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Surprise! It's Not Just a Hobby; It's a Small Business

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:09:04 +0000

People often ask me questions such as, "How much money do I have to make before I have to register my business?" or say things such as "I don't need to register or anything when this is just my hobby, right?"

Not right.

Basically, in Canada, if you are producing something and selling it, you're in business, whether you know it or not. It doesn't matter if you're doing it part-time, or if you're doing it as a hobby or a sideline.

So it doesn't matter if you're just selling a few things online or haven't made any money to speak of, you are running a business and therefore need to follow the rules and register your business if required and declare your income on your income tax.

What are the rules for registering a business in each province?

In every province, sole proprietors who do business under their own names do not need to register their business.

However, if you want to call your business something else, or add anything to your name, (such as Susan Ward & Sons), then you need to register your business. (Newfoundland and Labrador are the exception to this general rule; in that province, you do not have to register the name of sole proprietorships or partnerships at all.)

For more on the different legal forms of business in Canada (sole proprietorship and other legal structures) see Choosing a Form of Business Ownership.

For more on business registration, visit the Business Registration section of this website where you'll find information on how to register your business in each province.

As a "new" small business owner, what else do you have to do?

See if you need to register for the GST/HST.

See if you need to register for PST/RST.

Check and see if there are any other licenses that are required to do what you are doing. Contact your municipality, the appropriate federal agencies, or use BizPaL to find out.

Keep all your receipts! They will matter when you're trying to claim business expenses on your income tax. 7 Ways to Make Record Management Easy gives tips for getting your record keeping off to a good start and simplifying tax time.

If you want to look ahead, Your First Business Income Tax Return explains how you'll declare your business income on your personal income tax form.

Prepare a business plan. It's always good to know where you're going.

Image (c) Ratti Maribo

A Quick Easy Way to Create a Facebook Welcome Page

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:03:33 +0000

One of the easiest (and cheapest!) ways to get more likes on your Facebook page is to ask for them.

Which is why so many Facebook pages have welcome pages that ask non-fan visitors to do just that.

This article presents two super simple ways to create a Facebook welcome page - and you don't even have to know any HTML to do it.

More Articles on Using Facebook for Business

How to Create a Fan Page on Facebook

Facebook Marketing Tip: Work Those Images

Image (c) Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

About Small Business Canada: Weekly Roundup Feb 13 to Feb 19

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 07:09:52 +0000

Think you may have missed something this week at About Small Business Canada? Here's your round-up of everything I've done in the past week at About Small Business Canada so you can catch up with all the new content, blog posts, updates to older articles, and new reader submissions!

New Articles and Features

How to Create a Facebook Welcome Page

Blog Posts

Customer Service Basics: How to Help a Customer

Canadian Small Business Accounting + Payroll Free From Kashoo

Advice for Young Entrepreneurs - & Old Ones, Too

On How to Make Money Online With a Blog

RRSPs Are the Best Bet for Many Business Owners

Don't Do What You Love When Starting a Small Business

About Small Business Canada: Weekly Roundup Feb 6 to Feb 12

Updated Articles

11 Best Facebook Applications for Doing Business

Let Go and Delegate!

Is It Time to Downsize Your Business?

GST, HST & PST: Charging Taxes on Online Sales

New Reader Submissions

Sample Mission Statements

Customer Service Tips

Customer Service Basics: How to Help a Customer

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 07:15:39 +0000

Properly done, a customer seeking help will not only feel that she or he has been treated well but will be more favourably disposed towards buying products and/or services from your business.

So is your staff properly helping customers or helping them out the door?

Use this explanation of what should happen when someone helps a customer to educate your staff and/or evaluate their customer service performance.

More on Good Customer Service

Add Your Advice

Image (c) Siri Stafford / Getty Images

Canadian Small Business Accounting + Payroll Free From Kashoo

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 07:05:37 +0000

If you haven't seen this yet, there's still time to get in on this: until Februrary 29th, 2012, any Canadian small business can get both their payroll and accounting processes free from Kashoo and PaymentEvolution.

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Canadian Small Business Accounting + Payroll Free From Kashoo originally appeared on About.com Small Business: Canada on Saturday, February 18th, 2012 at 07:05:37.

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Advice for Young Entrepreneurs - & Old Ones, Too

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:02:50 +0000

Dan Boudreau of Business Plan Oasis has owned and operated small businesses in northern BC for more than 30 years and served entrepreneurs as coach, mentor and trainer for 20 of those years, so he's very knowledgeable about what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

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Advice for Young Entrepreneurs - & Old Ones, Too originally appeared on About.com Small Business: Canada on Friday, February 17th, 2012 at 07:02:50.

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On How to Make Money Online With a Blog

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:09:44 +0000

One of the webinars I attended this week at the Small Biz Success Summit 2012 was a panel discussion on Building Your Small Business with Blogs with Brain Clark of Copyblogger.com, Lee Odden of toprankblog.com, Joe Pulizzi of the Content Marketing Institute and Mike Stelzner of Social Media Examiner.

All four of these gentlemen run successful multimillion businesses. All four of them started these businesses with a blog.

To collectively paraphrase what they had to say about how to make money with a blog:

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On How to Make Money Online With a Blog originally appeared on About.com Small Business: Canada on Thursday, February 16th, 2012 at 07:09:44.

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RRSPs Are the Best Bet for Many Business Owners

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:02:16 +0000

What's your retirement plan?

Many small business owners view their small business as their retirement vehicle, figuring that when the time comes, they'll sell the business and use the proceeds to fund a comfortable retirement.

Unfortunately, for many, that's just not the way it works. When the time comes, the business either can't be sold at all or can't be sold at anywhere near the price the small business owner needs to fund the kind of retirement he or she was hoping for.

To me, this kind of gamble is incomprehensible. Instead of putting all the eggs in one basket, why not take advantage of the tax shelter RRSPs provide now and do something that will help ensure the comfortable retirement we're all hoping for?

In fact, I think that RRSPs are such an important part of tax planning and preparing for retirement that I call them The Best Income Tax Deduction for Canadian Small Businesses. My linked article provides details on RRSP contribution limits and dates for the current tax year.

More on Retirement for Small Business Owners

Don't Do What You Love When Starting a Small Business

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:06:23 +0000

One of the most common pieces of advice to people thinking of starting a small business is to do what they love.

I've even given this advice myself. (Have a look at Top 10 Tips for Starting a Small Business That Will Succeed, for instance.)

But years of advising people who want to start their own businesses and watching them go through the start up process has taught me that I was wrong.

Here's why doing what you love is a bad idea if you're starting a small business - and what you should do instead.

More on Starting a Small Business

Image (c) Fototeca Storica Nazionale / Getty Images

About Small Business Canada: Weekly Roundup Feb 6 to Feb 12

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:04:55 +0000

Think you may have missed something? Here's your round-up of everything I've done in the past week at About Small Business Canada so you can catch up with all the new content, blog posts, updates to older articles, and new reader submissions!

New Articles and Features

What Is Work-Life Balance?

Blog Posts

Maximize Your Business Income Tax Deductions

7 Ways to Get Out of That Rut

Get Funding to hire: Canada Summer Jobs 2012

Before You Start a Home-Based Business

Wave Accounting Now Does Payroll Too

7 Reasons You Still Need Business Cards

About Small Business Canada: Weekly Roundup Jan 30 to Feb 5

Updated Articles

7 Inexpensive Business Ideas

RRSPs - The Best Income Tax Deduction for Canadian Small Businesses

Don't Miss Out on the SR&ED Tax Credit Program

Information Technology Makeover for Your Small Business

Top Business Tools

New Reader Submissions

Sample Mission Statements