PROFIT HOT 50 and PROFIT W100 Looking for Nominations
Posted Friday May 17, 2013 11:00 AM - dtubbs
 David Tubbs
Marketing & Communications Lead
Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce
For the 14th year PROFIT magazine is compiling their list of top HOT 50 companies that are young, fast growing businesses that deserve to be recognized. In addition, the 15th annual rankings of top female entrepreneurs are being close at hand as part of the PROFIT W100 and nominations are being sought right now. If you know a company that deserves to be nominated for the HOT 50 or a local female entrepreneur who exhibits outstanding leadership and company growth that should be part of the W100 check out the information below to find out how to
WANTED: Hot Young Companies
Now in its 14th year, the PROFIT HOT 50 is the definitive list of Canada’s Top New Growth Companies, ranked by two-year revenue growth. A place on the PROFIT HOT 50 can inspire your staff, attract new clients and investors, and spark relationships with other dynamic companies.
You’ll enjoy many great benefits as a PROFIT HOT 50 company, including coverage in the October 2013 issue of PROFIT Magazine and online at PROFITguide.com. PROFIT HOT 50 leaders will also receive an invitation to GrowthCamp, an exclusive summit at which PROFIT HOT 50 leaders share ideas, learn from experts and make valuable contacts.
If your firm was launched in 2008 through 2010, then enter the PROFIT HOT 50 today!
The entry deadline is June 30, 2013.
Apply now! For more information or to enter online, visit PROFIT's HOT 50 website or call 1-800-713-GROW.
WANTED: A FEW GOOD WOMEN
Canada’s largest celebration of entrepreneurial achievement by women is back!
The 15th annual ranking of the Chatelaine and PROFIT W100: Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneurs is the definitive list of Canada’s leading women-owned and women-run businesses. The list ranks applicants by a combination of company size, growth rate and operating profitability.
W100 winners enjoy many benefits, including coverage in the November issues of Chatelaine and PROFIT, which can attract new staff, customers, business partners and the interest of other local and national media. You can also count on business-building marketing and PR support to help you leverage your W100 achievement.
Perhaps best of all, you’ll be invited to the Chatelaine and PROFIT W100 Idea Exchange, an exclusive conference geared to helping you strengthen your company and management skills in collaboration with other female entrepreneurs.
Nominate your business or that of an entrepreneur you admire by calling 1-800-713-GROW or completing the online ballot.
But don’t wait—the nomination deadline is May 31, 2013.
Last Updated Friday May 17, 2013 10:52 AM - dtubbs
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Social Media and Time Management: An Unlikely Team
Posted Wednesday May 8, 2013 4:30 PM - dtubbs
David Tubbs
Marketing & Communications Lead
Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce
Social media use has been growing steadily higher for businesses and professionals in all industries and business sectors. From Facebook to Twitter, and even Pinterest, more businesses have taken up the mantle of low cost marketing that social media offers. Many make the jump to social media because it is a cost effective way to market, however, one of the biggest things they don’t think about is the time commitment it can take. Proper time management is of vital importance or you might risk jeopardizing the proper Return on Investment (ROI) that social media can offer you.
1. Don’t Try To Do Everything
When starting out, or even re-evaluating, your social media use you should never try and operate too many social networks at once. One of the biggest issues businesses and professionals face is that they feel they need to do everything. It’s much better to master one social network and build a sustainable audience there than try and operate Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest all at once when social media management isn’t even your full time job.
The worst crime in social media is to start a network feed for your business, promote it, then proceed to post for a week or so and then disappear turning your social media channels into a ghost town. It looks very bad on your brand reliability. Stick to what you have time for. Start with one and go from there.
2. Create a Set Schedule
Beyond limiting yourself to the select social networks you can handle you need to create a set schedule for the time you can spend updating posts, brainstorming content, and building connections. Without it you can literally see hours disappear from your day. I’ve seen people lose entire hours reading Twitter and responding back at forth. The act of responding is great, but to spend an enormous amount of time doing that day in and day is not productive.
Set aside a half hour in the morning, a half hour in the middle of the day, and a half hour towards the end of your day. By creating a schedule inside your own weekly calendar you will start to slot it in accordingly around your regular work schedule. This will help you keep your channels from becoming ghost towns and allow you to not spend extraneous amounts of time on Twitter, Pinterest, or LinkedIn.
3. Stick to Your Schedule…at Least at First
Now you need to stick to your schedule. Develop a feel for the time you need to spend developing content and building relationships. As you continue getting use to your schedule look at expanding your time by 30 minutes a day after a week if you see an increase in engagement stick to that time for a while and steadily move up as you feel your time can allow it. But always continue to set aside the time in your calendar so you can receive notifications on when to begin and when to wind down your social media time.
Without checks on your own actions time can quickly slip away and your daily productivity may suffer. Don’t let that happen. Stick to the networks you have time for and stick to your schedule. Then, all will be well!
Last Updated Wednesday May 8, 2013 3:18 PM - dtubbs
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Natural Gas is Picking Up the Slack in Ontario
Posted Wednesday May 1, 2013 2:30 PM - dtubbs
 Ian McLean
President + CEO
Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce
We had the pleasure of hosting the President of Union Gas, Steve Baker, for a very enlightening talk on the future of Ontario’s energy needs and the important role natural gas is playing, and will continue to play, in the province’s energy mix and will even play a tremendous role as we move away from coal based energy.
Importance of Natural Gas to Ontario
Even with the enormous movement away from coal fired plants as a main source of energy production, natural gas makes up nearly 28% of all installed energy capacity. This is only second to nuclear power (36%) and nearly equal to Hydro (22%) and coal power (9%) combined. According to Mr. Baker, the government’s off-coal plan is meant to be a straight switch from coal to renewable forms of energy such as Hydro Electric, Wind, and Solar, however, natural gas is picking up the slack from decreased energy production until renewable sources can become more efficient and wide spread.
As Mr. Baker stated in his talk, “The total electricity consumed by Ontario in the last five years has remained relatively flat, but the terawatt hours contributed to that total by natural gas has doubled.” This means natural gas has helped cover what would have been a shortfall in energy production.
What natural gas allows us to do is sustain energy production when say hydroelectricity becomes difficult to produce during the dry summer months when water levels are low. This too is the same situation when wind powered energy production dips due to a lack of wind. All while significantly decreasing the use of coal burning energy production.
Cost of Natural Gas a Competitive Advantage for Ontario
Over the past 5 years natural gas has seen a steady decline in price compared to other forms of energy production. This is due to new technologies for natural gas extract as well as new shale gas deposits are found in North America. What this means is consumers in Ontario will see $3-5 billion per year in savings because of steady natural gas prices.
Not only is natural gas filling in the gaps in our energy mix as we move steadily away from coal fired energy plants, it is doing so at a highly competitive cost, saving residents and businesses billions a year.
Union Gas at Forefront of Natural Gas and in Our Community
Mr. Baker started off his talk describing the role Union Gas plays in Ontario and also the in Waterloo Region. Union Gas is responsible for over 1.4 million natural gas customers and also employs over 270 people in their Waterloo-Brantford region.
Union Gas has also been a strong community partner in the Region not only with their involvement in the Chamber but also Leadership Waterloo Region, Skills Canada program (which will be hosting the province-wide skills competition in the next few weeks here at RIM park), Junior Achievement and especially important to us is our relationship with the Children’s Safety Village.
Thanks again to Steve Baker and Union Gas for making this possible. Finally, thank you to those who came out to hear about this important message on the future of energy needs in Ontario.
Last Updated Thursday May 2, 2013 9:32 AM - dtubbs
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Thank You Volunteers! - National Volunteer Week April 21-27
Posted Monday April 22, 2013 10:30 AM - dtubbs
Ian McLean
President + CEO
Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce
Because the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce depends on the generous support of over 400 volunteers and I want to take the time to say thank you to all of our volunteers who helps make our organization as strong as it is today.
We are a membership based organization and we live by the motto of “Business Building Community”. Our ability as a business organization to live this motto is in very large measure because our volunteers giving back to help make sure our community is a strong and prosperous place to live and work.
From April 21st to the 27th marks National Volunteer Week in Canada aimed at highlighting all the wonderful contributions volunteers make to our communities across the country. I strongly believe that volunteering is what makes Canada the best country in the world.
This year marks the 10th year in celebrating National Volunteer Week and has now grown in recognizing the contributions of Canada’s 13.3 million volunteers. If you’re counting, that’s 1 in every 3 Canadians volunteering their time, expertise, or passion to give back to his or her community. If you’re on Twitter look for the hashtag - #NVWthankyouwall – to stay up to date on all the great activities going on all across Canada to celebrate all that volunteers do.
ChangeIt and Charity Republic Hosting Charity BBQ
Chamber member ChangeIt is hosting a special Charity BBQ in association with Charity Republic in support of the Volunteer Action Centre. Come on out on Friday, April 26th to the Communitech Main Kitchen area between 11:30am and 1:30pm to help support this wonderful organization.
Again, thank you to all Chamber volunteers, past and present, for all that you have done to make the Chamber what it is today. The Chamber and our community is a better place because of you.
Last Updated Monday April 22, 2013 10:32 AM - dtubbs
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Waterloo Region Rapid Transit Update – April 2013
Posted Friday April 19, 2013 10:30 AM - dtubbs
Ian McLean
President + CEO
Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce
The Waterloo Region Rapid Transit system is nearing a start date as the 3 construction consortiums will begin putting in their final Request for Proposal submissions later this year. This being said there are a number of new notices regarding this $818 million infrastructure project.
Be sure to read over the official April 2013 Rapid Transit Project Update for more information including news on the Rapid Transit Tradeshow that we are hosting with the Region to help connect local businesses to the bidding consortiums. You can also read more about the Grand River Hospital stop and the upcoming branding finalization.
Last Updated Friday April 19, 2013 10:20 AM - dtubbs
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