Comox Valley

Giving the gift of LIFT

December 21, 2016 by Leif Jason

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

Why it’s not 1997 any more. Talking to Sean Wise about being an entrepreneur in 2017

December 14, 2016 by Leif Jason

On January 25 LIFT Comox Valley hosts the annual #WeAreYQQ Winter Party. This year we’re featuring our (un)usual mix of fun, games, prizes – and music by DJ Adil. Thanks to support from Startup Canada we’re also hosting keynote speaker Dr. Sean Wise. Ryerson Professor of Entrepreneurship, Dr. Wise is also a Startup Canada Fellow. The following is an excerpt of our 25-minute interview. The full interview can be seen on the video (apologies for uneven sound quality).

HPM: Tell us a little about yourself

Dr. Sean Wise (SW): Professionally, I’m Professor of Entrepreneurship at Ryerson University. I was recently named Startup Canada’s National Fellow for Startup Communities. The fellowship is the umbrella for the national tour I’m on this coming year, including a stop in the Comox Valley.

HPM: What does a professor know about entrepreneurship?

SW: People ask me, can a university “teach” entrepreneurship. The answer is “No.” All I can do is facilitate the learning of entrepreneurship. Ryerson does a good job of giving students an environment where they can learn how to develop their interests in being entrepreneurs, and be successful.

On a personal note, I had my first startup at 13 when I was dissatisfied with what my employer at the time was doing with waste food. My mother said told me, “If you didn’t like it, don’t work for other people.” So, at an early age I was finding unmet market needs, then creating ways to address them.

I took my first startup public at 31. Since 1999 I’ve been a seed-stage venture capitalist, deploying about $2B. In the last 2 years, my fund Ryerson Futures, has supported 23 startups and funded 13.

I’ve also had five seasons with Dragons’ Den. I’ve crossed this country several times, and visited with more than 20 startup communities.

HPM: Tell me about the Startup Canada tour. Why are you doing this? And, how can your tour help emerging entrepreneurs in places like the Comox Valley?

SW: As a tenured professor I earned a sabbatical. I’ve decided to spend this time working in startup communities to help inspire emerging or latent startup entrepreneurs. As part of that effort, I’m working with Startup Canada to deliver a keynote, “Why now is the greatest time to be an Entrepreneur,” across this great country.

I’m also sharing a new tool for first founders, www.100Steps2Startup.com, which is an easy-to-follow program for people who want to build a successful startup. It’s based on the proven Lean Startup methodology, and includes 100 short instructional videos and 80 actionable worksheets designed to lead you step-by-step from initial idea to revenue generation with as little risk as possible.

HPM: What are the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs in small town and rural Canada?

SW: 21st century entrepreneurship is driven by customer-centric innovation. This requires founders to be able to get face time with early adopters. This may be difficult if your early adopters don’t live in your small town. But with high-speed broadband and video conferencing it’s difficult but not impossible.

Similarly, finding co-founders, marketing to early adopters, etc has been greatly effected by the rise of connectivity. In the 21st Century you know longer have to move to Silicon Valley to launch a high-growth venture.

HPM: What is the 1 thing/ what are 3 things that small town / rural entrepreneurs need to do to get past these challenges?

SW: It’s not 1997 anymore. Small town and rural entrepreneurs need to embrace the startup leanings of the last two decades. Today the path to startup success has been discovered, quantified, and mapped. Today, you can learn from Uber, Tinder, and the like and leverage those learnings for your benefit.

To overcome challenges, not only do founders need high-speed internet access, they need to adopt the lean startup mindset, and combine it with extreme dedication.

HPM: Your keynote on January 25 is about “Why now is the greatest time to be an entrepreneur.” Is it the greatest time to be an entrepreneur in small town and rural Canada?

SW: Yes. Here are four reasons why:

1) The cost to launch has dropped from $5M to $5K. Funding is no longer a barrier to starting a startup.
2) There are more than 3 billion people online, all of them are buying something.
3) All the tools you need are available regardless of location. Today, all you need is a smartphone and internet access.
4) The path is known. Today, the path to startup success has been discovered, quantified, and mapped. Today, you can learn from businesses that have gone from zero to $1B in five years and leverage those learnings for your benefit.

HPM: Is there anything else you think is helpful for us here on Vancouver Island?

SW: Yes. We now have proven that there is a correlation between startup success and involvement in the local startup ecosystem. What’s called a “startup community.” Founders need to immerse themselves in the community and leverage all the benefits, networks, knowledge, and experience available.

Why? Because being a founder is hard. Don’t make it harder by:

1) going it alone;
2) reinventing the wheel;
3) thinking your startup is different than all those that came before you.

Be part of your startup community.

….

Dr. Sean Wise’s keynote at #WeAreYQQ Winter Party is generously supported by Startup Canada. Proceeds from the event will go to support Startup Comox Valley. Tickets are available online via Picatic, a Canadian startup that’s having a global impact in the ticketing and event solutions space. Get yours today at WeAreYQQParty.ca.

hpm
for LIFT Comox Valley
@hanspetermeyer on Twitter and Instagram

Celebrating the season, celebrating a “difference maker”

October 31, 2016 by Leif Jason

Photograph ©Karen McKinnon 2016

“Madame Chantal, I want to make a difference.”

That, says Ecole Puntledge Park teacher Chantal Stefan, is one of the pay backs of her work with “Everybody Deserves A Smile” or EDAS.

On November 23 we’re inviting Comox Valley creatives and entrepreneurs (and friends and families too!) to join us for a shared Festive Cheer event. Besides sharing food, music, and a festive celebration, we’ll be raising funds for EDAS. Tickets are available online at http://festivecheeryqq.ca

EDAS struck a chord with me because it shows how entrepreneurs operate in different ways in our communities. Some do it through business startups. Others as champions of pivots – new products and services – in larger businesses. Some, like Chantal Stefan, do it through community initiatives.

EDAS engages young people to help put a smile on the faces of the homeless in our communities. It teaches these young people about the human face of poverty and addiction. It also trains them in how to make a difference, with skills that transfer to other entrepreneurial activities.

“Who do you need to be to be a difference maker? What does it look like?”

It all starts with the individual. Chantal, for example, was moved by the plight of a homeless man one Edmonton winter, 13 years ago.

Today, she leads 10 school-based teams and hundreds of Vancouver Island K-12 kids. These kids produce over 800 packages with cookies, woollen socks, toques for homeless people on their streets, and streets in Victoria and Vancouver. And she asks them, “Who do you need to be to be a difference maker? What does it look like?”

Bigger than gift bags: training entrepreneurs

Painting a gift bag and filling it with necessaries like socks and a toothbrush may not be a big thing. A good thing, undoubtedly. But not a big thing. Chantal, however, believes that these small acts can make a difference in a person’s life.

They are certainly making a difference in the lives of the kids she works with. As well as learning about the realities of poverty and addiction, they are learning about leadership, team building, project management, marketing, and public speaking.

This is important stuff for us who take community economic development seriously. Recently, at a Startup Canada workshop on our “creative” economy, the topic of “we need to be teaching our kids how to be entrepreneurs” kept coming up. EDAS is doing that. As they successfully produce 800+ gift bags, these Vancouver Island kids are learning skills they will use as they become the men and women building the next generation of businesses and jobs in our Island communities. That’s why Chantal Stefan is both a Comox Valley Record “Local Hero” and a #WeAreYQQ star. She’s making shift happen – big time!

A fundraiser – and a shared festive party

We’re featuring Chantal and EDAS at Festive Cheer because we see an opportunity to support something that’s growing future entrepreneurs – and doing good work today.

We’re also hosting Festive Cheer because we think our community of entrepreneurs and creatives can use a shared festive celebration. If you’re a creative, a solopreneur, a business with a small to medium sized crew, or even a larger business – join us on November 23 at Prime Chophouse.

We’ll have Prime appetizers, presentations by sponsors like Jace Pierson, Jabin Postal, and Chantal Stefan. We’ll have music by DJ em.ash. We’ll have some fun and games (and prizes!) thanks to Leanne Zdebiak-eni of Studio IPF. We’re also pulling together several “Comox Valley experiences” for local “celebrity auctioneer” Adam Duncan to auction off to the highest bidders.

Chantal says that what they do with EDAS can only happen when the community stands with them. Let’s make this shift happen on November 23.

See you at Festive Cheer!

by hanspetermeyer
@hanspetermeyer on Twitter

Innovators: Sonya Marie Jenssen and the Comox Valley Water System Calendar Project

October 11, 2016 by Leif Jason

It’s October. It’s raining, it’s pouring. The weather, it’s boring.

But for Sonya Jenssen of Waterwoman Consulting, when it’s raining in the Comox Valley she’s excited. All that rain, it’s helping us meet our water security needs.

Sonya’s an international water expert. Like many other talented people who’ve chosen to call this place home, she came for quality of community and quality of life, not because of a job. Our emerging water security issues, however, are inspiring the entrepreneur in Sonya.

The pain point: water you can’t drink

Entrepreneurs see pain points as opportunities to apply creative thinking. Water quality issues in the Comox Valley are a big pain point, not just an inconvenience.

“This is an important issue for our community,” she says. Our biggest source of clean, fresh water is Comox Lake. All of that water is monitored and licensed by the Ministry of Environment. We can’t just drain the lake to quench our domestic thirst, because most of the water flowing out of the lake is required to keep rivers and streams functioning as fish habitat. Of the remaining of water flowing down the Puntledge River for domestic uses, fire fighting, washing of cars, sprinkling of lawns, garden irrigation all vie with our needs for potable water.

When a boil water advisory comes into effect, it’s more than a nuisance. Tourism and lifestyle are a significant part of our local economy. A boil water advisory puts additional strain on a food and entertainment sector already working with thin margins.

So it’s a case of “water water everywhere,” but less and less to drink. And while it’s good that October rains are recharging our lakes and streams, water security is “more complicated than most people understand.”

The Comox Valley Water System Calendar

Sonya’s expertise is in public education. Her work has taken her around the world – the Middle East, Norway, and beyond – but her heart is in the Comox Valley. She knows that when people don’t understand an issue as complex as water security, and especially when we seem to be inundated with water water everywhere, we’re less likely to be part of the solution.This fall she’s chosen our community to be the pilot in an innovation in water security education.

Working with with local street photographer Craig Carson, Sonya is producing a calendar combining technical information with a street photographer’s view of the Comox Lake water system. “We need to bring a creative lens to these issues,” she says. She’ll also be working with LIFT Comox Valley (recent winner, Best Social Media Organization in the Comox Valley) to roll out a companion education stream via social media.

The Comox Valley benefits from the project, not only because she’s using us as a pilot, but because Sonya also believes that packaging public education in an “street art” calendar is a tool other communities will benefit from. That’ll bring more attention to the Comox Valley as a home of innovators and entrepreneurs.

Invitation to feature your business as part of the solution

Our community faces some big decisions as we deal with our water security issues. Sonya believes public education, like the calendar project, will help us as move towards a more “water secure” future. She’s financing her project with pre-sales via an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that will launch later this fall.

Sonya is also inviting other businesses to be part of the solution to our water security issues, by having their businesses prominently featured as “sponsor of the month.” Sure Copy Courtenay, the Comox Valley Record, 2nd Page Books, and LIFT Comox Valley are already on board.

To put your business on board for a water secure future in the Comox Valley, contact Sonya directly at sonya.jenssen@gmail.com / waterwoman.ca.

hpm
for LIFT Comox Valley
@hanspetermeyer on Twitter

— 30 —

Life – it’s a pitch! Talking about pitching with Jayesh Parmar

August 31, 2016 by Leif Jason

Jayesh Parmar, CEO of Picatic, is the keynote for the September 28 #WeAreYQQ PitchFest & LIFT Launch Party in the Comox Valley. He’ll be joining Steve Morgan (retired Silicon Valley entrepreneur), and Adam Speigel (Business Development Canada) to judge nine Comox Valley entrepreneur pitches. I asked Jay to tell me a little about pitching.

HPM: What did you need to start Picatic?

Jay: The burn! That’s the first thing every entrepreneur needs: Passion. For something you really want to solve.

Starting a business is harder than anything you’ve ever done. “I have this idea: I’m going to rent out your couch to total strangers.” Or: “I’m going to pick up strangers with your car.” Crazy talk! At Picatic we want to bring people together. We started by building a beautiful platform that was free. Our burn has kept us focused and on track.

HPM: At what point did you have to ask for help, and how did you do that?

Jay: We had a mostly self-funded beta product in Saskatoon. We took that to San Francisco – but we didn’t raise any money in SF. Instead, we learned things so that when we came back to Saskatoon we raised over $100K. That gave us the time and space to quit our day jobs.

HPM: What did you learn in SF?

Jay: The importance of personal passion and investment. And that pitching really is about building relationships.

When we got back to Saskatoon we hosted a lunch with friends and friends of friends. We made a presentation. Told them what we were trying to raise. People could see that we’d put a lot of sweat equity into what we were doing. Investors, even if it’s the “FFF club” – friends, family, and fools – they want to know about you, your passion, your integrity. These early investors from that lunch were our first champions, our community of support.

HPM: Has pitching helped you as an entrepreneur?

Jay: Hey, life is a pitch! Pitching helps us to run our company better and stronger because pitching is about much more than getting money. It’s telling the story of our business. It’s about talking to reporters, bringing in new talent, bringing in funding. It helps me identify potential threats and risks.

HPM: Any advice for the businesses pitching at our #WeAreYQQ PitchFest?

Jay: Fundamentally, the pitch is you. You are selling you. People invest in you. People know that companies go up and down. They want to invest in you. Also: Pitching is dating. You’re pitching for the next meeting. You want to create a little excitement. Know your audience: What is your audience interested in?

There is no one-way to do this. You have to have a deck, and a one-pager. But at the beginning you mostly have to have a clear, concise pitch and you have to have the burn, the excitement about what you’re doing.

PitchFest & LIFT Launch Party

On September 28 we’ll start with Jay, Steve, and Adam judging nine businesses and projects that have pitched at #WeAreYQQ BizOnDeck workshops. After PitchFest Team #WeAreYQQ is throwing one of their signature parties for entrepreneurs and creatives – the people who are generating the buzz and the biz of the Comox Valley’s emerging startup economy.

For more about why we’re hosting the Comox Valley’s first pitchfest event see this blog post. For tickets (30 early bird tickets available until September 15) see WeAreYQQParty.ca (and yes, it’s a Picatic event site – thanks for building a great event solutions product Jay!). If you’re a #WeAreYQQ subscriber there are FREE tickets for you – but you’ve got to register.

Want to know more about the other business and community economic development perks and benefits of being a #WeAreYQQ subscriber? Check out the subscription options online – or contact Cathy Snyder by email.

hpm
for Team #WeAreYQQ and the LIFT Project in the Comox Valley
@WeAreYQQ on Twitter

LIFT: Leading, Inspiring, and Fueling Talent in business, the arts, and more – in the Comox Valley! We’re building an entrepreneurial culture in the Comox Valley. Join us this summer and win! You’ll get perks that’ll grow your business. Sign up now!

The Speedibin Composter: Innovative garden technology from the Comox Valley

June 10, 2016 by Leif Jason

Joyce McMenamon didn’t invent the Speedibin Composter. But she did revive her father’s 1987 design, putting it through 22 prototypes. Now she’s shipping across North America.

What makes the Speedibin unique?

The Speedibin is more than a humble composter. Made entirely of metal, they’re vermin “resistant” and easy to use.

A few years ago City Farmer in Vancouver asked Joyce to “please start making Speedibins again.” Why? Composting had become very popular in the city. But rats and racoons were loving how easy it was to get into the plastic bins.

Built of sheet metal, Speedbins ship in a flat package and are easy to assemble. Good for humans. Bad for rats, mice, and racoons that find them tamper proof. McMenamon even gives workshops on how to make Speedibins bear resistant.

More good news for humans: the removable lid makes loading and mixing easy. When the microbes and worms have transformed all that waste into glorious black gold, the front panel removes for easy unloading.

It’s not just about keeping the vermin out

McMenamon is an avid gardener. She understands the imporance of rat-resistant composting. What she’s most excited about, however, is having developed an easy-to use, practical solution to an even more pressing problem: soil exhaustion. Mono-cropping and continuous-cropping inevitably lead to nutrient loss. Composting is the easiest way to organically rebuild soil. “If all the people who can would put their yard waste and kitchen scrap back into the soil,” she says, “the microbes and worms would quickly rebuild the soil.”

Where to buy

Because of their vermin-resistant qualities they’ve been picked up by some school gardens, including several in New York City. McMenamon sees the Speedibin’s future in North American sales. “We’re already shipping to Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, and now the United States,” she says. This rat-resistant solution to some of our landfill and “peak soil” issues is also attracting attention from New Zealand. If you’re from outside of the Comox Valley you can order your Speedibin Composter at speedibin.com.

If you’re in the Comox Valley region, Port Hardy, Parksville, or Calgary you can find Speedibin Composters are at several local locations.

Speedibin is now a #WeAreYQQ Champion

Speedibin was an early beneficiary of the #WeAreYQQ business development workshop series. “It’s been vey helpful,” McMenamon says. “Being a sole proprietor, living in Merville, working in a vacuum: it’s a challenge. The workshops have been very helpful because they not only give me valuable insights and information, they also give me a supportive, entrepreneur-minded group of people to work with. That’s huge.”

As a business owner and entrepreneur McMenamon sees considerable value in the #WeAreYQQ Project. In 2016 she was an early adopter, and signed on as an annual #WeAreYQQ Champion. Want to grow your business with our collaborative marketing and business and community economic development workshops? For more information about what business benefits a Champion membership brings, call Cathy Snyder at 250-703-3057 or sign up online at the “Join Us! tab.” Or just come out to one of our events and see if working collaboratively with entrepreneurs is part of your business solution. Events are listed at the “events tab.”

FMI about Speedibin

Online at speedibin.com
On Twitter at twitter.com/speedibin
On Facebook at facebook.com/Speedibin

Grow your business with a #WeAreYQQ / LIFT Project subscription

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If you’ve got a story about entrepreneurship or innovation in the Comox Valley we’ve got a business development and marketing service package to get you exposure in print media, on our blog, and via our social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and more. Subscribe and you’ll get significant discounts as a #WeAreYQQ Champion or Ambassador – and you’ll be listed in our updates to our extensive mailing list.

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