r/EntrepreneurCanada

Hello,

I have been running a company for about 12 years. I have a degree in business / human resources from UQAM, which I completed before joining and later taking over the family business. It gave me a solid foundation.

Over time, I’ve realized I might want to pursue additional training. We are often overwhelmed, we learn on the go, and we manage everything ourselves in our own way, based on what we think is best. But I would like to develop additional skills and strengthen certain areas of knowledge.

I receive emails from a company called Novacorp that seems to offer good short, practical training sessions, for example on employee management, negotiation, and so on. I don’t necessarily want to go back to university for another degree and spend time learning things that may not be directly useful to me. I prefer the idea of focused training programs lasting 2 to 7 days.

Do you know of any good places in Montreal or online? I am looking for recommendations.

Thank you!

I've been thinking about this a lot. Small business owners deal with cancellations, overdue invoices and difficult client relationships.

I'm exploring whether there's real demand for someone to step in and handle that one hard situation on their behalf. Make the call, document what happened, and debrief the owner on what to do next.

Would you use something like this? What's the client situation you hate dealing with most?

Asking because I'm a CS professional with 10+ years of experience exploring this as a service concept.

We are a 9 person startup in Toronto. Everyone uses personal cards and emails me receipts at month end. I am chasing PDFs, checking if meals have attendees listed, and making sure we have proper GST numbers for ITC claims.

Last CRA review was rough because we were missing backup for 15 percent of expenses. I need a system where staff snap a photo, it extracts the vendor, amount, GST, and flags if anything is missing for compliance. Bonus if it syncs to Xero and keeps a CRA ready audit trail. What are other Canadian founders using that does not cost enterprise money?

Anyone here running a small business and stretched thin on marketing/design/social/websites? I match businesses with vetted university students for short project work, you only pay if you're happy with the output. Have a few spots open this month if anyone's interested.

Hey people, doing some market research here and want to hear your journey at this stage if you’ve been here.

Not just tech, can be e commerce, brick and mortar business, really just any business.

Starting to realize there’s way more to building a startup than just the product.

Curious what you guys doing when you reach this stage.

I am curious to hear from SME owners and entrepreneurs:

Are you currently thinking about growing beyond your current market, either elsewhere in Canada or internationally?

If yes, what is pushing you to consider it?

If no, what is holding you back?

I am asking as part of early market research on how SMEs think about growth into new markets.

Hey guys. So I’ve been thinking of starting a mobile oil change business because it’s something that interests me and I’m passionate about (cars). I’ve worked 9-5s and done kitchen work but it’s just not for me (dishwasher). Im more hands on fixing things inclined like trades or making things.

I have lots of experience when it comes to automotive things I was just wondering what you guys think and what are some ideas you guys might have? I want to stick to one thing right now oil changes only and then maybe later branch to other stuff or during weekends I could do 2 brake jobs as well for someone make some more money.

Opening a physical retail or restaurant location is probably the biggest financial risk you'll take. You sign the lease, build out the space, stock the inventory... but the biggest nightmare every business owner has is cutting that ribbon to an empty crowd.

I help run a cultural entertainment agency, the Montreal Chan Lion Dance Club, where my team and I are hired for dozens of retail, restaurant, and corporate grand openings every year. I have seen launches that block traffic for three blocks, and I've seen launches where the owners are standing around awkwardly with a tray of cold samples.

If you are planning a launch anywhere in Canada, traditional marketing (flyers, boosted FB posts, a sandwich board) is no longer enough. People in busy urban centers are blind to it.

After 20+ years working with new business owners coordinate their grand openings, I've come up with a 5-step checklist I give to clients to ensure they convert pedestrians into paying customers on Day 1.

Let me know what you guys think. Anything missing?

1. Lock down local logistics (and don't assume the rules):
Before you plan any activation, figure out your municipal bylaws. In Montreal, for example, rules change drastically from borough to borough. An event that is perfectly legal in Rosemont might require three different permits (noise, sidewalk occupation, public gathering) in Ville-Marie. If your launch activation spills onto the sidewalk, which it should, because outdoor energy creates indoor curiosity, build that permit timeline into your schedule months in advance. I've seen clients apply for permits at the last minute, and either have to reschedule their grand opening, or limit how much they can do that day because they didn't acquire the proper permits on time.

2. Create a "Pattern Interrupt" (Auditory > Visual):
City pedestrians are blind to visual ads because they see them everyday on their daily commutes and routines, but they can't ignore sound. Car horns and sirens are normal, but if you have a spectacle (in our case, live, aggressive Chinese lion dance percussion and drums echoing down a street), people stop and pull out their phones before they even know what they are looking at. You need a spectacle that snaps people out of their commute. Give them a reason to stop walking. This can be done with circus acts, or even better, a mascot (if your business has one).

3. The Secret Weapon: Cross-Marketing with your Vendors:
On grand opening day, most businesses hire performers, DJs, or influencers strictly to entertain the audience the business already has. That is a massive missed opportunity. When you hire an activation vendor, check their local following. You want to partner with someone who brings their own audience to your storefront. For example, my troupe has hundreds of local followers who track our schedule and are always eager to come watch our public performances. When we get booked for a grand opening, our fans show up early, wait outside the storefront, and create a crowd before the business has even unlocked the doors. Hire a performer, but leverage their local audience as well.

4. The "Sidewalk-to-Register" Funnel:
A crowd outside your door is great for your ego, but useless for your revenue if they don't walk inside. Your activation must have a physical transition. When our lion dancers perform, we start outside to gather the massive crowd, and then the lions literally walk through the front doors, performing blessing rituals inside the building. The crowd on the street naturally follows the spectacle inside. Once the drums stop, you suddenly have a room full of energized, curious people standing right next to your products and cash register. Don't just entertain them outside; lead them inside.

5. Maximize the UGC Afterglow:
Your grand opening shouldn't end on Day 1. If your activation was highly visual and unique, every single person in that crowd was filming it and posting reels and stories on their IG or TikTok. Encourage them to tag your location. This is free, authentic, user-generated content (UGC) that acts as social proof for weeks. A highly shareable moment on Day 1 acts as an organic marketing engine for Day 15.

Opening a storefront is terrifying, but if you treat your launch day like an experiential marketing campaign rather than just a "ribbon cutting," you'll win the street.

Happy to answer any questions about the logistics of pulling off a massive street-level launch, and I'm open to any suggestions. Let me know what you think!

Hi everyone, I'm not trying to promote my launch or anything like that, my launch didn't go as well as I'd hoped this morning and I'm hoping that I might be able to recover it a little towards the end of the day.

What can I do to make my launch get more eyes on it or be more appealing to people?

Hi, I’m 21F looking to meet good friends around Vancouver/Surrey/Victoria 👋

I’m interested in entrepreneurship, sales, finance, investing, trading, psychology, self-growth, and meaningful conversations. I like ambitious and positive-minded people with goals and purpose.

Would love to connect with people who enjoy learning, business ideas, coffee chats, networking, or exploring new places 🙂

I initially registered my incorporation via Ownr and gave my current address. But I recently moved houses and needed to update my address as well. Ownr is charging me almost 250$ to do that, however, I did update for free on the Ontario Business Registry. I'm not sure what will happen if I don't update my address on Ownr? I already paid them an initial fee of $600 for incorporating, and I'm just a little annoyed that they are charging me again for an address change!

Should I bite a bullet and pay the fee?

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Hey people, doing some market research here and want to connect with founders, entrepreneurs that are in the early stage (just an idea, don’t have an idea yet but want to start a business) just curious how are people on here starting their own businesses from scratch?

How are you guys turning your MVPs/Ideas into a real business? Very curious to hear if people are just DIY-ing it or what.

Even if you already started your business, share your journey in the comments.

Hi everyone, I’m thinking of starting a vending machine business and planning to target office buildings and gyms in my city. I’m trying to figure out whether it’s better to buy new or used vending machines when starting out. I’ve looked at some premium used brands but they’re still quite expensive.

I’m wondering if instead I should get a more affordable Chinese-made machine from Alibaba or AliExpress. Has anyone gone this route? Any advice on reliability, service issues, or hidden costs? I’d really appreciate thoughts from people in Canada who’ve done this before.

I am mostly experimenting with AI + content workflows and a few growth marketing ideas 😄