Be the Brand You Want to Be : Newsletter May 28, 2021

Hello All,

When starting my business (over 10 years ago) one of the first things I had to do was to come up with a name. After many discussions and brainstorming sessions, I landed on “Montreal Financial”. It seemed like a good name at the time as it combined the primary location that I wanted to serve and the type of service I wanted to provide. The additional benefit, which I did not realize right away, was the search engine advantage which allowed my business to rank highly for Montreal accountants. My search engine ranking was further bolstered by my regular blogging efforts, which was far less common among accountants at the time.

The problem that I now face is that as I am changing the focus of my business from accounting services to online educational resources , the name “Montreal Financial” no longer fits. This is mostly because my target market will be Canada-wide rather than just Montreal. I now have to embark on a rebranding initiative to ensure that I can reach my ideal customers, which is going to be challenging given that I already have an established brand.

For those of you who are thinking about names for your business, it is important to have a vision of what you want your business to be both in the short term and the long term. Branding has never been more important and choosing the right name is the first step in establishing your brand. There are several routes to take when naming your business - some like Google and Ikea chose nonsensical, made up names. Others such as QuickBooks and FedEx abbreviated words that applied to their business to come up with catchy monikers. Others use functional somewhat boring names such as American Airlines and General Motors. Finally, a trend that has become more popular in recent years is to simply use your own name to represent your brand. Whatever name you choose, ideally your brand has a story that you build upon and can accommodate both your current and future plans for your business.

If you are thinking about signing up for Quickbooks Online (or already use it) my latest blog post talks about best practices for setting up your QBO file for the first time. If you are on the fence about QBO, I have also included an older blog post that can help you decide if it is the right fit for your business

Small Business Articles/Tips

Talking about Branding: I’m certainly no expert where it comes to branding. However, as I examine my rebranding efforts I came across this article which helps you focus your efforts when deciding on a brand name (brainstorming being the most fun and at the same time the most frustrating part)

Also, for trivia buffs a list of the most powerful brands

Tax Tip : How can you tell if it is really CRA contacting you or a scammer? This article explains what happens when CRA contacts you (especially relevant since we’re in post tax season ), the information they provide and the tell tale signs of suspicious callers. Also, as an FYI, you will never receive a refund from CRA as an e-transfer.

QBO Tip: One of the latest features that I noticed in QBO is the ability to add a default expense account for your suppliers. This means that when you enter a bill in QBO, this expense will automatically populate saving you the time and hassle of having to look it up. To create the default account simply go to the supplier details and look for “default expense account”

Books

A standing thank you to everyone who has purchased my ebooks. I really appreciate it and sincerely hope they have been useful. I would love to hear your comments!

Small Business Tax Guide: If you are doing your own tax return or simply want to understand how your small business taxes works, this guide attempts to explain tax concepts as simply as possible and provides somewhat entertaining examples (especially if you’re fan of detective fiction).

Small Business and Your Dividends: For those of you who are doing it yourself, and are a bit tardy with filing your dividend declarations, this book helps you understand exactly how dividends work and gives you a step by step tutorial on how to submit them to the government. There is also a free dividend checklist that you can download here.

Start Your Business: If you are planning to start a business, or have stumbled on to a business but now want to make sure that you haven’t missed anything, my book explores what every business owner needs to know from a regulatory, financial and tax perspective and provides actionable guidance.

All three books are also available at Amazon.

Discount: Save 25% on either guide by using the discount code “special”.

My next book will be a step by step guide to setting up QBO and best practices. If there is anything specific you would like me to cover in it, please don’t hesitate to email me at contact@montrealfinancial.ca

Reviews/Feedback

For anyone who would like to provide their insights into existing blog posts, topic ideas for new blogs, feedback on my products/website or anything else, you can use my feedback form or email me directly. I’m always looking for ways to improve or provide value (to the extent possible) and this will be most helpful.

For anyone who has purchased my books through Amazon or even directly, and have found it valuable, a review directly on Amazon would be hugely helpful.

A huge thank you to my new subscribers and of course my current subscribers. I really appreciate you guys and I look forward to your emails.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Ronika