Advice from Canadian entrepreneurs who have opened their own businesses

When Ronnie Hanneson is asked about the most important lesson she's learned in her small business, she breaks into laughter. "A customer!" she howls. "You need to have a customer!"

What seems like a no-brainer, she believes, is lost on some entrepreneurs who get focused on the minutiae of starting a small business when they need to look at the big picture.

"They think of everything else," says Hanneson "what colour should my business cards be, should it match my flyers, should it match what I'm wearing? They'll work on those things but won't ask: 'Will I have an actual client?'"

On a warm day in September, Hanneson was darting around a Richmond Hill, Ont., ballroom for the first major gathering of the Canadian Networker, trying to make sure everyone about 300 small business owners had all met.

A former spa and salon owner in Markham, Ont., Hanneson, has also written two books about the beauty industry, started her own magazine, and founded two different networking groups. The first was AFV - At Face Value, a local retail networking body she started when she was looking for advertising sales for her magazine. She soon found one networking group wasn't enough.

"They close in on themselves after a while," she says. So in the spring of 2009, she started the Canadian Networker to help connect networks to each other and boost sales.

She's one of three successful small business people who were asked what advice they would offer to budding entrepreneurs who'd love to turn their passion into a paycheque.

Ronnie Hanneson

Tip 1: Network!

But do it effectively, Hanneson says. "Networking, when done correctly, is the fastest way to get a sale." Find the groups that work for your business and personality, and try to belong to more than one group.

Tip 2: The money plan

Don't depend on financing and debt to keep you afloat. You need cash flow, in the form of paying customers or clients. Small business owners can "find themselves in trouble, having to rely on debt if they don't have that cash flow. It can take years before a true profit comes in. Stay capitalized, stay faithful and get a sale. Passion for the business dies very quickly without a customer."

Tip 3: The limits of technology

Don't depend on passive social media like Facebook or Twitter, or even a website alone, to market your service or product. You have to get out there and connect. "You've got to work really hard. There is no easy path."

Casey Combden

Casey Combden sees business opportunities everywhere. He's spent much of his working life in direct sales and marketing in southern Ontario and is now trying out a new business venture. Combden has picked up thousands of internet domain names in the printing category across North America. He found them when he typed in the printing.com addresses of various cities and found no one owned them. Now he's trying to lease them back to people who want to go into business for themselves selling business cards.

Tip 1: Get a mentor

Combden recommends finding a seasoned professional who can provide advice on where to go and what to avoid. "Hard work is necessary, but nothing changed for me until I started getting vision, direction and advice from someone who had been there."

Tip 2: You can't do everything yourself

An entrepreneurial spirit, the ability to manage, and appropriate technical expertise are all required to be in business. There is no one person, however, who can do all three things well, so you've got to be willing to hire somebody who can do what you can't.

Tip 3: Hire experienced people

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. So when it comes to staff and contract workers, hire pros and get references for their work. Combden once hired an inexperienced web designer because the price was right cheap. The website looked good on the surface but lacked the depth he needed. He was out of pocket $2,000 and then had to start all over again when he discovered the site simply wasn't right.

Linda Pullen

Linda Pullen spends many of her days enveloped in the smell of chocolate. She and her mother, Charlotte Vanderheyden, are chocolatiers who co-own Charlinda Belgian Chocolates in Stouffville, Ont., a small community northeast of Toronto.

Pullen left the corporate world about 15 years ago to go into business full-time. Despite the long hours, the uneven income and her Jill-of-all trades days, she says she wouldn't have it any other way.

"I love being my own boss," she says. And the business fits with having two young children.

The manufacturing is done in a converted bowling alley. The front half is the store. The chocolatiers import the raw chocolate from Belgium and make sumptuous handmade treats on the spot from a family recipe. They're sold locally and to corporate customers.

Tip 1: Make sure there's a market

It was Pullen's mother, Charlotte, who identified a niche for handmade chocolates back in 1991. She noticed there were very few suppliers, but interest in good chocolate was growing. The shop is off the beaten track, but located in a scenic area, and there's no local competition for this European specialty.

Tip 2: Manage your time well

You need a plan so that important things get done on the right days. When you make time for things formally, you're more likely to stick to the schedule and get things done.

"In my business, I manufacture, I package and I sell. Sometimes I don't have enough time to follow up as quickly as I'd like," Pullen says.

Tip 3: Quality counts

Pullen says selling a product that she believes is top notch is a confidence-builder, because quality encourages word-of-mouth advertising. This is especially important if you can't afford a big marketing budget and it holds true for just about any product.

"People are concerned about the chemicals and preservatives in food. If you're going to treat yourself to a sweet, make sure the quality is good!"