Tag Archives: WBNPtbo

Feature Article

Hiring is Often a Challenge For Any Business Owner

Hiring is often a challenge for any business owner
By Janet McLeod, East City Flower Shop

Finding staff, teaching staff and sometimes firing staff – uggg is ongoing.
Over the years we have created a series of interview questions that help us learn more about the interviewee. Yes, we have the standard “what did you like best about working at…”  “tell me about a hobby or activity you enjoy” “ tell about a goal you set for yourself and how you went about obtaining this goal” questions.

We have a small work area and we meet with people at all stages of the ‘Circle of Life’ so you need to be sympathetic and you also need to be able to banter. Some of the questions we have added to our interview process, and these have been tailored to us, are:

  • Lion or bear, who wins? There is no correct answer, but no answer is not what we are looking for.
  • What would you do if the power went out and you were here alone? The correct answer is something similar to “ I would check next door and see if the power is out everywhere” or “ I would check the fuse panel” We have heard answers like “I would lock up and leave” “ I would lock the door” “ Don’t worry, I would stay”
  • Tell me about the last book you read. We like to work with people who have varying interests.

Staffing is a full time consideration in a small business, taking time to create questions that make it easy to find people who are a good fit for your workplace is a great first step to finding long term staff.


Janet McLeod
Canada’s eighth accredited master florist
Peterborough Examiner Reader’s Choice 2013
East City Flower Shop
159 Douro Street
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada K9H 1H7
Telephone: 705-742-1617
Website: www.eastcityflowershop.com
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LWChMdTf8A

Feature Article

“Sitting is the New Smoking”

“Sitting is the New Smoking”    
By Susan Sharp, Brant Basics

Research shows that sitting for as little as two continuous hours increases risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, neck & back pain and other orthopedic problems. Sitting will shorten your life, just like smoking.

Many studies show the effects of long- term sitting are NOT reversible through exercise & good habits, which means that if you eat well and work out for an hour a day, but sit for most your other waking hours, that sitting will chip away the benefits of your exercise.  You are still considered sedentary.

The typical office worker has more Musculoskeletal injuries than any other industry including construction, transportation workers and the metal industry.

How do we make sense of this and fix it? Our bodies are built for movement and it keeps our bodies healthy. 

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Feature Article

Confused about CASL? Read on…

Confused about CASL? Read on…
By Diane Wolf

CASL stands for Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation, and it is important that you understand how it affects you and your business in terms of commercial electronic messages (CEMs). These may include emails, text messages, and some social media posts. The legislation came into effect in stages over the last several years, but here is a summary of what you need to know.

Please note the C in CEM stands for Commercial! This is a message intended to solicit business. The legislation does not apply to messages you send to provide information, or to greet clients. If someone has given you the email address of someone they are referring you to, you are also allowed to send one message to that person, ensuring that it is clear that they can unsubscribe from receiving further messages. You must also give the full name of the person who referred you. For example, if our President told me that you might be interested in working with me, I could email you with the following subject line: “Tracey Ormond recommended I contact you”.

You may not send CEMs to people without their consent. It gets tricky though because there is implied consent in some cases. For our purposes, you MAY send CEMs to other WBN members, but you must be sure to include an option for them to unsubscribe to avoid receiving further messages. You must keep track of who has unsubscribed so that if you download a new member list, you must remove anyone who has previously unsubscribed.

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