• entrepreneur glossary and terms - Telsec

An entrepreneur’s glossary to some common business terms

November 6th, 2023|Comments Off on An entrepreneur’s glossary to some common business terms

We’ve compiled a glossary of common business terms and acronyms related to entrepreneurship and small businesses. Some of this business terminology may be familiar to you while some you may have only heard in passing without knowing what it meant. Whatever your experience level or familiarity with these business terms, our business terms glossary covers the most commonly used business terms and their definitions. So without further ado, here are some business terms every professional should know. Advertising Advertising is a type of marketing for businesses that helps increase sales and raise awareness to your target audience. Marketing includes paid announcements, radio, television, PPC (pay per click), billboard ads, newspapers, posters and magazines. Current and future customers can form their own opinions on your brand from your marketing strategies, so it’s important to make a positive impact. Angel Investors An angel investor is a wealthy person (they often work in […]

  • Virtual Office Space to use during pandemic - Telsec Offices

Benefits of Virtual Office Space during the Pandemic

January 19th, 2022|Comments Off on Benefits of Virtual Office Space during the Pandemic

The pandemic has forced organizations and start-ups to move operations to the virtual world. This has increased the demand for virtual office spaces, especially in the start-up and small business community. Virtual office spaces have [...]

  • Weekly News & Business Tips Reoundup for Entrepreneurs and Startups

News Roundup for SME Businesses & Startups

April 5th, 2019|Comments Off on News Roundup for SME Businesses & Startups

Facts About Trademarks You Might Not Have Known You’ve likely heard of trademarks, “words that distinguish one organization from the rest in its niche,” the author says, but you may not have known seven facts about them. Besides the fun fact that trademarks have their roots in the Roman empire, the other six have some bearing for entrepreneurs and businesses looking into establishing their own: you can trademark more than words, such as designs; you cannot trademark descriptive phrases; forming a business entity is not the same as acquiring a trademark; trademarks are distinct from copyrights and patents; your trademark application could be rejected; and finally, trademarks are national rights, which is important if you intend to take your business international. Netflix Avoids Rules Like the Plague. Here’s What It Does Instead In his new book “Great Leaders Have No Rules”, the author (Kevin Kruse) cites Netflix for its success […]

Facebook and Google Face Advertiser Push Back

February 22nd, 2018|Comments Off on Facebook and Google Face Advertiser Push Back

Facebook and Google are finding out that the problem with massive disruption is when landscape gets all churned up it isn’t able to provide a stable foundation until it settles, which can often take several years. Facebook counts nearly ¼ of all people on Earth as users. It has a reach so incomprehensibly big it’s very difficult to fathom. Google is, by far, the world’s largest advertising company with its ubiquitous AdWords ads, 60% of the display ad market through its DoubleClick unit, and a virtual monopoly on searchable online videos with YouTube. More than any other Internet behemoths, Facebook and Google are the biggest beneficiaries of the shift in ad revenue from traditional media sources like television, magazines, and newspapers. Together, they have become the gatekeepers of the Internet and thus the duopolistic sources of most people’s information. In recent years, stock values for both companies have surged, matched […]

Why the Sudden Changes with the Web?

December 5th, 2017|Comments Off on Why the Sudden Changes with the Web?

These might be the waning days of the new economy created by the digital communications revolution. For the better part of the last three decades every aspect of our culture has been altered, accelerated, surpassed, and often destroyed by the Internet and most importantly, by the Internet’s favourite four letter F word, F-R-E-E. It’s been a wild ride but it was never really sustainable. Along the way, we’ve devalued our recent cultural creations and made it far harder for artists to scrape out a semblance of a decent living. A recent story in The New Yorker magazine, “Who Owns the Internet?” outlined the experience of Levon Helm, drummer for the seminal rock group The Band. After The Band broke up and Helm retired from rock music, he was living a comfortable life on royalty cheques from the tens of millions of times The Band’s music was purchased, played on radio, […]

The Great Acceleration or, How Sophia Got Its Groove

October 27th, 2017|Comments Off on The Great Acceleration or, How Sophia Got Its Groove

This week, October 26, 2017 to be precise, the universe changed forever. A new era started and our way of life as labour officially started its end phase. All eras start with a moment in time when something happened that changed our perspectives so thoroughly we would never understand the world around us the same way again. As noted by British historian James Burke, there are days that change the universe as we know it. Earlier this week, the human race truly entered the Robotics Era. Sophia, a robot designed and developed by Hong Kong based Hanson Robotics, was granted legal citizenship by Saudi Arabia, a sovereign state. The implications are incredible, so much so that this is the leading edge of a wave that will alter our ideas about everything we do as a society. Sophia is very life like, so much so it could be mistaken for a […]

Amazon Announces Search for Second North American Headquarters

September 8th, 2017|Comments Off on Amazon Announces Search for Second North American Headquarters

The news broke late enough in the day that civic leaders across North America called in their economic development staff for emergency meetings. Amazon announced yesterday it was seeking a second headquarters in North America and any city with a planning department suddenly wanted in on the mega growth promised by the monolithic Internet retailer. An Amazon expansion doesn’t just bring jobs; it creates its own economic sector and reshapes large parts of the city and region. Toronto is considered among the most likely to be selected. To run a Seattle-sized headquarters and fulfilment center, Amazon will need somewhere near 50,000 workers with skill-sets ranging from white color corporate executives, mathematical virtuosos, and robotics experts to warehouse foremen, forklift operators, stock pickers, and an even larger fleet of truck drivers. That’s a lot of people with a lot of different types of education, training, and certification. Toronto is easily able […]

Advertising in the Context of Change

June 13th, 2017|Comments Off on Advertising in the Context of Change

Advertising, as we know it, is about to change so radically it will be practically unrecognizable. If you have a favourite TV spot you might want to record it. Similarly, if there is an ad out there that annoys you to distraction you’ll be happy to know you’ll likely not have to see such awfulness again, at least not in the near future. Tomorrow’s ad delivery is already happening today but the scale is about to get so much bigger. We live in a midst of a digital revolution. At no other time in human history have so many ideas and institutions been altered, challenged, changed, created, and destroyed. As discomforting as it is, revolutionary change is a natural by-product of technological advancement. A decade and a half after its inception the innovation that made Google one of the wealthiest companies on Earth is going to eliminate commercial advertising and […]

An Interview with Jennifer Kelly of New Initiatives Marketing and Nimble Quotes

November 3rd, 2015|Comments Off on An Interview with Jennifer Kelly of New Initiatives Marketing and Nimble Quotes

  Recently Ian Payton sat down with Jennifer Kelly Founder & CEO of New Initiatives Marketing and NimbleQuotes and discussed Jennifer’s business challenges; her marketing services and more. Jennifer: Hi, my name is Jennifer Kelly. I am the CEO and Founder of New Initiatives Marketing and of NimbleQuotes.com. New Initiatives Marketing is a marketing company that works with business owners that are committed to growing their business and understand that marketing is a huge component in that growth. We make sure that the marketing strategy is sound, and then we implement and execute each element of the marketing every day, week, month in order to help the growth of their business. With Nimble Quotes, it is a content service for Twitter users, and what it does is users select over 60 categories of inspirational and motivational quotes. They can out in their Twitter stream as if they’ve tweeted it themselves. […]

An Interview with Office Client John Barry

October 6th, 2015|Comments Off on An Interview with Office Client John Barry

  An Interview with John Barry John: Hello, my name is John Barry. I’m the North American Human Resource Manager for ECC Japan. ECC is large. We’re coming up on our 53rd anniversary, and we’re a large educational organization in Japan offering all sorts of educational opportunities and courses. My primary focus is to recruit native English speaking North Americans to go teach English in Japan, and have a great experience. Interviewer: And why do your customers or clients prefer ECC as opposed to other educational groups? John: ECC has a great name in the English conversation arena in Japan. And they have, for example, what we consider full-time positions. That is, twenty nine and a half hours per week. Doesn’t that sound pretty good? And seven weeks’ paid vacation. It’s just basically a sweeter package. Within the private sector, it’s pretty hard to beat, and it’s also got a […]

Business Challenges for Women

August 14th, 2015|Comments Off on Business Challenges for Women

Recently, while attending a conference, there was a lot of discussion about the difficulties that women face in business. The challenges range from the social bias that women encounter to the dual role that many have as homemakers and primary caregivers. As we plan what content we should include in our upcoming learning centre, we decided to include content that helps our woman members to overcome these challenges. The video below is a YouTube playlist of excerpts from our “Entrepreneurs Interview Series” where we ask all the women what challenges they have encountered as women in business. In the past we have written a few posts especially for our women members: Women Entrepreneurs and the Challenges They Face Glass Ceilings Are A Catalyst for Women Entrepreneurs More Senior Women Entrepreneurs Take Office Space for Rent

You Realize you Could use the Guidance of a Mentor, but how do you Find one?

March 23rd, 2015|Comments Off on You Realize you Could use the Guidance of a Mentor, but how do you Find one?

Before beginning your search for a mentor, you need to be able to understand when and where you need help. This will improve your chances of finding the right mentor to help you. You do not want to look for a mentor who is specialized in accounting, when you need help with marketing and distribution. In other words, be sure to seek out individuals with expertise in your weak points, not your strengths. One of the first steps in finding a mentor is to identify people you admire for their expertise and can learn from. Research their backgrounds and then reach out to request a meeting or phone call. It is important that when you reach out to someone, be sure you clarify your intention and respect a potential mentors’ time. The worst thing that can happen when reaching out is that person says “no.” So move on to the […]

Why Free Website Builders can be bad for Your Small Business

February 16th, 2015|Comments Off on Why Free Website Builders can be bad for Your Small Business

When an offer mentions the word “free,” it is not uncommon for a small business owner to get excited – particularly when free means something of value to them and their small business (such as website improvements and/or online marketing assistance). There have been countless free website builders that have come and gone, and that’s one of the main reasons why you will want to be careful in choosing a free website builder. This blog idea was submitted to us by one of our office-space tenants who spent months cleaning up the problems he had after using a “Free Website Builder.” They told us that they now believe the only thing free they can count on as being truly free, is the free coffee, tea or filtered water they get at our office space. So, we decided to look into the problem with free website builders and share it with […]

Focus on the Successes of Your Small Business and not on “Trends”

January 12th, 2015|Comments Off on Focus on the Successes of Your Small Business and not on “Trends”

Almost every other blog posting that you might see from various sources is telling you about the trends to watch for in 2015 – but there are few that remind you to improve on your 2014 successes. Many small businesses discovered some great things that were successful for them in 2014. Just because the year has changed, does not mean they will not work again in 2015! As a small business owner, you have to look back at what worked and what did not. Think of ways to improve upon your successes. Yes, you may have to modify or tweak those strategies and plans to gain even more, but never let a supposed “trend” make you abandon them. When a random blogger tells you that you have to watch for certain trends in 2015, go ahead and monitor them – but do not let them stop you from improving on […]

October 19th to 25th Is BDC Small Business Week

October 20th, 2014|Comments Off on October 19th to 25th Is BDC Small Business Week

This week (October 19 to 25th, 2014) is BDC (Business Development Bank of Canada) Small Business Week. The idea behind this series of events is to celebrate entrepreneurs, as well as Canada’s small and medium-sized enterprises. This is an annual celebration of entrepreneurship that the Business Development Bank of Canada has been organizing for 35 years. Each year, around 10,000 business people come together at Small Business Week events across Canada to learn, network and socialize. These events are conferences, seminars, information sessions, luncheons and trade fairs. Your small business should find out about your local events and consider attending one, even if it is only to network with other small business owners. As part of Small Business Week, there is also a webinar hosted by EDC (Export Development Canada) on “How to Grow Your Business Through Exporting”, to let small business owners hear from exporting companies (who started out […]

Deciding if Offshore Outsourcing is Good for Your Small Business

October 16th, 2014|Comments Off on Deciding if Offshore Outsourcing is Good for Your Small Business

Have you noticed in the past few years that many large North American call centres and IT departments that were outsourced to offshore companies are closing those operations? Yes, many large firms are still using offshore companies to fulfill certain roles and tasks, but deciding to use or not use offshore outsourcing does not always come down to saving money. The debate rages on about whether or not having call centres or help centres offshore is beneficial or potentially detrimental for business. Some industry leaders are choosing sides. Some large companies are returning the jobs to Canada and the USA for patriotic and PR purposes. These companies have have eliminated outsourcing operations because, for them, the costs to their business have outweighed the benefits. Many boutique offshore companies have started to turn their attention to the needs that some small businesses commonly have. Back-end web development, internal IT support, graphic […]

Don’t Just Learn Effective Communication Skills – Practise Them!

September 21st, 2014|Comments Off on Don’t Just Learn Effective Communication Skills – Practise Them!

Communication is something that most of we do instinctively just like breathing, but that does not mean we always do it effectively. While it may seem easy and we believe that we are doing it correctly, some small business owners forget that communicating effectively actually takes quite a bit of finesse.

Location, Location, Location – But What About Having More Than One?

August 11th, 2014|Comments Off on Location, Location, Location – But What About Having More Than One?

In the world of business (not just real estate) you often hear the phrase “location, location, location.” This is because where your business is located is not only important to how your business runs, it is important for the convenience of your customers. Depending on your business and your need to be in multiple markets, you could have multiple business addresses without needing to staff them. A virtual office situation could make you appear local, even when your head office is actually on the other side of the world! The concept of having a head office in one city or country and smaller branch offices in other cities or countries is not new to big business. But what about your small business? Small business owners are realizing that a virtual office at a business centre with a prestigious address can give them the appearance of being local, without the need […]

Ten Ways to Keep Your Office Space More Productive

July 10th, 2014|Comments Off on Ten Ways to Keep Your Office Space More Productive

What can you do to make your office space more productive and reduce the stress level for you and your employees? We reviewed through tips that we had previously written about, and looked to the internet for more ideas. You will be surprised how many are common-sense ideas that many do not even consider. 1. Forget about 9 to 5 for you and your employees. Nothing helps reduce stress more than setting your own hours. Staggering hours to avoid commuter rush periods can really help you get the day started. With some employees starting earlier and leaving earlier and others starting later and leaving later, work gets done and you have a happier workplace overall. 2. Take your meeting for a walk! As we mentioned in our series on the negative effects of sitting and the potential health risks of sedentary working conditions, one of the best ways to counteract […]

Happy World Pride to our LGBT Office Space and Virtual Office Clients

June 24th, 2014|Comments Off on Happy World Pride to our LGBT Office Space and Virtual Office Clients

This week the world’s largest global LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered) celebration is taking place in Toronto. Toronto will be the first WorldPride celebration ever held in North America, and the 4th such festival in the world. World Pride is an event that promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered issues on an international level through parades, festivals and other cultural activities. WorldPride brings people together from around the world to honour the past, celebrate the present, and inspire a better future for LGBTTIQQ2SA* communities everywhere. See more at: worldpridetoronto.com. Because of the diverse nature of business owners and their employees being from many nations, ethnic and religions groups and cultures, and having different sexual preferences, office business centres should accommodate everyone. Telsec Business Centres embraces the diversity of our office space tenants and virtual office clients. That being said, we want to say that we are proud of our LGBT clients and wanted to dedicate […]