SpotlightBrochure-March17-Stratigro

SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE

MARCH 2017

STRATIGRO

By David MacDonald D A: I’ll be sharing advice on growing your business, but the readers should know that I don’t do anything the old fashioned way. It’s going to be about defining your brand, finding your voice, and finding your people. It’s all about approaching business growth from a personal perspective – something that jives with your outlook. My focus is small business owners who are [usually] based in rural communities and small towns. Simply put, I’m a business coach who specializes in helping small business owners attract more customers and get noticed online. Last fall, I created a Facebook group called Small town Denise Alison is a Business Growth Specialist and Founder of Stratigro Business Consulting Limited based in Clare, Nova Scotia. She’s also now a colleague. Denise has joined the Spotlight on Business Magazine team and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have a mind like hers adding to the conversation here at the magazine. She will be writing a monthly column that, well, I’ll let Denise explain.

biz. It’s for business owners based in rural communities who need to communicate with like-minded people or people in the same niche as themselves. It could be an interesting place for source material for my column. Are your services confined to your corner of Nova Scotia or does your range extend beyond Digby County and the Fundy Shore? DA: The bulk of my work is done virtually. Technically, I can work with businesses anywhere, however most of my work has been in Atlantic Canada. I’m seeing a lot of work coming in from Newfoundland, New Brunswick, PEI, and

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MARCH 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE

DA: Yes, that’s my Dad, Tim! His knowledge and expertise has been invaluable to me. I don’t know if I’d of had the guts to become an entrepreneur without his mentorship. I like to make light of how he works for me now! He takes care of any projects we do on the profit side of things. I s there such a thing as a typical client need? DA: It’s an assessment-based business. Every customer has different needs and challenges. A mature business that has perhaps been operating for years, their focus is usually on increasing profits. They’re working really hard, revenues are coming in, but the cash flow is often close- to- short. In these scenarios our overall goal is to help get them back in the black and reinvesting in their business. A newer business usually has one priority: getting custom- ers through the door and generating revenue. To do that they need to build a strong brand and get noticed by their potential customers. If a customer wants to increase sales, they’re usually talking about attracting customers and this is my passion. I love working with people, helping them define their brand, their voice and what it is exactly that they want to achieve. If there was something that your clients have in common, what would it be? DA: The common thread with all of my clients is that they want to work with someone that they can identify with and trust. They’re invested in who you are as person as much as your expertise as a business coach. My Facebook profile, for instance, is a mixture of family, friends, and clients. The divide between private and professional exis- tence is practically a memory. Attracting clients is more about being yourself than ever before.

all through Nova Scotia. What motivated you to help entrepreneurs? Was it the fact that you come from a family of entrepre- neurs? DA: In a way, yes, but I never looked at it that way. All through my childhood, my Dad, Tim Alison, ran an edu- cational software business and afterwards, he moved into consulting, so having that kind of mentorship in my life now is something I’m grateful for every day but that’s not necessarily what motivated me then. Like most teenag- ers who grow up in rural areas, I couldn’t wait to explore the world outside of my community, the municipality of Clare. I went to Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick for my undergraduate degree and I did my masters in political science at MUN [Memorial Universi- ty] in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Basically, I’m groomed to work in government. I went that route because I’ve always wanted to help people in some way. But after one partic- ular work term, it became clear to me that if I wanted to affect change it would need to come from the ground- up. So, I moved back home to Clare and put my skills to use. I started my first business, a research company, and aftertwo years I came to realize that my favourite custom- ers were entrepreneurs. I heard their stories, I was inspired by their passion and motivation, I saw their struggles, I understood their concerns, and I recognized the need for a socially-savvy business coach. “I don’t do anything the old fashioned way.” Is that your Dad I see you posing with on the Stratigro Facebook page?

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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • MARCH 2017

I read your blog and I have to say I love your candid and conversational writing. Is blogging more or less leading by example for you? In other words are you demonstrating how to find your voice? DA: Thank you and yes. Blogging is tantamount to teaching in the online world. It establishes you as an expert and at the same time it allows you to establish relationships with potential customers through a medium that lacks pretense because they get to know you first. People let their guard down and let you in once you have provided them value and that’s what the blog does. It also goes a long way in establishing and instilling loyalty with existing clients. “I started my first business, a research company, and after two years I came to realize that my favourite customers were entrepreneurs.” I recommend starting a blog to a lot of clients because it helps you define your voice, your brand, and the way you do things. We all have competitors, but we also have a different approach, our own system. I tell my clients all the time that it’s a matter of convincing your potential cus- tomers that the shoe you’re holding fits best. I love the layout of Stratigro.ca. It’s very user-friend- ly. DA: That’s what we were going for and that’s what we got. We had a local web designer create Stratigro.ca and we couldn’t be happier. On our website, we share a weekly blog and regular free resources to help small business owners grow their business. We have a very interesting online tool called Finding Opportunities to Increase Profits that analyzes profits. Any business owner can buy the tool, plug in the pertinent information like cost of materials, wages, and total expenses and it creates an extremely thorough report with trends between year one and year two, for instance, and shows you a series of benchmarks. It’s about showing them where they are, what they should be aiming for, and tips to get there. It seems like a business that keeps you on your toes and your imagination active. DA: There are no two business owners who are alike. Everyone faces different challenges, but business is business. What we learn from our mistakes and successes with one business is usually transferable. We like to call them ‘common challenges’ and we like to help people through them and then to recognize them. I love seeing how excited people get when they tell the story of their

business. There’s nothing like it. Even when an idea has been sitting on the shelf for years, people still get that glimmer in their eye. Keeping that hope alive, helping them find their voice – or in some cases just help them make their voice louder – and making it a reality is what it’s all about for me.

“Everyone faces different challenges, but business is business.”

If you’d like to book a free telephone consultation with Denise, simply visit Stratigro.ca/coaching. All other inqui- ries can be directed to Denise@Stratigro.ca.

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MARCH 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE

STRATIGRO

DENISE ALISON: 902.307.1505 TIM ALISON: 902.769.7168

www.stratigro.ca

as spotlighted in the MARCH 2017 issue of SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE

www.spotlightonbusinessmagazine.com

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