It’s our favourite time of year and it has nothing to do with pumpkin spice, or Halloween parties—those are just bonuses! October is Small Business Month and while we like to celebrate our small Canadian businesses year-round, in October we like to go that extra mile. After all, Moneris is the ‘Proud Partner of Small Canadian Business’. Al is joined by co-host Tanya Nagi, Manager, Social Media at Moneris to talk about Moneris’ ‘Call For Small’ grant initiative. He also speaks with Aziz Smailagic, Senior Account Manager at Owner. Aziz lists his top 5 things new businesses need to get started.
It’s our favourite time of year and it has nothing to do with pumpkin spice, or Halloween parties—those are just bonuses!
October is Small Business Month and while we like to celebrate our small Canadian businesses year-round, in October we like to go that extra mile. After all, Moneris is the ‘Proud Partner of Small Canadian Business’.
Al is joined by co-host Tanya Nagi, Manager, Social Media at Moneris to talk about Moneris’ ‘Call For Small’ grant initiative. He also speaks with Aziz Smailagic, Senior Account Manager at Owner. Aziz lists his top 5 things new businesses need to get started.
Also in this episode:
Click here to learn more about Call For Small 2022.
Links of Interest:
Chapters:
Al Grego:
Coming up on Shop Talk.
Aziz Smailagic:
Looking for angel investors. Obviously, everyone is on the lookout for this. They generally provide funding, a lot of times provide mentorship as well for stake in your company. We do have, again, on the Ownr blog good resources around how to spot and secure funding from an angel investor.
Al Grego:
Hello, everyone. I'm Al Grego.
Tanya Nagi:
And I'm Tanya Nagi.
Al Grego:
This is the October, 2022 edition of Shop Talk with Moneris. Welcome to the Shop Talk podcast, Tanya.
Tanya Nagi:
Thanks, Al. It's great to be here. I hear congratulations are in order.
Al Grego:
For what?
Tanya Nagi:
For being nominated for a couple of podcast awards.
Al Grego:
Oh, right. Yes. Thanks for bringing that up.
Tanya Nagi:
Well, it's written right here in the script.
Al Grego:
Oh, and thanks for playing along. Anyway, yes, it's a great honor to have our other podcast, Yes, We Are Open, be nominated in the categories of outstanding business series and outstanding branded series by the Canadian Podcast Awards. And speaking of which, season three of Yes, We Are Open just launched this month.
Tanya Nagi:
That's exciting. You must be really busy.
Al Grego:
Just a little. But, I mean, aren't we all? Anyway, we'll hear about season three a little later, but for now I'd like to talk about this being one of my favorite times of year. And do you know why?
Tanya Nagi:
Halloween, Thanksgiving, pumpkin spice?
Al Grego:
Pumpkin? Ew. No. It's because October is small business month.
Tanya Nagi:
Okay. We'll have to circle back to the pumpkin spice later. But, of course, small business month is a big deal at Moneris. We like to celebrate our small business merchants all year round, but in October we like to go that extra mile.
Al Grego:
Yes, we do. I've asked you to co-host this month because you're heading up a campaign called Call for Small.
Tanya Nagi:
That's right.
Al Grego:
Why don't you tell us a bit about that campaign?
Tanya Nagi:
Call for Small is a series of small business grants that we will be awarding to five small Canadian businesses. We want Canadians to rally behind their local small business community and show their support in a big way.
Al Grego:
Sounds great. How much are the grants?
Tanya Nagi:
We'll be awarding $1,000 to five small business owners to help them get back to business.
Al Grego:
Well, I don't know of any small business who couldn't use an extra $1,000. How do they qualify?
Tanya Nagi:
Canadians can nominate their favorite local businesses by tagging them on social media and using our Call For Small hashtag, make sure to tag Moneris in the caption and tell us why you love that business. I will be nominating Vlad's Bakery and Pastry in Toronto's Danforth neighborhood. They have a really delicious plum tart.
Al Grego:
Oh, nice.
Tanya Nagi:
Who will you be nominating, Al?
Al Grego:
Oh, that's easy. Sushi Sushi restaurant in New Market has been our go-to Japanese restaurant forever. They'll be getting my nomination. When will this campaign begin and where can we learn more?
Tanya Nagi:
Submissions for Call for Small open on October 19th and run until November 16th. Winners will be notified no later than December 12th. So keep your eyes peeled on our Instagram for more information.
Al Grego:
So go ahead and nominate that small business that you love to support. You could win them an extra $1,000.
Tanya Nagi:
What great information do you have to share for small businesses this month?
Al Grego:
I've got some great advice and tips for small business owners this month, beginning with my feature interview with Aziz Smailagic from Ownr.
Tanya Nagi:
No one knows more about starting a small business than Ownr.
Al Grego:
That's right. In our ask the expert segment this month I have Nicole Kosmayer from Bookmark sharing some important advice on getting your business online.
Tanya Nagi:
That will be really useful information.
Al Grego:
Indeed. Of course, as always, I have Sean McCormick in the buy the numbers segment on to talk about consumer spending data. He's going to talk about our recent collaboration with Angus Reed on their latest report.
Tanya Nagi:
Sounds like a great lineup.
Al Grego:
It is. So let's get started with my chat with Aziz.
Speaker 4:
Featured interview.
Al Grego:
I'm joined today by Aziz Smailagic. He's a senior account manager at Ownr. Aziz, thank you so much for joining me today.
Aziz Smailagic:
Hey, Al. Thanks for having me.
Al Grego:
Let's start with Ownr. What exactly does Ownr do?
Aziz Smailagic:
Ownr's a legal tech platform that has actually created a fundamental shift in how Canadian entrepreneurs launch their business today. We really leverage automation and smart technology to make a previously and still traditionally confusing and expensive process a little bit easier and more affordable for the entrepreneur just starting up.
Al Grego:
What sorts of things does your platform help new business owners do?
Aziz Smailagic:
We'll help folks register and incorporate their businesses depending on their business goals. We're leaning on the expertise that our platform has really leveraged and built out to automate these pieces so that folks aren't really worrying about if those pieces were done correctly. So things like incorporation documents, minute book documents. Compliance is really the biggest piece for a lot of entrepreneurs that they don't necessarily feel day-to-day but can come back to bite you in the end.
Al Grego:
Clearly, when it comes to starting a new business, you're an expert. What's your advice for somebody who wants to start a new business?
Aziz Smailagic:
There's so many things to take into consideration here, from the different type of licensing. I think people can jump right to that and say, okay, what do I need? How do I build my client base? I think it's important to take a look at five general things that, in my opinion and working with entrepreneurs, have uncovered as being those main points that people should look for. Initially, it sounds pretty obvious, but coming up with a business idea and then researching that market would be step number one. A lot of people may already know what they want to do, but maybe that's building out that idea a little bit more. Sometimes people have backgrounds in different business functions, like marketing and accounting. They don't necessarily have a business idea and they're looking for one.
One great tip we try to encourage entrepreneurs to look for is finding a need in the market. So many successful businesses are started on solving a problem. They might not necessarily be this unique crazy problem, I think, that people might burden themselves if they're thinking, "Okay, what's the biggest, juiciest, fattest problem that I can think of and how do I sink my teeth into it?" But that's someplace to start, but not probably the best. The other day I was talking to a hairdresser who they started up here in my neighborhood. The problem there isn't this big drastic thing, but the neighborhood didn't have a hair salon. They didn't have a hair salon that was modern and doing fun, creative things. There just wasn't enough people to do that service after the pandemic. That's something very simple, but very tangible that this person was able to help take their business off with.
Al Grego:
What else do you have?
Aziz Smailagic:
After that, you want to pick a business structure that makes sense for your business. I think this is so overlooked. People aren't even thinking about this while they're thinking about ideas and researching and a business plan. A legal structure to your business is one of the first things that you're going to decide on. This is a really big point of what we help with on Ownr. There's really three main structures that people can use as a sole proprietorship, a partnership, and then a corporation. I encourage people to go to Ownr.co and we have a bit of a quiz that takes you through what the best structure might be for your business.
Al Grego:
We certainly talked about that during our April episode when we were talking about tax season and the differences between the sole proprietorship and partnership and incorporation. Very good. What's next?
Aziz Smailagic:
Number three, I think, people, again, might overlook, might be a bit more familiar with, is the business plan. This is your roadmap for your business. You'll get a sense for where you're in good shape, where you need to maybe allocate some more time and financial resources within that. Even if it's something that you think that you didn't necessarily need to go through as an exercise, because maybe you're a sole provider who's established in your field, you have an extensive network of partners, of clients, your experience, you have a sense for, okay, I know what I'm doing here.
Taking that time to go through that exercise of writing a formal business plan is going to help you uncover pieces that I think you almost didn't know that you had and tools that you could use to really grow that business out. I think really big thing for everyone, if we're talking finance as well, is the ability to just obtain funding, grants, loans. A business plan goes a very far way because any institution or lender or anything that you're going to be potentially getting some funding from, that's going to show them that you set up with seriousness and you're doing your due diligence when first starting out. Business plan, 100%.
Al Grego:
What's number four?
Aziz Smailagic:
Number four, and this is leading from that business plan, now if we take a little bit of a jump and we go into securing funding for your business. A lot of people, I think, will think of one funding through just maybe an investment or raising capital through friends and family and these types of things. There's a lot of different resources that exist there, especially on the government side. The federal government has a lot of business grants and different financing opportunities for entrepreneurs that you can really tap into. Instead of taking a loan, be able to just leverage a federal or even provincial grant. So really leveraging those government programs, whether it's directly to raise funding and capital, or something that's a little bit off to the side where they're helping subsidize certain aspects of running your business. So both on the federal and provincial side.
Looking for angel investors. Obviously, everyone is on the lookout for this. They generally provide funding, a lot of times provide mentorship as well for stake in your company. We do have, again, on the Ownr blog good resources around how to spot and secure funding from an angel investor, so I encourage folks to check that out. And then crowdfunding sites have been really big in the last decade or so almost. Kickstarter, GoFundMe, even Patreon for creatives have been really huge where people can in small part contribute to a larger overall fundraising goal.
Al Grego:
As they say, you need money to make money and you definitely need money to start a business. What's your final tip?
Aziz Smailagic:
Point five here is something that people, while they're going through these first four points, this is in the back burner. The idea of planning at least to scale and grow your business, because I think this sneaks up on a lot of entrepreneurs quicker than they'd expect. They might be thinking, "This is going to be super hard, this is going to be difficult. I'm going to have trials and tribulations." But you might see that success, especially monetary success, quicker than you may think. So having the right plan in place to properly scale and grow your business is really important.
My favorite thing always to point towards when people ask, "How do I scale? How do I make sure that I'm set up to have repeatable goals in place that I can grow my business out?" Automating a lot of those functions is a really, really good place to start. That's something we've done on Ownr on my team, especially these administrative tasks that we can automate, we can leverage a lot of great software for, things like scheduling emails ahead of time, scheduling social media posts, anything in that nature. We'll just give you back more time to focus on actually growing your business than getting burdened down by administrative tasks. So really having a roadmap for what that growth and scaling process looks like once your business is up and running is something that is going to be really, really helpful in years two and three and five as you're moving forward with the business.
Al Grego:
Ownr and Moneris have a lot in common. We both have RBC as a parent company. How's RBC helping you guys with what you're doing?
Aziz Smailagic:
Ownr's actually a part of RBCX, previously known as RBC Ventures. What it's meant is that Ownr can really grow its business and expand our reach to present the product to more Canadian entrepreneurs, but there's also a direct benefit to Canadian entrepreneurs by going with Ownr and RBC. One of the first things that entrepreneurs are going to do once they've incorporated is you need to set up a business bank. It's a legal requirement. You need it for many different aspects of your business. By incorporating through Ownr and setting up a business bank account with RBC, Ownr users are able to get $300 cash back into that business account. RBC is able to integrate this process, help folks create that bank account quicker and easier than they ever have before. There's a bit of cash waiting in your business bank account when you first get started. It's a bit of cashflow injected into the business. You have the support of the largest business bank in the country and a lot of the tools that come with that partnership.
Al Grego:
These are all amazing tips and great information, Aziz. Thank you so much. If somebody wanted to know more about the Ownr platform, where would they go?
Aziz Smailagic:
Oh, man. Al, the resources that folks have nowadays I think are so extraordinary. I am always so proud to say that Ownr resources, literally just going to Ownr.co, but go into our blog, go into our LinkedIn page, Instagram, Twitter. Believe me when I say, in a lot of cases better than Googling these things. In a Canadian entrepreneurship landscape, the education that Ownr will provide to users will be a lot more clear, concise, and informative, even than what they'd find on just a general broad search engine.
Al Grego:
So that's Ownr.co without an E.
Aziz Smailagic:
O-W-N-R.co.
Al Grego:
That's great. Thank you so much for your time today, Aziz.
Aziz Smailagic:
Thanks, Al. Great to be here.
Mat Belanger:
At Moneris, we empower merchants to keep doing business their way, while we handle the payment processing our way. What way would that be? The safe way, the always connected way, the awesome integrated tools to help you make more money way. We know your business never stops, so you deserve products that never stop working. That's why we are committed to providing our merchants with a payment partner that works just as hard as they do to make every sale. Moneris, proud partner of small Canadian business.
Speaker 4:
By the numbers.
Al Grego:
I am joined as always by Sean McCormick. He's the director of business development at Spendscape. Sean, thank you so much for joining me again this month.
Sean McCormick:
Thanks for having me back, Al.
Al Grego:
Well, Sean, you've been doing the circuit right now talking about this new Angus Reid report that just came out. Can you tell us a little bit about what that report is?
Sean McCormick:
Yeah. We were fortunate enough to partner with Angus Reid on this. It was a collaboration with the researchers at Angus Reid. What we did is, we looked at Moneris transaction data today versus pre pandemic to see how consumer behavior has changed, not just over the course of the pandemic, but even more recently with the effects of inflation on consumer spending and how that's changing consumer behavior. And then what Angus Reid did is, they looked at those results and then went to Canadians and asked them questions about how they are changing their spending, if at all, and some of the tough decisions that they have to make.
Al Grego:
Interesting. We only have a couple of minutes here, so can you maybe cherry pick, what was the biggest takeaway you got from this report?
Sean McCormick:
People are making hard decisions. One of the questions that Angus Reid asked was, "To what extent do you agree with the statement, I am more likely to try to find deals or sales than I used to be?" 76% of respondents said yes. That's a lot.
Al Grego:
Right.
Sean McCormick:
Another question they asked, "If you had $1,000 less, what would you cut back on?" The overwhelming majority was people are prepared to cut back on entertainment.
Al Grego:
Sure.
Sean McCormick:
At the top of that list, travel. 21% of respondents said travel would be the first thing that they would cut back on. The second response was restaurants at 20%. The third most popular response was entertainment outings at 14%. So entertainment outings are defined by things like the movies, playing sports, golf courses, bowling alleys, this type of entertainment. Generally speaking, if people are going to be doing more with less, the first thing they're going to be cutting back on is entertainment, according to this collaboration with Angus Reid.
Al Grego:
Oh, that makes a lot of sense. A lot of us were expecting a return of the roaring '20s after the pandemic ended, but it looks like this inflation's going to curb some of that.
Sean McCormick:
Right. One of the more sobering results from the survey was, if you had an extra $1,000, where would you spend it? 20% of respondents, which was the number two response, said that they would spend it on groceries.
Al Grego:
Yeah, it makes sense. People are feeling the pinch because of the inflation. We have less money to spend. In your opinion, what's the takeaway for our listeners?
Sean McCormick:
I think everybody understands what 8% inflation means. If they don't understand the logic behind it, that it's 8% versus the same period the year before, they'll understand it when they go to a restaurant and what used to be a $25 bill is now a $30 bill. Or if they're going with a family of four, it's not a $90 bill, it's a $115 bill. I think that's what people are starting to understand right now. They're starting to think about, well, how do I accommodate for this? You still have to live, you still have to have some fun, but people, I think, are starting to think about how would we be smarter about how we spend the money that we do have?
Al Grego:
Things look bleak for the foreseeable future. Is there any positive that you can take away from this report?
Sean McCormick:
I think that generally it's probably smart and prudent to be careful with how we spend our money as individuals. Right now I think we're just coming out of a period where there seemed to be a lot of money sloshing around for the last couple of years as we were all locked down and we had some extra money and we're renovating our homes, buying furniture. I think people are shifting gears now into more of a saving mode and being smarter with their money. One final number that I'll leave you with. One of the questions that Angus Reid asked, "To what extent do you agree that I am more inclined to save my money than to spend it?" 72% agreed with that statement.
Al Grego:
Okay. So it looks like we're going into a period of savings for the foreseeable future. Thank you so much for joining me today, Sean.
Sean McCormick:
Thanks, Al.
Speaker 4:
Ask an expert.
Al Grego:
I'm joined today by Nicole Kosmay, she's the co-founder of Bookmark. Nicole, thank you so much for joining me today.
Nicole Kosmayer:
You're very welcome. Thank you for having me.
Al Grego:
No problem. Why don't we start with what Bookmark does?
Nicole Kosmayer:
Oh gosh. Bookmark does a lot of things, but at the core of what Bookmark does is it's a website building tool that has a really awesome artificial intelligence component to help small business owners understand how to not only start and grow their website, but how to really maintain it and how to update it.
Al Grego:
That's great. It's perfect timing since it is small business month. What would you say is the biggest hurdle that small business owners face in getting online?
Nicole Kosmayer:
It's the resource that none of us have enough of, which is time. It's time to learn how to build a website and get your business online. It's time to dedicate to actually building that presence and then time to maintaining it. Of the million and one task that most small business owners have on a day-to-day basis, this is one more thing to add on. I would say on aggregate, that's the biggest hurdle.
Al Grego:
So what would you say the biggest mistake is that small businesses make in that process?
Nicole Kosmayer:
I think it really links back to time. It's all about planning. When you approach getting your business online, the common misunderstanding about this is, okay, well, I just need to take my business and translate it to an online presence. That piece of planning that needs to happen in the middle is really centered on what value can my business add online? If you don't really understand what process you're digitizing, or what piece needs to be brought online, then I think you really can miss the mark on building something that adds value to your customers.
Al Grego:
Earlier in this year, on a previous episode of Shop Talk, we talked about omnichannel presence. How does Bookmark help with omnicommerce or omniselling?
Nicole Kosmayer:
I think omnichannel is one of those industry terms that's starting to resonate more with people beyond someone like me who's working for a tech company. Actually, my whole career was in retail, so I have a very huge opinion on this that I won't overwhelm you and your listeners with. I would say that omnichannel is being able to sell on the go, sell online and selling your store all from one backend so they're not operating in different inventory systems essentially, right?
Al Grego:
Sure.
Nicole Kosmayer:
As a customer, I can buy from all those channels. Omnicommerce also brings in that selling component, the marketing component, any CRM that you're doing. That's where the customer experience is also seamless. That's what working with a platform like Bookmark, or other platforms that really take the time to understand small businesses, will then integrate other tools.
A good example of this, honestly, is a company called Warby Parker that sells eyewear. What makes them omnicommerce and what they did really well from the beginning is you can go into their store and try some glasses on. You can go online and virtually try glasses on with their camera tool and their cool graphics. Everything that you buy, whether it's online or in the store, is completely synced to your account. If I walk in the store, the person helping me that day knows it's my birthday and applies the discount. If I'm shopping online, a little chat bot comes up and it says, "Happy birthday, Nicole. Here's your 10% discount." I also get an auto-generated email. I mean, this is the stuff that big enterprise is doing now that small business can compete on. The tools are there for them and the resources, they just need access to them and they have to know where to start and how to integrate it.
Al Grego:
What advice do you have then for a small business who might want to get started on this?
Nicole Kosmayer:
I would say that the place to start is find the platform that works for you. You'll know what platform works for you by understanding what you want to digitize. Find out what's important to you. Is your CRM really important to you? Do you already have something set up through HubSpot that's working really well and you want to make sure it integrates into your website? Or do you use MailChimp and you want to integrate that? Or do you have no tools and you want a platform that's going to just hand you the right tools and get you started from the beginning?
Really finding that right integrated platform that you can work with and build upon and maintain, even if you have someone else build your website, get something that you can go in and adjust yourself. Because the worst thing for a small business owner is I want to update this title to my call to action section and it takes me two weeks of back and forth with a designer who doesn't prioritize me?
Al Grego:
Oh yeah. My least favorite phrase is open a ticket. Yes.
Nicole Kosmayer:
Right? Like every day in this office. But yes, I know. Open a ticket is very daunting. Just find the platform that really gels with you, understand what you're trying to do and the rest can be pretty easy.
Al Grego:
So if somebody wanted to look into Bookmark and the services or your platform, where would they look?
Nicole Kosmayer:
It's really easy, bookmark.com.
Al Grego:
Oh, I should bookmark that page. I'm sure you've heard that joke many, many times.
Nicole Kosmayer:
It's a good one. It's a good one. It's really premised on your website is your bookmark on this big wide web for your company. Bookmark.com is a really great place to start. We've got live chat. You can find us. We're local Canadians building for other Canadian business. We're located here in Toronto. It's easy to find some reviews on us, too. So just Google it, put it in your browser and you're off to the races to find out more about our company.
Al Grego:
Thank you so much for your time today, Nicole.
Nicole Kosmayer:
You are so welcome. Thanks for having me
Speaker 4:
Save the date.
Al Grego:
I'm joined by Amanda Ibrahim. She's the new senior event and sponsorship specialist on the event and ESG team. Welcome back to Shop Talk, Amanda.
Amanda Ibrahim:
Thank you, Al. It's always good to be here.
Al Grego:
Congratulations on the promotion.
Amanda Ibrahim:
Oh, thank you.
Al Grego:
October's small business month. What sorts of events do we have on the calendar for this?
Amanda Ibrahim:
On October 20th during Small Business Week, Startup Canada will host Startup Day, a hybrid event at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa. The event will feature main stage of panels, keynotes, and entrepreneurs, spotlights with VIP government, the private sector representatives. Baron, our chief legal officer, will be speaking at the event.
Al Grego:
Oh cool. Where can we learn more about that event?
Amanda Ibrahim:
Visit www.startupcan.ca/startupday to find out more and how to register.
Al Grego:
Okay, great. Do you have any other events for this month?
Amanda Ibrahim:
Yeah. Moneris is proud to be a national sponsor for the CNIB, Connecting the Dots, conference, Canada's largest conference focusing on education, technology and professional development for people who are blind or partially sighted.
Al Grego:
When's that taking place?
Amanda Ibrahim:
This is taking place on October 12th in Montreal, October 20th in Toronto, October 27th in Calgary and virtually on October 18th and 25th.
Al Grego:
Okay, great. So right across Canada. Where can we learn more?
Amanda Ibrahim:
At connectingthedots.vfairs.com. You can register there.
Al Grego:
Thank you so much, Amanda, for joining us today.
Amanda Ibrahim:
Thank you, Al.
Al Grego:
And that's all we have for this month. I hope you found this episode informative. Before we sign off, as I mentioned off the, top season three of Yes, We Are Open has launched this month. Here's a little teaser of what's coming up.
I have a question for you. What do the following businesses have in common: a cannabis store, an athletic wear brand, dog biscuits, a tech startup, a travel agency, hairdressers, a kid's dentist, and a manufacturer of silent booths? Of course, the answer is, they all have stories of struggle and perseverance to tell and they're all coming up on season three of Yes, We Are Open podcast. Episode one drops Monday, October 3rd. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts.
Tanya Nagi:
If you haven't already, you can subscribe to this podcast and Yes, We Are Open wherever you get your podcasts.
Al Grego:
If you'd like to support the show, share this podcast with your network, or review us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Finally, if you have a payment related question you'd like to submit to one of our experts, you can email us at podcast@moneris.com.
Tanya Nagi:
Join us again next month for more expert insight and data to help you grow your business.
Al Grego:
Tanya, thank you so much for co-hosting.
Tanya Nagi:
It's my pleasure, Al.
Al Grego:
On behalf of Tanya, myself and the rest of Moneris, thank you for listening to Shop Talk. Talk again in November.