Giving the gift of LIFT

I’m off to YEG Thursday to spend Christmas with Jenny and her family. A big change for me. I’ve been hosting a very full-on family Christmas Eve for over 15 years, and it’s been the high point of my year. So a change. Edmonton will be fun. Cold, but fun. I hope that you get to spend special time with family and friends. That’s what this season is all about for me.

Now: to business! Thanks to LIFT VIP Steve Morgan for suggesting I start with a bullet list of key points in my posts and emails. (LIFT VIPs are the people who sponsor, partner, and subscribe to what we’re doing with LIFT Comox Valley. Besides being called VIPs they get lots of benefits and perks. More on being a VIP here.) The key points:

  • Some gift ideas from LIFT Comox Valley: Event tickets and gift subscriptions. Practical. Fun. Super easy to add to a stocking.
  • Re-investing in our communities: We’re putting 20% of our subscriber income back into our communities in 2017. Send your referrals here and let’s get started!
  • Upcoming events in January and February.
  • Watch for typos etc. If you find one and let me know, you’re in to win a free workshop and/or a coffee/beer/wine date with me at Atlas Cafe or Gladstone Brewing (both of whom are LIFT Community Partners, by the way).

🎁 Giving the gift of LIFT

What do you give the person in your life who has enough stuff, who’s got lots of great ideas, who wants (needs!) to grow a business? A LIFT workshop or subscription is affordable and ripples through its way through your friends’ lives and into the community.

Let’s start with LIFT workshops and events. They’re fun. They’re super practical. They get people collaborating, sharing ideas and insights. They’re growing businesses – like Ivan’s Truffles, Lil Worker Safety Gear, Wags Doggy Bags, and more (34 this year alone!). Gifting an event ticket to your favourite creative or entrepreneur is an easy way to help them make shift happen with their business.

For someone who’s ready to grow their business, a LIFT subscription will be a big boost. With lots of marketing and business development perks and benefits (and discounts on Ivan’s Truffles – yum!), they’re full of value. Take a look.

Additional incentives for signing up in December (either yourself or a friend):

  • You’re in to win a short video with social media video star and Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce “Young Entrepreneur” nominee Kayla McDonald Video Productions.
  • You’ll have access to free LIFT VIP tickets for our January 25 #WeAreYQQ Winter Party with Startup Comox Valley (free to LIFT VIPs – sponsors, partners, subscribers – until December 31).
  • As a LIFT VIP, you get a 15% discount on the February 2017 Panacea Costa Rica Women’s Wellness Retreat, thanks to LIFT VIP Panacea Massage Therapy.

You can also gift the gift of LIFT by encouraging your entrepreneur friends to put their businesses “on deck.” We’re a supportive community, and we have an impact. Give your friends this link – http://j.mp/ONDECK – to get them “on deck” and on their way to growing their business.

🎁 Re-investing in our communities: Fundraising with LIFT

We recently launched a referral program. Every subscriber who successfully refers 5+ other businesses will get a Festive Bonus cheque next December for up to 20% of the value of these successful referrals.

But then I had a conversation with LIFT VIP Allyson Hamilton. A 20% commission wasn’t a big deal for her, she said. But what about using this as a way to fundraise for community groups?

On Allyson’s suggestion, we’ve now made it an easy for you to fundraise for your favourite community group: refer others to subscribe to LIFT. That means next December we can write a cheque to EDAS, YANA, the Comox Valley Land Trust, or whichever organisation you want to support. If you successfully refer five Ambassador subscribers that’s up to $200. If you successfully refer 10 Champion subscribers that’ll be $800 you’ve raised!

Your referrals are helping fund goodness in our community, growing businesses, and sustaining our LIFT initiative. That’s a win-win-win trifecta and I’m really looking forward to writing some big cheques December 2017. Help me get there by signing up and/or referring today!

🗓 What’s coming up in January and February?

Most months we’ll have a Show & Tell event and 1-2 BizOnDeck workshops. Pretty much every quarter we have a special event. Here’s the list of currently-scheduled events (watch this space for updates):

  • January 6: Show & Tell with Nazaneen Dizai, talking about her business, 50th Parallel PR, with a focus on her work with First Nations. Tickets here.
  • January 18: BizOnDeck with Annie Danko and Wayward Kin Apparel, and Paul Hansen and Local Photo Adventures. Tickets here.
  • January 25: #WeAreYQQ Winter Party with Dr. Sean Wise and DJ Adil, a fundraiser for Startup Comox Valley. Tickets here.
  • February 3: Show & Tell TBA
  • February 6: BizOnDeck workshop with Jabin Postal Films and TBA
  • February 15: LIFT BizOnDeck workshop with TBA
  • February 24: Starting and Running a Home-based Business with Dyan Spink. Tickets here.

Finally, thanks – and best wishes for the season!

We’re having an impact – thanks to your interest and support. 34 businesses and projects have been “on deck” in 2016. Four entrepreneurs demonstrated their smarts at our Show & Tell events. Eight entrepreneurs pitched for $5000 in prizes PitchFest. We raised well over $3000 in cash and services to support EDAS at Festive Cheer. We’ve got almost 70 businesses engaged in our community. A number of them have been recognised via their nominations for various Community Awards thanks to the Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce’s efforts. People like Dave and Andrea at Wayward Distillation House, Karen McKinnon of McKinnon Photography, Kayla McDonald of Kayla McDonald Video Productions, and Sandra Viney and Trent McIntyre of Atlas Cafe. Anyone else? Please let me know. I feel very proud to be working with these folks.

Let’s keep this up. Let’s make 2017 the year when LIFT businesses really make shift happen in our region!

In the meantime, for a couple of weeks at least, I’m going to spend time with friends and family, taking some much-needed walks in the woods. I wish the same for you during this beautiful season.

🎄 Cheers,

hpm
@hanspetermeyer on Twitter