Win $10,000! Get feedback on your business!

What could you do with an extra $10,000?

My column in the National Post this week looked at the New Brunswick entrepreneur who won 10Gs in a contest conducted by payroll giant ADP Canada. Amy Lapointe, founder of Amy’s Quality Care/Home Care, submitted a short essay on her business and how she would use the money as “payroll capital” to hire more homecare workers. Her windfall is good news for many people in New Brunswick’s economically depressed North Shore.

Excerpt: ‘Lapointe’s story is a touching slice of modern Canadiana — a success story carved out of an unforgiving landscape… From a staff of three last March, the company now has 25 employees and is looking for more. Lapointe is especially proud of the impact she’s having on her region. “This is 25 people in this area that might have had to go out West to find work. Now they can stay in their own community, and help their clients stay in their own homes.”’

Click here for the full story.

You can enter ADP's $10,000 contest until March 31st. For details: http://www.adpgrant.ca/

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Ever thought of hiring a business coach? In last week’s column, Oakville entrepreneur Kathrine Brown (AKA “Coach Kath”) sought feedback on her struggling weight-loss business from a local business advisory group. She got less insightful advice than she’d hoped for – but gained a new self-awareness that’s already paying dividends.

Except: “I interviewed Brown six weeks later for her thoughts on the consultation. She says she knew an “information marketing” business might be hard for more conventional executives to understand, but she appreciated the advisors’ questions, comments and concern. And she took responsibility for the information disconnect. “The quality of the experience you get from advisors depends on the information you give them. I came out of that meeting realizing I have to change the way I show up.”

Click here to read about Brown's epiphany.

How might you benefit from a coaching session with other experienced business people? How could you possibly lose?