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Building Strategies for Your Business

Whether you need to build your strategy from the ground up or need to update you current strategy whether that is your business strategy or a particular area of your business, we can help you do that through several of our delivery methods.

Strategy is about defining where you want your company to go not necessarily how you are going to get there. Whether you require an entire business strategy or just a marketing strategy for your business the processes of how you need to develop your strategy are the same.

Future State - Defining your go forward business as well as personal goals of what you want your business or specific areas of your business to look like in the next 3 to 5 years.
Current State - Before you determine where you want to be, it is important to understand where you are today and to document it.
Gap Analysis - Before you can move into your planning you need to understand the gap between your current and future state. We call this creating the "Change Agenda".
Strategy Map - Initiatives that you need to undertake to close the gap using the following perspectives: financial, customer, internal, and learning and growth.
Balanced Scorecard - Looking at the metrics that you are going to apply to your business to ensure that your strategy (defined in your Strategy Map) gets implemented. This includes lead indicators and lag indicators, processes, people, and technology.
Budgeting - Ensuring that you have the funds allocated to achieve your overall objectives. This needs to include revenue forecasts, cost of goods sold, operating expenses, capital expenses, and strategic expenses.
Tracking and Monitoring - Knowing what you are going to measure, how you are going to measure, the frequency of measurement, who is accountable for the results, and how the outcomes are fed back into the business.

Financing For Your Business

As a Canadian business owner you will need to decide if you want to acquire traditional small business financing through a traditional lending institution, or whether you are looking for private sector funding which could include angels, venture capitalists or even other private investors. Much of this will depend on the amount you are looking for, whether the funding is secured or unsecured as well, and whether your business or the owners have the right credit.

Requirements for Business Financing

No matter how you plan to obtain funding, you will require a solid business plan or feasibility study as well as 2-3 years of notice to reader compiled financial statements from a professional accountant (CPA). If you are a start-up business without revenue, much of this will depend on your personal credit and assets, and whether you have generated revenue to date, and what level of investment you have made in your business. In most cases, a lender will want you to provide a feasibility study or a business plan of the business including 3-5 years of projected financials (pro forma statements). Whether you will need a business plan or feasibility study will depend on the lender, the amount and what you are financing.

We Can Help You Source Financing For Your Business

At Canada Insight Business Solution, we have partnered with several financing firms and institutions which can help with your business financing requirements. We can help you with the development of a business plan, or undertake a feasibility study on your business for the lender or investor. If you already have a business plan, you want to make sure you have the required information you need to obtain the financing you need. We can provide an assessment of your current business plan to help determine if it is sufficient.

Whether you are looking for traditional small business financing or private sector funding, we can help you with the development of your business plan or feasibility study, and help you with the presentation of your business plan or feasibility study to the lender or investor.

If you have been turned down for business financing or want to see if you are a good candidate for financing and need help in assessing your business, we can provide a business assessment where we will work with you to put an action plan in place to make the necessary changes you might need to secure the business financing you need. In addition, we have financial partners who can provide alternative financing options to traditional financing, who will work with businesses that may not be able to obtain financing through traditional banking institutions.

Business Coaching

Are you a Canadian business owner that wants to be taught how to deal with certain issues in your business or acquire the skills so you are able to better manage your business?

Do you have work that needs to be accomplished within your business and you want someone to actually do the work? If you want to have the work done for you, you are looking for consulting. An example of when consulting might be needed is the need for a tax accountant for an estate freeze, or a web developer to develop a new website.

If you are looking for one-on-one guidance and be taught how to do work or deal with current issues you have in your business to meet your goals and objectives, coaching is for you. Coaching is more for the business owners who do not want to rely on consultants except when they require an expert to address a specific issue or perform work where expertise is required.

Coaching is a structured process that starts with us understanding the issues that you are having within your business and prioritizing which ones are the most important to work on for the engagement. Each session is 2 hours in length. For many of the sessions you will have homework to do based on what was learned within the session.

We provide support (email / phone) during the engagement to clarify and answer questions or provide guidance on your homework. The minimum engagement is 4 months. We charge for coaching on a monthly basis so as to affect your cash flow.

Advisory and Consulting Services

Advisory services are when you need them and can be provided as needed over the phone for an hour or online for two hours. Coaching provides structured sessions and is based on a pre-set agenda focused on teaching you the skills needed to become more self-sufficient.

In addition to our one or two-hour sessions, we offer monthly and quarterly advisory services where you can book sessions for 1/2 or 1 full day on a monthly or quarterly basis. These sessions are to advise or guide you where you need help within your business. An example would be to have a consultant once a month to help you review your financials and provide you insight and guidance.

Whether you need to assess your overall business, a particular area, or just assess your business against particular metrics to determine whether your business is performing as it should or is valued as it should, Canada Insight Business Solution is here to help. Business assessments and reviews in general are performed when the business owner is looking to better understand their current situation and to understand if that area is running as well as it could be.

All assessments start with a questionnaire or survey to collect information about your business or the area or function of your business in which an assessment is required along with relevant information such as financials, plans, job descriptions, written processes.
Additional information may be required to complete the assessment. This may include interviews with key personnel, review of documents, and/or review of processes.
Proper analysis is performed which is based on best practices for the business or in the specific area or function that is being assessed.
Recommendations are provided to address any issues that are identified and to improve the performance of the business or the area or function that is being assessed.

Assessments and reviews are business consulting engagements which require interaction and engagement with the business owner and key stakeholders within a business. An assessment or review will look in detail at the particular area being assessed, whether that includes the overall business, a business plan or a review of your financials. All analysis of financials is being performed by our partner who is a CPA.