April 14, 2022

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North Vancouver, BC – “Your vax passport is incomplete! Where’s the rest of your documentation?”

We were at a little-used, remote border crossing between Washington State and British Columbia, due north of Spokane. There was nobody behind us. On either side, dense forested mountains rose steeply, leaving us in the shade. A cold wind blew through the open windows.

Borders, guards and police.

Even when you’re innocent, in their presence, you still feel like you’re not in control of your life. And in many respects, this is a correct assumption. Especially during the past two years.

To enter the US via a vehicle, officials mostly want to determine if you have guns, cash and fruit. (The gun part is humorous for a Canadian, since few own one and registering one is an arduous process.)

To get back to Canada, the official is mostly interested in how much stuff did you buy and are bringing in, whether you have alcohol and how much. (they don’t like losing out on tax revenue….)

And then there is the whole vax status thing.

Going to US – the question was a simple are you or are you not, verbal confirmation.

Returning is a whole other ball of wax. There’s a federal app – upload documents, answering 101 questions, state your quarantine plan, estimated crossing time within 60 minutes and do all of this no more than 72 hours before you cross.

Fortunately, we had already done much of the work before flying back to Canada two months before. I had already uploaded our vax documents – which, incidentally, contained a few pages, in PDF format.

I told this to the official.

She replied – “all that I see from scanning the QR code here, is that your documents were translated by a certified translator. Not the actual document. You’ll want to fix that.”

Say what!?

So, she handed my phone back and I had to scroll through all my uploaded documents until I found the relevant ones she wanted. Handed the phone back.

Continued waiting in the car. Engine off, so no heat. Window open. Driver side passenger window open too, because she wanted a look from the safety of her booth that there was no contraband hidden underneath the pile of stuff, we had there from 2 months of travel.

Still no vehicle behind us.

Finally, she handed our documents back; and my phone, lifted the barricade and waved us on our way.

Welcome to Canada…..

Phew! Like I said. You’re considered guilty until you prove you’re innocent. Feels wrong.

Why were we even crossing at this particular place, a day’s drive at least from our home?

We wanted to visit dear friends of ours in a tiny “city” called Greenwood.

During our visit, my wife decided it would nice if she baked a cake for the family. Some supplies were necessary, so we went to the local (and only) small grocer.

One item we needed was butter. Upon purchasing our items, however, the price came up $7.99 for one pound! Almost double the price she was used to paying 6 months earlier before we left for the winter.

Figuring this was only because of the smallness and remoteness of the town, we decided we’d get it in the next community, where there was a decent restaurant and a larger store.

And the price there?

You guessed it – even more.

What’s my point to this?

Inflation is upon us. Prices are rising everywhere. This is built in due to the massive spending by our federal government(s), which is being financed by the creation of money. Not paid for via taxation. (Even though they are trying to grab more of your money this way too!)

Rising prices are a fact.

Maybe your vendor prices are not rising, but I am sure your costs, personally at least, are - especially if you have a variable rate mortgage. Yesterday, Canada raised its bank rate by a full 0.5% - the largest increase in 20 years.

That’s not much, I hear you say.

It’s a lot from last year, - which was near zero. For you, if you had a rate of 3% and now it’s 3.5% - that’s an increase of close to 17%!!

This is why I teach my clients how to read their financials. How to increase their profit margins. Increase prices without losing customers.

You want and need to keep up with this trend else find yourself at the of the year with a large tax bill but no cash to pay it with.

Not sure how to do this?

Take my training (https://realbusinessmastery.com/financial-training) or schedule a call.

Until next week…

Stay healthy and focus on profit!

- Hugh
The “Profit Accelerator” Expert

P.S. Did you know that even tiny improvements of 1-3%, in just 12 fundamental areas of your business could give you 50% and more improvement to your bottom-line? Test out brand-new Profit Acceleration Simulator^TM  and discover the true impact of a conservative estimate of Profit Acceleration initiatives on your business and see for yourself. Head to: https://hughtafel.com/simulator/

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