| From banking to back care
For 13 years, Wayne Shum helped small business owners finance their dreams. This summer, he turned his attention to his own dream, joining his wife and her longtime business partner in a venture they believe is on the cutting edge of back pain treatment. Shum, 38, was a district manager looking after small business service with TD Canada Trust. He spent his days on the road, checking with branches and customers from London to Cambridge, Brantford to Stratford. "I really enjoyed my job, but this was a great opportunity." The opportunity was something his wife, Sandra Lee, had been dabbling in for a few months. She is a chiropractor, in practice with fellow chiropractor Doug Pooley in St. Thomas and Dutton. "There's a big gap between what we consider conservative care for chronic back pain and surgery," says Lee, 38.
Current Issue:
After seeing those horrible red and white "going out of business" signs in the windows of Bogey's Books, I had a little internal cry and started visiting the store on a tri-weekly basis to buy novels at an amazing discount. Buying books there is now bittersweet. I love a sale, but not at the expense of a favorite store closing forever. Some people, the non-literati, might think I'm overreacting, that I should just go to Borders down the street. "They have books too, don't they?" the non-literati say. No, non-literati, Borders is lame. I don't want my money going to the "man." Also, I've been told by super-secret sources that Borders is just a cover-up money laundering operation for the South American drug industry. Of course, my super-secret source was a co-worker at the independent bookstore that I have worked at for the past four summers, so I don't know how slanted that theory might be.
ExpertPlan Partners With AccountantsWorld to Launch Retirement Relief 401(k) Platform
ExpertPlan today announced it is partnering with AccountantsWorld to provide full service retirement solutions to accountants and their clients under the umbrella of the new AccountantsWorld Retirement Relief platform. The platform will enable AccountantsWorld, a leading provider in web-based accounting software solutions to accountants nationwide, to offer its own fully customized Internet-based retirement product utilizing ExpertPlan's advanced recordkeeping technology. East Windsor, NJ (PRWEB) November 26, 2007 -- ExpertPlan today announced it is partnering with Hauppauge, NY-based AccountantsWorld to provide full service retirement solutions to accountants and their clients under the umbrella of the new AccountantsWorld Retirement Relief platform. The platform will enable AccountantsWorld, a leading provider in web-based accounting software solutions to accountants nationwide, to offer its own fully customized Internet-based retirement product utilizing ExpertPlan's advanced recordkeeping technology.
UCBH Gets Approvals for China Bank Deal
UCBH Holdings Inc., the holding company for United Commercial Bank, said Monday it received regulatory approval for its planned $205 million cash purchase of Shanghai-based Business Development Bank Ltd., clearing the way for the deal to close in December. The move will expand the California banking chain's reach into mainland China. The purchase was first announced in May. United Commercial offers financial products and services to small- and medium-sized companies. The bank has branches in California, New York, New England, Atlanta, Houston, the Pacific Northwest and Hong Kong. .
Appraisals can be good experience
Giving employees annual performance reviews or appraisals can be one of a small business owner's most dreaded tasks. Doing them more often and going into the process with a positive rather than punitive attitude can make a review much less of an ordeal. Perhaps the first thing to know about employee reviews or appraisals is that they shouldn't be once-a-year events. You should be giving your staff feedback - positive and negative - on an ongoing basis. Some companies have sit-down sessions with workers two, three or even four times a year, finding it's worthwhile whether an employee is doing well or struggling. By giving more frequent reviews, "you focus on identifying problems before they get too big and mapping out ways to correct the behavior," said Julie Lenzer Kirk, of Damascus, Md., who owned a software and consulting company for 10 years.
Solidica Begins Expansion Into Asia-Pacific Market
Solidica, Inc. has been selected from a global group of small- and medium-size companies to participate in the Greater Nagoya Initiative (GNI) in Japan. The invitation and travel sponsorship was granted via the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), a partner to GMI which offers business development connections to global companies looking to enter the Japanese and Asia-Pacific market. .
Fast move on money launderers
THE Rudd Government is expected to speed up action against money launderers, especially those operating within the "blue-rinse set": private financiers, small cash-handling businesses and legal professionals. Labor has for years lambasted the Coalition over its tardiness in delivering anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) laws, with Labor legal affairs spokesman Joe Ludwig criticising the eventual legislation as "half-baked". It's understood Labor is keen to bring the second level of possible money launderers, (including real estate agents, jewellers, lawyers and accountants) into the mandatory suspicious transactions reporting net as soon as possible. Submissions on the Coalition's proposed second tranche have been considered by the Attorney-General's Department, but any decisions will "be a matter for the incoming Government", a department spokesman said.
Small timber operation tries to take up job slack
WALLOWA (AP) — In the timber industry the saying is: A job in a mill equals two in the woods.If that holds, at least 28 people in the forests of Oregon’s northeast corner have jobs thanks to Community Smallwood Solutions, a busy little post-and-pole mill in this economically troubled Wallowa County town."As long as the shift is running well, we can put out four loads of hops poles a week," Ben Henson, the mill’s general manager, said.Small operations can’t replace big ones, and the indefinite closure of the Wallowa Forest Products mill last July still hurts. About 50 people lost family wage jobs, and the true effect remain to be seen, Wallowa Mayor Ron Gay said."We’re surviving, but the economy is soft and I think it will get worse next year," Gay said.Community Smallwood Solutions isn’t a cure, but it helps.With 14 workers, it makes jobs for contract loggers and truck drivers, supports the hops industry and sells to retail outlets in the Willamette Valley.Henson and others say they think the company will take off."There are plans to bring in more equipment and expand some of our product lines, and that could mean going to another shift."The company was established nearly four years ago with support from Wallowa Resources, a nonprofit group that promotes forest and watershed health while creating family wage jobs and business opportunities.Joseph Timber in the upper Wallowa Valley, now out of business, was a partner at first.
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