Off the Ground Blog
Trends for Businesses for 2017
Bank of Canada predicts 2% GDP growth for Canada for 2017. As a new year begins experts often write about popular trends we are likely to see. We read through these predictions to see what might be useful for small businesses in British Columbia. The following is a list of eight different trends that is food for thought for entrepreneurs.
Industry Overview: Wine
A toast to 2017! As you sip your champagne, make it a new year’s resolution to fill your glass with your own wine by this time next year. With 1.5 million winery visitors each year, British Columbia is rich with opportunity for wine-based businesses and eager viticulture entrepreneurs. In fact, the wine industry involves a variety of different activities from operating a full-fledged winery, growing grapes, running a wine specialty shop/u-bottle facility, or offering wine marketing services.
Ten Holiday Markets of British Columbia
Holiday season is here. And that means one thing: holiday markets!
BC Pitching Competitions
Have you kept your eye on the ball, entrepreneurs? Because Global Entrepreneur Week 2016 is in full swing! But with every swing, there’s a pitch—and what is an entrepreneur without their pitch? So, to motivate our entrepreneurs, we’ve collected a series of pitching competitions. We answer the “who,” “what,” and “when” regarding these competitions to help you step up to the plate and take on your entrepreneurial goals. To top it all off, you have home advantage because all of these competitions are located in British Columbia.
The SBA is Making Some Changes!
In an effort to improve our website’s layout, we’re looking for people who may be interested in giving us feedback related to our website! You can help by completing a short, online survey OR joining us in a remote-testing session -- that's right, you don't even have to leave your computer screen! Your time and opinion is invaluable to us, so here’s your chance to speak your piece and help push the SBA forward! Interested? Continue reading to learn more:
How to Choose the Right Point of Sale for your Business?
Whether you run a café, sell your products at a farmers’ market or provide professional services, all businesses have one thing in common: monetary transactions. Point of Sale (POS) systems process these transactions, provide reporting and can help manage staff and inventory. POS solutions can be cloud-based or license-based. Traditional POS systems through the licensing model can require several thousand dollars of upfront cost per register. Cloud-based POS applications have the most appeal to small and medium sized businesses due to their low upfront cost compared to on premise options.
Ten Books to Inspire You During Small Business Week 2016
To kick-off Small Business Week 2016 here at the SBA, we have collaborated once again with our friends at the David Lam Management Research Library to bring small business dreamers some literary inspiration.
SBA Library
Throughout July and August, we asked various librarians throughout British Columbia for their business book recommendations and received an onslaught of responses. My Library at LibraryThing
Business Oriented Legal Services, Free of Charge
If you are living in British Columbia and require legal advice regarding small business or non-profit matters; have limited means of paying for legal advice; and can come to the University of British Columbia Campus in person for an appointment, the Bobinski Business Law Clinic at the Peter A. Allard School of Law (the “Clinic”) at the University of British Columbia may be of interest to you.
Industry Overview: Online Retail (E-commerce)
Online retail stores are virtual establishments that sell a variety of consumer or business-to-business products through e-commerce transactions. Online stores allow an owner to reach a larger and more geographically diverse group of potential consumers - and can lower operating costs by eliminating the need to rent or lease a brics and mortar storefront location. As e-commerce continues to grow in popularity, the opportunities for successful online businesses will also expand.