The Boss of You

I’ll start by warning you that this post is Western Canada-specific. But although I considered that might make it too exclusive for an internet audience, this is just too good a resource not to share with you.

Western Economic Diversification Canada (aka WED) funds an operation here in BC called the Women’s Enterprise Centre. (There are sister organizations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.) They tend to be known primarily as a lender — they offer loans to women looking to start and/or grow their businesses. They also organize events, which tend (in my opinion) to lean toward the stuffy and speechy. But they also provide a service we have found invaluable, which is their one-on-one business counselling. You simply call them to set up an appointment, and then you can have a personal phone call with one of their resident experts who will help you out.

The best part is that it’s completely free of charge. No kidding.

We took advantage of this service a couple of years ago, when we were coming to the difficult realization that we probably needed to expand our shop beyond just the two of us in order to continue serving our clients well. The WEC gave me some helpful tips on how to figure out the best path forward, by evaluating factors like our profitability, the percentage of our time that was billable, and so on and so forth. It really helped us get to a point where we could see the path forward.

So: highly recommended for any of you living in Western Canada. Anyone care to share similar resources for those lving elsewhere?