Canadian economy, it can create business opportunities abroad. Canadian companies can now generate a profit on products and services sold at a discount on the US and international markets. Exporting has its unique challenges but it could be worth your time to see if your business could benefit from new markets abroad.
10 Exciting Business Developments in 2016
It is a new year and everyone likes to predict what will come in 2016. We decided to review these predictions and share strategies you may want to try this year
Extracting Insights with Data Visualization Tools (Part 2 of 2)
Continuing with our review of data visualization tools, we now introduce you four more tools that aim to satisfy very different user needs. Datawrapper Datawrapper is ideal if you want to create a professionally looking graph in a few minutes. Originally envisioned for world-class journalists, Datawrapper is an open source project supported by ABZV and developed by Journalism++ Cologne. This tool enables anyone to create graphic design-like visualizations in four simple steps, without any programming skills.
Extracting Insights with Data Visualization Tools (Part 1 of 2)
Data can be hard to manipulate and translate into a user-friendly graphical format. In this blog post series we will review different data visualization tools that will help you unlock the insights hidden in raw data. More importantly, these tools will allow you to answer many business and market questions and tell a compelling story to partners, employees, customers, and investors. Tableau Public