Before I get started on my topic, I would like to extend congratulations to Expressions of Honor- our newest retailer in Coronation.  Let Lorena, Blaine, Holly and Nonni tempt your senses with their unique gifts, cappuccino and lattes or fine photography.  Stop by and explore their delicious deserts while you browse their many items- many of which are locally made. 

Have you had an idea for a business, but weren’t quite sure how to put your plans into action?  Paintearth Economic Partnership Society is here to help.  Many people have a great idea for a business, but are scared that others will not see the opportunity that it presents.  Our services are confidential.  We can assist you with developing a business plan to examine such concerns as market identification, competition, potential suppliers, labour information, and business structure models.  As part of the process, we will work with you to develop detailed cash flow forecasts, and financial statements.   All this information is necessary to not only examine whether your business has the potential for success, but also to arrange financing should that be needed.  We work with many different lending agencies to assist your business start up.  During our meeting or discussion, I will typically ask some questions to determine your awareness of the type of business you are proposing and to gauge how serious you are in moving forward. 

Your may also operate a home-based business and see the potential to create a storefront or new location.  We can help with that as well.  We maintain contact with all the realtors in our region and have an extensive list of municipal-owned property as well.   We can assist in determining new markets for your business, or provide consultation services from Productivity Alberta to maximize efficiencies and value for your manufacturing business.

Paintearth Economic Partnerships’ goal is to provide a single point of contact to assist business and grow the entire Paintearth region.  Did you know that 80 percent of new businesses will result from local interest?  Having our communities promote the region collectively increases our effectiveness, while keeping our costs manageable.  We are here to serve you with your business development needs.  All of our services are free of charge.  For additional information about Paintearth Economic Partnership and the services we provide check out our website at www.paintearth.ab.ca  or phone me at 403-882-3211 Toll free 1-888-882-3156.  If you wish to email me with your questions or ideas you may contact me at peps@paintearth.ab.ca. 

The current economy has created challenges for anyone wishing to start or expand their business.  U.S. banks were hard hit with the recent mortgage melt down.  Fortunately, Canadian banks and financial institutions were not as heavily exposed.  In fact, our banking system is being closely examined by countries around the world as an exemplary model.  The reality though is financial institutions are more risk adverse than ever.  As I have mentioned previously, a well thought out business plan will be a great asset in convincing lending agencies of your worthiness to receive their funds.  Before you go to a lender for financing, you should give consideration to your personal contributions towards starting your business.  Do you have savings, retirement funds, company buy-out money, or equity in your home that you are willing to risk in your enterprise?  All financial institutions will require some form of investment to offset not only the money you wish to borrow, but also to show you are sharing the risk for the venture you propose.  The more heavily you are invested in your project with your own capital the more a financial institution will be willing to accept the risk.  Family and friends are another source that you should consider.  Just be careful that your financial relationship does not impact negatively on your personal relationship.

Banks are an excellent source of financing.  Banks can provide many different financing options to assist in your business development or expansion.  Again, they will want to review your business plan.  Do you have previous business experience?  What do you know about the business?  Who will manage it day to day or provide the skills to do the work?  The degree to which you can elaborate on your business plan will give the bank some measure of comfort.  Banks typically require more equity to establish a business than some other financial institutions. Banks also do not usually make decisions at the local level, unless the loan values are relatively small.  Don’t wait to the last minute looking for financing, and then be upset when the loan manager can’t meet your timeline.   They also can provide a full range of services to assist in wealth creation.  Keep your loan portfolio manager aware of changes to your business operation.  If you are having cash flow problems, don’t wait until you miss a payment.  A bank will have greater respect for you if you take the time to inform them and develop a manageable solution. 

Credit Unions differ from banks in that they are locally owned by the members.  If you wish to bank at credit union, you will be required to become a shareholder.  The benefit to this system is credit unions may offer reduced loan rates or other incentives provided to their members with the profits generated.  Credit Unions also make decisions at the local level.  For a new business in a small community this may be advantageous.  Many credit unions examine the community development aspect as part of their lending practices.  This means that some consideration may be given to the benefits of your business in the community.  Community development will not be sole factor in whether you receive the loan, but rather a small component in conjunction with your business plan.

Community Futures or CF’s are federally funded organizations that operate at the local level.  In Alberta, we currently have 27 CF’s spread throughout the province-typically in smaller communities.  The mandate for the CF’s is to provide lending assistance to small business.  They can provide loans of up to $150,000.00.  One condition that the Community Futures organizations require is for you to approach a conventional lending institution prior to applying for a loan with a CF.  They are considered a lender of last resort, but they have many different programs available to assist in arranging financing.  CF’s have the ability to take a ‘second position’ for security behind a bank.  This can be very useful when you require loans of a larger amount.  Should your business fail, the bank would receive their portion of funds before the CF.  Community Futures organizations may also consider sweat equity and other forms of equity towards your contribution to the loan.  In Paintearth County we are served by East Parkland Community Futures www.eastparkland.com for our communities west of Fleet, AB.  East of Fleet and into Sask. is Meridian Community Futures www.meridiancfdc.ca.  Each of these organizations provides the same services, just in a different area.

Angel Investors are individuals who are looking for a higher rate of return than other investment tools.  Angel investors may be local people who have pooled funds from the region to assist in the growth of the region, or professionally managed funds specializing in specific industry sectors.  Most will require a portion of your business (become shareholders) as well as a higher rate of interest.  The benefit of borrowing from this lender is they will fund industries where most financial institutions will not.  They require rigorous analysis of your business plan and technology, patents etc.

While this list is not exhaustive in nature, it will provide you with a good understanding of lending practices and services available.  Inventory is a difficult asset to finance.  Many institutions will not consider lending for this as it becomes difficult to track down the item should your business fail.  The value of these assets is also questionable if they have an expiry date like groceries.  One item to note for new business startups, you will likely be required to sign a personal guarantee for your loan regardless of your form of incorporation.  Typically one of the benefits of being a limited company is your personal assets is kept separate from the company (the company becomes an entity unto itself).  However, unless you are a seasoned veteran of business, financial institutions will want to secure their investment in your company by using personal assets.

I hope this brief overview is provides you with some basic knowledge for financing your small business.  Should you wish to discuss your business development plans, Paintearth Economic Partnership will be happy to assist you.
Until next time……

Every day in our businesses, we have an opportunity to promote our business at no cost.  How we engage and interact with our customers sends important messages about our desire to do business.  Do you find yourself on the telephone while a customer waits for service?  Is a discussion about the events of the weekend, or your holiday plans interrupting a potential sale?  Simple things like a smile and eye contact to a waiting customer are important signals that you value them as a client.  How you dress for business, speak to the customer, and follow up on service are important considerations to expand your business.  Paintearth Economic Partnership Society is always looking for ways to assist business in our region.  One of the simplest methods is improving customer service.  It is also a proven method to compete directly with large box stores.  We do not always need to establish expensive ad campaigns or promotions.  Customer service excellence and word of mouth will drive more traffic to your business.

Paintearth Economic Partnership Society, Employment and Immigration, and the County of Paintearth are pleased to present Jeff Mowatt’s, “The Art of Customer Service …Influence with Ease”.  Jeff is an award-winning speaker who teaches you and your staff simple methods to improve interaction with your customers.  The workshop will be at the Castor Community Hall September 14th, from 6-9:30pm.  Dinner is included.  Registration is $25.00/person, with a deadline of Sept. 10th to register.  As an Economic Development Officer, I believe this workshop is the best investment business owners can make for themselves and their staff.  To register or for additional information please go to Special info and announcements or contact Larry Davidson at
Paintearth Economic Partnership Society 403-882-3211

 

Paintearth Economic Partnership Society has been exploring many opportunities for the region.  I recently was invited to meet with approximately 15 businesses from the UK and Scotland, who are interested in expanding into Alberta.  We provided information about our region and had discussions regarding further wind farm development opportunities. 

We have finalized our industry attraction brochure and sent it to the printers, expecting it to be completed sometime this summer.  PEPS has also taken on a marketing role for the Veteran's Memorial Highway Association.  We are currently developing a brochure and website for the association, promoting the partnership and opportunities in East Central AB.  Later this week, Paintearth Economic Partnership Society has been asked to attend a bio-energy meeting in conjunction with CAEP to explore business development potential with some companies from the Netherlands. 

Don't forget Castor's 100th year Birthday Celebrations July 30- August 1.  Come and visit old friends or make new one, and see what our beautiful communities have to offer. Check out their website at www.castor.ca

Hi Everyone,
We are continuing to make improvements to our new website.  I hope you are finding it interactive and informative.  Our new brochures are almost complete and should highlight business opportunities throughout the region.  April has been a very busy month for Paintearth Economic Partnership Society. 
We have recently contracted with Nichols Applied Management to undertake an Industry Attraction Strategy for the Paintearth Region.  As part of this contract we will be reviewing and developing a comprehensive strategy and implementation for the following:
1.  Identification of new industry opportunities
     a.  examine labour force information for our region.
     b.  develop 7-10 business cases, which we will use to attract investment.
2.  Business Retention & Expansion strategy
     a.  Review and identify existing businesses for possible expansion.
     b.  Identify gaps in business and develop 7-10 business cases to assist
          in business development.
3.  Investigation of investment attraction policies/incentives for consideration.
4.  Development of comprehensive marketing plan.
5.  Implementation of marketing plan.
We expect this project to be completed by Oct. 31, 2010.  Shane Pospisil of Nichols Applied Management will be contacting many of you over the next few months, so I would appreciate you working with him and his staff for the betterment of the region.   I would also like to thanks the Province of Alberta for funding from RCAP in the amount of $102,000.00 towards this project.  

We have also completed the CAEP community videos and expect them to be posted online soon.  Also in conjunction with CAEP, we have completed Community Investment Profiles to establish action plans for Castor, Coronation, Halkirk and the County of Paintearth. 
Recently, I attended the Ports to Plains Energy Summit in Broomfield, Colorado.  Ports to Plains has tremendous potential for investment in our region.  We work closely with the Province as members of Ports to Plains, to enhance the economic expansion of our region.

On a separate note, I am pleased to announce Caron's Plumbing & Heating to Castor.  Sheldon is looking forward to serving the region and providing the great customer service he is known for.  His business is located in the former Home Hardware building at 5006-51 Street, Castor. 
Telephone:  403-882-4315 or 1-888-885-4315

Welcome to our new website!  We look forward to providing you with a more informative, more interactive medium to help communicate - not only to our residents but also the World - all of the great things that are happening in the Paintearth region!

We have many new tools at your disposal.  Our site has been developed with the investor and developer in mind.  Should you require zoning maps for our communiites, land use bylaw information, or development permit applications, you can find it all here.  Check out our new videos of the region.  The first speaks of industry and business opportunities within our region, and the second is a new tourism video, highlighting some of the activities and attractions around Paintearth.
We will soon have additional videos for each of the communities and an additional business attraction video that provides first-hand accounts for why you should locate your business within Paintearth County.  Take a look, and let us know what you like or dislike.  Our website is still a work in progress, but making great strides.

Talk to you soon!