I’m often asked by people to define the single greatest character trait for successful self-employment. It’s a logical question. There are so many attributes we need to start and run businesses. It’s helpful to have good organizational skills… people, places, things. It’s also helpful to have math skills so I can learn how to set…
A client of mine owns a Snow Removal/Lawn Care Company. In his first year of business, he sold a number of contracts for snow removal. Great deal for him, really because it was one of those ‘light’ years. He plowed three times. He came to me, worried that his customers had been shortchanged because it…
That’s what happened. Eight years after establishing my business program, branding it locally, paying for a sophisticated website, buying memberships to networking organizations in its name, wrapping my vehicle, winning awards… eight years of branding and promotion and achievement, and the unthinkable happened. I found myself in a trademark conflict. Here’s how it went: March…
Column 106 When you decide to go into business for yourself, you generally have no realistic idea of the impact of your decision. Sort of like having a baby. You know you’re really good at something and that’s what drives you to become self employed. The other thing driving you might be that you…
column 105 You know it goes. You invite good friends over for dinner. You pour a glass of wine and sit down comfortably to enjoy whatever it is you’ve cooked. Maybe you’ve had a nibbly or two to start, though I’m finding as we age that the nibbly can turn into the dinner, if…
Column 104 It’s a partnership in Barrie that’s making a huge difference for all of us! And it’s all about trees. Living Green Barrie, the City of Barrie, the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, businesses and ordinary volunteers like you and I… these are the community partners that make up the Urban Canopy Coalition….
Mike Fox has a vision. It’s big. It involves community commitment. It guarantees community benefit. Mike would like it to be universally accessible and not a marginal operation. It’s a food cooperative. As executive director of Living Green Barrie, Mike is using his considerable background in finance to broaden people’s understanding of what cooperatives are…
Twenty-seven years ago, Barrie wasn’t exactly a hotbed for refugee resettlement. The Ministry of Immigration had developed regional quotas and was looking to bring immigrants in to the Barrie area. They wanted to provide financial assistance to help sponsored individuals settle in Canada. It was the responsibility of a government bureaucratic office and it wasn’t…
It was synchronicity, you might say. Jack Cain was heading up the finance committee at Collier St United Church. He was a bit concerned when the church held a meeting to look at becoming a site for the newly established Rainbows program. “This might cost us some money,” he said, determined to check it out….
He had a vision. He was rooted by family and community values. He was dashingly attractive. He was meticulous. He cared eternally. He was (eventually) retrospective. He stayed the course and focussed on the business of getting the job done. Emil Pidutti arrived in Barrie in 1984. He looked at a large parcel of land…