Self Employed, Small Business, Technology Ronika Khanna Self Employed, Small Business, Technology Ronika Khanna

How to Be Less Forgetful: 17 Task Tracking Tips for Business Owners

 

Memento (Chris Nolan’s masterpiece) is the story of a man who suffers from short term memory loss i.e. he can’t remember anything for more than 15 minutes.  This makes his life somewhat complicated, in that he needs to come up with a system to track his memories.  Interestingly it also simplifies it as having no memories allows him to live his life entirely in the present.   One of the many brilliant aspects of the film is that every time you watch it, it is a slightly different movie, as the memory of it does what memories do – they fade and dissolve and meld with other memories leaving us with an impression which is different from the actual events as they unfold.  This is why eyewitness testimony is often unreliable, and individuals’ recollections tend to vary significantly.

Our particular ability to remember … and forget is unique to all of us.  Some of us never forget a face while being hopeless with names.  Others have trouble with appointments  or where we left our keys.   I often have trouble finding the right word or forget the entire plot of a movie or book.  (Not to mention  chunks of my life that are completely missing).  Unfortunately , these memory malfunctions tend to get worse with age, so it is important to find ways to fend them off.  From a work and business perspective, forgetting something important can have severe consequences.   Below are some ideas to help you keep track of your tasks:

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Personal Finance Ronika Khanna Personal Finance Ronika Khanna

RRSP Facts and Figures: Infographic

One of the most significant tax breaks available to Canadian taxpayers are contributions to retirement savings plans.  As the contribution deadline approaches for 2010, I have compiled some facts and data into an infographic to provide some insight on how they work, and how we measure up to other Canadians:  
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Regulatory/Legal, Business Insights Ronika Khanna Regulatory/Legal, Business Insights Ronika Khanna

The Parable of the Toy Soldier: How a Small Gaming Business Became a Victim of their Own Success.

This story has all the ingredients of a great novel - drama, intrigue, the Chinese, hostile takeovers and a guy named Lonnie.   It has shaken the world of miniature gaming, where excitement is usually imagined rather than real.  And, although the details are murky, it is an excellent case study that demonstrates how mistakes made by business owners can result in severe and unintended consequences.

On January 17th, the founder of Wargames Factory, Tony Reidy issued an open letter:

Wai Kee Hui - if your true intention is to salvage this company and pay back the debts - you have started down the absolutely wrong path.

I understand that this is so far beneath you because you run so many multi-yuan millions businesses - but if you want to salvage anything, you are proceeding in the absolutely worst direction right now.

Your faith in Lonnie Mullins is incredibly misguided. You're trusting a guy who threw me under the bus in order to save his own skin. A guy who has no honor whatsoever.

Read full letter Open letter from Tony Reidy

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Accounting, Business Tax, Quickbooks Ronika Khanna Accounting, Business Tax, Quickbooks Ronika Khanna

How to Update Quickbooks for the 2011 QST Rate Increase

Update: As of January 1st, 2012 the Quebec Sales Tax (QST Rate) which had gone up from 7.5% to 8.5% on January 1, 2011 will now increase to 9.5%. The effective sales tax in Quebec will go up from 13.925% to 14.975%. Since QST is calculated on the net amount + GST, the effective rate is actually 14.975% (and not 14.5%) . In other words the effective QST rate is 9.975%. The instructions below are equally applicable, except the new QST rate to enter is 9.5%.

On January 1st, 2011, Revenue Quebec will be increasing the QST rate to 8.5% (yay!), bringing the effective rate of QST to 8.925% andtotal sales taxes (GST and QST) to 13.925% (since the QST is actually charged on the net price + GST.) This will impact anyone who charges QST including small businesses and self employed individuals, and invoicing software and processes should be updated to reflect the change. Suffice it to say that there are no major changes in the application of the rates. For those of you using Quickbooks you will need to update the QST being charged on both sales and purchases.

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