Has anyone else started watching Bollywed? It’s a CBC reality show set in Chandan Fashion, a popular Indian high-end bridal salon on Gerrard St. in Toronto. It’s a family run business, started by the patriarch, Jatinder ‘Kuki’ Singh in the mid 1980s, which he now runs along with his grown children. Kuki is something of a local legend in the neighborhood, and he’s built a highly successful business based on his big personality, great offerings, and stellar customer service. Picture the King of Kensington…only in a loud jacket and a colourful turban. Kuki’s children, however, one of who…

Einstein never actually said “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” No one’s quite sure who said it. Whoever did say it may be genius. It’s true in life, and it is certainly true in business. If a business of any size becomes successful, they might attribute it to staying with “tried and true” methods, or “sticking with what works.” That can be a great way to remain consistent in business. Except it doesn’t work as well if you’re looking to grow. If you’re looking to take your business to the next level, you’re probably going to have to do…

Some businesses are fairly easy to quantify. Numbers are how they know that they’re successful. If you’re selling units of anything, you’re tracking your numbers because they represent the health of your business almost definitively. How many units did you sell this year? How many more than last year? Are you hitting your revenue targets? How much inventory do you have on hand? There are a million of these sorts of questions. Then there’s a fuzzier one: what is your customer acquisition cost? In short – how much money are you spending to acquire each new customer? (or client, or buyer, e…

Someone suggested the other day to write a letter to my past self. I wasn’t quite sure how it would go, but decided it was worth a try. Here’s the result: Hi 2019 Shaun, You’ve been through a lot this year! You’ve seen highs, and lows, and you’ve been to some pretty dark places. You’re not where you expected to be at the start of the year – not by a long shot! After you decided to make a career change, you truly had no idea what would come next. The great news is that you’re finally feeling like yourself again, and you’re wondering what it would be like to run your own business. You’…