Home and garden shows. Industry shows. Craft fairs. Farmers' markets. Trade fairs. It's definitely trade show season! And whether you have a trade show circuit that you run regularly or are exhibiting at your one and only event of the season, the same principles of trade show success apply.

1) Choose the right venues. Before You Attend That Trade Show tells how to choose the best shows for your products and/or services and explains what advance preparation you need to do to maximize your profit.

2) Price your products appropriately. Here's an explanation of basic pricing strategy. If you are running a crafts business, you'll want to read Maire Loughran's article How to Successfully Price Your Crafts (About.com Arts/Crafts Business).

3) Create a trade show display that's going to draw customers to your booth. Two articles to help you do it:

• 11 Tips for Trade Show Displays
• Create an Effective Trade Show Display

4) Actively engage visitors to your display. Just standing there and letting people look at things is not going to engender the number of sales you're dreaming of. You need to strike up a conversation and spark a relationship. Susan A. Friedmann explains how in 3 Trade Show Secrets.

What's your advice for trade show success? Share your tips by clicking on "comments" below.

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Summer is a great time to shape up your small business.

My latest small business course, available via email, is the Small Business Makeover, designed to increase your business success by focusing on buffing up five aspects of your small business; your business planning, business finances, customer service, information technology management and small business marketing.

Once you sign up, each week you'll receive an email with a "workout" on each of the topics above, a workout that shows you how to get that area of your business into tip-top shape.

Do all five workouts or just one or two to strengthen a particular area of your small business. It's your choice.

And the course is absolutely free.

Why not sign up now and start increasing your business success?

More of my Free Small Business Courses

• The Small Business Success course: Become more organized and productive through this online course as you learn to market yourself and your business more effectively.

• The Speak for Success course: The seven speech lessons in this online course will make you sound more polished and professional - and ultimately, because of the power of good communication, become more successful.

• The Organize Your Office course: Learn how to get your office organized and turn your office space into a work space.

• The Starting a Business in Canada course: If you're ondering what steps you need to go through to make your new business legal or wrestling with writing a business plan, this 10 week course will lead you through the process of starting a business in Canada - step by step.

Click on any of the course links to be taken to the sign up page for that course and get your learning underway.

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Have both employment and business income? Great! Just remember to keep them separate because the types of income are treated differently in terms of income tax.

The way I like to think of the difference is that as a self-employed person with business income, you get to choose how you get taxed (to a point). Whereas, as a employee, you have no choice.

Employment income is personal income. It gets declared and taxed on your T1 personal income tax form.

Now business income may be classed as personal income, if you choose to operate your small business as a sole proprietorship or partnership, you will declare your business income on your T1 personal income tax form by filling out Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities. (Note that if you have employment and business income, they are both declared (and taxed) on the same T1 personal income tax form.)

But you may also choose to incorporate, in which case your small business gets taxed very differently.

Corporations are entities in their own right. If your small business is structured as a corporation, technically, your business income gets taxed twice, first, as a corporation, where business income is declared on a T2 corporate income tax form, and second, when the corporation distributes its after-tax income to you, a shareholder, as a dividend, where it gets taxed as personal income.

However, the federal tax rate for Canadian-Controlled Private Corporations (CCPCs) is 11% on the first $500,000 of income. (The general federal corporate tax rate is 18%.) Read more about this and other tax advantages of incorporation in Corporate Tax Advantages of the Canadian-Controlled Private Corporation.

So should you incorporate your small business? Read about the advantages and disadvantages of incorporation.

In sum, how your business income is taxed depends on what form of business ownership you've chosen as your business structure. But no matter which form of business ownership you've chosen, it's really important that you keep your business income separate from all your other income. Having a business bank account is the best and easiest way to maintain a clear division of income. Small Business Banking: The Best Business Bank Accounts presents what I think are the best "deals" for Canadian small businesses.

You're welcome to add your opinion, of course. Who Do You Think Has the Best Business Bank Account?

Read More Articles On:

• Canadian Income Tax
• Corporate Tax
• Incorporation
• Forms of Business Ownership

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Whether you want to market a service or invent a product, you have to have an idea first. But coming up with a small business idea can be a real stumbling block.

Starting a Business: Finding Business Ideas will help you discover the small business idea that's perfect for your new venture. Learn the best ways for coming up with your own original small business idea or browse through collections of ideas and see what tweaks your fancy.

The next step: Choose a Winning Name for Your New Business - Once you've decided on a small business idea, what are you going to name your new venture? Here's how to pick the best possible name.

More: Steps to Starting a Business in Canada

Share Your Advice for Starting a Small Business

• What Are the Most Important Characteristics of an Entrepreneur?
• What Are the Most Common Business Startup Mistakes People Make?
• What One Piece of Advice Would You Give Anyone Starting a Business?

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