Have you ever heard this? “It isn’t whether you win or lose. It is how you play the game.” I am sure you have. But do you know who said it? Some guy who came in second place!

With all of that… here are some thoughts on being in the game—to win!

Any “game” worth playing is a game worth pursuing a win in. If I get into a game, I play to win. What nobility is there in playing like a slacker? What virtue is purposeful mediocrity? None! I live my life to be a winner—spiritually, financially, physically, emotionally, relationally—every area of my life! If it is worth doing, it is worth playing for the win!

It is good to win. We live in an age now where people have reacted to sore winners by saying that we shouldn’t strive for winning. Many of our schools have abandoned the idea of competition, and our educational scores show that. Kudos to all of the teachers out there who still tell their kids that they can be winners! It is good and noble to win! It is something to strive for. It is good to push ourselves, to stretch and reach for victory. It is a grand thing to want to win!

There doesn’t have to be a loser in life. Yes, in teamed competition, there are always losers (but more on that in a bit), but in life, we can all win! We can all strive for the best and give it our all to win.

Winners are the ones who move families, businesses, organizations, cities and countries ahead. Winners are the ones who push progress. You don’t think that couch potato is the one who will cure cancer or open up the next great technology do you? No. It will be a person who has chosen to be a winner!

Losing can mean winning. Just because your score in a game or contest is the least at the end of the game doesn’t mean all is lost. You can still be a winner in that you gave it your all, you competed at your highest level, you learned new skills and strategies, and you became a better player and person. That is winning in my book!

Winners help others win. That is right, good people, people who pursue winning by excellence, are also people who stop to help others so that they, too, can enjoy the spoils of victory. Pursue the win, but help others achieve all that they can as well!

Winners make everyone better.When I get into athletic matches I want to play against the best. Yes, I may come up short in the score, but I will be better because that winner will make me grow in every area of my game! Winners stretch the losers so they can become winners too!

If your business needs help becoming a winner, give us a call. We’re here to help.

This week we share a motivating message from one of our favorite authors and speakers, Jim Rohn. Jim reminds us that our personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how our lives will work out.

If you want to know how an Idaho farm boy can make it to Beverly Hills, then take the journey toward achievement by discovering the cornerstone for total and lasting success: building your philosophy. I was broke at 25 and a millionaire by 31. At 25, there was nothing in my bank and I needed to provide for my family. As I was considering what to do, I met John Earl Shoaff, a wealthy entrepreneur who became my employer for the next five years. He revolutionized my life and taught me the importance of developing my philosophy. It isn’t a complex or mystical process, but a principle that can make a difference in how your life turns out. As we go forward on this journey toward success, remember you need to keep looking for those few things that make the most difference in your life, and spend most of your time doing those things. Effective time management is the best-kept secret of the rich. While there are five major puzzle pieces for success, without the first—developing a sound philosophy— the other pieces are of little value.

Set Your Sail

The winds of circumstance blow upon all of us. We all have experienced the winds of disappointment, despair and heartbreak, but why do people arrive at such different places at the end of the journey? Have we not all sailed upon the same sea?

The major difference isn’t circumstance; it’s the set of the sail, or the way we think.

In spite of our best efforts, we have moments when things just seem to fall apart. The rich and the poor have the same challenges that can lead to financial ruin and personal despair. It isn’t what happens to us that determines the quality of our lives, it’s what we do after we’ve set our sails and the wind decides to change direction. When winds change, we must change. We have to struggle to our feet and reset the sail in a manner that will steer us in the direction of our own deliberate choice. The set of the sail, how we think and how we respond, has a far greater capacity to destroy our lives than any challenges we face. How quickly we respond to adversity is far more important than adversity itself. The great challenge of life is to control the process of our own thinking.

Learn From Success and Failure

The best way to establish a new and powerful personal philosophy is to objectively review the conclusions you’ve drawn about life. Any conclusion you’ve drawn that isn’t working for you could be working against you. The best way to counteract misinformation and wrong data is to input new and accurate information. Gather information from personal experience. If you’re doing something wrong, evaluate what you did wrong and change things.

Seek an objective, outside voice about how you are and what you’re doing. An objective opinion from someone you respect can lead you to early and accurate information about your decision-making process. Listen to the freshness of an outside voice—someone who can see the forest and isn’t lost in the trees.

Observe the successes and failures of other people. If people who failed were to give seminars, it would be helpful. You could see how people mess up and you wouldn’t do what they did. You could find out what poor people read and decide not to read it. Past failures and errors prompt us to amend current conduct so we don’t replicate the past.

Study from people who do well. Each of us should be in a constant search for people we admire and respect and whose behavior we can model. It’s far better to deliberately choose the people we will permit to influence us than to allow bad influences to affect us without our conscious choice.

Read All You Can

People from all walks of life who’ve had some of the most incredible experiences have taken the time to write of these experiences so we can be instructed and amend our philosophies. There are two books you need to read to build your philosophy: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. The contributions of other people enable us to reset our sails based upon their experiences. Books offer treasures of information that can change our lives, fortunes, relationships, health and careers for the better.

Keep a Journal

A journal is a gathering place for all of our observations and discoveries about life. It’s our own handwritten transcript that captures our experiences, ideas, desires and conclusions about the people and the events that have touched our lives. The past, when properly documented, is one of the best guides for making good decisions. The very act of writing about our lives helps us think more objectively about our actions. Writing tends to slow down the flow of information and gives us time to analyze and ponder the experience. The intense scrutiny of journal writing can enable us to make refinements in our philosophy that are truly life-changing.

(Spend more money on the inside of your head than the outside. – Jim Rohn)

Jot down what you learn and be a buyer of empty books. It’s the small disciplines that lead to great accomplishments.

Observe and Listen

Pay attention during your day, watch what’s going on and become a good listener. Find a voice of value and stay for a while. Surround yourself with people you respect and admire. Find people whose personalities and achievements stimulate, fascinate and inspire you, and then strive to assimilate their best qualities. This is called the skill of selecting. Don’t waste your time on the silly and the shallow.

One of the major reasons people don’t do well is because they keep trying to get through the day while a more worthy cause is to get from the day. We must become sensitive enough to observe and ponder what is happening around us. Be alert. Be awake. Often the most extraordinary opportunities are hidden among seemingly insignificant events.

Be a good listener. With so many voices vying for your attention, you need to develop the skill of selective listening and only dial into the radio station that appeals to you. If a voice is not leading to the achievement of your goals, exercise caution in how long you listen.

Be Disciplined

Every day is filled with dozens of personal crossroads, moments when we’re called upon to make a decision regarding minor as well as major questions. These decisions chart a path to a future destination. With careful mental preparation, we can make wise choices. The development of a sound philosophy prepares us for making sound decisions. When we eat healthy foods, we experience positive results in a short time. When we start exercising, we feel a new vitality almost immediately. When we begin reading, we experience a growing awareness and a new level of self-confidence. New disciplines practiced daily will produce exciting results. The magic of new disciplines causes us to amend our thinking.

Don’t Neglect

Neglect is the major reason people don’t have what they want. If you don’t take care of things in your life, neglect becomes a disease. If you neglect to do good things with your money, you probably neglect to do good things with your time. If you don’t know what’s going on with your health or your bank account, you could be at risk. Set up new disciplines to change your life. Don’t neglect.

Everything is within our reach if we will read books, use journals, practice the disciplines and wage a new and vigorous battle against neglect.

Build your philosophy. Commit yourself to a new journey and say, “I’m going to change my life.” Once you do, you’ll never look back.

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to read the entire article go to http://assuredlease.lifestyleezine.com

So, let’s look at the six rules for success
within the context of the selling profession, and how to use these rules to measure your success.

1. Control your destiny, or someone else will.

2. Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it were.

3. Be candid with everybody.

4. Don’t manage, Lead.

5. Change before you have to.

6. If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.

1. Control your destiny or someone else will.

From a sales perspective, what is your destination and how are you getting there? That’s the question every professional salesperson must ask themselves. Technology has created a global world where you can no longer measure your relevancy against the person in your designated town, state or even country. The world is small, and your competitor (although thousands of miles away) is now as close as a mouse click. The result of this ever-smaller world is the competitor’s ability to build, create and sell a product just like yours at a cheaper price thus reducing your product to a commodity.

You have to know your destination as clearly as you can. If you know your destination, you can control your destiny.

2. Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it were.

The sales profession began in the 18th century as the economy transitioned from manual labor and draft-animal-based economy to a machine-based manufacturing economy. Salespeople were hired to introduce potential buyers to products or services, because there was no other way to learn about products or services, except through a newspaper. The traveling salesperson was born.

According to Selling Power Magazine CEO Gerhard Gschwandtner, 70 percent of all purchasing decisions are now made online before the buyer has even seen a sales representative. One of the reasons for this is that buyers are now unable to effectively differentiate products and services from those of the competitors and therefore consider each and every product to be the same. The new reality is that if you sell a product you are irrelevant.

The following statement is from a distributor representative that I recently interviewed. “In 90 percent of the calls I make there is no issue, and therefore no opportunity – unless I am significantly cheaper, and even then the incumbent usually matches the price.”

3.  Be candid with everybody.

Being candid means being honest and trustworthy. This is the foundational principle to success as a 21st century salesperson. Being honest and authentic is now more important than ever, considering the availability of information and options via the Internet. It is important to remember that relationships are no longer enough to safeguard an account: you must create value.

4.  Don’t manage, lead.

Simply being an account manager is no longer of value to the buyer. You must lead the buyer out of the status quo and down the path of goal achievement. Managing an account can now be accomplished through sales 2.0 practices and an inside customer service team.

However, leading a customer towards the successful accomplishment of their business objectives cannot be achieved from the inside team. You need to become an insightful executive: someone who possesses a skill set of product knowledge, industry knowledge, questioning skills and executive insight. Executive insight is the ability to help the buyer impact their income statement (P & L statement) by linking your product to the achievement of their organizational goals or by improving the company’s external and internal pressures.

Buyers do not want your product:  buyers want your insight.

5.  Change before you have to.

Trying to convince the majority of people that there is a new and better way to do something is a complete waste of time. If you want to see what the future looks like, look at what the innovators and early adopters are doing. I am referring to the work of Everett Rogers, a professor of rural sociology who popularized the theory in his 1962 book Diffusion of Innovations (Distribution of advancement.) Rogers suggests the population is segmented into a five categories. The categories (with population percentage) are: innovators (2.5 percent), early adopters (13.5 percent), early majority (34 percent), late majority (34 percent), and laggards (16 percent).

In the sales realm, the innovators create the technology (example: Twitter, Facebook) that allows the flow of information to be accessible in real time, on demand. The early adopters are the ones crying in the wilderness for the sales professionals to hear (Neil Rackham, Mark Miller, Jill Konrath and Jeffery Gitomer, for example.) The time is coming and is already here. Will the early majority embrace the change, or will they become casualties? Will they join the late majority and laggards, and fade into irrelevance?

6. If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.

Nobody has a competitive advantage with their product for more than 6 months. Then, the competition imitates and enters the market. In fact, there is only one product that can never be copied, duplicated or replicated. This product can be the differentiator in your market and a competitive advantage for your company now and 20 years into the future.

Your competitive advantage is you. There is only one, and therefore can never be a commodity.

The successful salesperson in the 21st century is going to need an innovative mind, ambition and a strong sense of self to rise to the top in an overcrowded and noisy marketplace. Irrelevance can be avoided by abandoning the old conventional wisdom and embracing a new way of thinking.

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to read the entire article go to http://assuredlease.lifestyleezine.com

Psychologist Abraham Maslow once wrote, “The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.” The average person settles for far less than he or she is truly capable of achieving.

The truth is we’re all extraordinary. You came into this world with more talents and abilities than you could ever use. You could not exhaust your full potential if you lived 100 lifetimes.

Your brain has 20 billion cells, each of which is connected to as many as 20 thousand other cells. The possible combinations and permutations of ideas, thoughts and insights that you can generate are equivalent to the number one followed by eight pages of zeros. According to brain expert Tony Buzan, this number is greater than all the molecules in the known universe.

In other words, whatever you have accomplished in life to this date is only a small fraction of what you are truly capable of achieving. The challenge is that you come into the world with no instruction manual. As a result, you have to figure it all out for yourself. Most people never do. They go through life doing the very best they can, but they never come within shouting distance of doing, having and being all that is possible for them.

The Key to Success

Straight after University, I found work making straight-commission sales with Prime Cut Foods in Victoria. We generated leads through telephone solicitation and an offer of packages of free grain fed ground beef. this is where I truly learned the craft of the sales process and people. Sitting in front of the man and women of the household and closing them both on a $4,000.00 freezer package financed over 12 months was not easy. It was not a great way to live.

Then one day I began asking a question: “Why is it that some people are more successful than others?” Or more specifically, “Why is it that some salespeople are more successful than others?”

With that one question, I did something that changed my life and began the formation of a habit that had a profound effect on my future. I asked the most successful salesman in my company what he was doing differently from me. And he told me. And I did what he told me to do. And my sales went up.

I soon developed the habit of asking everyone, and in every way possible, for the answers that I needed to move ahead more rapidly. I began to read books on selling, and put into action what I had learned. I listened to audio programs while I walked and, eventually, as I drove around. I attended every sales seminar I could find. I continually asked other successful salespeople for advice. And I developed the habit of immediately taking action on any advice or good idea that I received or learned.

Not surprisingly, my sales went up and up, and eventually I surpassed everyone in my company. Soon they made me a sales manager and asked me to teach other people what I was doing that enabled me to be so successful.

Before long, I was recruiting people with newspaper ads, teaching them the sales methods and techniques that I had learned, and sending them out to call on prospects and customers. In no time at all, they were making sales and moving upward and onward in their own lives. Many of those early salespeople are millionaires today.

The Law of Cause and Effect

What I learned from this experience was the great Law of Cause and Effect. This is the foundation principle of Western philosophy and of modern thought. It says that for every cause, there is an effect.

Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by accident. This law says that, even if you do not know the reason why something happens, there is still a reason that explains it. Here is one of the most important of all success principles: “If you do what other successful people do, you will eventually get the same results that they do. And if you don’t, you won’t.”

Nature is neutral. Nature does not favor one person over another. When you do the things that other successful people do, over and over again, you will eventually get the same results that they do. It is not a matter of luck, or chance, or accident. It is a matter of law.

This was an extraordinary idea for me. Even today, I am awed by the immensity and power of this simple principle. If you want to be happy, healthy, prosperous, popular, positive and confident, just find out how other people who are enjoying these benefits got that way, and do the same things they do. Think the same thoughts. Feel the same feelings. Take the same actions. And, as sure as two plus two makes four, you will eventually get the same results as others do.

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to read the entire article go to http://assuredlease.lifestyleezine.com

1.    Be impeccable with your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally: Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others  you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t judge people: 2 things here:  1. Unless somebody dropped down from the sky and appointed you the judge in some type of biblical ceremony, you’re not the judge and never were. You only think you are.  2. We are almost always wrong when we judge someone, which really makes the time spent doing it a waste of existence and time. I bet you, given the chance, most people are much better than you think they are.

4. Don’t Make Assumptions: find the courage to ask questions and express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

5. Always Do Your Best: your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self judgment, self abuse, and regret.

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to read the entire article go to http://assuredlease.lifestyleezine.com

People frequently ask, “Is it more advantageous to lease or to buy a vehicle?”. Revenue Canada has considered each option and has established rules to ensure that one has little if any benefit over the other. The decision is therefore based on your situation, needs and cash flow circumstances. Whatever decision you make, make sure you thoroughly comparison shop and sleep on it before you make any final decision, sign documents and take the car away. You want to make a decision based on sound logic–not based on emotion or the dealer’s sales pitch. Compare the cost of each approach over the term you expect to own the vehicle.

There are many different types of leasing arrangements, and dealers offer a wide variety of choices and options on both new and used vehicles. All leases involve making periodic payments for the term of the lease, and there may or may not be an option to purchase the vehicle at the end of the lease.

On some leasing contracts, the vehicle is returned to the dealer at the end of the lease period and you have no further obligation except possibly paying for extra mileage or damage. On other leasing contracts, you will be asked to “guarantee” the dealer a residual value for the vehicle at the end of the lease period. Residual value is the amount the vehicle is expected to be worth at the end of the lease period, and is specified in the contract. Sometimes you may be able to buy the car for the residual value. If it is returned to the dealer and sold for less than the residual value, you must pay the dealer the difference.

Lease contract

This contract sets out the contractual nature of the deal. You cannot count on any representations that the sales rep makes to you that are not contained in the lease contract. So make sure that any statements made to you to induce you to lease the vehicle are written into the contract.

Important questions to ask

Before you sign any contract, make sure you have answers to these important questions and calculate what they will mean to you.

* What would be the total cost to buy the same vehicle and finance its purchase through a lender?

* What is the best retail price of the vehicle, and what price is the company using as the basis for the lease? The difference between the market value of the vehicle at the beginning and end of the lease is one of the main factors in calculating monthly payments.

* What is the interest rate being applied to the lease and how does it compare with current loan rates for purchasing a vehicle?

* Is there an option to buy the vehicle at the end of the lease?

* Can you buy the vehicle during the term of the lease, and if so, and are there penalties or additional charges?

* Are you required to guarantee the residual value of the car to the dealer?

* Can you terminate the lease before the date specified in the contract, and if so, is there a penalty or additional charge?

* How is normal wear and tear on the vehicle defined, and what is excessive wear and tear that makes you liable for an extra expense at the end of the lease?

* How is extra mileage defined and how much might you have to pay at the end of the lease?

* What is the total cost of the lease, and could you have bought a similar car for that amount?

* What are the associated fees you might have to pay for items such as insurance and administration? What are the late payment penalties?

* What is the total financial obligation of the lease, including the cost of all lease payments, plus all taxes, levies, fees, trade-in allowance, security deposit, advance payments and any down payments?

* Is the leasing contract easy to understand and is the information large enough to read without difficulty?

* What are the restrictions on the use of the vehicle–can you use it outside your city or province, or in another country?

* What is your responsibility for maintaining and servicing the vehicle?

* What are the warranties and guarantees, and is there any insurance provided for or required by you?

* What is the retail price of the vehicle, the price on which the lease payments are based, and the interest rate applied to the lease contract?

* What are the details of periodic payments, including the total number of payments, amount of each payment, payment dates, taxes on payments, and the total amount of all payments?

* Do you have “gap” protection? If you do, and you are in an accident and the vehicle is damaged beyond repair, this program will cover the difference after you pay the deductible, between what you owe on the remainder of your lease and the amount of your insurance settlement.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF BUYING

Advantages:

* you own the vehicle and therefore do not have any restrictions on use.

* you are building up potential equity in the vehicle (the value of the vehicle less the debt you have paid off).

* you can use the vehicle as security to borrow money.

* you can sell the vehicle and keep the money, after any loans are paid off

If you are using the car as a business vehicle, there are additional benefits:

# depreciation is deductible. For cars, it is 30 per cent a year on a declining balance. However, only a maximum of $25,000 (plus taxes) is accepted as the capital cost of the vehicle, no matter how much more you pay.
# interest on money that you borrow for the car purchase is deductible. However, there is a maximum of $300 a month, no matter how much more than that you pay.

Disadvantages:

If you are using the car as a business vehicle:

* you cannot deduct the full cost immediately

* only the first $25,000 plus taxes may be capitalized and depreciated for tax purposes. The car you want or need may cost more than that.

* only a maximum of $300 per month for interest is accepted by Revenue Canada.

* you pay your own repairs and maintenance expenses.

* time and effort is required to sell the vehicle.

For further information, you can pick up a free consumer booklet on vehicle leasing, Turning the Lights on Leasing, published by the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association. You can also purchase a Canadian “buy vs. lease” software program that customizes the pros and cons in specific situations. One such program is The Car Calculator, published by Orangesoft. You can obtain further information on it at 1-800-647-8693 or www.carcalculator.com. Also, check with your provincial consumer services department for brochures and any legislative lease protections for consumers that might be available.

Although the Canadian equipment finance industry is very competitive many Canadian business owners and financial mangers don’t fully understand how equipment lease rates and interest finance charges are calculated… how they can be managed, and what issues affect your ultimate monthly pricing. Let’s examine some ‘ need to know ‘points that will allow you to fully maximize the benefits of lease financing assets in Canada.

We don’t blame clients for always wanting ‘ the best deal ‘… the ‘ lowest rate ‘… the ‘ smallest monthly payment ‘. Some of the variables that go into those issues are controlled by the lessor; some can easily be managed by you.

Asset quality is often a factor in Canadian lease finance. The ability of either yourself of the lessor to understand the ongoing value and the final residual value of the asset you are financing plays a key role in equipment finance pricing in the Canadian marketplace. A win win situation exists of course when both you and the lessor have a transaction that meets both of your needs.

Lessors refer to their profit on a transaction as their ‘ yield ‘. Many lease finance firms strive to earn a certain constant yield on their lease transaction they finance for Canadian business. It’s simply their ultimate profit for putting funds out on your transaction.

Canadian business mangers choose from only two basic lease types when acquiring and asset via a lease finance strategy. Its as simple as that, you are either selecting a capital lease, which is a ‘ lease to own ‘ strategy, or alternatively you are choosing and operating lease .The operating lease is a transaction wherein you have a stated intention to return or upgrade the asset during or at the end of the lease term . The true beauty of the operating lease is that it also gives you still the right to purchase the asset, even though that might not have been your original intention.

Put yourself in the eyes of the lease company, and let’s use a simple example of a 1000.00 transaction. If the final residual value of the asset at the end of the term of the operating lease is 100.00 and the lease firm estimated this as , lets say $50.00 then they have just realized a further $ 50.00 profit on the asset .

So who is the best to understand the actual true value of the lease at the end of the term? Quite frankly, sometimes its you, who understand your business only too well. Alternatively many lease equipment finance firms have significant expertise also. It depends,

The type of lease company you choose to work with also has a significant effect on your interest finance charges. Bottom line, your lease firms borrow funds also. In Canada that’s typically done through insurance companies and banks. So a general rule of thumb is that if your lease finance firm is larger, well funded, and well managed… the bottom line is that your chances of more aggressive lease rates increases.

We hate calling them ‘ games ‘ but the industry uses many nuances in pricing and structure and terms that significantly affect your overall finance charges . What are some of these?

A good example is advance payments you are asked to make, or security deposits. If you are asked me make a significant security deposit ensure interest accrues to your security deposit, at a rate commensurate with the size of the deposit.

Many assets are acquired on an interim rent basis… that has the lessor outlaying cash before you actually sign off on the final acceptance of the asset. It could be a complicated computer project that is being funded, or perhaps a production asset that is being assembled by your vendor in stages.

We’ve highlighted just a few of the basic issues that should come into consideration by your firm when you are concerned about getting those ‘ best ‘ equpment lease rates’ in the Canadian marketplace . There are others.

If there is a bottom line here it simply that it’s worth it to take some time and understand how some up front knowledge and consideration at the start of your lease finance process can positively impact interest finance charges in your favor as the lessee. Speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor who can guide you to the appropriate lease finance pricing for your ongoing equipment needs.

Less scope for policymaker response

One of the bigger differentiating factors is the reduced flexibility of monetary and fiscal authorities in Canada to respond. In 2007, Canadian short-term interest rates stood at 4.25%, government fiscal balances were in surplus and combined government federal-provincial debt was sitting at 54%. Indeed, the subsequent and massive injection of massive monetary and fiscal stimulus helped to prevent a difficult externally-driven, export-led recession from being considerably worse. Canada’s peak-to-trough decline in real GDP during the 2008-09 recession amounted to a sizeable 4%. But if the heavy losses in the export sector are stripped away, Canada’s household and government sectors suffered a much tamer drop of around 2.5%. Canadian job losses during the downturn were also heavily concentrated in the export sector. Today, a short-term interest rate at 1% leaves the Bank of Canada much less room to counter an economic shock without foraying into unconventional monetary policy options, such as quantitative easing. What’s more, with some $166 billion dollars more in outstanding federal and provincial debt (62 percentage points as a share of GDP), governments would be harder pressed to go on another major spending spree.

Household vulnerabilities have risen

The household sector’s flexibility to respond in the event of a severe bout of external headwinds is even more constrained. For one, the jobless rate remains more than a full percentage point above its pre-recession trough. Household debt as a share of after-tax income is considerably higher. It may be the case that the burden of debt service costs is actually lower today than four years ago due to the benefit

of lower borrowing rates. However, that could quickly change if income flows are abruptly cut off as a result of, say, a surge in layoffs. The higher home price-to-income ratio also suggests a larger degree of froth in the nation’s housing market despite the gyrations in home prices since 2007. By our measure, home prices are currently 10-15% over-valued. The bottom line is that household debt leaves households with less financial maneuvering room.

Business balance sheets stronger

Similar to the 2008-09 experience, a U.S. recession would swiftly hit Canada’s economy through the export channel. As such, many businesses would be in the line of fire. Roughly 70% of Canadian exports remain U.S.-bound while roughly one-fifth of business funding is generated in U.S. markets – shares which have not changed materially since 2007. At the same time, however, Canadian businesses would be in a better position to deal with the storm this time around. Businesses, on average, are holding less debt and are have more liquid assets. With commodity prices and the Canadian dollar in the same ball-park today as in 2007, profit margins are on the same magnitude. Another important factor to consider – especially when the level of risk to the Canadian business sector is considered – is the vulnerability of the U.S. economy compared to 2007. While the U.S. still faces a mountain of structural challenges – least of which is its ballooning government debt-load – it is highly unlikely that the economy is poised to suffer a contraction along the same line as that in 2008- 09. Unlike Canada, households and housing markets have

already undergone massive adjustments. Housing starts in particular can’t go much lower. Business balance sheets are also in decent condition notwithstanding the sluggish recovery to date.

Bottom Line

Canada’s economy headed into this summer’s turmoil in relatively good shape and our base case remains one of modest growth. Still we can’t ignore the simple fact that households and governments – two sectors that make up about four-fifths of Canadian economic activity – have a reduced capacity to respond to unanticipated negative events than was the case four years ago. The prevailing view is that if the U.S. economy were to fall into recession, Canada’s economy would likely follow suit. But by virtue of its fundamental strengths, many believe that the downturn would be less severe and the economy would recover more quickly than would be the case south of the border. Given Canada’s increased domestic vulnerability, such an outcome would not be guaranteed.

Angel Investment

Angel investors can be individuals or independent groups that are looking for promising businesses to invest in. Angel Investors became very popular in the late 90s and since then, has continued to be one of the most recognized means of business financing, particularly with
small business enterprisers.

Equipment lease financing
Equipment leasing is one of the most preferred ways of business financing not only for small businesses but even for big and established businesses. Through leasing, having a limited working capital does not have to be a big hindrance in bringing those bright business ideas to life. Because a lease is paid in instalment, a business owner is given the opportunity to obtain all devices or machines needed for the operations without a lot of upfront cost.

Supplier Credit
Many wholesale suppliers offer credit to their small business clients especially if they can present an impressive credit standing. Do inquire from prospective vendors who can supply you with your needed materials and stocks if you can be extended credit.

SBA Loans
If you are having difficulty getting approved for a bank loan or commercial loan, you can seek assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA). By being backed-up by the SBA, it will be easier to get an approval from your chosen lender. However, take note that the SBA has its own standards in reviewing business loan applications.

Business Credit Cards
Today, an increasing number of business owners are recognizing the advantages of using credit cards for small business. Instead of using their personal credit cards, they are using business credit cards to separate their personal and business accounts, and to build business credit history. In the long run, having a solid business credit will be a huge factor in the future growth of a business and one of the easiest ways to build credit is to use a credit card for business.

Bank Loans
Even today, many small business entrepreneurs still prefer the traditional method of business financing. Why? This is because banks usually offer a larger sum of financing compared to commercial lenders. For homeowners who are willing to use their homes as collateral, a secured business loan gives them the chance to get the financial support they need to start their businesses with lower interest rates and longer repayment period.