| Practice Trends |What Are You Going to Do To Win?20Interestingly, women entrepreneurs make up a significantsegment <strong>of</strong> small business owners. This is particularly evident inthe optical business where the data show that women arebecoming the most dominant part <strong>of</strong> the workforce. In <strong>Canada</strong>women own and operate 35 per cent <strong>of</strong> small businesses.New immigrants are <strong>of</strong>ten risk takers. It makes sense, whenyou think about it. People who immigrate to <strong>Canada</strong> areembarking on a huge adventure. Often language and pr<strong>of</strong>essionalqualification equivalency are a challenge. Family support has beenleft behind either by choice or by necessity. But, according toCanadian Newcomer Magazine, 16 per cent <strong>of</strong> immigrants(approximately 40,000) employ themselves.But sadly, 23-25 per cent <strong>of</strong> Canadian small businesses failin their first year, a further 22 per cent fail in their second yearand at the end <strong>of</strong> five years, less than one third <strong>of</strong> new businessessurvive (Key Small Business Statistics: Stats <strong>Canada</strong>).Statistics are interesting but why so many new small businessesfail is the more important issue. Another Stats <strong>Canada</strong> surveyfound that management deficiency, financial management andpoor marketing strategies were a common thread. Underestimatingthe amount <strong>of</strong> start-up capital required is another pitfall.But failure is not necessarily the future <strong>of</strong> independentbusiness. The title <strong>of</strong> this essay is a sub-title taken from thespecial workshop for business owners and aspiring entrepreneursthat will be given at Vision <strong>Canada</strong> 2007 in Kelowna on October12th. The actual title <strong>of</strong> the workshop to be facilitated by GradyLenski is “Navigating Uncharted Waters – Developing a BusinessStrategy.”VISION | jul_aug | 2007This half-day workshop is sponsored by OAC CorporateFellow, Transitions Inc. Grady Lenski is senior director fornational retail, sales, marketing and customer service. He holdsa bachelors degree in chemistry from the Illinois State Universityand an MBA from Arizona State. Grady first worked for Transitionsas director <strong>of</strong> the Asia-Pacific region and returned to Transitions’North American <strong>of</strong>fice in 1999. Since 2004 he has providedcohesive marketing, strategic planning, technical andoperations support to the integrated sales organization.In keeping with the Transitions philosophy <strong>of</strong> providingenabling marketing and sales tools to the pr<strong>of</strong>ession, Gradywill take registrants on an interactive journey from learningwhat elements go into developing a successful business strategyto helping them discover their niche in the marketplace,to working with a limited budget and – most important –building into the business strategy the key milestones thatwill allow measurement <strong>of</strong> success.Whether your goal is increased sales, organizing yourbusiness more efficiently so you can spend more time withyour family, targeting a new demographic or starting your ownchain <strong>of</strong> stores, measurement <strong>of</strong> success needs to be built intothe strategy. Is your aim to increase sales by a specificpercentage? Are you going to focus more on increasing your“second pair” sale? Maybe you’d like to retire in five years andwant to groom someone within your organization to take overfrom you.Deciding on the measurement <strong>of</strong> success is a verypersonal exercise but the work you put into your strategy atthe beginning will set the stage for realizing your ambition. It’seasy to fall into the trap <strong>of</strong> saying; “I will be successful if Iachieve my goal.” But how do you decide if your goal isrealistic? What if circumstances beyond your control throw yourstrategy <strong>of</strong>f course?The five steps <strong>of</strong> learning are:• Exposing your lack <strong>of</strong> knowledge – “There are things Idon’t know.”• Acknowledging what knowledge you lack – “I didn’trealize I needed to do that.”• Learning.• Following instructions to apply your newfound knowledge– “I checked <strong>of</strong>f each step as I performed thetask.”• Applying what you learned automatically because it’sintegrated into your thinking – “I am confident enoughto apply this knowledge without needing to refer to mycheck list.”Goal-setting sounds easy enough but try this exercise. Fillin the following statement, “I will (state your goal + the measurement<strong>of</strong> performance) by (state how you will achieve thisgoal).” Don’t be easy on yourself. It’s not good enough to say,“I will increase my business by the end <strong>of</strong> the year.” Or, “I willlose weight in time for my sister’s wedding.” Quantify howmuch you are going to increase your business (will you useyour gross figures or your net figures?) and state how you planto do it (by adding a new service? By revising your price list?By pursuing contract work?).A workshop is an excellent environment for going throughthis process. Joining other registrants with a targeted interestin the theme enhances the experience. The setting is intimateand interactive and needs to be because the learning processis <strong>of</strong>ten a humbling experience. There is a limited subscriptionto this workshop and first refusal will be given to thosewho are currently owners <strong>of</strong> businesses or who have aninterest in starting a business.Sign up now by going to the Vision <strong>Canada</strong> website atwww.vision-canada.ca.ISI
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