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CDC and Venture Lab are partnering to help Simcoe County businesses

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Thanks to GV 35 grad Alison Braun for the heads-up!

IS YOUR BUSINESS EXPERIENCING OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES DURING COVID-19, WITH ISSUES SUCH AS:

• E-commerce platform setup and marketing
• Outdoor heating for restaurants and patios, or;
• Local retail and food distribution

ventureLAB has sourced three local tech startups who have responded to the challenge, and their solutions are available free of charge until mid-March as part of the Digital Main Street Community Collaboration Program.

These services may be particularly relevant with the recently implemented public health measures. Main Street Businesses are welcome to apply by filling out this Expression of Interest by February 28, 2021. Upon receipt, we will reach out and facilitate introductions.

LEARN MORE

2 Specific Programs from HBEC – Food Venture and E-Commerce Rockstars

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Here are the two posters for this program that are not quite filled.

eCommerce Rockstars Accelerator Program – https://ecommercerockstarrs.eventbrite.ca

By learning from Alex Brown (HBEC mentor and eCommerce Rockstars founder) – sold $65M in online sales.

Start Feb. 1 2021

Food Venture Bootcamp – https://foodventureprogram.eventbrite.ca

5 week bootcamp to support restaurants to get a food product retail ready, or for folks who have developed something in their own kitchens.

Get to Know… Kerri Fullerton (GV 6 grad)

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Here is Kerri’s latest email message: “I miss the sunshine”

My focus is on helping people overcome the side effects of chronic dieting: the frustration, sense of defeat, psychological warfare, so that they can find the sense of calm, control and confidence that they need to make peace with their food and their bodies. As a Health At Every Size Naturopathic Doctor and leader of The Diet Rebellion I’m committed to raising a generation that doesn’t look to their body for their happiness, self-worth or confidence.

Feeling SAD? You’re not alone.

I miss the sun. When we go days without it I feel my energy and mood drop. My desire to curl up and hide away until it’s over is strong. Winter in north America is often a difficult time for feeling SAD. Whether we’re talking about the winter blues or full on Seasonal Affective Disorder, it can be a tricky few months. Add to that a global pandemic with a Stay-at-home order and it can feel overwhelming.

Isolating is the worst thing that we can do right now for our mental health. Humans are genetically wired for community and connection. Even though we can’t do that in a way that we’re used to, we can still connect with the help of technology.

Book an appointment with your mental health supports.

  • Professionals like myself or a therapist.
  • Friends who hold space for you.
  • RMT if you need some safe hands on support

Before I go any further, I’d like you to know about some FREE resources. Specifically the Canadian Mental Health Association’s website. Here’s the Ontario link. https://ontario.cmha.ca/provincial-mental-health-supports/

There are free programs and hotlines. If you’re feeling alone or overwhelmed and don’t have people to reach out to, please use these links. They are there to listen and support you. They WANT to listen to and support you.

I like to have at least one appointment booked per week. That’s a mix of paid professionals and friends. For me having it scheduled is key because I’m not likely to cancel on a friend. But when I’m feeling blah it’s so hard to reach out. By having them in my calendar proactively, I’m less likely to fall deep into the hole. Some ideas:

  • Phone chat while walking
  • Zoom lunch or tea
  • Phone or video watch party (the next season of Outlander was just released on Netflix)
  • Video games (you may need to ask you kid how to do this lol)
  • Online support group/programs

Let’s talk about Vitamin D

You may already know that many Canadians are Vitamin D deficient because of where we live. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-624-x/2013001/article/11727-eng.htm The sun isn’t nearly as intense right now and it’s not out as often as it is the rest of the year.

I’ve heard many people speak of the importance of Vitamin D in addressing mood. However, the evidence isn’t particularly strong in this area.

Most recently the conversation has been around Covid-19 infection and recovery levels. It’s still too early to say with certainty that a link exists, but it’s definitely worthy of further investigation. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(20)30268-0/fulltext

What does this mean for you and me?

It means that adding Vitamin D to your daily supplements seems like a good idea. Just be sure that it’s a reasonable dose and if you’re able, get your levels checked so that you can dose accordingly. Personalized recommendations are always preferable if possible. So if you need blood work done anyway, then add the vitamin D level check.

Dosing more than 4000IU daily for long periods of time can lead to hypercalcemia. However, doses higher than this are often needed to bring levels out of deficiency. Again, personal recommendations by qualified professionals is ideal.

Light Therapy

Do you have a Happy Light? These are bright lights between 3000 and 10000 lumens that sit on your desk or table.

They have been shown to be effective in treating SAD. In fact, it may be as effective as the SSRI fluoxetine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22161433/

The other thing that these lights are great for is re-setting our circadian rhythms. Sleep is so important for mood regulation and yet it’s something that often gets disordered in those struggling with their mental health.

By using the light therapy within an hour of waking up, for about 15 minutes, it can help the body set its rhythm and help manage SAD.

The power of Nature

Finally, you can consider using nature to help support your nervous system and mood. Walking in nature has a great effect on our nervous system, brain function and mood. Here’s a great article about it from Harvard Health.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/sour-mood-getting-you-down-get-back-to-nature

But Kerri, we’re under a Stay at home order!

Absolutely. If you need to travel outside of your region to find nature, then it’s best to skip that at the moment. Good news though! It would seem that using virtual reality can be just as effective. This may be helpful for those who struggle with allergies too 😉

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6974516/

I remember reading an article years ago that said even watching nature on TV is helpful for the nervous system. I just can’t find the reference at the moment.

In summary…

I just dropped a lot of stuff on you. Here’s the recap:

  1. Reach out and connect with others. Isolation isn’t going to improve your mood or ability to cope. Professionals are working right now or check out the free resources through CMHA. Book time with friends to chat or watch a show together.
  2. Vitamin D for many Canadians is a no brainer because of our deficiency rates. Ideally you’ll dose according to your blood levels.
  3. Light therapy with lumens between 3000 and 10000 have been shown to help regulate the sleep/wake cycle and improve SAD. Just 15 minutes each morning can go a long way.
  4. The power of nature. Ideally you’d be able to get out into nature but using virtual reality or videos can be just as powerful.

Hang in there. Spring is only two months away!

Kerri

drkerri@kerrifullerton.com

Phone # 705-300-2833

Dedicated to helping you find peace and power with your body,

We’re starting a new series… Get to know GVers from Previous Groups…

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After a long lead up to a second wave of the pandemic, we have not been able to keep up with the networking and our connections we are so well known for. Throughout the 17 years that Grow Vantage has been in existence, we have produced some amazing business owners and without the ability to cross groups at our annual dinner or in networking situations, we are missing opportunities to get to know each other.

Our relationships are important. So I’m beginning a series of articles here in our announcements, and soon a series of video interviews. If you would like to be reintroduced to us all, please send me a note.

Thanks everyone

Patricia

patricia@growvantage.com

Facebook Changes Update – notes from Social Media Examiner YouTube

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Social Media Examiner –  Videocast (YouTube) on Facebook Changes (Mari Smith and Michael Stelzner). Note: Mari Smith will be doing a workshop on gaining organic reach (first week in March). Her Facebook page is @marismith and you can find out more at Social Media Examiner.

Facebook has made their 88th acquisition (Omni Channel CRM platform called: Kustomer. It is a fusion of phone, email , web chat messaging). It brings conversations from various channels into a single view… it automates repetitive tasks – part agent controlled (The question was asked whether this is like Salesforce’s new approach?) Facebook is now focusing on the business side.

New Pages Experience: Rolled out January 6th  It is optional, but some question will be like FB5 – that it will become mandatory. Classic is the existing. A Warning below about switching!

One main feature: Facebook is getting rid of the “like” button on pages and focuses on followers. Social Media Examiner discussed this in a video released today. So if you have liked a page, but then unfollowed them – that page will not be able to reach them in a news feed. They will disappear. You can only reach them through ads.

Hopefully business pages have more followers than likes. Facebook has come right out and said being a follower is  a better signal that someone wants to see your posts.

There are updated admin controls, a different design, different navigation and a dedicated News Feed different from the current newsfeed (under Home). They are bringing out a dedicated news feed to enable discover and join conversations, follow trends, interact with your peers and your fans. This New Pages Feed is on the page. The page will access the dedicated feed and view it. The question was raised whether the page may become more of a destination? You can now favourite a page (in a favourites feed).

Mari Smith says that may be an opportunity to gain more reach and visibility, to connect and expand where you are interacting with other pages…but they have not yet made it completely obvious.  It isn’t known how people will access this new pages feed. It is not known either what will happen to ads.

… BUT  While you will have an option as an admin to switch, they gave a warning…

If you switch and you try it out and decide to switch back – BUT you will not be able to edit any ads you create with the new page or posts during made while in the New Pages Experience. It may be a good idea to try and convert your likes to followers before you make the change.

Facebook Workplace (did away with a free plan) – to bring this into the workplace.

Facebook CoLab: Also new. An app created NPE (New Product Experimentation).

Launched in Beta last May (2020) and released in December. Musicians can collaborate to synch musicians playing. Fun app… Certain artists have amassed as many as 43 million streams… accomplished and up and coming who want to create video.

E.gg creations from Facebook – striving to attract and retain younger demographics

Brand Collaborations: This is a feature in Creator’s Studio (go to Monetization on the left- hand side to find Brand Collaborations Manager or BCM). You can use theirs or find your own paid partnerships.

This is for people or brands who are trying to find Influencers (micro, nano, macro etc.) or people who have a specific audience of all sizes who might want to promote or offer that brand’s products/services. A recent change – a little handshake icon (on both Facebook and Instagram) indicates a post that you are being paid for… a sponsorship or collaboration or partnership. It will be flagged “paid Partnership” – this is disclosure to be FTC compliant. The BCM Manager is where brands can submit a brief of what they might be looking for – and how much they would pay if anything. They are called project briefs and you can decide what you want to participate in. This BCM is available to public groups of 1,000 members or more. They can begin to monetize their groups. Note: FYI – Once a group gets over a certain size you cannot make it public.

A recap of some resources (original notification by MPP (and AG) Doug Downey’s office

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Here is the list. The Digital Main Street initiative has since expanded – although there are some restrictions (location, and potentially commercial property taxes – directly or through leasing) This is a grant.

The funding may be used by small businesses to support eligible costs to help implement their Digital Transformation Plan. These can include costs in relation to:

  • Digital marketing (cost to hire a consultant/agency) to execute digital marketing initiative
  • Website development (development of a new website, redevelopment/improvements)
  • Software (graphic design, productivity software, database, social media software (e.g.Hootsuite, Dropbox, Buffer); security software
  • optimizing websites for search (i.e. cost to hire a search optimization consultant)
  • setting up e-commerce, back-office solutions
  • social media advertising,
  • creating customer databases
  • professional photography services for a website or e-commerce site
  • Digital training (courses)
  • Some hardware upgrades

The Digital Main Street grant will help businesses get online and complement the other pillars of Ontario’s Digital Main Street program. You can find the various program application’s posted below:

Digital Transformation Grant ($2500) : https://digitalmainstreet.ca/marketing-new-economy/

Digital Service Squad: https://digitalmainstreet.ca/digital-service-squad-grant-2-0/

  • shopHERE  leverages Ontario’s strengths by hiring highly skilled and trained students to build and support the launch of online stores for businesses that previously did not have the capacity to do so themselves. The core goal will be to help small businesses compete and grow and to help them recover as quickly as possible following COVID-19.
  • NOTE: There is another digital platform called
  • Digital Main Street will help businesses sell more effectively once they’re online by providing next-level support through an up to $2,500 grant. The goal of the grant is for businesses to adopt new technologies and embrace digital marketing. Businesses will also have access to Digital Service Squads, which will provide personalized, one-on-one support to help them navigate these new tools and maximize their return on investment.
  • Futureproofing Businesses will provide a tailored evaluation for businesses by analyzing their business models and potential digital transformation pathways. Staffed by a team of talented students, Futureproofing Businesses will help businesses develop and implement a plan that will help them adapt to new digital trends, challenges and technologies.
  • The Recovery Activation Program is a virtual learning platform targeted at supporting small and medium-sized businesses to develop resiliency in their back-office operations by adopting online and virtual systems.

Details about the Provincial grant is coming out today (Ontario Govt)

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These just came out today. Thanks to Andrea Khanjin who gave me a head’s up!

The link is below – but there are conditions – there are two classifications for the grant ($10K – $20K)

  • One Set of conditions that includes a drop in revenue from April 2019 – to April 2020 (of 20% or more)
  • For startups – there are new conditions to be published today

https://www.ontario.ca/page/businesses-get-help-covid-19-costs#section-5

Starting at $10,000 for all eligible businesses, the grant will provide businesses with dollar for dollar funding to a maximum of $20,000 to help cover decreased revenue expected as a result of the Provincewide Shutdown. The business must demonstrate they experienced a revenue decline of at least 20 per cent when comparing monthly revenue in April 2019 and April 2020. This time period was selected because it reflects the impact of the public health measures in spring 2020, and as such provides a representation of the possible impact of these latest measures on small businesses. Other time periods are available for businesses that may not have been in operation in April 2019 – to be published today (see link)

Eligibility

To receive the grant, a small business must:

  • Be required to close or restrict services subject to the Provincewide Shutdown effective 12:01 a.m. on December 26, 2020
  • Have fewer than 100 employees at the enterprise level
  • Have experienced a minimum of 20 per cent revenue decline comparing April 2020 to April 2019 revenues (or alternate time periods for businesses that were not in operation in April 2019).

Financial Help – Government of Ontario grant and Tourism (offset COVID costs)

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Financial Help

City of Barrie – Tourism

The tourism industry has been one of the hardest hit during COVID-19. The COVID-19 Tourism Response Fund – being administered by the Cities of Barrie and Orillia, the Counties of Simcoe and Grey, and Regional Tourism Organization 7 – offers tourism operators (such as restaurants, entertainment facilities and select retail) the chance to apply for between $2,500 to $20,000 to help offset the costs of adapting to COVID-19 health & safety regulations.
Applications are due by January 31; visit the funding webpage for more details and to see whether you are eligible to apply for this non-repayable contribution. (Once on the webpage, select “click here for more information” to download application form.)

Government of Ontario – Small business support grant

The Ontario Small Business Support Grant provides between $10,000 to $20,000 to help small business owners whose services are restricted due to the upcoming provincewide shutdown. Further details on this grant will be announced shortly.

The Ontario Main Street Relief Grant offers small businesses one-time grants of up to $1,000 to help with the costs of PPE.

Property tax and energy bill rebates are also available if your services have been restricted as a result of the provincewide lockdown.

Other
For more information on current financial assistance options, visit barrie.ca/SupportForBusiness.

 

Yay … Friend discount for Tech Smith! Are you getting video (or want to edit easily?)

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Camtasia and Snagit are two Tech Smith Products I use…. happy to share this gift:

TechSmith Camtasia

Friends Get 10% off

Friends and colleagues wondering how you create professional-looking videos? Let them in on the secret!
Share the benefits of TechSmith Camtasia today by forwarding this email to a friend and let them know they can get Camtasia for 10% less with code SHARECAM from now until January 20, 2021.

Friends Get 10% Off

 

SHARECAM discount code is available on new single user licenses only. Upgrades not included. Valid from now until January 20, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. PST. Use CAMASSETS10 for 10% off the first year of a new TechSmith Assets for Camtasia subscription only. Valid from now until January 20, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

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A cool way to help a charity (Village Impact) and gain business books – ENDS JAN 2nd

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This is from Stu McLaren who is the owner of Toronto-based TRIBE. He and his wife have a charity that supports schooling and relief in Kenya

… Here is a way to support others in need AND yourself. Just until tomorrow… If you are interested – click the link below (because we’re in Canada there is a special process to go through).

1) I’m going to give you the inside scoop on how you can get three best-selling business books from 2020 (the digital version)… all for just $1 each.

2) Each $1 purchase means $2 goes to our charity Village Impact (where we are providing much needed relief to our school communities in Kenya)

So you get three incredible books for just $1 each and by getting yourself an AWESOME deal, you’re also helping contribute to help a whole lot of people.

How awesome is that?

Find out how to get the books here

But there is a catch…

The digital version of the books will only be available for $1 this week (everything ends January 2nd).

Ok so here’s the scoop…

This week, these awesome books (the digital version) are available on Amazon for just $1:

1) Traffic Secrets by Russell Brunson

2) Limitless by Jim Kwik

3) Who Not How by Dan Sullivan

And all three of these books were best sellers in 2020 and some have more than 5,000+ reviews with 80% 5 stars!

Bottom line, these books are an awesome resource if you’re looking to…

  • Attract more buyers to your business
  • Level up your ability to accomplish more
  • Scale up your business without draining your number one resource – YOUR time!

Each book is available for $1

Now here’s where things get really fun…

Reid Tracy (the CEO of HayHouse), who is the publisher of these books, said that he donate $1 to our charity Village Impact for every book that gets purchased this week.

So if 1,000 get purchased, $1,000 will be donated.

If 10,000 get purchased, $10,000 will be donated.

In fact, he said there is NO limit to how much will be donated!

THEN… something else happened…

Upon finding this out, Jeff Walker was inspired and said he would MATCH Reid up to $100,000!!

So that means when you buy a book for $1, $2 gets donated to Village Impact.

Amazing right?

We outlined all the details here

Our hope is that you’ll grab a copy of all three books and even consider gifting it to others (because those count as well towards the donations).

Every dollar will make a MASSIVE difference in our relief efforts for our school communities in Kenya.

This is a triple win.

You win because you get 3 incredible, best selling books for just $1 each.

Village Impact wins because we get $2 donated for each book purchased this week.

And the kids in our school communities in Kenya win because they will get the supplies they need to help beat the challenges that they’re now facing.

But all of this ends January 2nd, 2021.

So go get your copy today!

You’re awesome!

Stu

P.S. For obvious reasons we’d LOVE for you to share this with anyone you think would enjoy the books. Because the more books that are sold, the more is raised and therefore the more people we can help!
©2017 Grow Vantage