Ben Baldwin of Clearfit.com, discusses hiring for small business.

Three most important hiring tips:
1. Invest in hiring – Know what you’re looking for
2. Hiring is not just marketing – it’s also sales
3. Make sure you have a process in place.

Here is the video interview:

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When you’ve been employed and working hard for most of your life, and retirement is just around the corner, you might find yourself looking forward to some rest and relaxation.

You might also be surprised to find yourself having thoughts of starting your own business – where on earth did that idea came from? What’s making you consider a new start-up venture now, when a life of leisure awaits you?

Here are five reasons some later-life individuals find themselves considering opening a business after retirement:

It’s a Way to Be Selfish (For Once!)

Many baby boomers have spent most of their lives giving, and they feel it’s time to get back. They feel that this is their time to do something a little selfish. It’s natural to begin looking towards the dreams that haven’t yet been accomplished and think of going after them. For many people, that dream is often some type of business venture. Go for it! This is the perfect time of life to think of yourself, for once.

It’s an Opportunity to Give Back

Very often, people feel that they haven’t done much to contribute to society and the world, and they feel like they’d like to give something back. They’ve enjoyed their life, and they want to do something to leave a mark. Starting a business can be a way to accomplish that feeling of contributing, be it to industry, community, society or the environment.

It’s a Way to Stay Busy

Many baby boomers aren’t very thrilled about their impending retirement. It sounds boring. They’ll have nothing to do. No way to feel useful. They aren’t interested in a life like that. Opening a business gives them a sense of purpose and something to help them their days. A fledgling venture that needs them is a great reason to get out of bed!

It’s a Way to Earn Money

Not everyone begins retirement with a nice, padded bank account ready to fund the coming years. For many, a business is a necessity to bring in much-needed income for retirement. Considering that a business often doesn’t require much initial investment and can show returns quickly, opening a business is often a good solution to financial stability.

It’s a Legacy for Children.

Some people realize that a business is a nice legacy to leave for cherished family members to enjoy. An established business with good sustainability can provide future generations with guaranteed jobs and income, or the business can be sold for a profit to secure financial security for children or grandchildren.

There are certainly many other reasons baby boomers hop into business after retirement, and each is just as valid as the next. Maybe you can even think of a few good reasons to want to open shop later in life!

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Artists must believe it’s alright to actually make money out of their creative talent. Just like any traditional entrepreneur, you’ve got to develop a business model and allocate sufficient time to both produce your work and run the show.

Consider these tips to turn your artistic endeavours into a proper small business:

Write a Business Plan. Anyone who intends to make money being self-employed must figure how they’re going to do it. That means writing a proper Business Plan to identify customers and competition, set prices, figure out a distribution system and anticipate revenues and cash flow. A plan isn’t just for outside investors – it’s your roadmap to success.

Work “in” and “on” your business. Creating art takes time, but it can’t consume your entire schedule. Establish production time alongside some hours to do your banking, make sales calls, line up shows and keep your books.

Get a business mentor. Artists like to hang around with other artists, which is great for the creative side of your life. Find a businessperson willing to mentor you to provide some left-brain balance.

Get paid. Remember how much time and energy you put into your creations when quoting a fee or pricing an item. You must earn a profit in order to keep working as an artist, so don’t be afraid to charge decent rates.

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[A study by Intuit Canada]

Intuit Canada recently conducted a survey of over 1,000 Canadian general consumers gauging their “entrepreneurial spirit.” Given Canada’s economy has always been driven by small and medium businesses, Intuit wanted to determine if last year’s recession dampened the go-it-alone attitude that’s needed for individuals to let go of their existing work and invest in themselves.

The survey findings include:
One in three Canadians are not only interested in taking that dive, but found their spirit to do so was actually galvanized by the recession.

The top motivating factors among Canadians for “going it alone” are:

Seven in ten Canadians believe sorting through taxes and financing requirements would be the most difficult part of running a business. Along these lines, Ontario and BC respondents are concerned about the HST and feel they need more information.

Further, Intuit looked at the various impressions men and women have about entrepreneurship and what each gender perceived to be the greatest payoffs to starting a business. As you may guess the results differed quite a bit.

BizLaunch had a chance to talk to Gene Lewis, General Manager of Intuit Canada about these findings. They are highlighted in the video interview below.

BizLaunch – Intuit Interview .

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Seeing the words “business” and “retirement” together in the same sentence doesn’t seem to make sense to many people. Isn’t retirement supposed to mean that you stop doing business, step away from your career and spend the rest of your life enjoying new adventures and living your dreams?

That depends whether you consider starting a business a new adventure and a dream you can achieve. And for thousands of people about to reach retirement – or already enjoying it – exploring the launch of a new business is an exciting prospect.

There’s almost no better time than retirement to plan, prepare and launch a new business. You have decades of expertise on your side, years of experience and plenty of knowledge at your disposal. You may also enjoy doing something for yourself, for once, or feel excited at the idea of fulfilling yourself through a business that makes you feel like you’ve contributed something to the world.

Oh, and starting a business gives you something to do. More than a few retirees worry about having too much time on their hands and no particular purpose that keeps them busy.

Before you decide that starting a business late in life is a good idea, though, consider the following:

Do you really want to invest the time?
Starting a business typically involves a huge time commitment, and while you may feel like you have plenty of hours in a day, you need to be prepared to spend a ton of those hours planning, building, launching and operating a business. That may not suit your later-life balance as it might have years ago.

Do you have the energy?
The idea of starting a business revives and excites many people, but that initial excitement is often difficult to maintain when it comes down to the mental labor and hard work involved in business building. Consider whether you have ample mental and physical energy required to keep up with a fledging venture that needs a ton of care.

What do you really want to do?
Entrepreneurship takes on many forms, and you need to decide whether you want a very small business, a staff-run business or a simple hobby shop. A good way to know which direction to aim for is to think about your passions, your interests and your ultimate goals. What do you want to achieve by starting a business? What do you want to get from it?

Are you sure you have the money?
A business can be a way of subsidizing your retirement income or providing passive funds to spend on luxuries, but in many cases, starting a business requires substantial initial investment. You may not see returns for several years, if at all. Be sure that you’re financially set to take the calculated risk of potential investment loss without taking a hard retirement savings hit.

Keep in mind that you can start any type of business you like, and you can always start small, or take it slowly, step by step. Test your entrepreneurial spirit with small projects, explore the options, and avoid taking large risks or rushing headlong into a venture.

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If you’re a solopreneur or a small business owner, you’ll eventually reach a day where you face a task you don’t have the skills for, more work than there are hours in a day or a desire to cut back on your hours and enjoy more free time.

You have a few options: Cut back and downsize, or hire someone.

It might seem easy at that point to just whip up a job ad and post it up. You need help, so you’ll find someone to fill the position. But is hiring an employee a good idea? Can you afford to hire an employee in the first place? Will your business suffer or benefit?

Ask yourself the following five questions to see if hiring an employee is the best decision for your needs and business. With a little forethought, you’ll make a decision that fits just right.

Do You Have the Budget?
Employees cost money – more money than most people think. There are often extra expenses involved in hiring someone beyond the person’s base salary. You may have to budget for worker’s compensation payments, additional insurance coverage, extra equipment or safety renovations, payroll taxes and more.

How much will your new employee truly cost? Some employees can cost a business an additional 50% of their salary, though accountants recommend budgeting 20% of the salary you plan to pay as a safe rule of thumb.

Do You Have the Time?
Plenty of people make the mistake of assuming that hiring a skilled, experienced worker means the person can step right in and start helping immediately. The reality is that you’re the only person who knows your business inside and out, and anyone you hire is going to need training to become familiar with how you do business and how you like things done.

If you’re in your high season with no spare time, can’t block off training time from your schedule or just don’t have the energy to sit down and show someone – calmly, slowly – what they can do to best help you, be careful. You’ll need to budget about two weeks of your time to train and teach a new employee everything he or she needs to know to be able to help you and self-supervise.

Do You Have the Patience?
Patience is a virtue, but when it comes to having staff and employees, it’s not just a virtue – it’s a written-in-stone must. You’ll need a lot of initial patience to train the person you hire until he or she feel comfortable enough to work without supervision. They’re brand new to how you do things, and they’re not going to catch on right away.

You won’t be able to rush the individual or push him or her to learn faster. You may have to repeat instructions (calmly) several times and you’ll most likely have to correct a few beginner mistakes. You’ll have to demonstrate respect, kindness and understanding as well, and make this new employee feel welcome and relaxed. Be positive and encouraging, and you’ll find that you’ll get much better results.

Do You Have the Right Attitude?
Employees new and old need the proper resources to do their job well, perform at their peak and feel happy about making sure customers are satisfied. Hired help is there to help you improve and grow your business, after all.

So what are the resources your new employee needs? Motivation, encouragement and engagement, and those are three resource you provide. Through these three crucial resources, your employee feels pride in his or her work and takes ownership, which means that at the end of the day, the job is well done.

Remember that an employee can be your best business asset. Through that person’s assistance, you can grow, expand and improve your business immensely, which helps you reach your goals of success – and get through the crunch.

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The organizers of the upcoming Search Engine Strategies (SES) Toronto show reached out to BizLaunch to ask if we would interview one of the speakers of this years show. BizLaunch got the chance to talk to Michael O’Sullivan, Ad Platforms and Strategy Lead, Microsoft Canada, about the ad products/services available to small business.

1. How does Microsoft Direct Response work for small business?

Microsoft Advertising improves SMB advertisers’ return on their investment by providing control and flexibility over their campaigns, and in-depth knowledge about their ideal target audiences. We respond to advertisers’ changing needs and serve as an effective marketing platform for small and midsized businesses equally well.

The Microsoft Media Network provides a dedicated account manager, that will work with a small business owner to get their creative assets (banners) live on the Microsoft Media Network. The Account Manager will also advise on what the best possible digital marketing strategy is, depending on the customer or offer. They’ll be offer multiple suggestions – whether it’s CPC / CPA or targeted offerings, based on what your unique goals are. If you are looking for a niche audience, we can help you find that. If you are looking to just pay for sales, we can absolutely make that happen as well. We like to think of Microsoft and the Account Manager as a consultant on your business – trying to identify what will resonate with your audience, and what aligns to your particular marketing needs.

2. Can small businesses, especially in Canada, benefit from such a service?

The Microsoft Media Network is great for small businesses, because their budgets are smaller, and small business owners only pay for performance, whether that is leads or sales – and the small business owner still reaps the benefits that accompany a rich display ad. Search is great for driving performance and volume, but the Microsoft Media Network provides both of these benefits, with the addition of a rich branding experience. Also, the ability to pick up the phone and speak to a dedicated online expert (the account manager) is of great benefit to our customers. It’s like having a digital media expert on retainer, for free, for your small business.

3. Can you showcase 1-2 small business success stories of those who have used this product for their business?

We have a number of great success stories but one in particular that stands out is involving a large computer retailer, who traditionally advertised a lot of their products through direct mail campaigns. This customer was looking to boost traffic to their website, increase their awareness, and drive additional sales. Using a variety of CPC and CPA buys, we were be able to build a marketing campaign that allowed the computer retailer to increase sales, and to increase them while having a higher ROAS (return on ad spend) then they ever did from a direct mail perspective.

Michael will be speaking at SES Toronto about Search & Display – Driving Customers Through the Purchase Funnel & Dispelling the Myths of Display: Looking for a more effective way of driving online sales with your current Search or Display campaign? Think that display has no place in your performance buy? This session covers why you should be executing both simultaneously to drive potential customers through the purchase funnel. Also, Understanding the value of performance display, and the role it plays alongside your search buy is key to growing your digital marketing spend. If you still think display is expensive, complicated, ineffective, this is the seminar for you.

SES Toronto begs to answer the ultimate question Your customers are Online – can they find your Website?