Where business is booming

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By Jon Birger, senior writer

(Fortune Magazine) — Cold, landlocked, and boasting as its largest metropolis the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan may not be top of mind for most Americans. But the Canadian province is one of the richest spots in the world when it comes to natural resources. It’s the world’s largest producer of uranium. It’s the biggest producer of the fertilizer potash (current price: $1,000 a ton, up from $300 this time last year). It is the world’s largest exporter of green lentils and chickpeas. And it’s home to enormous supplies of oil and gas: The U.S. buys more oil from Saskatchewan than it does from Kuwait. No wonder the CEO of one Fortune 500 company – Jim Prokopanko of Mosaic, which has a potash mine near the town of Esterhazy – describes the prairie province as “the next sovereign wealth fund.”

Indeed, Saskatchewan – for the geography challenged, it shares its southern border with Montana and North Dakota – today enjoys Canada’s fastest-growing economy; its GDP is expected to rise 3.9% this year, compared with 0.9% for the country as a whole, and it has a $3 billion budget surplus. Entrusted with “not screwing it up” (his words) is Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, the pro-business conservative elected in 2007. Wall’s goal is actually much more than not screwing it up. He’s on a mission to tell Saskatchewan’s growth story at home and abroad.

I first met Wall – a glib and personable 42-year-old who’s as comfortable talking NFL football as he is quoting Thomas Friedman – when he was in New York City last spring to speak at an energy conference. He promised not to raise oil royalties, which won him a standing ovation from the bankers in the crowd.

But Wall’s top priority is at home: He needs to fix Saskatchewan’s labor shortage. An area the size of Texas, Saskatchewan has only one million residents. “For any business thinking about building a new mine or expanding an existing one, the top-of-the-list question [in Saskatchewan] is always going to be ‘Can we get the tradesmen?’” he says. Because of the shortage, Wall is reluctant to spend much money on new infrastructure projects, despite having the cash to do it. (The province doesn’t yet have a sovereign wealth fund, but Wall says it’s on his radar.)

Wall wants to grow the population 10% in ten years. So far, his government has launched splashy recruiting campaigns in Alberta, Ontario, and Manitoba, and has sent missions as far as the Philippines to recruit medical personnel.

In September Wall traveled to Toronto along with 50 Saskatchewan employers to sell the province at Canada’s national job fair. During breaks he delivered his sales pitch to reporters. “Saskatchewan is not just a great place to live, it is a great place to make a life,” Wall would say over and over to anyone with a notepad or a microphone, each time referring the listener to the 10,000 job openings listed at saskjobs.ca. (Diamond driller, salary $56,000, for example.)

Of course, life in Saskatchewan isn’t for everyone. The average high temperature in Saskatoon in November is 29 degrees Fahrenheit. The average low in January is 9 below. “We need to focus on finding people who are looking for an economic opportunity,” Wall says. But like any savvy marketer, he knows his limitations. “We have to be realistic,” he says. “We’d better not be going to anywhere with a warm climate saying, ‘Yes, but it’s a dry cold.’”

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Reference:http://money.cnn.com/

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How to become a successful businessman ?

It is a question of conditionality. No one word answer can make a complete solution and it varies depends on each one. Any how, the simple short cut to become a successful business man is to adopt a winning business strategy. But, a good business strategy cannot become a winning formula, if the entrepreneur does not posses the basic business skills. Hence, evaluate yourself critically, before you leap into the business.

Business is an entrepreneurship, run by you. To run the business, you must have the attitude to win. Life is not a bed of roses, but, business is worse, it is full of thorns. The setbacks in the business are most unexpected. Hence, you must be mentally prepared to overcome the hassles that come in the journey. The lives of the famous business people show that these hardships were actually the motivating factor behind their success. Hence, the motto of successful business men must be ‘failure is a stepping stone of success’.

Apart from the infrastructure, business is built up on the interpersonal relationships. You must be a good communicator, who can gain confidence of others. The communicational intelligence is the basis of the interpersonal relations and the building up of a good rapport between you and your employees, is essential to lay a strong business foundation. Also, be conscious while the selection of the employees since they are the back bone of the business. The success to attain the assurance of the employees is an indication of your success in the future.

More than all these factors, discipline is the most important quality that a business man has to posses. Discipline implies both self discipline and financial discipline. The past stories prove that the lack of the discipline is the triggering factor behind the failure of most of the establishments. Financial discipline is inevitable since business is the rolling of the money. The finance strategy is based on the mode of the business.

To start up the business, the basic idea must be attractive. In the world of globalization, the competition is high and a substantial idea can only withstand. As the freshness of the idea increases, the chance to succeed also increases. Any how, the idea must be practically viable. “Well begun is half done”. You can seek the help of some consultancies to help you to plan well before you launch. In addition to a catchy idea, potential marketing strategies are also essential to succeed in the business. You must essentially know what the target customers require and also be thorough with the latest developments and trends in the field since customers are always seeking the latest.

Level of service and quality of your work will be the main deciding factors for your success in the business. The customers expect pleasing behavior from you and if you could succeed to satisfy them. But, it does not mean that you have to show unrestricted lenience. Efficient staff can assist you to grab the confidence of the customers. However, your direct supervision is inevitable to coordinate it. Keep in mind to look over every unit of the department since the perfect functioning of all the departments is equally important to mold your business.

To add on, the spirit to excel is the necessary prerequisite to become a successful business man. Wise people used to compare an upcoming business man to a spider. As you know, spider does not give up its job to make the net, till it succeeds. Like that the business man also has to work till he succeeds. Remember, no business empire was built in a day; you have to wait for a little time to establish. The perseverance to win will help you to become a successful businessman one day.

Saying says that ‘Dream for the sky, then, at least a handful will be yours’. But, to become a successful businessman, your attitude must be to ‘dream the sky and ensure that you are at sky’. Try and try, till you succeed.