Business Beat
Business Beat: A New Attraction and Retention Tool for Business
How many of you listen to CBC Radio? True confession; I do, and today at lunch I listened to the executive director of Calgary Arts Development talk about the opportunities the economic climate and COVID are providing to mid-sized cities around the globe. He was, of course, touting Calgary as a mid-sized city which makes…
Read MoreBusiness Beat: Driving Business Forward
On Friday, we celebrated the kick off to small business week with our annual business awards. The event, themed ‘Driving Business Forward’ signified that even through challenging times, we can continue to drive business forward. Seven months ago, we were uncertain as to how this event would come together. However, one thing was certain, we…
Read MoreBusiness Beat: What’s Old is New Again
Infill development. It’s an idea and practice that cities across North America are embracing and with good reason. Infrastructure such as roads, water mains, and sewer lines are costly for municipalities when developing new sub-divisions. Infill improvement allows developers to capitalize on existing infrastructure through increased densification that can increase a city’s property tax base.…
Read MoreBusiness Beat: Remote Work
In the past six-months, we have shut down our economy, self-isolated, quarantined and pretended to be teachers. We have worked from home, given up travel, and learned to use Zoom, Teams and Google Hangouts, skipped birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and funerals. We have re-launched, reintegrated into society, sent our children back to school and realized this…
Read MoreBusiness Beat: Creating Connections
Many people see the Chamber as a purely business to business organization. However, they may not be aware of how we are creating connections within our community. The Chamber regularly receives inquiries from individuals, both in town and out of town, for referrals and recommendations to businesses. In addition, we get inquiries about different services,…
Read MoreBusiness Beat: Helping Connect Commercial Properties and Entrepreneurs
As a new or seasoned business owner, finding the right commercial building, in the right location can be an extensive process. On the other hand, owning a commercial building and trying to attract a potential lessee or the right buyer can also be an exhausting endeavour. Our local realtors are a great resource and should…
Read MoreBusiness Beat: The Multiplier Effect at Work in the Hat
What if I gave you a $50 gift card to your favorite restaurant? You could go for lunch by yourself and try to stuff two meals into your belly, but it’s more likely that you’d invite a couple friends for dinner and wine and run up a bill of $150. The restaurant just multiplied a…
Read MoreHow are you managing your organization through COVID-19?
We wanted to make sure that businesses are aware of all the supports and that you take another look at the options available and the changes made to the programs. As your local Chamber, we have assisted in navigating information related to the pandemic and have voiced your concerns to Government to ensure that businesses…
Read MoreBusiness Beat: Shaking the Money Trees
COVID-19 has made accessing capital very difficult for businesses. In response, provincial and federal governments released different stimulus packages including grants. The last few months I have gone through countless programs and there definitely are many options out there. Grants can be a great resource in times of economic uncertainty, as they usually provide a…
Read MoreBusiness Beat: How do you Create Sales When Customers are not in the Store?
COVID-19 or “the Covid” (reference Newman from Seinfeld), as I am now referring to it, has wreaked havoc on our independent business owners. First, they had to close their businesses (unless they were an essential service). Then when they could open, it was under a very strict set of guidelines established by the Government of…
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