You Can Do That Here

Culture. Webster’s defines it as the manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. Culture is also a perfect way to view and understand a particular group of people or geographic region. It’s a beautiful thought really, understanding and getting to know a place or people by their collective achievements.  Here in the Kootenays much of our everyday life, work, and fun is dominated and dictated by the spectacular geography and natural playground that surrounds us. Indeed whether simply living in their shadow, creating art inspired by them, achieving great feats of human strength and endurance by scaling and descending them in all variety of forms, Kootenay people are a culture defined by our mountains.  Capturing that culture, and publishing it in a high quality magazine over the past decade and a half has in many ways put Kootenay Mountain Culture magazine at the forefront as the true story of record for our region rather than the traditional newspaper.  True to the culture of the reg

Good Health.  If there is one business that has a universal appeal to all humans, it’s a business that helps us all be happier and healthier people.  As our good health and the foods and nutrients we consume continue to become more important in a world of “Food like products,” and as global connectivity continues to open up new offerings from around the globe, superfoods are the next great trend. As little as a couple of decades ago seeking out so called exotic plants from various ecosystems around the world would have likely meant physically going, seeking, finding and learning about them in person.  In the information age, a trip to the Himalayan foothills in northern India is merely a few clicks away. Yes the opportunity to discover such plants and superfoods is now open to everyone with an internet connection and the time to spend seeking. Miel and Kirk Dubeilewicz of Invermere, BC came across just such a superfood nearly 10 years ago that they hadn’t previously heard of or found available in Canada. It w

Bread and Dough. Although it's impossible to trace the exact date of the first slang usage of "Dough," as a term for money, it seems to have originated in the 19th century. Where  bread was the traditional everyday necessity of life at the time, to earn one's living was to earn one's bread, therefore bread became synonymous with money. The authoritative Oxford English Dictionary found the earliest printed use of "Dough," as a slang term for money in 1851: "He thinks he will pick his way out of the Society’s embarrassments, provided he can get sufficient dough.” The quote appeared in the Yale Tomahawk, a publication of Yale's Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. Phil Gadd, originally from the UK, has lived out this expression in both of its meanings. Having discovered the beauty of life in Fernie,BC while on a snowboarding holiday, the former film and television editor from London, made it his mission to find a way to both live and make a living in Fernie. Inspired by a unique bakery/café run by a friend in southern E

The Genetic Code.  It represents the very instructions of life itself. Yes the many genes that make up every living organism have an in depth story to tell. They contain vast volumes of information that we’re only just beginning to explore the possibilities of. In the realm of science it may just be one of the fastest growing areas of study, as well as perhaps one of the most critical to the future of life itself. But what about the business side? More and more we are seeing and hearing about practical business applications of genetics. From companies like 23andme that will send you back your genetic sequence from a mailed in DNA sample, to pharmaceutical companies partnering with geneticists to develop the next wave of innovative drugs. Alison Cutts, of Nelson, BC is helping lead a team working on developing, among other things a better drug to combat pain in a new and innovative way using genetics. The surprising part? She’s doing it from her home office n Nelson, BC along with her team located on the coast

Jobs. For many entrepreneurs they are the worst thing imaginable.  They are the very thing we’ll happily work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week just to avoid the 9-5 work week... We want to control our own destiny, and drive our own success, even if that more often than not means additional stress, additional hours and a strong to severe risk of not getting paid at times. If only there was a way to avoid that last part, it would be a dream world, where everyone rises to great heights. What if there was a way to design the lifestyle you desire, do something you love with passion and purpose, dictate and drive your own work, workplace and workmates? What if there was a way to in every sense be an entrepreneur, without the financial risk? Cam Shute of Nelson, BC is a smart guy. An Engineer and outdoorsman from an entrepreneurial and artistic family, he’s driven by great challenges. He found that in his job, designing new backcountry skiing products for G3 Genuine Guide Gear, but his inner entrepreneur wanted out. Th

What is it you truly love doing? What are those things that when they engulf you your whole world radiates positive energy outward? Now think about how your job and work make you feel. Are those two things one and the same? If you are like most, probably not. But why not?  Why do we feel like we have to do certain things in life why do we put up with the monotony and stress of jobs that we don’t love?  For many there can be no more frightening thing than revealing your inner self to the world and letting people inside your inner workings.  But what if... either through choice or through adversity we took the time to ask those first two questions of what we love and why we’re here. And what if we fashion or careers and work around that in way that we can sustain our pocketbooks as well as sustain our wellbeing?  What if through discovering your own passions and living them out you could also spread wellbeing to everyone else around the world?  That is precisely what Dragon and Danu of Winlaw are doing with the

Getting started. It is the single most difficult thing to do in the business world and it is what separates the entrepreneurs from the wannapreneurs. If you can just get started, you have boosted your likelihood of success by 100% over the alternative. But how does one get a business or an idea started? There are countless different ways and means to get an idea from your mind to your market. At the core of every successful start there are three things:  Understanding your market, learning if, when, why and how the market wants your product and raising enough money to deliver it to them. It sounds easy right? Well… yes and know. Easy in that you know what you need to know, hard in that it is a lot of work to make that happen. In the past, even just a matter of a few years or a decade ago, going through that process could take months or more likely years. With the advent of crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, you still have to put all of the work in ahead of time, however in 30 days you can quickly learn

Mother Nature. She has given us everything we could possibly ask for, and shown us the natural beauty, longevity and prosperity of building sustainable systems. Mimicking and building-in natural processes into your business can often mean pumping up the bottom line and sustainability of your business. Three folks who know this well are Shannon Hames of Flat Bags, Annette Carberry of The Red Dresser, and Mandy Lawson of Revived Wax. These three vibrant young women have started three diverse businesses that all share one common thread. In each case they have woven an environmental consciousness into their businesses, and in the process, found innovative business models to turn one person's trash into another’s treasure. Indeed, in each case, and many others, the "Environmentally friendly," business model is often also the most profitable model. What started as a chat over drinks on a lakeside patio, later became a scramble out of the rain, a dash inside, and then a move down the hall to a quieter couch,

Storytelling. It is one of the oldest past times and jobs in the history of humankind. Whether handing down knowledge, entertaining a crowd or selling the virtues of a product or service, the ability to tell a great story, is truly among the most powerful of skills. Whether painting on cave walls, or developing content for a new mobile app, there is no greater way to engage an audience's mind, heart and soul, and perhaps even their purse-strings, than a great story. In the marketing world of today, content marketing is one of the hot buzz words. The savvy customer is no longer sold by annoying ads. Instead, they are seeking out great content whether 140 characters or 3,000 words long. They want to learn, be educated and entertained, not sold too. Ignoring that desire to sell, and rather putting that effort into creating great content often leads to more customers grown, and more sales longer term, than going for the sales kill right off the bat. So what is that secret to creating great content? Vince Hem

Relationships. Solid, trusting relationships are the foundation of just about everything. From husband and wife, boss and employee to business and customer and everything in between, the fuel that drives each to great heights is their ability to create, grow and nurture a strong relationship.  Even just a couple of decades ago, the number of people you could possibly reach out and build a strong relationship with was pretty limited to who was in your immediate presence or who you reached out to over the phone, or by mail. If you were hoping to run a successful business you needed to be where you those customers were to make those relationships and fuel your growth. The advent of internet connectivity just about anywhere, anytime put in place the infrastructure to reach out and connect to the world. The rise of Social Media created a reasonable facsimile of being able to “Be in the immediate presence,” albeit virtually, of any customer in the world, and thus allowed more businesses to operate from wherever the

Collaboration, cooperation and celebration. You might say they are the three C’s of how to sell most any product, especially beer, Find the right partners to work with supplying your business, and distributing your product., cooperate on sales and marketing efforts with key partners, and throw a good party where people can enjoy and consume your product. Of course there is one more point to add to that list. Make a good, quality product that sells itself. The Nelson Brewing Company has been figuring out that formula for 25 years. While craft brewing is all the rage and a major growth industry around the world, in the early 90’s when NBC set up shop in the West Kootenays, they were pioneering a new trend in the region. To sell their beer they first had to educate the market that their “hippy beer,” was just as good as the big brands. Then they found their niche making organic beer, and finally they embedded themselves deeply into the community’s culture, character and lifestyle. The end result is a bursting at

So you’ve got an idea for the next big business.  The downside? You don’t have very many potential customers around in your small town. The dilemma? You love your small town and the small town lifestyle and wouldn’t want to move to a major center. The question?  Can you launch and grow a small business from your small town. If the previous 75 episodes are any indication the answer is of course you can.  Getting your product or service (especially in the early days) out to a wider global audience can seem like a daunting task. Can a big business launch, grow and stay in small town once they have made it big? Is living in a small market a major disadvantage to making it?  This episode is the first with our newest supporter. We’re excited to have two of their awesome previous clients Mary Racine of Handy Hay Nets and Charlotte Ferreux of Thrive Consulting with us for the first episode.

Idle. Webster’s defines it as being not active, as well as being without purpose. Many folks could well say that being idle is one of the leading causes of the climate change challenge we all face together. Whether it’s  governments failing to take action fast enough, corporations not stepping up to improve their environmental game, or just everyday people sitting idle, not being active, or finding their purpose on how they can assist in the efforts. Most all of us have ideas, big or small on what could be done to help protect the air we breathe, water we drink, land we live on and plants, animals and humans we live with, but few of us actually find our purpose and take action. Kim Klassen is not among that group. This week’s Sustainability Action Hero has identified one purpose that she has gotten active on, and has taken her idea and put it into action. Not sitting idle on the issue of idling cars and trucks in Rossland, Kim has already achieved success on the first steps of her current purpose with more to

Snakes and Ladders. The business world can often feel like and adult version of the popular game, especially when trying to invent a brand new product. For every two steps forward there are often one or more steps backward to follow. Just when you think you’re on the right path, another emerges. Yes it’s really all just a big game of choose your own adventure really. By setting out a clear end goal, having enough perseverance, a belief that your idea is indeed a winner, and the confidence that you will get it to the end line whatever it takes with perhaps a little bit of luck sprinkled in, you might just luck out and get more ladders than snakes. Rob Barden is nearing the end of his version of the game with the finish line in site.  We last spoke to Rob back in episode 30 in March 2015, just over a year ago. At that time, the former photocopier tycoon from the prairies was just embarking on his journey. The goal: invent a remotely releasable ski binding to keep skiers safer, and get it into the market. I sat

Climate Change. Most likely the biggest threat to mankind in our short history on the planet. The technology and ability to avoid and reduce its impact has been around for decades. What has been missing is a broad agreement on the true impact of mankind on climate change, and getting broad buy in on global level to do something about it. Imagine future where any disagreement on the subject would be impossible. Imagine a future where mankind’s impact on climate change could be measured accurately around the globe?  Pilar Portela and Bryan Fry o Rossland, BC have combined their talents to make this happen and take it a big step further. Combining her Enterprise Resource Planning software development and Bryan’s Internet of Things and  mass data storage experience, they intend to measure all of the emissions data on earth using big data, paint a clear picture of the image, and offer in depth analytics on solutions. No big deal right? Just a couple of Kootenay entrepreneurs combining talents to save the world thr

Fun. If there is one truism across humankind, it is that we all love to have fun. Yes, if you can take a seemingly mundane activity, or even a potentially undesirable one, and turn it into game, the chances of people participating in that activity goes up dramatically.  While gamification may be the buzz word of the twenty teens, the simple act of getting people to do a certain behavior by turning it into a fun game has been around for ages.   Another common aspect of human psychology that generally applies across the board is that people love recognition. We love that pat on the back when we do a good job, that special treat for good behavior, the bonus at work for top performance, and that general feeling of achieving something and being rewarded for it.   A more modern day commonality shared by the now billions of technology users, is that in general, we hate to see ads. We hate to be interrupted while playing our favourite app or taking in our favourite digital content. We hate it so much, that we'll happ

Human Resources. What do you think of when you hear those two words? What role does it play in your company’s success? Is it merely an administration aspect of your company that you pay attention too when you need new staff and talent for your venture, that then gets put back in a box until someone needs to be hired or fired? Perhaps in days gone by, this may have been the case, but over the last decade in particular there has been a major shift in thinking around just what HR's purpose is.  Let's stop and think for a minute. People, we know, are the lifeblood, the heart and the soul of any company.  For what is arguably the most important part of your venture, why so often dos HR take a backseat in the growth and development of our businesses?  Agata Zasada knows this better than many. She has lead major scale-ups for the Olympic Broadcasting Corporation, Lululemon, and most recently for BC's own Hootsuite.  Truly leading edge, progressive companies like Lululemon and Hootsuite know that to be successful, th

What is it you are meant to do? If a stranger walked up to you on the street and asked you what your purpose in life is, would it match what you’re currently doing? Whether from a mentor, friend, colleague or conference presentation, we’ve all heard it a million times over, “Do what you love, and success will follow,” but just how do we find out what it is we love, and what we were meant to do with our lives and careers? If you’re one of the lucky ones, you may already know. If not, a tried and tested route to get there is simple trial and error. Every failure is a step towards ultimate success.  Sometimes, as En Vogue in the 90’s would have us believe, we have to just step out of the stream of life, free our minds, and the rest will follow. For Lindsay Smith, CEO of Massive Media, it was a combination of both. Having already achieve career success in the software game, launched and run the influential Tech Vibes series while climbing the tech industry ladder it was a failure that caused her to reflect, liste

Summits. They are that small point of land where all upward sloping things eventually converge together, look down and realize they’ve created a mountain together. They are a convergence of talents coming from vastly different places, moving in opposite directions that meet to form something amazing. Whether ridgelines, and alpine bowls, or founder, funder and first adopter coming together, when you put the right pieces together in the same place, great things are formed. We took the podcast on a field trip this week, and got to experience a full emersion education in the world of tech business at the first BC Tech Summit event held in Vancouver. Not entirely sure what to expect, I felt like I was living an episode of HBO’s Silicon Valley, and quickly got caught up in the hype. Being surrounded by literally thousands of ides, start-ups and businesses “making the world a better place and thinking that expands beyond earth, and even transcends time and humanity itself, is inspiring to say the least

Pain Points. They are those areas of every business where a problem or challenge exists that is preventing or slowing down that business from getting where it wants to be. Yes pain points are in effect the very genesis of every good entrepreneurial idea. If there is a pain point, there is always a better way. If you can find that point, and come up with a solution that solves it, you're well on your way to a successful enterprise. Finding that point can be a challenge. Learning how can be the greatest tool any entrepreneur could ever ask for. You can come up with a great idea on your own that you may believe is the most fantastic thing since sliced bread, but if it's solving a problem that the customer isn't concerned about, it's likely going nowhere, and you may well have wasted many hours and dollars coming up with a solution that no one really wants. On the flip side, if you go to your customer first and ask them what their biggest challenge is, and then go and solve it for them, you've got a customer rea