April 16, 2010 - Glebe Report

BUSINESS BUZZ
Alana leads one of her many classes in dance
Alana has also recently introduced
a burlesque dance class for women
who want to celebrate their femininity.
The studio is also happy to offer
a Sunday social once a month, where
dancers can show up for a free introduction
to salsa and swing dancing
followed by a couple of hours of
open dance to practice your moves.
You can register for any of these
programs by calling the studio or referring
to the website. The studio offers
three very flexible ways of enrolling.
Register for a full progressive
8-week series in the dance class of
your choice. Participants can register
for an annual membership. This
membership allows you to attend any
classes that are at your level for one
price. Lastly, there is a 10-pack class
option. This is an ideal category if
you have a busy unpredictable schedule.
This is the most flexible option
allowing users to drop in for any 10
classes space permitting. Please call
or see the website for prices and details
on registration.
Dance with Alana is very much
based in the Glebe and she is a big
fan of the community. She says that
about 70 per cent of the members of
the dance studio are Glebe residents.
Moreover, Alana and the studio have
been involved with many community
events throughout the years along
the lines of “Dancing in the Streets”
and more recently, the ‘dancetacular’
fundraiser for the survivors of
the Glebe Avenue fire. Dance with
Alana offers a newsletter to subscribers
which outlines the various
programs, events and activities they
are offering. To become a subscriber,
simply visit the website or you can
give them a call.
Dance With Alana
call 613-233-3456
www.dancewithalana.com
Urban Assistant
Are you a small business or household
with a messy stack of unpaid
bills hanging over your head? Are
you simply paying too much because
your paperwork is a mess? Rest easy.
Help is here. A new concept in smallscale
freelance financial management
is being pioneered by an entrepreneur
in Ottawa.
The force behind Urban Assistant
promises to have the answers for
anyone with a paper skeleton in their
closet. “Most people don’t realize just
how much money and time they lose
because they aren’t organized,” says
Donna Zimonjic, founder of Urban
Assistant. “Straightening out your
bills, organizing your files and keeping
things in order can save people
more money than they realize.”
Although she launched her business
only in January, she has already
snagged some clients through simple
word of mouth. She tells the story of a
businesswoman, who came to Donna
with two years of bills and invoices in
a box and the taxman breathing down
her neck. “If she handed that box to
her accountant and told him to sort it
out, she would have paid through the
nose,” Zimonjic says. “But within a
few hours I had sorted that out and
developed a basic system for keeping
her bills in order. It’s simple, but
it’s not something everyone has time
for.”
Zimonjic also offers an array of
services that include costing out
your household or business budget
by looking at what you pay for
everything from utilities to insurance
and renegotiating those bills
or switching companies if she can
save you money. “Often people stick
with the same phone or Internet provider
because its too much hassle to
change. In some cases, they can be
Photo: Andrew Balfour
paying two to three times what they
need to,” says Zimonjic. “I take the
hassle away and leave them the savings.”
Particularly vulnerable are seniors
who may still be paying long-distance
rates that were being charged
a decade ago. Snowbirds, Zimonjic
says, are also unaware that they can
put their phone and other services
on hold when they are enjoying the
Florida sun.
Money is precious and so is time.
Urban Assistant offers a virtual assistant
service to help with a wide range
of business tasks and even offers a
moving package for people who simply
don’t have the time to do all the
administration involved in moving a
house or business. “At Urban Assistant,
we can do everything: hire your
movers, redirect your mail, switch
your bills over to a new address and
shop around for an improved home
insurance package,” she says. “We
even send change-of-address cards
Seeking the visible hand of organization
Stretch
… your body
… your mind
… your spirit
When you make
a promise to
practice yoga,
you open yourself to
the gifts that yoga offers,
gifts that benefit every
aspect of your life,
including health,
well-being, and joy!
Glebe Report April 16, 2010 17
to people you know and have your
fridge filled with food for your first
night in the new place.” Zimonjic
will also project manage everything
from a renovation to small-scale conferences.
By now you may be asking why
someone would want to do the jobs
no one else does, but for Donna that
is simple; she’s good at it. Zimonjic
comes from a business background,
having studied finance at Southampton
University in England before
working at investment banks in Australia,
England and Canada. It was
in that high-pressure environment,
where a missing piece of paper could
mean missing a deal, that she learned
to stay on top of everything
We would like to welcome this new
virtual business to the Glebe.
Urban Assistant Inc
613 620 9333
www.urbanassistant.ca
donna@urbanassistant.ca
Photo: Donna Zan
Affordable Elegance
Group or Private
Classes
Beginners
Welcome!
Ear Curl
Introducing the
Mini Cuff
Hair Wrap
“It’s a little
over the top”
Southminster
United Church
15 Aylmer Avenue
613-730-6649
maureen.fallis@sympatico.ca
See us at booth 406 Originals Spring Craft Sale April 15—18
www.earcurls.com www.earcurls.com
www.surroundcircleyoga.com