Many Canadians feel that the cost of local housing, whether purchased or rented, is beyond their means. Affordability is especially an issue in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary.

Less in the news are non-residential properties and the hardships their rising property taxes are causing to small businesses.  It’s an expense that is causing small businesses to relocate, reconsider expansions and, in some instances, shutter, notes a recent Globe and Mail Report on Business.

The process for assessing a commercial property’s value varies across the country. Some municipalities base commercial assessments on a property’s best potential use, as opposed to actual use, and as a result “end up with a property liable for a tax bill that doesn’t reflect the income stream the property is earning,” notes the article, quoting the executive director of the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas.

The evidence is out there: more women in Canada now own businesses and more women in Canada are now engaged in starting businesses.  The count varies according to who reports what and where.*

But what our brokerage can report firsthand is that more women today are selling businesses and buying businesses:

• The percentage of women clients selling businesses is around 20 percent, and
• The percentage of women clients buying businesses is around 30 percent.
• Other members of the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA) have also experienced an increasing percentage of business sales and purchases by women.

I was pointed recently to an online article in Entrepreneur on why women entrepreneurs should consider buying a business. The article was accompanied by a large infographic “Women and Acquisitions” that showed dramatically how only 3 percent of women were involved as buyers and 7.5 percent of women were involved on the buy-side or sell-side of an acquisition.  And of those selling their business 50 percent were involved in female-based niches i.e. home décor, baby and mama. That the infographic was based on a three-year study of women participation in buying or selling online businesses appeared in smaller type.

Raising kids doesn’t come easy. Neither does running your own business.

So, what about combining the two?

No, I don’t mean raising kids AND running your own business.  Many of us do that already.

I mean having your kids run their own business.  Or at least learn the ropes of what being in business means.

I was recently shown two articles on just that.  One was "The Values Entrepreneurship Teaches Children" by Dale Turken;   the other  "Why I Challenged My Kids to Start Companies Before College"  by Ray Sheen.

The key life lessons in Turken's article were:

All things being equal, higher revenue and a better bottom line increase the value of a business and its appeal to potential buyers. How we get there will be the focus of our next few posts. But first, I’d like to take a short detour. I recently read Good to Great, written by Jim Collins. What follows is a summary of his concepts for taking your business and business worth from good to great.

Criteria for moving from good to great and adding value to your business

1. Combine personal humility and professional will to build a company that can run without you, rather than being indispensable.

Have ambition for the company and what it stands for. Your sense of purpose goes beyond your own success-- build a company that can tick along without you. Focus relentlessly on tangible results and achievement.

2. First Who… then What: start by getting the right people on the bus and the wrong ones off; then get your team’s input on where to drive the bus.

Select top performers that share your company’s core values and purpose, providing a basis for promoting from within and further reinforcing core values.

3. Confront the brutal facts of your current reality. Sustain faith that you will prevail in the end.

Create a climate where truth is heard, particularly at the top. Clarify what must be done to stimulate progress. A Master Mind Group or Council like The Inner Circle where other business owners provide peer mentoring to help you clarify your vision and take appropriate actions.

4. Develop a simple, clear concept and consistently make improvements in systems and processes that improve performance. (See the related diagram where the three circles intersect.)