Saturday, January 12, 2008

Your Self-Improvement Checklist

I've been negligent in not linking to my National Post column from last Monday: five self-improvement tips all Canadian entrepreneurs should put on their agenda for the new year.

Here’s my list:

1. Get a good photo of yourself. You never know when you will need one for your website, the media, a community association or an upcoming speaking engagement. No graduation portraits, photos with your family, or snapshots of you wearing a barbecue apron (just a few of the photos I've received as a journalist when asking entrepreneurs for recent pix).

2. Refine your personal mission statement. I still run into business people who can't explain what they do in 30 words, or even 1,000.

3. Delegate more. When you do a job that could be done by someone else in your business -- or by an outside contractor -- you rob your company of the high-level thinking that only you can provide.

4. Review your business plan. With markets and technology changing so fast, if you're not working with a current plan, and updating it at least once a year, you may be falling out of synch with customers and falling behind the competition.

5. Employ more relatives. One of the Canada Revenue Agency's best gifts to family businesses is income-splitting among family members.

Click here to read the full story, with more details on all five points.

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