Small business owners are the driving force supporting our Canadian economy.

That has been the case for some time. It has been taken for granted.

We can no longer afford to take small business owners for granted. The small business sector has experienced and will continue to experience new, complex challenges. Here are a few examples of special, complex problems:

• increased human resource demands, backed by government rules and regulations
• fast-paced technology changes, supported by more-complicated product & service options
• rapid expansion of methods to connect with customers, with growing customer demands

These new, complex challenges require special attention because they go beyond the comfort zone of many small business leaders. Put another way, small business leaders are exposed to a growing list of new processes and new situations, many of which are outside their areas of experience and expertise.

What is a small business owner to do?

• Hunker down and protect territory?
• Make radical changes and keep up with the times?
• Do some combination of these things? [But, what combination?]

And, how should a small business owner go about making this decision?

It makes sense they should seek help from:

• someone who has both entrepreneurial experience and big-company experience
• someone who has experience mentoring small business leaders
• someone who has developed simple tools, designed to help people make decisions in situations of high risk and uncertainty
• someone who helps leadership teams understand what it takes to get it done…then mentors them while they develop the required skills

That is what we offer small business leaders.