LIFT Startups

A new way to market and network your local Vancouver Island business!

innovation

The LIFT Podcast interview with Sharon Marshall of Cree8iv Collaboration

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Sharon Marshall is an inspiring force for change in our BC economy! She is founder and CEO of Cree8iv Collaboration – and Virtual eAdmin. In this podcast interview Sharon talks about her passion and her vision for creating employment and economic development opportunities for Canada’s remote indigenous communities. She also tells us about hard lessons, and amazing results. You’ll also hear about her favourite novel and her favourite business book.

Find out more about what Sharon does at virtualeadmin.com and (coming soon) Cree8ivCollaboration.com.

And, Sharon Marshall is putting Cree8iv Collaboration “on deck” at our February 4, 2019 BizOnDeck Focus Group workshop. Be there and be inspired about making a difference to our rural indigenous economies.
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BE FEATURED ON LIFT PODCAST SERIES

To be featured in a LIFT Podcast please apply to join our Vancouver Island entrepreneur community at applyandgetlifted.ca. Once you’re a member you’ll be invited to benefit from our approach to networking and our award-winning promotions, including being part of our LIFT Podcast series.

LISTEN TO MORE LIFT PODCASTS

Find more LIFT Podcast episodes at liftpodcast.ca
Subscribe to the LIFT Podcast series on iTunes at iTunesLIFTPodcasts

FMI ABOUT THE LIFT COMMUNITY

We are a community of Vancouver Island entrepreneurs and creatives, working together to grow the Island’s grassroots, entrepreneur-driven economy. In 2018 LIFT was awarded Best in BC, Entrepreneur Promotion, at Startup Canada Awards in Vancouver, for its innovative work as a marketing and business development network.

LIFT offers:

  • Innovative networking and business development workshops
  • Award-winning social media marketing solutions (starting at about $1/day)
  • A “hustle the help” community – our members are helping each grow
  • Access to $4000+ in member-to-member discounts and offers, and
  • Great pricing – that gets even better with our current 25% off “first 300” discount.

Get started by applying at applyandgetlifted.ca

 

LIFT Podcast: Rosemarie Barnes talks about Confident Stages – and Rosemarie Barnes

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The cover image on Rosemarie’s Vancouver Island Local Business Directory listing says it all: Speak to engage. Speak to succeed. An international speaker, best-selling author, and “executive presentation trainer,” Rosemarie has a passion for helping people find the voice they need to succeed. And, she’s the guest workshop leader for the Comox Valley Women’s Business Network event on November 15, 2018. Details and tickets here.

We’re excited to have Rosemarie in our LIFT community for several reasons.

  • One, she’s offering a 20% discount on “presentation training” to LIFT members.
  • Two, Rosemarie is an example of Vancouver Island talent serving markets far beyond our local communities. In her case, she’s working with clients across North American and in Europe.

I talked to Rosemarie on October 26, 2018, She told me about her business, why she started it, and her passion for the work she’s doing. We also talked about her biggest challenges in life, her favourite books, and her favourite place to eat cinnamon buns on the Island.

Rosemarie is a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, the Public Speakers Association, and the National Speakers Association, Rosemarie has presented in theatres, boardrooms, conferences and in the bathroom shower. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

Get LIFTed – get 20% off with Confident Stages

If you’re already a LIFT member and you need help with your presentation skills, contact Rosemarie via the Vancouver Island Local Business Network directory at https://liftstartup.wpengine.com/listing/confident-stages/

If you’re a member and you’re ready to have your business featured in a LIFT Podcast, please see this link for more information: http://bit.ly/FMIaboutLIFTPodcasts

If you’re not a LIFT member and you want the benefits of access to member-to-member discounts (like the one Rosemarie is offering), award-winning (and affordable) social media and PR support, as well as access to signature LIFT events and workshops please apply here: http://applyandgetlifted.ca

Business collaborations

Thanks to conversations initiated by Comox Valley WBN board member (and LIFT member) Dennyse Harris, LIFT is happy to help WBN promote Rosemarie’s workshop in the Comox Valley. If you’re a member of an Island-based business network or organization, we’re keen to connect the dots. Let’s find ways to collaborate and support each other!

Listen to more LIFT Podcasts

You’ll find more LIFT Podcast interviews on our blog here: http://liftpodcast.ca/

You can also subscribe to the LIFT Podcast series on iTunes at http://bit.ly/iTunesLIFTPodcasts

~ hpm
Founder, LIFT
250-792-1408
hpm@liftstartups.ca
We do award-winning local business promotion for less than $1/day on the Island via the Vancouver Island Local Business Network & Directory
Apply today and Get LIFTed! http://applyandgetlifted.ca

 

Keith Ippel’s top 5 tips for your Island business success

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On September 27, 2018 LIFT is hosting its third PitchFest event. This event features six Vancouver Island entrepreneurs pitching for prizes to a panel of four judges, and kicking off with a keynote by Keith Ippel, founder and CEO of global startup school Spring Activator. Afterwards, our #WeAreYQQPartyCrew will be hosting another signature “definitely NOT your Dad’s networking event” party.

I interviewed our keynote, Keith Ippel in 2017. This is a re-post of that interview with some additional notes at the bottom. FMI about PitchFest3 and to get your early bird tickets click this button…

Buy Tickets For This LIFT Event

I’ve asked Keith to keynote because I think his value-focused approach to business will resonate with business owners in our region. He’s a four-time serial entrepreneur, and currently the CEO of Spring Activator, a global startup school based in Vancouver. Over the past 10+ years, he’s been an advisor and a mentor to many startups in tech, non-tech, and non-profit sectors. In three years with Spring Activator he’s helped over 300 aspiring entrepreneurs launch over 150 “impact” (social, environmental) businesses, some of whom have reached $1M in sales in that time.

Top 5 tips for startups success

Keith’s fun to be around. I’ve interviewed him several times over the past few years, and I’m looking forward to working more with him and with Spring in the coming months. LIFT and Spring have put together an agreement where LIFT members (aka LIFT VIPs) get a 30% discount on Spring courses. More on that later. For this interview, I asked Keith about his top five things every entrepreneur needs to do to ensure business success.

1. Speed

That doesn’t mean running around like a chicken with your head cut off. It means having a plan A, plan B, and a plan C – and then moving as fast as possible within the bounds of plan and structure to make sure that you’re ahead of the competition. Every business idea has 16 competitors. Those who execute well will win.

2. Know your strengths, know your weaknesses

As leaders, we need to know where we are strong and passionate. But it’s just as important to know the things that we’re not good at. This enables us to build a team of people who have complementary skills and frees us to focus on the most important things. Sometimes the team is in-house. Sometimes they’re consultants. Sometimes they’re advisors and mentors.

3. Spend as little as possible

Time is money. In our early days, we need to be really tight with our budgets, because we want to maximise the amount of time we have to prove that there’s a market for our product or service. We maximise that time by making our money go further.

4. The five Ms: market, management, money, momentum, magic

We need to know explicitly who our target market is. We need to know how to invest in the team that will grow our business. We need to know how to make and raise money. We need to show traction, both to our customers and to the people we’re working with. And the magic? It’s how we’re unique to customers, how we’re different from everybody around us.

5. Learn about “no”

It’s important to know that “no’s” have different meanings. With customers and partners, we can’t take no for an answer. We’ve got to dig deep, understand why people are saying “no,” so that we can get to a “yes.” On the flip side, we need to learn to say “no” to ourselves. We need to use “no” to protect our time so that we avoid distractions and stay focused.

LIFT Special Events: Free tickets when you’re listed on the Vancouver Island business directory!

If you’re a LIFT member, you get free tickets to most of our Special Events (the exception is our Festive Cheer community fundraiser). To sign up for LIFT membership, list your Vancouver Island business on the Island’s only social media-powered directory at wearevanisl.ca

What are #WeAreYQQ parties all about? Here’s a video sampler from our September 2016 #WeAreYQQ PitchFest & Party by LIFT Community Partner Island Soul Films…

Want more information, ideas, and stories about startup success?

Check out 11 Entrepreneurs Stories – Inspiring People That Found Startup Success.

hpm
@hanspetermeyer on Twitter and Instagram

Old House Law & Notary: A LIFT BizOnDeck Case Study

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Old House Law & Notary is a partnership between Lyle Carlstrom Professional Law Corporation and T. Dale Roberts Notary Corporation. Lawyers and Notaries both practice law (with Notaries restricted to real estate, wills, contracts etc.). Having them work together in the same office creates new efficiencies and legal solutions for clients. Old House Law & Notary one of the first practices in BC providing lawyer and a notary public services.
You can find out more at ohlp.ca

LIFT: What inspired you to start Old House Law & Notary?
Lyle: I wanted to live in the Comox Valley, and from a professional level I wanted to be in business with like-minded individuals and create something new and dynamic. Working with Dale Roberts has led to a multidisciplinary practice that has a lawyer working with – instead of competing with – a notary. Our type of law is non-contentious. We focus on helping people – buying and selling real estate, estate planning. These services are in high demand in the region, and an office that includes both law and notary services, it makes us very competitive.

LIFT: What was your “ask” at your BizOnDeck workshop?
Lyle: We had several asks. We wanted: feedback on what would make us more relevant to the general public, help in branding our business, advice on keeping existing clients loyal to our new brand, suggestions on acquiring new customers who will appreciate the new brand, help on determining the best ways to give back to our clients and community, and direction on spreading the word about the results of the above.

LIFT: What were the three biggest takeaways (and subsequent actions) from your BizOnDeck?
Lyle: We heard that we are generally on the right track with our marketing efforts, but that we need to spend additional time on social media marketing. We also heard that we need to clarify our company vision and mission. As follow up activities we’ve re-engaged our webmaster digital marketer, and we’re planning a management retreat in mid-June

LIFT: Has putting your business “on deck” helped grow your business?
Lyle: The short answer is yes. We found the BizOnDeck process to be very helpful, and vibrant. We got lots of great feedback. We experienced lots of synergies. Since the workshop, we’ve made positive changes to some of what we do, especially with regard to marketing.

 

Last word

Lyle: For a company like ours, the BizOnDeck was a very unique and valuable exercise. Where else would we get this kind of feedback from a room full of entrepreneurs?

 

Contact information

Telephone: 250-871-7737
Website: ohlp.ca
Vancouver Island business directory: old-house-law-and-notary
Alignable: old-house-law-notary-public-t-dale-roberts-notary-public

 

FMI about LIFT & BizOnDeck

LIFT is an award-winning organization* that helps entrepreneurs, small business owners, and non-profits grow on Vancouver Island. We’ve just launched the Vancouver Island business directory to connect and promote entrepreneurs across the Island. To put your business or project “on deck” please fill in the blanks on this form and we’ll start “hustling the help” to grow your business! Or call HPM at 250-792-1408 to get started.

*Awards include:
• Best in BC, Entrepreneur Promotion, Startup Canada Awards, Vancouver May 2018
• Best Social Media Organization, Comox Valley Record Readers’ Choice Awards, 2015 and 2016.

LIFT Podcast: Luke Aulin talks about RTOWN – and Luke Aulin

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Luke Aulin is the CEO and Founder of RTOWN, an innovative way for small and medium-sized businesses to excel in the digital and social marketing space. Luke talked to LIFT’s Hans Peter Meyer about RTOWN, about their commitment to “local,” how and why they’ve created a marketing solution that helps local create online presence, and about himself.

Check out the podcast to find out about what Luke’s reading now, the smartest thing he’s ever done, his favourite place to eat – and more.

Note: Luke is a mentor to LIFT and HPM.

FMI about RTOWN see RTOWN.ca

Follow Luke on Twitter @LukeAulin

For more LIFT Podcast click here or subscribe on iTunes.

 

GrowWise Health in the Comox Valley. A LIFT business profile

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The business of medical cannabis is growing – fast – and has many facets. One of these is patient and physician education about the science and the therapeutic benefits of medical cannabis. Toronto-based GrowWise Health provides this service. In 2017 Denise Ropp partnered with GrowWise Health to bring medical cannabis education to the Comox Valley and Vancouver Island.

LIFT: What is the business of GrowWise Health?

Denise: Medical cannabis is a new and exciting area, and there are a lot of unknowns, and lots of new research. Our role is to provide education and support – for both patients seeking help, and physicians who want to learn more.

Your first step, when you visit our centre, is to meet with a physician who actually listens to you about what you are trying to accomplish with regards to your health. GrowWise Nurse Educators then provide education about medicinal cannabis: licensed producers, safety, dosing, strains, compounds – that kind of thing. After that, we’re here to give you ongoing support to reach your own, personalized goals.

LIFT: What makes your business “special” or different from what others are doing with regard to medical cannabis?

Denise: Let me be clear, because there is often confusion around this, we are NOT a medical cannabis dispensary. Our business is supporting patients in their healing journey, without charging extra fees.

GrowWise started about three years ago. The founders recognized that more and more physicians were authorizing medical cannabis, but patients were being left on their own to fulfill their prescription. With an ordinary script, a patient would be able to walk into a pharmacy and ask for help – the pharmacist will tell you what time of day to take your medication, what side effects to be aware, and will fulfill the prescription for you. That doesn’t exist for cannabis patients.

So GrowWise partnered with a half dozen Licensed Producers – companies authorized by Health Canada to legally producer cannabis for medical purposes – to help connect patients with the support they need to be successful with their treatment. GrowWise nurses are embedded in clinics where there are physicians authorizing cannabis – they work in pain clinics, fibromyalgia centres, family practices, and cannabis clinics like White Cedar here in the Comox Valley. The physicians bill MSP like any other clinic, and the education service is provided free-of-charge to patients.

LIFT: Who are the people that will most benefit from what GrowWise Health is offering?

Denise: Most of our patients are in their 50s and 60s. Active adults highly motivated to improve their health. But really, our target market is anyone who seeking an alternative to traditional pharmaceutical solutions. And so we have patients of all ages, from all walks of life.

LIFT: What inspired you to start the Comox Valley office?

Denise: I saw an opportunity to provide access to a natural health solution to the community. There are a lot of people for whom traditional pharmaceuticals have failed. This is a choice in healthcare, an alternative to traditional solutions. I must say, this is not about getting “high.” Most of our patients have not been recreational cannabis users. Many are unfamiliar with any type of cannabis. They’re people looking for a solution to health issues, a solution that’s eluded them in the traditional healthcare system to date.

We have a lot of patients that have been curious about this medication. There are also those who have tried using medicinal cannabis and are not aware of finer details about strains or components, or even how to properly dose themselves. They need proper education and support. I saw this opportunity as a way to support people on their healing journey.

LIFT: What / who have been the biggest factors in the growth/ success of your business?

Denise: Number one is our patients! GrowWise has worked with over 6000 patients across Canada to date. Hearing their success stories is incredibly motivating for us as a company, as well as for the greater community. These patients go on to tell their family and friends about their success, they share their story with their family physician, their colleagues, and so on, and the message spreads from there.

Another key piece that has been incredibly helpful is the expansion in research. It feels like every day there is a new study released about how cannabis might help – about how it is displacing opioid prescriptions, or how it is improving quality of life for our veterans. We have so much anecdotal evidence that points to cannabis be a valuable treatment options, but in order for healthcare practitioners to fully embrace cannabis, rigorous, academic research is needed.

Finally, the federal government’s decision to legalize cannabis for adult-use this summer has really helped to break down the stigma around cannabis for medical patients. All of a sudden, cannabis is everywhere. It’s on every newspaper cover, on the radio, in magazines – it has become far less taboo, and that has encouraged patients to take the first step and talk to their doctor about it.

LIFT: If you had one piece of advice for someone starting a business on Vancouver Island / in the Comox Valley today, what would it be?

Denise: Get out and network!

CONTACT
For more information about GrowWise Health in the Comox Valley:

Telephone: 250-941-4999
Facebook Messenger: https://www.facebook.com/Comox.3322
GrowWise Health in the Comox Valley is a LIFT member business (aka LIFT VIP). If you are a LIFT member ask Denise and the team at GrowWise Health about the 10% discount on hemp-based products like Bully Bites (doggie snacks), Canna-9, lip balm, body cream, and facial serum.

For more information about LIFT and how we help grow Vancouver Island businesses, please see https://liftstartup.wpengine.com or call Founder & CEO Hans Peter Meyer (HPM) at 250-792-1408.