Susan Ward

Susan Ward has covered small business for The Balance (previously About.com) for over 18 years. She is a business writer and experienced business person; besides running her own business as a freelance writer, she and her partner run Cypress Technologies, an IT consulting business, providing services such as software and database development.

She has also run her own business as a computer/software instructor instructing groups and individuals how to use Windows, Simply Accounting, and various levels of Word and Excel.

Susan has won a Small Business Influencer Award in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Susan has been in business and writing about business since the late 1990's. Her work has been published on a variety of websites such as Shopify.com, Intuit.ca (where she contributed articles on Canadian taxes), and FamilyClick, and in magazines such as Costco Connection, National Credit News and Home Business Report. Susan also served as the Editor for Home Business Report for several years.

She has also developed curricula used as teaching guides by various school districts and curricula for companies such as UMI (Bell & Howell). (The Speak for Success ecourse that you can take online, for instance, originated in speech curriculum Susan and colleagues developed for School District #57.) A trained workshop and course presenter, Susan has designed and presented courses ranging from software training through website promotion through the Community Education and Training Department of North Island College. Business courses Susan has presented to adults have included How to Promote Your Small Business, How to Write a Business Plan, How to Create Your Own Website and How to Write Business Letters and Memos. Many of these students have gone on to work in or run their own successful businesses.

Susan has won Community Choice awards and been a Top 100 Champion in the Small Business Influencer Awards in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. 

These awards, produced by Small Business Trends and Small Biz Technology, honored the companies, organizations, vendors, apps and people who have made a significant impact on the North American small business market.

The first two phases of the Awards involved the small business community nominating  those who influenced them, and then picking their choices for Community Choice Honorees. The Champions were selected by a panel of Judges based on their involvement and influence in the small business community. The awards were discontinued after 2015.

You can follow Susan on Google+, on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and/or Pinterest.

Or email her.

Susan holds a B.Ed. (Secondary) and a M.Ed. from the University of British Columbia and taught Business Education and English for years. She is a member of various business-related organizations.