• Upcoming Events
• Business Article
• Feature Web Site
• Regional Access Site in the Spotlight

It's All About Opportunities 2

Back by popular demand...We are once again hosting a Gathering for Aboriginal Entrepreneurs. "It's All About Opportunities 2" will be held in Edmonton at The Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel on October 25 and 26, 2004.

Learn from some of the most respected business experts in Alberta and take part in practical and informative sessions. The sessions will help you with growing your business, improve marketing and sales, manage your finances, deal with legal matters and improve the day-to-day operations of your business.

For more information visit the conference web site: http://www.cbsc.org/
alberta/absn/
conf_op2.cfm.

The Guest Advisor Program Will be Starting Again Soon!

Get access to professional expertise through The Business Link's Guest Advisor Program. Each day of the week you have access to industry experts in a number of different fields. Management consultants, lawyers, accountants, financial representative and e-business experts all volunteer their time and are available to you to answer your questions. The Guest Advisor Program starts again on October 4.

For more information go to our web site at www.cbsc.org/alberta
/guestadvisor.cfm.

Participate in
Retail Week - September 21 to 23

This inaugural provincial celebration of retail is intended to bring attention to an industry sector that is the primary employer in the province - retail! It is a celebration of those individuals who have chosen retail as their career choice and will provide them the opportunity to further their retail knowledge.

The week consists of an Educational Workshop for Alberta Retailers - three sessions all designed to help you improve your business, the 2004 CIRAS Henry Singer Award presentation and a Retail Council of Alberta Special Meeting with keynote speaker Alberta Human Resources & Employment Minister Clint Dunford.

For more information and registration go to: http://www.retailalberta
.ca/pdf/retail_week.pdf.

Innovative Manufacturing Week

From September 20-24, 2004, Innovative Manufacturing Week will showcase local manufacturers and leading edge technologies, processes and products being developed and implemented in Alberta.

Workshops, training sessions, trade shows and plant tours in various locations around the province will highlight numerous resources and assessment tools available to manufacturers to help improve productivity and increase global competitiveness.

Learn more about events taking place across Alberta at www.alberta-canada.com/imw.

Grant Information

Don't forget you can find a full listing of the Federal and Provincial grant programs available in Alberta on our site for FREE!

Go here: www.cbsc.org/
alberta/tbl.cfm?fn=
grants_programs, to see the list.

Looking for Services and Events in Your Area?

Are you unable to come into The Business Link to take advantage of your services? No Problem! You can find the resources and services you need to start a new business or take your business to the next level at a Community Business Service Centre in your area. Use our site to search for the centre nearest you. Searches can be done by organization name or community.

Click here www.cbsc.org/alberta/
tbl.cfm?fn=regional to find a site near you.

Meet The Link

Martine Bos is an
E-Business Officer at the Alberta E-Future Centre, a strategic initiative of The Business Link. The Alberta E-Future Centre is your first stop for
e-business information.

Born and raised in The Netherlands, Martine and her family settled in Alberta 10 years ago, where they started farming and running their own agri-food production facility. She attained a degree in Marketing from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, before starting at The Business Link as a Conference Assistant and now as an E-Business Officer.

At the Alberta E-Future Centre, Martine assists Alberta's entrepreneurs in identifying their e-business needs, and provides them with information and contacts to make informed e-business decisions.

Martine can be reached at 780-644-5496 or bos.martine@cbsc.ic.gc
.ca.

Talk to Us!

Need assistance in finding information on our web site? Check out our web/voice support service, "Talk to Us".

Send to a Friend

Please feel free to forward E-News! from The Business Link to a friend or colleague. They can subscribe on-line on our web site.

Cliquez ici pour accéder, ou vous abonner à ce bulletin électronique en français.

Your Feedback is Important to us

Your feedback is welcome at any time to help us improve and enhance our services for Alberta entrepreneurs. Simply use the "Feedback" function located on the toolbar at the top of E-News! to send us your views.

Welcome to a new issue of E-News! from The Business Link. Whether this is your first time receiving E-News!, or you've been with us from the first issue, we hope you will enjoy this quick monthly
e-newsletter. Our goal is to keep you informed of upcoming events and services at The Business Link and other items of interest to Alberta's small business community.

A new season begins!

The Business Link's Fall 2004
Seminars and Brown Bag Presentations

Our economically-priced Small Business Seminars and FREE Brown Bag Presentations feature the basics of business from start-up to marketing to e-business...and more! All sessions are held at The Business Link at 100 - 10237 104 Street in Edmonton. Pre-registration is required for the seminars but not for the "brown baggers", however there is limited seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

Video Conferencing
For the first time ever, our Thursday Brown Bag sessions will be accessible in various locations throughout the province through video conferencing. (see events marked with a "V")

September Schedule Date Time Topic Cost 07 12 noon - 1 p.m. Picking Peaches (and Avoiding Lemons, Nuts and Flakes) FREE 09 12 noon - 1 p.m. Business Turnaround: Getting a Fresh Start! FREE 09 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Power Selling: How to Influence, Motivate & Persuade Anyone! $32.10 14 12 noon - 1 p.m. Export Finance: What Your Banker Can Do For You FREE 16 12 noon - 1 p.m. Inventing a New Product FREE 16 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Starting a Small Business $32.10 21 12 noon - 1 p.m. E-Business Essentials FREE 23 12 noon - 1 p.m. Keeping the Jingle in Your Jeans – Is it Deductible? FREE 23 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Preparing a Business Plan $32.10 28 12 noon - 1 p.m. Introduction to Trademarks FREE 30 12 noon - 1 p.m. Transferring a Proprietorship to a Corporation FREE 30 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Do-It-Yourself Incorporation $58.85

For more information on our Small Business Seminars and to register on-line, visit our web site at: www.cbsc.org/alberta/seminars.cfm. Details on the "Brown Baggers" are available at: www.cbsc.org/alberta/brownbag.cfm.

Do's and Don'ts of Business Entry into the U.S

If you need to cross the border to do business in the United States, this training session is for you! During this 4-hour seminar you will learn about U.S entry requirements for business visitors from a U.S. Immigration Officer, an Immigration Lawyer and a Customs Broker. Whether you're going to the U.S. to perform a contract, service a piece of machinery or conduct training, this seminar will help you prepare and ensure you make it across the border!

This training session will be held on September 22, 2004 from 12:00-4:30 pm at The Business Link. The cost is $30 (+GST) and includes training materials and a light lunch. To ensure that a large number of Alberta exporters have access to the valuable information provided by the presenters, it will also be offered via videoconference in Calgary, Medicine Hat, Lloydminster, Lethbridge and Grande Prairie (registration cost may vary).

To find out more about these seminar and to register, visit www.cbsc.org/alberta/exportlink/dosdonts.cfm or contact The Business Link's Export Link at 1-888-811-1119.

The Business Link's Networking Event

Quality Council of Alberta Brown Bag Sessions

The Quality Council of Alberta (QCA) invites you to attend their Brown Bag Sessions at the Business Link in Edmonton and the Calgary Business Information Centre in Calgary. This year’s theme will be “Following the Roadmap to Excellence”. The QCA is offering a number of sessions, presented by noted Knowledge Management professionals, on using Knowledge Management to achieve organizational excellence. The sessions are free to members of the Quality Council of Alberta and $10 for
non-members.

This month's session on "Introduction to Organizational Excellence" will be held at at the Calgary Business Information Centre on Thursday, September 16, 2004 and at The Business Link on Friday, September 17, 2004. The sessions are held from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. Seating is limited and allocated on a first come - first served basis.

For more information and to register for these sessions, contact Ann Beaque at the Quality Council of Alberta at 780-423-6878, 1-800-224-0848 or by e-mail at: abeaque@telusplanet.net.

NEW Fall Events! Alberta Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) is offering a whole medley of events this fall throughout the Province ... from fun networking events to business training sessions and specialty workshops! See how you can participate … check out their events section on their website.

The collection of outstanding receivables is as much a responsibility of the credit department as the investigation, evaluation, and approval of the customer's credit. The collection effort should include a systematic and regular follow-up. This is vital to establish credibility with the customer concerning the company's credit terms.

Late payment

Late payment occurs when you are not paid at the date specified in the contract but at some time thereafter. In order to avoid late payments, ensure that you are paid on time by using the following strategies:

• Make clear to the buyer when payment is due.
• Do not provide the goods or services until you are paid.
• Do not accept postdated cheques.
• Develop incentives for clients paying on time.

If payment of your goods or services is overdue, consider taking the following measures:

• Act immediately.
• Stop providing goods or services to the client until you receive full payment.
• Do not extend credit to the client until all payments are
  up-to-date.

If after taking these measures you still have not received payment for your goods and services, your only option may be to take legal action against the client.

Accepting partial payment for your goods and services when full payment is due can lead to problems. To ensure that your legal rights are protected, indicate to your client in writing and at the time of payment that what you are accepting is a partial payment only on account of the purchase price.

No payment

If it becomes clear that you are not going to be paid, you should send a demand letter requiring payment by a certain date. If payment is not made as demanded, you should consider beginning legal action against the client.

When all else fails

When you have tried everything to collect an outstanding balance from an individual customer or company, and it is simply not working, three choices are available to you:

• Write off the account
• Assign the account to a collection agency
• Initiate legal action

The following checklist includes some of the documents commonly used to substantiate a claim in court. Not all of them will apply in your situation:

• signed credit application from the customer
• purchase order
• work order
• amount of deposit received
• special instructions
• copy of the packing slip
• receipt for the delivery of goods

Are you looking for a lawyer? Whether representing your business in court or acting as a consultant on contracts, company policy or regulations, a lawyer is valuable business resource. The Canadian Law List web site is a searchable database of lawyers from across the country. Using the site, you can search for individual lawyers, law firms and Government departments. Searches can be made by name, areas of practice or address.

For more useful links to additional sources of business information, visit our web site at: www.cbsc.org/alberta/tbl.cfm?fn=weblinks.

One of these Regional Access Sites is the Centre for Business Development.

The Centre for Business Development serves entrepreneurs and small business people in the following communities: Alhambra, Bearberry, Benalto, Bergen, Betula, Bowden, Campaign, Caroline, Cline River, Condor, Cremona, Crump, Dickson, Didsbury, Doan, Eckville, Elkton, Harmatton, Innisfail, James River Bridge, Leslieville, Markerville, Nordegg, O'Chiese Band, Olds, Penhold, Pine Lake, Red Deer, Rocky Mountain House, Shawtz, Spruce View, Stauffer, Sunchild First Nation, Sundre, Sylvan Lake, Water Valley, Wessex, Westward Ho.

The Centre for Business Development has moved to a new location. They are now located at 5013 - 59th Avenue in downtown Red Deer. The new space was built to better serve customer needs. A new comprehensive resource library and a cutting edge training centre are now available for entrepreneurs to do market research and attend training seminars and programs.

In addition to the new library and training centre, the Centre for Business Development offers a wide array of services. Business coaching, a wide range of seminars and training sessions and financing for entrepreneurs, youth and entrepreneur with disabilities are all available.