Our author is a small business owner, university professor and syndicated columnist. She is also the mother of three children. She knows the trick to keeping everything afloat. Her insight is an important part of her small business columns.
At a GlanceKaren is a professor at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is President and Consulting Coordinator of The Marketing Clinic, a full service marketing and consulting firm located in Bedford, Nova Scotia. She holds an honours B.A. and an M.B.A. Karen has been writing a small business column since 1998. The column was syndicated in Canada in 1999. Karen provides consulting and research services to clients in many industrial sectors, for both profit and non-profit organizations. She designs marketing plans, feasibility studies and marketing research projects. She has conducted more than 100 focus groups and designed numerous surveys. She is a sought after corporate trainer, having provided training for many businesses in marketing, sales and other topics. She also provides training for firms going on government-sponsored international trade missions. She is a popular public speaker for conferences, networking events and convocations. She also designs online instruction aids to accompany popular textbooks from leading publishers. Karen has been teaching courses on television that are beamed via satellite, and available on cable networks, coast to coast in Canada, and in the eastern United States. Karen resides in Bedford, Nova Scotia, with her husband and business partner, Michael, and their three children. |
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Karen Blotnicky is educated, holding an honors B.A. and an M.B.A. She is a tenured, full-time faculty member at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She specializes in marketing and business courses. But her teaching has also brought her into the areas of computers and database management, strategic planning and marketing research.
Karen is a partner in The Marketing Clinic, a full service marketing research, training and consulting company located in beautiful Bedford, Nova Scotia. She does most of her work out of her home office, preferring to spend time with her family rather than working in an office environment.
Since 1978, Karen has been involved in collecting, processing and managing information. Since 1985, she has been a university professor, having taught at three universities at both undergraduate and graduate levels in commerce.
In 1993, The Marketing Clinic was born. This company has grown to provide global marketing research. In 1998, she made her debut as a newspaper columnist. In 1999, her small business column was syndicated within Canada. Today, her goal is to syndicate her column in the United States.
Throughout her career, Karen has advised clients in a number of business sectors, including: health/ homecare, economic/business development, retail, non-profit, services, agrifood, education, high technology, export, tourism and hospitality management. She has personally moderated over 100 focus groups and designed many others.
She is sought out as a corporate trainer. She has provided training in personal selling, Internet marketing, marketing research, networking, export readiness and export development, international business, and marketing planning.
Karen's consulting practice continues to grow. In early 2000 she provided corporate training to Team Atlantic, the contingent of 40 firms who accompanied Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and the four Atlantic premiers, on a trade mission to New England in May. She continues to be sought out for her advice and her skills as a researcher and a trainer.
Karen has been teaching courses on television for ten years. Her courses are available on two television networks. The Atlantic Satellite Network services Atlantic Canada and the eastern United States. Canadian Learning Television services all of Canada, coast-to-coast, via cable television. Her classes are also watched by a large casual audience who find the information, and her presentation style, both informative and entertaining.
Karen also designs teaching supplements to accompany textbooks by leading publishing houses such as Pearson Education Group (formerly Prentice-Hall Inc.), McGraw-Hill Ryerson and Harcourt Brace. Her work, which includes the development of educational transparencies and teaching notes, have earned her a solid reputation in the field.
Her insightful and witty classes caught the eye of a local business editor. He asked if she could use her laid back, entertaining and informative style to write a small business column that would combine humor, common sense and good ideas.
That marked the beginning of a another career. Today, Karen's columns are well read. She is a featured columnist in The Sunday Herald, a weekly newspaper based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is also featured weekly in The St. Catharines Standard, based in St. Catharines, Ontario.
She is a respected teacher, business woman and friend. Her columns reflect her knowledge, experience and sense of humor.
Readers continue to respond, often sending emails to Karen to congratulate her on her work, or simply to ask for her advice (which she freely provides). She also responds to requests for article reprints and telephone inquiries from advice-seeking business owners. For a sampling of readers' responses, click here.