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BusinessLink, Wednesday, January 16, 2008 7 October 1 - December 31, 2007 1112674 Ontario Ltd. ACCOUNTANT on MAIN Chartered Accountant Action Auto Acton Home Hardware Acton Precast Concrete Limited Age Mechanical Ltd. AGL Marketing Limited Angus GeoSolutions Inc. Art Effects Gallery & Framing Centre Barbara Kay Communications Barrager's Cleaners Baynes Physiotherapy Georgetown Best Western Inn on the Hill Boothroyd Bookkeeping Services Boston Pizza Caledon Laboratories Ltd. CATT Contracting Center Stage School of the Arts Communication Artistry Cooper-Standard Automotive Canada Limited Country Depot Georgetown Denise Dilbey, Royal LePage Meadowtowne Realty Direct Energy Essential Home Services Dr. Ron Lefebvre, Dr. Janet Pownall Dufferin Aggregates - Acton Quarry Gecko Forwarding Corp. Georgetown Bread Basket Georgetown Chrysler Jeep Dodge Georgetown Jr. A Raiders Hockey Club Glazed Expressions Ceramics Studio Goodwill Works Employment Solutions Granite Ridge Golf Club/ Albatross Restaurant H2Sport Inc. Halton Industry Education Council Halton Welding & Fabrication Halton Window & Door Company (The) Howell Pipe & Supply Joe Spiteri Geological & Mining Consultants John A Gibson Chartered Accountant Kamercorp Holdings Inc. Kinetico Canada Inc. Kiyo's Japanese Car Service Ltd. Life Chiropractic Centre Living Lighting MacGillivray Partners Chartered Accounting Marsh, Reg & Associates McClure Carpentry, G. McCormack Financial Group McDonald's (Beatty Foods Ltd.) McKab Taxi Meldrum, Iain Dr. Multi-Blend Ltd. Nellis Construction Ltd. North Halton Roofing Office Magic Stationery/ Scrapbook Market Parisi Computers Partners in Progress Planet Personnel Agency Inc. Prazio Inc. Quality Systems Enterprises Inc. Rampulla's Martial Arts Re/Max Hallmark Realty Ltd Ricter Web Printing Ltd. Sharon Anderson, CMA SNAP Halton Hills Steffensen & Co. The Knolcrest Centre The Olde Hide House The Royal Academy of Arts & Education Tiburon Business Services TSI International Group Inc. Tutt Electric Uptown Collision Ltd. Ask The Professionals Karen MacKenzie-Stepner Send your questions for any of these professionals: Ask the Professionals Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown L7G 4B1 MANON DULUDE Manon Dulude Psychotherapist Individual, Couple & Family Counselling DAY & EVENING APPOINTMENTS 38 OAK STREET GEORGETOWN 905-873-9393 Q:How can Assessment and Communication Tools help theprocess of Relationship Coaching? Ken is decisive, action-oriented, and stress tolerant. He approaches his environment and challenges with little hesitation and takes charge quickly. His will to succeed is strong and his energy is high. He prefers to lead rather than follow and responds best to direct confrontation. Ken is impatient with Diane; he thinks she should be more assertive. Diane is an empathetic listener who tries to find ways to promote harmony and comfort for others. She is practical, friendly, consis- tent, and avoids extremes. She responds best to kindness, friendli- ness, and established ways of doing things. Diane thinks Ken is dominating and has insufficient concern for the feelings of others. A:Sound familiar? How often have you heard that oppositesattract? It is true that couples need diversity of individual style to be successful? Relationship Coaches use Communication Tools to assess and educate individuals on how to take advantage of such differences as a way to make each individual grow and learn from each other. Increased personal awareness and getting the others point of view can lead to a healthy outgrowth of communication in a couple. The Personal Style Indicator (PSI), a learning and communica- tion tool for increasing understanding of self and others, is a scien- tifically developed, self-administering, self-scoring instrument that clearly identifies ones basic personal style of responding to people and to tasks. What is personal style? In a nutshell, it is your natural predisposition to perceive, approach, and interact with the environ- ment in a preferred way. Many believe that this part of your per- sonality is inborn. If this is the case, awareness of your style can be a powerful personal asset. The majority of couples are made up of individuals like Ken and Diane who dance to the beat of a different drum due to inherent personal styles. However, when couples are privy to the differences, needs, and response patterns of their spouses individual styles and have a common language to identify these, tolerance and support are immediate and often significant. Manon Dulude is a Psychotherapist & Certified Professional Coach and a licensed distributor of the PSI. She invites you to call and experience the benefits of the PSI in Relationship Coaching. She can be reached at 905 873 9393. 211 Guelph St., Suite #5 Georgetown L7G 5B5 905-873-8400 www.haltonspeech.com Q:I read to my pre-school child everyday. What else can I do to prepare him for learning to read and spell? A:Recent literature has linked developmentof early reading skills to a childs oral lan- guage ability. One particular oral language skill which impacts reading development is the child's phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the awareness of sounds that make up words. For example, being able to identify the sound that begins or ends a word, knowing that two words rhyme, being able to produce rhymes, and recognizing the number of words in a sentence or syllables in a word. Parents can do a number of things to develop their childs phonological awareness. Story time can be used to enhance sound awareness by reading rhymes, poems and simple pattern story books. You can have your child complete a familiar phrase using rhyming words e.g. Jack and Jill - Went up the ____. You can also have your child clap along with chants and songs using one clap for each word. While playing the game I Spy ask your child to find things that begin with certain sounds (e.g. look for words that begin with the sh sound). Most impor- tantly, make the time enjoyable. You know that he's learning, he thinks he's having fun. The Halton Hills Speech Centre offers programs throughout the year that focus on increasing phonological awareness. If you would like fur- ther information about these programs or have further questions, please feel free to contact our centre. Barbara Byckowski Investment Advisor, BBA, PFP, CFP Email: barbara.byckowski@rbc.com 905-450-1850 Q:Are there any financial planning/taxchanges I should be aware of for 2008? A:Every year we summarize the commonfinancial planning related information for our clients and this year is no different. If you would like a copy of our 2008 Handy Financial Planning Facts OR a copy of our newsletter, please email me at: Barbara.byckowski@rbc.com. Here are some of the highlights for 2008: * maximum CPP benefit at age 65: $884.58 per month * OAS clawback rate $0.15 for every $1 of Net Income above $64,718; maximum OAS eliminated at a Net Income of Approximately $104,903. * RRSP maximum deduction limit $20,000 for the 2008 tax year * basic personal tax exemption $9,600 If you have any questions or require clarification on any of these or other financial planning issues, please give me a call at 905-450-1850. RBC Dominion Securities Inc.* and Royal Bank of Canada are separate corporate entities which are affiliated. *Member CIPF, Registered trademark of Royal Bank of Canada, Used under licence, RBC Dominion Securities is a registered trademark of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under licence. Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. Barbara Byckowski is an Investment Advisor with RBC Dominion Securities Inc. Member CIPF This article is for information purposes only. Please consult with a personal advisor before taking any action based on information in this article. Barbara can be reached at 905-450-1850. Q:We want to sell our house. We have beengiven a home seller checklist but we do not think this checklist is sufficient and we are stuck. Savvy Staging please help us with this process! A:A checklist is an easy way out. No checklistcould ever expose the number of priorities / focus items a staging analysis will uncover and plan for. Savvy Staging provides a very thorough analy- sis of each property. The analysis better known as the Pisante package is arranged as if our Home Stager (HS) was the potential buyer. The HS arrives on-site with an objective eye and no detail from the curb to the backyard, exterior and interior is over- looked. In fact, Savvy Staging offers many recom- mendations regarding changes to bring about the best return of investment, a plan to meet your target market date and of course, no detail is ever too small to be overlooked by our talented staff. Keep in mind Potential buyers are searching for move in ready properties Potential buyers will shy away from repairs, dated dr, odours and clutter Potential buyers are seeking a lifestyle, a fresh start and an inviting space Not all potential buyers are able to envision themselves in the space. You or the Home Stager will need create warmth, display function and highlight square footage It is best to have your house staged. Preparing your home to sell sets you apart from your competition, creates a wonderful first impression and showcases the features of your home. If you want to sell your property and get top dollar - you need to team with the experts at Savvy Staging Solutions! 333 Mountainview Rd. S., #30003, Georgetown Bus: (905) 877-3880 Toll Free: 1-877-80-STAGE www.savvystaging.ca