Author : zebethcontrol

Barb 0:10Welcome to a very special episode, the first in our three part series, grow local. And we’ll even have a few guests business owners join us today via the online chat with some questions as we go. Barb 0:26In this episode entitled, your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO will take you on a journey of two of your customers. Barb 0:38If you’ve ever been frustrated with Google, not showing the right content, not showing your business, not seeming to understand what you do, this is your fix. This is the way to tell Google who you are. If you’re a local business owner, hoping to find more ready to buy customers. Barb 0:59Stay tuned. I’m Barb McGrath, founder of above the fold digital marketing, and the get found Academy, the local business owners guide to the first page of Google. Let’s start off. Let’s start off quickly with what is local SEO and what it isn’t. Local SEO is using your website, your Google listing, and even your social channels to find more customers. Barb 1:31SEO or search engine optimization is maximizing your online properties for customers and search engines. And it’s really important to remember that while we want the search engines to find us, it’s way more important that our customers find us and our customers shop with us. Barb 1:57So SEO is about finding more customers. A search engine, for example, Google, Bing, or Yahoo can find your business. And they can understand the content on your website when you give it to them. Barb 2:14And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. How do we give more content to these search engines? So from a practical perspective, as a local business, local SEO means more foot traffic. Local SEO is all of those best, and near me searches that we all do from our phone, best coffee shop, coffee shop near me, best plumber, Saskatoon, best plumber weyburn. Barb 2:46These are all searches that customers are doing every day. And we want those customers to find you. Barb 2:56Local SEO means that you will have more online purchases, even if they’re picked up or delivered. And as we all survived COVID so many of us learn to deliver our services virtually, or create a contactless environment where consumers could continue to purchase from us. Barb 3:20So local SEO isn’t about online shopping. It’s about finding your customers where they are online. SEO is the equivalent of a dating service for your business. Customers will swipe you away in a heartbeat. And if you don’t appear to have what they’re looking for, they’re just going to keep going. Barb 3:51So it’s your job to show off all of the things that you have to offer. So those potential dates I mean, customers know that you have what they’re looking for. So local SEO is not a quick scheme to get a whole bunch of clicks on your website, or on your social channels to drive up visits, local SEO ties directly to sales and cash in your register. Barb 4:28So let’s start off by meeting our customers. Because really, they’re our guest today, and they’re the most important folks who are here with us. Our first guest is Skittles and I’m just gonna bring Skittles, do a little bit of cuddling with him here. So this is Skittles. Barb 4:46Skittles is a very discerning young Boston Terrier. He’s particular about his nutrition and seeks quality food and treats. He absolutely loves his pet parent, a young lad named Peter. Barb 5:06Skittles likes a little bit of variety in his food and toys. And Peter is new to pet parenting. So, you know, he’s still doing a lot of shopping around, and he’s very price conscious, he wants his money to go as far as it can for Skittles. He also wants the best for Skittles. Barb 5:30And he Googles every purchase before he actually makes the purchase. Doesn’t matter if it’s food, toys, a leash, a harness, little boots for winter, because these paws get mighty chilly, it doesn’t matter if it’s a kennel, whatever it might be. Peter searches on Google for everything before he actually makes that purchase. Barb 5:58Our other customer that we’re going to talk about today is Ava. And Ava and Skittles are two very different customers. So let’s take a look at Ava. There she is. So Ava, on the other hand, is not just discerning. She’s very particular. And once she finds a business that she likes, she tends to return over and over. Barb 6:28She’s very traditional at heart, but very savvy, when it comes to technology, she will return to a business if she believes that the price is competitive. And that’s a really important differentiator. She’s looking for competitive pricing. She’s not afraid of that online environment. Barb 6:53When she’s unsure, uncertain, she’ll spend hours researching, analyzing, googling her different options, and understanding what she can buy as a customer. Barb 7:08Both of our customers today will support local businesses whenever they can. So if it’s an option, they’re both absolutely going to support local. But as a local business, you have to be competitive, you need to be convenient, and Skittles, or Peter and Eva can confirm, before they go shopping, that the business that they want to shop with actually has what it is that they’re looking for. Barb 7:45So they are such different customers. But their journey to purchase all ends with the same result. They want to shop local, their journeys are different, but they still want to be able to shop locally. And they have one thing in common. Barb 8:07They both rely on their search result to find the products and services that they want. Eva being the researcher relies on what she finds on a business’s website, to be up to date to be true and to be accurate. So if her chosen business

Barb 0:08Today’s guest exemplifies community action and volunteerism. She’s the recipient of the YWCA, women of distinction community champion award for 2020, a lifelong resident in Montmartre, Janet Kotylak, and Janet, you’ll have to correct me if I didn’t quite get the name wrong. I did some practicing before we went live today. Janet joins us to talk about her commitment to education in our province, and for students across our country. Janet, welcome. Janet 0:45Thanks for having me. Good to be here today. Barb 0:47It’s a pleasure to have you here. So congratulations first on the award. Janet 0:52Thank you, I was just gonna say you, you did pretty fine on my name. It’s it’s coat lock. But Kota lock is often how people say it. Barb 1:06I will get right at the end. You know, pronunciation is one of the things that I work on the most, before we go live with these sessions. Because, you know, being in Saskatchewan, we have a real mix of names that come from all directions. For sure. So tell me about this award. Did you know that you had been nominated? And, you know, what was your reaction when you found out then that you won? Janet 1:30Well, the, the process is such that you have to accept the nomination. So I knew I was being nominated. And in fact, my nominator called me and asked if I would agree to be nominated. And, you know, my first initial reaction to that was, you know, there’s so many people that have done so much in the pandemic, like, Are you sure? And she said, Yeah, because we need to highlight education, we need to shine a spotlight on the fact that we can do that through you. Janet 2:05The first piece and and what was my reaction? I mean, to be honest, I was really surprised, I had looked at what the other candidates in my category had brought to the table. They were all fantastic leaders, and a trustee ship and my role is is a job to do really quietly behind the scenes. So I wasn’t sure that people would recognize, like and understand the work. Right, obviously, credit to my nominator for putting that through in a way that people understood and whoever the nominating team is, I, I need to give them more credit. Yes. Barb 2:43You know, one of the most interesting things, I think, with COVID, is every sector has been impacted in some really different ways. But when you look at the education sector as a whole, we kept kids in school for the most part, you know, there were some parents in favor of that, and some parents not. And as a trustee, you couldn’t when you were going to have parents upset with you, no matter which direction you went, how as the the chairperson of the board, how are you helping to manage that? Janet 3:14Well, April was a tough month, in the south part of the province, we had gone out and then had to go back. And, and yes, you’re right. You know, you, you couldn’t make everybody happy, and maybe happy’s, not the right word. But you know, everybody was at their own place with COVID and their own beliefs. And I really respected that. But we were tasked with making the decisions that we had to make we follow the health orders really closely. And we just really tried to say education is our business, but health is theirs, and we’re going to look towards them as the experts. I also, you know, served provincially on the scheduled School Boards Association. So along with that role, and and the way they structured things, we were kept up to date weekly on call. So, you know, those pieces where you’ve got continual information, helpful when big decisions and you know, in the end, yeah, we did get feedback from parents on both ends. So that’s but yeah, but was respectful. And I respect that. So, Barb 4:25You know, and I, you know, I think that’s an important rule, being able to collect that respectful feedback. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, if you’re getting screamed at you kind of stop listening. And so parents being able to feel like they were being heard, one of the things and I’ll put my parent hat on for a second. We we didn’t know what went on behind the scenes. We didn’t know if there was weekly meetings, we didn’t know if it was just email communication. And without any criticism of of my own school board. That was one piece that I would have really liked to have understood better. is absolutely make a decision, I will support you 100%. But help me understand where the information comes from to make the decision. And knowing that there had been weekly meetings, I think that would have really helped a lot of parents out, whichever side you’re on, if you want your kids in school and they’re being pulled out, or vice versa, right, just that little bit of bit of extra information. So as a board, and then even at the provincial level, how are you managing the volumes of information that that came at you probably for from some different directions, to be able to weigh it all and then make a decision that you felt good about? How did you weigh all of that? Janet 5:43Well, you know, there was key decision points along the way. And of course, if you take it back to the beginning of it all, the first decision to go out of school was was made by the premier back in March 2020. And so that one was it was handed to us. So how can we provide this extra learning to those who still want to be engaged, and that was tough, weren’t set up, especially in rural Saskatchewan. Janet

Barb 0:00In today’s episode, we’re gonna change it up a little bit. The next few episodes of The Secret Life of Entrepreneurs, we’re gonna start to talk about supporting ourselves. And even as business owners, we’re still people, we need support. So today’s guest is really coming at it from a different angle. We’re not going to talk accounting or marketing, we’re going to talk parenting. Barb 0:27Our guest today is a trauma informed life coach, and her business called rad talk with Tracy supports parents who are parenting kids diagnosed with something called rad. She’s a podcast founder and a host. So Tracy, let me stop talking. And welcome. Tracey 0:50Thank you so much. It’s great to be here, Barb. Barb 0:52It’s an absolute pleasure. So let’s start right at the very beginning. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Obviously, you must be a parent. Tracey 1:03I am a parent. Yeah, I have worked in health care for about 20 years. And then my husband and I adopted a sibling group two kids, parents, sister. And that threw me into my business and what I do now, so both of our kids have something called reactive attachment disorder. Barb 1:28So that must be what rad stands for reactive attachment disorder. Got it? Okay. Yep. And so, like, what is RAD? Tracey 1:40It’s a good question. I never knew about it. A lot of adoptive parents that go into adoption and adopt children don’t know about it, we found out kind of on the fly as we were parenting our kids. And so it’s, I’m looking up a definition because I won’t have a great one for you. Tracey 2:04But it’s a condition where infants or young children don’t form a secure or a healthy emotional bond with their primary caregiver. And so throughout their life, they end up becoming reactive to attachment where most of us would enjoy a hug and affection. These kids, their brains are actually rewired to react to it in a negative way. So they will push push away anytime there’s love and affection, or any type of, you know, close, intimate connection. Barb 2:42And one of the things that you and I talked about before we went live today, a number of these kids also have other diagnoses, which then kind of further complicate the issue. Tracey 2:55Right. That’s a great word for it Barb is complicated. Reactive Attachment Disorder is really complicated. Because what often happens, like you say, as children are diagnosed with other disorders, anything from attention deficit, oppositional defiance, and just a myriad of disorders. And it’s often because as parents going into the adoption, world, adopting children, you’re not prepared, you’re not prepared, because a lot of the caseworker the people in the adoption world, and therapists, this isn’t a really well known disorder. And so people don’t know about it, and they don’t know how to treat it. And so yeah, you just get into this, this situation where kids get different diagnoses until one day you land upon reactive attachment disorder. Barb 3:54Got it. So you know, of course, you and I connected because our daughter is adopted. And we’ve done a ton of research over the years to try to understand one of the things that we really see is trust. She’s not able to trust us the same way. We either see our biological son, or the same way as a parent that, you know, you just trust your parents, they’re, they’re looking out for your best interest, even if you’re mad at them. In your teenage years. You might not agree with them. But you trust them. Barb 4:32And so that’s certainly something that we’ve seen with her daughter over the years is to come home from school, and she’ll tell us a story. And she’ll relate to us that hey, like you guys, were actually right. Or you guys were actually telling me the truth when you explained this to me. Barb 4:50And I often marvel at that because I’m like, so you didn’t believe me when I told you that masks would be required or you know Like, really didn’t believe me. And so that’s something that I think, for a lot of parents, it’s tough to wrap your head around the fact that, you know, your kid might not trust you. Right? When you adopt it, so I’m just gonna go back in our adoption story and yours a little bit. When you adopted you said, you know, you didn’t know about this, you didn’t even know this was a possibility. How prepared in hindsight, how prepared Do you feel you were nevermind, the red part? Like, had you guys done your homework, done your research? Talk to a bunch of people? Had you done all of that? Tracey 5:38Definitely, definitely. Yeah, you know, I’ve worked in healthcare. And you just do all the things we did, we did our research, we, you know, the adoption process is pretty lengthy. And you go through a bunch of steps like filling out a safe survey, there’s home visits, there’s lots of opportunities to talk to the caseworkers. And there’s courses that you have to take. Tracey 6:04I mean, we really did it all. And looking back, you know, every situation is different. And not every child from adoption comes with reactive attachment. I just want to make that clear. But these kids, it happens because of trauma and that unsafe environment that you’re talking about and not having trust. And so then there’s this real need for control. Tracey 6:28But yeah, we were what we thought was prepared, looking back, not at all, I do know that there was a piece about attachment in our training, it was very short. And again, I think they skirted around the real deep issues, the real stuff that comes with it, where it just seemed like kids were having trouble attaching it was

Barb 0:00Welcome to The Secret Life of entrepreneurs. Today our guest hails from Saskatoon. Linda Borski is the founder, the owner of Saskatchewan’s only fully integrated physiotherapy clinic and medical yoga therapy studio. She is the only one in Saskatchewan practicing this way. So I’ve invited her to be a guest because I want to hear more. And I think you do too. We want to hear more about medical yoga and that traditional physiotherapy, you know, those assholes that make you do a whole bunch of leg lifts. Yeah, those guys probably kill me for saying that. But Oh, well. Barb 0:46You know, we want to hear more about how we can have that deeper level of healing. We’ve all been there, you get an injury, it gets better, and then another injury pops up. So how in the heck can we actually heal head to toe. Linda’s been in business for about six years. And as I say she founded this business. So she’s going to take us on a journey and tell us that story. Linda before I babble on for too long here. Welcome and thank you for being here. Linda 1:18Oh, it’s a pleasure. Always. Yeah. Thanks so much for the opportunity, Barb. Absolutely. So like, start us off? What made you interested in creating this first ever physio yoga together business? Tell us a little bit about that story. Sure, you know, Linda 1:38I was a physiotherapist for about 15 years at the time that a friend of mine opened a yoga studio. So in support of her, I went and joined a few classes that didn’t take me very long to figure out that, hey, you know what, I need to figure out a way to bring yoga into my treatment room. Okay, and, and so that was the very start of it. But in typical physio fashion, we look for a course and some kind of continuing education to get us going to get started. And so that’s what I started to look for. And I came across a program in North Carolina prep, which ended up giving me the certification for medical yoga therapist. And, and the reason it’s medical and not just yoga therapist is because she takes people into her program that have a health sciences degree. Okay, so we have that medical degree, somewhere behind us. Most of us were physio, therapists, some were occupational therapists, or social workers, some nursing some pharmacy. But everybody who graduated with medical yoga therapy certification, had that medical background. Barb 3:00Okay. Great background already. Linda 3:04So, the program, oh, there’s three onsite modules. I think I did mine in about a year and a half. Barb 3:11Oh, so that’s not like a quick six week program. That’s an intensive program, then. Yeah. Okay. And so tell us how the practice has evolved. If you were traditionally practicing physiotherapy before, you know, were you working in another clinic? Or had you always had your own clinic? Linda 3:32Yeah. So the private practice that I was working in at the time, was very, very supportive of me and my quest to bring yoga into my treatment room and into his clinic. But there came a point where I couldn’t really do all that I wanted to do with it. And so I branched out onto my own cape, and rather than trying to take my ideas and fit them into somebody else’s business model, we just, I just kind of said, I’ll create my own business model, and it’ll be centered around the blend of physio and yoga therapy. Barb 4:11Okay, so if I was the client, tell me what that would look like for me. What’s what my customer journey to healing looks like with Saskatoon physio yoga? Linda 4:22Hmm, great question. I think where most of people start is they’re curious about us. Physio yoga, how’s that gonna work? So, typically, people come in for the physio piece, okay, sprained ankle, low back pain, neck pain and headaches from working from home or whatever it is. These are long standing injuries from when we were athletes. years ago, decades ago. Perhaps But these nagging little things and, so they end up coming to us, kind of because we’re physios I believe anyway. Linda 5:11And that physio background gives us a really lovely base to operate from. It’s evidence based, it’s a regulated profession, it’s really well respected amongst healthcare professionals. So, you know, we’ve got that really nice face. And then what we start to do depends on the person, so if your kid doesn’t fit into your kitchen upstairs, then we don’t break it in there or, or we weave it in very small doses and kind of inconspicuously. Linda 5:47When we start to bring in some of these other aspects, we’ll talk to our clients about well, what are your sleep patterns? Like? Okay, what are some? What’s nutrition like for you? What is stress? like for you? What are some of your stress management strategies? Barb 6:05Social connectivity, who’s your support system? So we start going just beyond that low back focus, right, or that elbow pain focus, and we start to bring in some of these elements, these other elements. Very realistic, is what I’m hearing, right? There’s a holistic approach. People are complete beings. And so your elbow, I can be causing huge stress, because now you can’t work the same number of hours and everything is tied together. Okay. Yes, I understand that the elbow doesn’t allow you to pick up your infant. Barb 6:43Yeah. Oh, that’s a good example. Right? Linda 6:47And then all of a sudden, it’s kind of like then then the psychosocial piece comes in. It’s kind of like, I can’t be the mom that I wanted to be. Or I can’t be the provider that I wanted to be because I’m not working as I want to need to.

Barb 0:00Today’s guest comes from a very long way away. But we’re excited to have him on the show today, because we’re gonna have a great conversation about what in the heck is Seo? It’s something you hear me talk about on a regular basis. So today, john Vong from Local SEO search is going to join us to talk about how his business is focused on those well established family run businesses, that small business market that needs more help than many of the other business sectors out there. So today, john and I are going to have a little bit of a conversation around SEO, what is it, how they approach it. And you know, hopefully, if you’re a local business owner, you can take a few of the tidbits from today’s podcast, and implement them in your business. So let’s start it off. JOHN, welcome. And thank you for being here. John 0:56Well, I’m excited. Thanks a lot for having me, Barb. And hopefully, I can share some valuable insights and takeaways for your audience members today. Barb 1:04That sounds awesome. So let’s start off by just telling us a little bit about what you do explain SEO, in your own words, from your business’s perspective. John 1:15So what we do here at local SEO search is to help the business owners the SMBs, the more smaller revenue type clients dominate their locale marketplace, as well as positioned themselves as leaders in their domain. So they have a specialty or an expertise. And we make that the centerpiece to attract ready to buy customers looking and seeking out for their products and services. And positioning them on the top of search engine results page when someone is actively in pursuit of discovery of their product and service so that we can help them match, ready to buy customers with them as a service provider or product provider. Yeah. And they are now the leaders in the marketplace. Barb 2:07So you’re absolutely talking my language because I talk about ready to buy customers all the time. And I think, you know, we’re making a really important differentiate a differentiation here. There’s the customer who’s still in the research phase. And obviously, we want businesses to get found in that research phase. But we also and even more importantly, want them to be able to get found when the customer is now ready to buy. I’m on my mobile, I’m going to buy those shoes, I’m on my mobile, we’re going to a coffee shop. And I think that’s maybe a differentiator that lots of people have a hard time understanding. So tell me, you know, kind of kind of your own opinion on that customer journey. What do you think it looks like nowadays? John 2:53Yeah. So people, you have to hit people at different stages of the buying journey, informational navigational transaction, and loyalty. And people will search different terms at different stages based on what they’re looking to purchase products, more item, big item, competitive analysis. There’s a lot of factors, so many different sources. But most importantly, they want to be in control their own research. And when I actually prior to starting this agency, I worked at Yellow Pages Group here in Canada, and five years, and they did a great job monopolizing that entire journey by compressing the most comprehensive business directory in one format, for free with huge retention and usage. And the mindset of the consumer user when it picked up that book, and went out and seek that personal. Now with this whole advent of digital, there’s so many different platforms, so many different mediums and choices. However, Google still gives you control of where to find the information of your liking as a user standpoint. Exactly. And now you can optimize it for your own purpose. Barb 4:12That’s right. Google absolutely dominates the marketplace in Canada. And I often talk to our students and get found digital marketing about, you know, it doesn’t matter your personal opinion, if you like Yahoo, great, use it. If you like Bing, absolutely go use it, I’m not going to knock them. But if you want to find the majority of the traffic, you gotta play with Google’s rules. And I’ve even heard a number of professionals say I, you know, Google, and I’m not following this rule, and I’m like, go to town, but it’s at your own detriment. So do I like everything Google does? Absolutely not. But am I gonna play their game because I want my own business found? Absolutely. I’m going to play the game with them. Right. Um, so when you think about, you know, the customer journey, and so we’re here in Saskatchewan, you’re in Ontario. The population difference makes a pretty significant difference in terms of, you know, even how many ready to buy customers we can attract. So when you look, you know, what some of those businesses that you’re working in, let’s say, downtown, you know, the real Toronto, you know, how are they finding their competitive edge? How are they? How are they communicating their expertise on whatever the subject matter is? John 5:27Yeah. And when it becomes hyper competitive, like a dentist or lawyer, a personal injury lawyer, and we work with all service providers b2b, localized. And when it comes to hyper competitive, that means you have to set yourself apart, you need to have that unique selling proposition, understand the competitive landscape, and have all the tools and software to detect what’s going on. And understand benchmarks, understand what comparative, where you’re at, and where you want to be realistic, and authentic and transparent throughout the entire journey. And so when I work with clients, we always look at what’s your story? And what do you want to be known for? And what is your goals? Because that must be completely in alignment. And without that clearly at

The latest updates on Google My Business. This post is part of a continuing series of monthly updates on the #1 search tool used by ready-to-buy customers. For all the updates, or to see additional information, read Attract More Customers with Google My Business. Connect GMB to E-commerce After announcing a new Shopify integration to streamline its Google Shopping connection earlier this month, Google is now expanding its third-party shopping partners, with WooCommerce, GoDaddy and Square all soon set to join the platform’s eCommerce integrations. In addition to this, Google is looking to stay in touch with the next phase of digital product discovery, through the expanded use of AR (augmented reality) for item listings and promotions. Given the popularity of video content more broadly, the integration makes sense, and it’ll be interesting to see how Google incorporates these new options into search and maps – which could make Google My Business listings a much more significant consideration for eCommerce in the near future. Say Goodbye to Shortnames Google created shortnames, or shortlinks, to make it easier for businesses to provide a direct link to Maps (directions) and the Listing (Review requests, Offers, etc). After a brief existence, shortlinks are being retired. If your business created a shortlink, it will continue to work. If you did not create a shortlink, the option will not be visible and you will be unable to create a new link. Find a Recycling Location Google is launching an initiative which will help people find places where they can drop off their junk or materials they no longer need so that it can be processed and recycled. Google Maps is introducing new tools which will help people to find out where they can dispose of their used materials so they can be recycled properly. Verified businesses which will be accepting recycling material can use Google My Business to let people know the type of materials like clothing, electronics, batteries, hazardous waste, glass, plastics which they will be accepting for recycling. Easier Editing of GMB Business owners can now add their local service offerings (e.g., eyelash extensions, leak repairs, ground wire installations, etc.) to their GMB profiles directly from Search. And, beginning next week, local businesses will be able to schedule Google Posts from directly within Search. In order to update your GMB profile from Search or Maps, you must be logged into a Google account associated with your business. To update your profile from Search, type in your business name or “my business.” To update it from Maps, tap on your profile picture followed by “Your Business Profile.” *For restaurants.* Restaurant owners can now add menu items to their GMB profile from Search and Maps. Google is also rolling out the ability to add and update ordering options (i.e., pick-up or delivery) from Search — that feature will be arriving in the coming weeks. In addition, restaurant and service business owners can now enable online bookings through their GMB profiles from Search. To take advantage of this feature, business owners must sign up with a Reserve with Google partner. Local Opportunity Finder Google launched a new tool called Local Opportunity Finder. The tool is designed to provide local business owners with tailored recommendations to improve their visibility on Search and Maps. Business owners can simply enter the name of their business into the tool and Google will provide a list of resources, such as how to respond to reviews or tips for uploading photos. Local GMB Search vs an Informational Search In the split second it takes for Google to produce a search result, one of the most important, and sometimes frustrating aspects of the result, is intent. Google interprets the searchers intent into four moments – Know, Go, Do and Buy. Searchers early in their buying journey want to ‘know” how to do something while later in the journey, right before purchase, is a “buy” moment. Customers searching for a local business (plumber, restaurant, retail) are more likely wanting to buy, thus Google provides local results via GMB listings. From an SEO perspective, the rules are the same. *Google affirms that the SEO for content is the same:* “It’s essentially the same. We don’t do anything different with regard to these different kinds of pages. But rather we try to find the content on the page, understand how it’s relevant and treat that appropriately.” Site Manager User Role to be Retired After October 24, 2021, the Site manager role will no longer be available in Google My Business. Anyone who manages your business as a Site manager will be converted to Manager. Managers are able to make additional changes to your Business Profiles on Search, Maps, and other Google services. If you would like to remove any Site managers from your Business Profile before his change occurs, you can manage who has access to your profiles by heading to business.google.com. Til next month!

Barb 0:00Have you ever thought about adopting a pet? Maybe you’ve had to make that difficult decision to surrender your beloved four legged friend? Well, whatever the case, our guest today can help answer some of the toughest feline and canine questions. Barb 0:18Welcome, Bill. Bill Thorn is the director of marketing and public relations for the Regina Humane Society. And he’s here with us today to navigate those murky waters of pet adoption and surrender. Barb 0:32Now bill, I’m going to welcome you so please say hi to everyone. Bill Thorn 0:36Hello. Barb 0:38And then I’m going to give you a little bit of information on CJTRs 20th annual radiothon, which is on now and runs until October 7. So radiothon is that week-long festival of special programming, and a fundraiser for the community radio station. And this year, we’re hoping to raise $20,000 in celebration of our 20th anniversary. Barb 1:01So if you’d like to donate, you can also receive a limited edition gift. Donations of $100 we’ll get a limited edition t-shirt that’s only available to radiothon donors. And I have one of last year’s t-shirts from when I donated and it is a fantastic shirt. So I’d really encourage you to do that. Barb 1:23If you’re donating $25 you’ll also be entered into a draw for some special prize packages that feature some pretty amazing products from local businesses. So just for example, some of the prizes in the package include The Cure kitchen and bar, Vintage Vinyl Hemp Emporium, The Optical Shoppe, Bushwakker Brew Pub, Pacific Fresh Fish, Cathedral Pet Shop, Keepaway Gourmet, Above the Fold Digital Marketing (that’s us), Neutral Ground, Regina Folk Festival, Cathedral Social Hall and JDs Sausage Supplies. Barb 2:03So celebrate local voices and culture by streaming tuning in and pledging your support to 91.3 FM CJTR for Regina community radio during radioTHON 2021. You’d like to make a donation, you can call 306525727 for extension 102. Thank you. Barb 2:27And Bill back to you. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the Humane Society. Bill Thorn 2:33First off I want to say people should support CJ tr they are wonderful Humane Society supporters as well. And we work with them a couple of times a year. So hopefully things go well. Barb 2:40I appreciate that. Yeah. Bill Thorn 2:42So as I said, my name is Bill Thorn, I’m the director marketing and Public Relations at that you’re joining me in Saudi and and I’ve been there for about six and a half years, and basically responsible for making sure that everybody knows about what’s going on at the Humane Society in all our different areas, including our dog training program and our education outreach programs. And it’s been a wonderful experience to work there. And lots of really wonderful people are there. Our volunteers, the people that adopt our supporters have been fantastic to get to know and it’s been quite an experience over the last number of years. Barb 3:15And I think the Humane Society is responsible for a heck of a lot more than just adoption. So tell me a little bit about your role in the community because I think you’re actually a pillar in the community in terms of the role that you serve. Bill Thorn 3:28Well you know, you’re quite correct in that we’re very much a part of the community and like many others when I first went there even you know, what people know the Humane Society for is our adoption program primarily where people can adopt cats and kittens and, and other some small critters as well, rabbits and, and so on and so forth. Bill Thorn 3:49But we also play a number of other roles. And one of them is, you know, we provide impound and bylaw enforcement for the city of Regina, we also enforce the Animal Protection Act of Saskatchewan, which is the act of provincial legislation that protects animals from neglect and abuse. Bill Thorn 4:07I mentioned our education and outreach programs. were part of the safety community in Regina, where, you know we have a mandate to work with children, adults, people that are new to the community to help them understand responsible pet ownership, safe pet ownership. We work with the Saskatchewan health authority on a program called the dog smart, which is a bite prevention program every year and in Regina there’s the last statistic I had was over 600 dog bites per year in Regina, and those are just the ones that are reported. Bill Thorn 4:42That would not so it is a bit of a problem and most of those bites actually are to children. One of the things we teach kids at a very basic level is how to interact with a dog that you don’t know in particular, but even when you do I mean they’ll want to go give it a big hug around their neck. Right at the most level, and you see a lot of kids get bit, get bit on the face. Barb 5:04So from there sorry, Bill, you actually just touched on a Really? I don’t know, personal things for me. But is it usually the family pet? Or is it a stranger dog, Bill Thorn 5:16I don’t have any hard statistics on that. The SHA would, okay, they’re the ones that track that stuff. But often it is a known pet. Bill Thorn 5:27You know, one of the basic things we do, and we, we go into schools, and we have resources available for teachers that they can take out. And we’re also developing an entire curriculum right now that we hope to launch in early 2022. for teachers that can help teach not only how to interact with animals, but also some of the basic human, what’s the word I’m looking for things we want people to do to feel empathy, respect for other people and things. Bill Thorn 5:52Understanding

Barb 0:00Good afternoon. I am super excited today to introduce Daria Mallon. She is the founder and principal with boost coaching. She’s not about the fluff. So there’s so much, you know, fun and nice to do stuff in marketing. But what I really enjoyed with her is like she’s down to business. What do I need to do to sell more stuff? Barb 0:24Daria, welcome. And you know what, even as I say that, am I pronouncing that correctly? Daria Malin 0:29You are Yeah. Barb 0:30Okay. Perfect. So welcome. And please just give us a bit of a brief introduction. Daria Malin 0:36I’m Daria Malin, my company is Boost Strategic Coaching. And I work with entrepreneurs to help them gain clarity and confidence in your business development and marketing strategy. Daria Malin 0:47Often as entrepreneurs, we feel like we’re the best kept secret. And it’s often just because we don’t know how to effectively connect and make an impact with the people who really should be buying from us. Daria Malin 1:00And so I work with entrepreneurs as well as professional service providers who want a copilot and some actionable steps and tools to take your business sort of from crickets to conversions is sometimes what I say if you don’t know how to connect with your with your best prospects, meaning the ones who really should be buying from you the niche markets that are the best fit for what problem you solve, then that’s who that’s who comes my way. Daria Malin 1:27And I spent 16-17 years in advertising and sales. So I bring to the table, a bunch of restarts where I built my business from zero to full capacity, and an understanding of how advertising works and how to sell. Barb 1:44So you and I talked a little bit, just an email before we were making arrangements for our session today. And you know that that how, how does a local business? How do you make a dent in the noise that’s out there? What’s your take on something like that? Daria Malin 2:02I want to start by, I guess asking people if they can answer the question, what is a brand? Because when we’re talking about making a dent in business, really what we mean is be branded so people buy from us, right? Barb 2:15Yes, I know, when I think about a brand, it’s the feeling that the customer receives when they interact with my business. And ideally, they would receive that same feeling, whether they interact with me on social media, in person, through a video, whatever it might be. Daria Malin 2:39I always suggest that your brand is simply what people are saying about you when you’re not in the room. Or the story people are telling about you when you’re not in the room. Daria Malin 2:50Ultimately, your brand is what you’re known for. Yeah. And I’ll often use the example of Coca Cola, if you just saw the Coca Cola logo by itself, and they’ve never done any marketing. It would mean nothing, just a red and white words and background. Daria Malin 3:06But coke decided that their story is coke brings joy, right? That’s their brand. And so for generations now they have told that story over and over again through Santa Claus, polar bears, singing on a hill, you know, being at the Olympics, all the things that they’ve done, to reinforce coke brings joy, and even the red and white Santa Claus that we know and love became popular because of marketing by Coca Cola before that there were tall, skinny sandwiches in green, and all sorts of different sizes. Daria Malin 3:43But they brought all of this to their brand to reinforce that one story coke brings joy. So to come back to the question, how do you build your business? Or Yeah, how do you? How do you build your your brand? You have to figure out what you want that story to be first, what do you want to be known for? Daria Malin 4:03Yep. And I usually suggest people figure out first, who do you want to serve? And what main problem do you solve for that group of people or for those groups? And so that’s where you start is Who do you want to serve? Daria Malin 4:18If you haven’t figured out first who your target audiences are, then you’re trying to be everything to everybody, you won’t end up being anything to anybody because your messaging will miss the mark. And also, if I told you tomorrow, start targeting everybody with your marketing, like how would you do that? Right, and nobody has the budget to do that. Barb 4:37Okay, so let me challenge, I agree with you. But I want to challenge that thinking a little bit because one of the one of the toughest things I find in local is there’s lots of bars, there’s lots of coffee shops, there’s lots of dog trainers. So how do I who lts say I train dogs, okay, I trained dogs. I now need to differentiate myself. How do I find that story? Barb 5:02Who do I want to serve? I want to primarily serve families who get a new puppy. And families who are experiencing separation anxiety, how how do we kind of go that next level? And say, Yep, you are my potential client, but you’re not. And how do I start to get the message that message through? Daria Malin 5:26Well, that’s so I think, and you already mentioned two different target audiences there, right? One that is just families with a new puppy. They don’t want the puppy to ruin their furniture and their lives and keep them up at night. Daria Malin 5:40Kay, but a separate group, you’re saying that people bring in dogs, because of separation anxiety in their life, and a dog helps to feel like to? Barb 5:49Oh, no. What do

Barb 0:03And it’s time for Episode 87 of The Secret Life of Entrepreneurs with a very special guest, Craig Reed from Virtus group. Barb 0:12Craig is a partner with Virtus group. And they provide advice in terms of accounting, tax, business advisory services for small and medium sized businesses, entrepreneurs across a number of different industries. So today, we’re gonna answer all those burning accounting questions and come on. I know that’s the stuff that keeps you up at night. So let’s go, let’s take a deep dive into the world of a chartered professional accountant, and find out what that world looks like. Craig, welcome. Craig 0:46Thanks very much for having me. Barb 0:49It’s a pleasure to have you here. So just quickly, tell us a little bit about, you know, Virtus group in your role with the company. Craig 0:58Okay, well, Virtus group is an independent accounting firm, but that I just mean that we’re more of a regional firm. So we’ve got offices in Regina, Saskatoon, and a satellite office in St. Vance or Saskatchewan based and that’s where we do most of our work. Our clients of course range from doing business in Canada to across the world. So we have resources we tap into from that, but an independence means we’re not like a national or international firm, that’s part of those things, but we are part of an alliance that helps us access those resources. Craig 1:22So we’re at about 125 people between our two main offices are Regina and Saskatoon and and so as you said, at the top, our clients range from a gas station to an egg employment dealer to nonprofit organizations of significant size. So we’re just like the Saskatchewan economy in terms of the client base we represent because it’s everything that we do we egg oil, and gas, all the rest of it. Craig 1:44So personally, I deal a lot with I focus on owner managed business, like entrepreneurs, and I deal a lot with restaurants, real estate construction, and professional sort of intellectual sort of doctors, lawyers, marketing advisors, all that sort of stuff. Yeah. Barb 2:00So you must see quite a bit of elasticity in that industry. Then when one goes up, the other is going down. You know, is that or do they go kind of up and down at the same time. Craig 2:09It’s interesting, like in 2020 egg and pumpkin dealers and egg producers had a really strong year. And so they were a little bit immune from some of the COVID impacts. And so, real estate has its cyclical, it’s always up and down. And particularly Home Builders had a bit of a lull in 19. And then 20, it was like nothing’s happening, and now they’re going good guns again. But then the supply chain issues and construction businesses are also causing its own issues there. So it’s, it’s, as you say, like this Saskatchewan economy is largely driven by oil and gas and agriculture. And so a lot of stuff does trickle out of that. But it can be a little bit counter or a little bit operating in different sorts of sequences and cycles, for sure. Yeah, Barb 2:49Yeah. And so just as a firm, do you find that because you’re in a wide variety of industries, that you’re able to level out that client intake and outtake or churn. Craig 2:59Yeah, we’re, we’re always healthy things grow. We’re always trying to grow and, and we generally do achieve that through sort of organic growth for the most part. But it is interesting, because through 19, and 20, there was a lot of sort of a slowdown. So our specialty work was slowing down, like advisory, tax planning, that sort of stuff. Craig 3:18But the ongoing engagements like that, that you need to come to your account every year to get your financial names textured done that was growing into sort of a pace, so but in 2019, we did sort of have a little bit of a stagnant year like we’re we’re mostly flat just because of the economy a little bit slow. But yeah, we were lucky in that way that we’re sort of diversified. Where we’re not as concentrated are risks. So we don’t have the same ups and downs that other businesses might have in terms of how their business flows. Barb 3:42Exactly. So talk to me a little bit about why a small business owner would hire an accountant, and what are the benefits that they would receive? Craig 3:52How much time do I have? Barb 3:5425 minute clock. Craig 3:57Okay. But I would just say that no matter what question you ask an accountant, the answer is generally going to be It depends, right? We always say it depends. We want to get more of the background for it. And that’s what they’re doing a tax question. Can I deduct this, that sort of stuff. But there’s sort of a priority period, I would say, with accounting. So at the base level is sort of are my financial statements correct, and accurate and timely, because they tell us a story about what happened. I love financial games, because they tell me what happened last year. Barb 4:25Exactly. It’s history right? Where most business owners are very focused on the future. Craig 4:30Exactly. And this is why annual financial statements like you’ll engage an accounting firm to do your tax return and maybe get to the bank at the end of the year. It’s somewhat less useful because we’re always in the rearview mirror. And sometimes it takes, say, three months to get the records in and I’ll get the work done. So with accounting information, it’s always sort of this, this, this healthy tension between the timeliness the more timely it is, the more useful it is. Craig 4:52But the less accurate it is when you’re sort of like you can think

Barb 0:01Coming up on our episode today, we’re live with Tyler Clark from Prairie Benefit Solutions. Barb 0:08In today’s episode of The Secret Life of Entrepreneurs, we’re going to talk about employee benefit plans. And I know you’re gonna need a fresh cup of coffee for this conversation. But if you’re a local business owner, this is a very important conversation, new employees are looking to understand the benefits that they will receive. And if you’ve got employees who are younger, then these are super important issues to them. So benefit plans come in all shapes and sizes, and Taylor’s going to tell us the ins and outs and how to understand what we might want to consider as a business. But here’s the part that’s particularly important to me. It’s tailored to your business. So before I, you know, steal all of his thunder Tyler, welcome. Thank you for being here. Tyler 1:01Thanks, Barb. It’s good to be here. Barb 1:03It’s an absolute pleasure. So start off, just tell us a little bit about yourself and pre benefits solutions. Tyler 1:09But yeah, I worked for pre benefits where basically We help business owners set up employee benefit programs, we are a group benefit consultants that work with a variety of different insurance companies. But something that makes us a bit unique, is we have the exclusive advisors for the chambers of commerce group insurance plan here in your Regina and surrounding area. And maybe we’ll talk about that program later. And then we also do life and Disability Insurance planning. So we’re just, you know, great big hits at parties, right? We love insurance, you know, and specialize in insurance, so hopefully your audience doesn’t fall asleep on me. Barb 1:52Exactly. And you know, if nothing else, there’s probably a couple of tips they can get for their next game, a Trivial Pursuit in here. If Google’s on hand, okay, so let’s start there. So an Employee Benefit Plan versus a personal or private plan. So I could go to you and say, Hey, we want a business Employee Benefit Plan. And I can also buy private insurance from you. Did I understand correctly? Tyler 2:17Sorry, the personal insurance would be life insurance and disability insurance. Okay. Um, yeah, so, not not quite, we don’t we don’t sell personal plans, like Blue Cross, GMS. That’s something you could get as an individual. Okay, but we just focus on that business market for the health and dental side of things. Barb 2:36Okay. And are all of the group plans that you do through that chamber plan? Or are there a variety of different plans that you support? Tyler 2:44Yeah, the majority of our clients are through the chambers plan, but we do work with other carriers when it makes sense. So this the small and midsize Bart market, it really makes sense that that chambers program, it just has cost stability, and it provides a lot of value for what you get. Barb 3:03Okay, so let’s start there. Why as a local business owner, why would I want an employee benefit plan? Why can’t my employees just go get private plans? Or you know, why? Why do I want one? Tyler 3:16That’s that’s really good question Barb. So there are a few answers to that. Let’s just stick to the kind of three that come to mind number one is you care about your employees right , they’re part of your family and you want to provide protection for them if something happens and not only protection for them, but their family as well. Tyler 3:36So that’s what a benefit program provides is, you know, catastrophic coverage and ability to go for the just preventative maintenance type of things like your massage or dental that people probably wouldn’t go to until they had pain in their mouth or a significant back issue or, or that kind of thing. Right? So that just helps their Yeah, their health and well being. Tyler 3:59Number two, it’s smart spending. So if you’re a business owner, and you’re looking to compensate your employees a little bit more than last year, well, your options are you could give them an additional salary bump in their salary. But when you do that, you’re paying into all the government benefits. You have your workers comp, your UI, your CPP, and then the employee is also getting taxed on their additional salary. Right. So that is an option. That’s fine. But Your other option is you could set up a Benefits Program. Tyler 4:30You’re as an employer as a business owner, your component or your portion that you’re paying into it is a business, taxable business expense or tax deductible business expense. Okay, and then you don’t have to pay into the government programs like the CPP II, W CB, and then, yeah, the employee isn’t getting taxed as well. Barb 4:52Okay, so let’s take a step back. When we talk about an employee benefit plan, what do we most commonly see In a benefit plan. Tyler 5:02Yeah, and you address it on the front end, Barb, you said there’s lots of different plans out there. So some of the common ones, especially for someone who’s maybe just setting up a plan to start just getting into it, you’d see, there’d be a life insurance benefit. And then health and dental. Tyler 5:19So in the health component, you’d have prescription drugs, and then paramedical services. So what that means is your massage Cairo acupuncture, there’s a list of different specialties there. And then medical emergency travel insurance, when you’re out of the country, you’re traveling, you’re covered for any medical emergency. So those are kind of the main pieces of a health plan. And then obviously, dental is fairly self explanatory. Barb 5:43Exactly. So then how does it get customized by business by employer by employee, whatever it is, how does it actually end up getting customized?