Hello,
Just wanted to see if anyone can help me out. I needed around $80,000 for a business acquisition. $20,000 will be personal equity. Total purchase price is $100,000.
I saw BDC had an under 100k financing program where it can deliver funds in 10 days. Anybody know anything about that program ?
The business is cash flowing well at $100,000 yearly with majority of it recurring revenue with strong profit clients.
There is lots of talk about Venn on this subreddit as it's quickly become a popular fintech option for small businesses here in Canada, wanted to give my honest review after ~6 ish months of daily use. I use Wealthsimple for my personal investing and trialed the business account when it came out but found it lackluster in h2h comparison with Venn.
Pros:
Cons:
Curious what other people think? I also use QBO for the accounting side so the integration is pretty sweet, been looking at Wave but I just don't wanna switch another software. So annoying.
I’m interested in acquiring a business in the GTA
current owner / operator willing to stay on for 1-3 years to help maintain client base etc
He’s planning to retire, so him staying helps me with continuity and revenue projections (no revenue cliffs)
Question here is:
- I have startup capital, but not the full acquisition capital
- which bank(s) are a good fit for first time buyers with 15-20 years of corporate leadership/ executive experience?
Is bdc worth engaging ?
Hi everyone,
I’m in the process of launching an interior design consulting business in British Columbia and am looking for a lawyer who specializes in reviewing client facing business documents.
Specifically, I’d like someone to review my proposal package, consulting agreement, standard business practices, and general notes on my working drawing package to ensure everything is legally sound and protects my business and my clients.
Ideally, I’m looking for a business lawyer who has experience working with architects, interior designers, engineers or other professional consultants, as I would like to work with someone familiar with the contract language and liability considerations unique to design services.
Does anyone have recommendations for lawyers or firms in BC (preferably Metro Vancouver or the Fraser Valley) that you’ve had good experience with?
Thank you in advance for any recommendations!
🍁 Happy Canada Day!
Today I'm celebrating the entrepreneurs, small business owners, and community builders who help make Canada stronger every day.
Thank you to the clients, partners, and fellow business owners who continue to support local businesses and contribute to thriving communities across the country.
Wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable Canada Day with family, friends, and a little time to appreciate everything that makes Canada home.
#CanadaDay #CanadianBusiness #SmallBusinessCanada #Entrepreneurship #AccountingMD 🍁
Hi everyone, I've recently started a boutique technology-focused consulting firm after many years in the industry. One of the areas of growth I'm seeing for the particular area I'm focused in is government contracts, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to find and bid in the best way possible. Wondering if anybody has any experience or resources to share. The information I find online is all really high-level. I get you need to be registered on Canada buys and Ariba, but it's very unclear how to actually respond to anything out there from what I can tell.
TIA!
I've been researching payroll and HR software options for Canadian small businesses and I'm genuinely surprised by how few solutions actually handle the Canadian-specific stuff properly — T4 generation, PD7A remittance reports, ROE filing, provincial tax tables across all provinces.
Most of what I find is US-based software that sort of works for Canada but not really.
Curious what people here are actually using:
👉 Are you on ADP, Humi, Rippling, QuickBooks, or something else?
👉 What's broken or annoying about it?
👉 What would make you switch?
Especially interested in hearing from businesses with 10–150 employees where the manual payroll pain is real but you're not big enough to justify an enterprise solution.
Not selling anything — genuinely trying to understand where the gaps are.
I have had a client who has always paid me in cash over the last few years and I have never had any problems depositing it into my bank before
However now the amounts that I bill this client have been increasing over the past year to the point that I am considering getting some sort of a machine to verify the bills
I have just used the three step process outlined by the govt so far but looking for some sort a machine to automate this
For people who handle cash transfers are there any recommendations for machines I can pick off Amazon to help with this
I did find a few on Amazon but not sure if they work as expected, have any one them been able to detect bills for you ?
Need help with corporate tax filings
I know I’m stupid for not fixing this earlier but it is what it is. Basically I had a small incorporated business during Covid and had about $8k revenue in 2021. I stopped running the business in 2022 onwards and now I get a letter from government saying I have not filed any corporate year end taxes. They did an estimate of my business and pre filed for me and they say I owe around $20k in taxes, but they said if I file them now, the amount owe ing will be substantially less. They want me to file for 2021 2022 2023 and up until October 2024. I have no knowledge of how to file them but they said I just need nil returns for 2022-2024. What is the simplest way I can file? I’m trying to do it at home. Paper or online filing? I tried doing it with an online software but there are so many sheets I need to fill and I’m not sure what to input for the box numbers. thank you in advance!
I am in the process of buying a commercial building with an existing client base. A barbershop in rural manitoba. I took over the business under crazy circumstances. Im finally finding my footing after 6 months.
When I first got the keys to the shop I increased the haircut price from 21$-25$. I received a number of complaints, as it was a big jump. My inherited clientele is mostly seniors. Lots were offended i didn't keep the "seniors price".
As we all know, haircut prices are insane. Im not trying to gouge my clients. I want to keep an affordable business for anyone who walks in. That's been the plan since the start. However I am too busy!!! Im the sole owner/ Operator, and I'm 5 months pregnant with a 1 year old at home. Im at my wits end. Ive been searching for a second barber for months with no prospects. I even have been reaching out to barbers asking if they want a job!!!
Im ready for another price increase already. I need to slow down. I am constantly getting new business and have a very good reputation since taking over. Clients are happy now, they see the value i bring. I just dont want to ruin that. Im nervous. Its only been 6 months since the last increase. I would ideally like to raise the price another 5$. Making it 30$ for a standard haircut for all ages.
For better context, im doing 20 clients a day on average. Almost 30 on my longer days. I fear my low price is also discouraging potential staff from coming to work with me.
I am a small business owner (sole prop) in thr travel industry looking for an accountant to help me file my 2025 taxes. My accountant had to leave the country after tax season and if want to file asap as I know I am being charged interest each day I am late.
Any recommendations or guidance will be greatly appreciated
I have supplied a large grocer for over a decade. This grocer is now wanting me to sign up for an EDI service to simplify their procurement and satisfaction system. However, this service will cost me $45 per month to participate. This equates to $540 per year excluding taxes. My annual sales to this grocer is about $9,000 per year servicing 7 stores. I do my own deliveries which keeps my ability to expand in their organization restricted, without adding extra costs to me. This grocer also has 1% billing charge which came to $90 this past year. This grocer also has a policy in place that they reserve the right to the 'lowest cost pricing.' So once a year they find your lowest selling price to competitors and claw back the difference from accounts payable due. So, to increase my pricing to this grocer is not a viable option. Maybe increasing my costs and give my other customers a deduction. What a headache!
Basically, this grocer is using a 3rd party to reduce their costs and fund it by down loading the cost onto the suppliers. Hence, I have to increase my costs to the consumer, (my customers) to fuel these big tech companies.
How would you handle this?
I'm incorporating a new company in BC and am trying to keep my home address off the public record. I am using my lawyer for the Registered and Records Office addresses, but they won't act as an "address for service" for directors.
If I have a company mailing address that is a UPS mailbox, which is not a PO Box number, can I legally use that for the director address? Though I'm not anticipating this, will staff at the UPS Store accept any records that are served against the directors?
I run small skincare shop near Junction and my DIY site is honestly going nowhere and gains no traffic. A friend of mine in marketing industry said that for such type of business combining web design (UI/UX) and SEO optimization could be a great way to maximize results but it sounds strange to me. He says it’s a super-effective approach and that there’s no point in doing one without the other. Is that true? Are there any Canadian companies doing something like that? And overall - if I'm going this way - should I entrust this to a single company/specialist, rather than hiring two separately? Thanks.
Hi, long time lurker here, figure this might be the sub to ask: I work part-time at a shoe store in Canada where we provide shoe repair as a service alongside selling leather shoes and boots, we would take about 100 tickets a month so it's not that much, but it's enough to take up a large portion of time and attention away from our daily work since we are a small team, and everything is analog and feels so scattered. So I am looking for any idea on how to make it more streamlined.
Our current workflow is literally tracking these services in a single spreadsheet, write down what we have to do on the receipt and stuff it in the shoes. When it is finished, one of us has to look up the row, grab the phone, and call the customer to let them know it’s ready. Half the time it goes straight to voicemail, or some people don't even set up their voicemail. Sometimes people don't pick up their shoes and we will often have 15-20 pair of shoes just sitting on the shelf.
For anyone else running a service/repair storefront in Canada (cobblers, tailors, gear repair, etc.): What software are you actually using to manage your active backlog? Or is there an app you use that automatically texts Canadian numbers when a repair / service is ready without costing a fortune?
I come from a tech background as well, so the process we have feels especially clunky to me, I don't mind spinning up a simple app to manage this entire workflow if it means my work will be easier but I just want to see if any valid solutions already exist in the Canadian space before I spend my nights and weekends writing code.
Appreciate any insights, recommendations, or let me know if you have a similar experience as well. Thanks!
I'm preparing to rent my first commercial space to grow my existing home based business. Located in Manitoba.
There's a spot that's been for lease for 2 years I've been wanting. The landlord finally demised it into smaller units, and has leased 2 of 3 units. There is 1 remaining unit, which happens to be the one I want. The problem for me is, it's a shell space. They have demised the walls, and have 200A electrical panel installed, but no bathroom, no electrical... nothing.
1200sq ft. They are asking $3500/month rent including CAM. This seems ridiculous to me given all the work required.
I want to go in asking for the world because I think they'll negotiate given it's been 2 years. Will they laugh at me if I go in asking for rent $2900/month, TI of $20/sq ft, and for the landlord to put in basic electrical, bathroom, HVAC? Any suggestions on how to get the best possible deal here to keep my monthly rent lower and not go way over budget on construction? I'm an attractive tenant for the block based on my related business and the neighboring business.
Hey guys! I learned so much from this subreddit just from browsing the posts but I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for so thought I'd make a new post to ask if anyone has encountered a similar problem.
We are a small business with two employees.
The employees are the owners of the business.
We are transitioning away from QBO, and we use project based accounting.
The challenge is that we keep finding products that are either
-(very expensive!) and designed to handle payroll, and project based accounting, but for large firms with dozens or even hundreds of employees.
-affordable, and will handle remits and payroll for a small team...but aren't project based.
-affordable, project based accounting software that doesn't do remits
We are currently looking at Zoho Professional, because it's project based, and affordable.
But Zoho Payroll doesn't do the automatic remits.
We *could* calculate remits manually...but that feels very intimidating because the stakes of messing it up seem very high!
Is there a software solution that we might be missing?
Thank you in advance!!
ETA: well my post title is redundant but I can't edit it. SORRY !!
I'm trying to work out the best path forwards to incorporate with Ownr and use a registered and records office address that protects my home address. I have either confused myself or am over complicating this!
It's my understanding that in BC you are required to have both a registered address where legal documents can be served, and a records office where company records are held and can be viewed. Both of those are in the public domain, I think.
If (whilst in most cases unlikely) members of public can show up at the records office and ask to view corporate records, I don't see how this can be any location other than a lawyers office? However, a lawyers office doesn't make sense to me as they generally won't unbundle doing annual resolutions etc from their service, which seems to defeat the purpose of using Ownr in the first place.
Are there alternatives to lawyers for fulfilling both the registered and records office addresses? I can't find much information about what options there are when using something like Ownr, which makes me think I'm headed down the wrong path. I have only seen things about virtual offices, UPS etc, which I thought would only satisfy the registered address requirement, not the records office.
Hey all,
We're exploring options to buy a franchise.
Let's say it doesn't pan out, anyone have experience/knowledge of minimizing risk? What's the typical way of getting out, do you just pay mutual termination fees etc and whatever is left on your business loan?
And if your loan is through CSBFP, the govt will pay the bank whatever they insured (up to 85%)?
I'm struggling with actually reaching my targeted audience. I've tried free advertising like putting posts out on social media (Facebook & reddit mainly). I've done paid ads through Facebook, local news papers & radio ads (in QC) and even 2 news interviews during Covid. Despite all the effort I'm still just barely able to pay all of my business expenses and pay myself just enough to survive. I've had newer customers tell me that they were searching for days before stumbling across my business and they've told me that I was very hard to find even with having paid ads and regular social media posts.