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If someone comes to your door wearing a hard hat and a lab coat, watch out.

Chances are it’s a salesperson who wants to replace or upgrade your rented water heater. The “uniform” is designed to make you think you’re dealing with a technician working for your local gas or electrical utility.

Today’s column, the most emailed story of the day at the Star’s website, talks about the scare tactics used by these persistent pests.

One commenter also mentioned the deceptive duds they wear.

They appear at the door dressed in one of those fluorescent yellow halters with the orange X that road workers wear, with an aluminum clipboard in hand to lend credibility, and say “I’m here to replace your water heater”.

This is ..read more

You didn’t start a business so that you could learn accounting, but learn you must! Here’s a little help.

QuickBooks lets you switch between two radically different methods of accounting with a click of a button. It’s nice to have accommodating software, but which one should you pick?

Never heard of either of these? Time to learn:

“Cash-Basis” accounting means you only count revenue and expenses that you actually have. Things that count: Receiving a check or credit card payment, writing a check to the telephone company, paying your credit card bill. Things that don’t count: Receiving a purchase order, receiving the bill from the telephone company, charging something on a credit card. ..read more

What if your company were allowed only one advantage over the competition?

What would a sales call look like, starting with your 30-second pitch, then dealing with skeptical questions, trying to earn this potential customer’s interest, respect, and eventually money, all with only one advantage?

Impossible, or just pointless?  Neither!

You should go through this exercise because this skill is valuable in every sales call. Sometimes you’re defending the few advantages you have over a specific competitor. Sometimes you’re arguing the virtues of small businesses over large ones. Sometimes you’re defending your product against what the potential customer perceives as a glaring lack of functionality.

Hanging your hat on just one advantage that ..read more

I love checking out personal finance books and I’m glad to see a big choice of publications for Canadian readers. There are still too many American financial authors populating the bookstore shelves.

As soon as you see terms like 401(k), Roth IRAs and tax-free municipal bonds, put down the book. It’s probably irrelevant to you.

So, what’s new? The big hit is Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s Debt-Free Forever, which is in the top 10 bestsellers at Amazon.ca. As the host of Til Debt Do Us Part, a long-running reality TV show, she’s known for her blunt way of scolding the clueless couples she tries to reform.

She writes the same way she talks — plain, direct, colloquial, often personal. And while her advice is nothing you haven’t heard before — ..read more

“I feel like a fraud. I’ve been at this for 16 years and I still feel like a fraud. I’m just waiting for the day they see through the façade, but they keep coming back every year.”   –Jason Young

Ah yes, the awe-inspiring words of confidence from the seasoned entrepreneur. My friend Jason intended this as soothing words of solace during (one of my) periods of personal freak-out while Smart Bear was in its infancy.

I felt like a fraud every day. Here I was, selling a wobbly, buggy tool and pawning myself off as an expert in a field that ..read more