You Can Do That Here

Starting. That one simple action is what separates true entrepreneurs from everyone else. We all have great ideas at times, but it is a rare breed that takes action, takes a risk, trusts in themselves and actually starts in on making that idea a reality.

There are many different looks, and reasons for a start. Perhaps you're an employee and want to start a new project within your company. Maybe you're ready to start a new business and be your own boss for the first time. It could be that a partner or friend has started a business and wants you to join the team. For some, they've started multiple successful companies, have made a lucrative exit, and are now looking to start another new venture.

 Trail, BC's Don Freschi has been involved in all of those types of starts. From being part of an innovative project team at Teck, he made the move and joined a colleague in launching a new venture, moving to Victoria in the process. When that company sold, he saw an opportunity to move back home, and got involved as a key man in starting up Firebird Technologies. Taking that business to the top of its game, he sold the company, and now that his non-compete clause is up, he's at it again, and starting up his next venture. 

I sat down with Don in the Community Futures Office in Trail, BC, to talk about his story, his starts, and some key lessons learned along the way that all entrepreneurs can learn from.

The customer is always right. Right? Give the customer what they want and they'll keep coming back. Treat the customer well and they'll probably tell their friends. Involve the customer from day one in the development of your business, and never forget that it is the customer who gives you the licence to operate and you'll have built a strong foundation to build your initial idea as far and for as long as you stick with that principle.

John Meyer of Oso Negro in Nelson is the living proof of this concept. 20 years on from what was intended to be a fun hobby business with a friend in-between career moves, a 1 Kilogram Italian Coffee Roaster and a basic belief that your business should be a reflection of your community, and that customer input should drive your product development, Oso Negro has since grown to be an institution of sorts in Nelson.

Now employing over 30 people, he maintains his belief that the pursuit of a quality product is paramount to the pursuit of profit. The growth of his business through three locations, to now occupy an Uptown Roastery in the Nelson Brewing Company building, and one of the busiest and most welcoming cafe's around in downtown Nelson is testament to the hard work, openness, honesty and inclusiveness of his business.

I sat down with John to learn more about how he grew Oso into what it is now, and the result was a manifesto of sorts on how to let your customers lead your growth.

To work or to play? If your like most, that decision is made for you automatically five days a week, and there really is no question at all. Entrepreneurs of course can stay home and play if they like, take the day off and hit the slopes, get in a bike ride or play the links,  if they are willing to take the hit of losing a days worth of productivity.

What if there was a third choice out there? What if choosing to play and choosing work were one and the same? Could such a dream truly be possible? Sure for professional athletes and celebrities that’s already the case, but what about the rest of us? Can we be paid to play?

Brad Steele out of Nelson, BC is living very close to that dream. Living in Nelson itself is stunningly unnormal enough to blur the lines between dreams and reality

Piece by piece, taking slow and measured steps, he began building a bridge from running his own creative business into utilizing his artistic abilities and work experience as a graphic and online designer, to dabble in the potential business of backcountry skiing. From a guide book, to an online product to a now thriving online community of backcountry skiers, Brad has built his own version of the dream. 50+ days of backcountry skiing, 20+ days on the lifts, and countless hikes later he’s making money directly from his passion.

Brad and I caught up in the Kootenay Coop Radio studios to talk about his tale.            

From her start growing up with her grandparents in an eclectic, art filled house in Scotland, through her emergence as a budding artist and entrepreneur, Fiona Richards was a tour de force on the greeting cards scene. Utilizing timely and well placed media stories in some of the biggest publications in the world she quickly became a leader in that space as we learned in Part 1. In Part 2, we look at the second and third acts of Cartolina's entrepreneurial play. We left off our conversation in Part 1 just as Fiona's international distribution was picking up. With the launch of the iPhone in 2007, a whole new frontier opened up, and Richards was quick to jump on the bandwagon, and ride it to even new heights. Most recently she has bucked the trend of starting from bricks and mortar and moving online, and has reversed that trend opening up a beautiful new retail store on Baker Street in Nelson. Learn how she has continued opening up her business to an omni-channel sales approach, and has taken what started as a handmade greeting card company around the world and back again.

There's no such thing as bad publicity. That's what everyone says at least, often as a way to rationalize some bad media overage. But what about those truly successful entrepreneurs out there who knocked publicity and earned media out of the park, and were able to leverage press coverage to launch them fromback of the house business to a leader in their field? How do they do it? How do they get noticed? and more importantly how do they get compelling stories about their miniscule business into the right hands in some of the biggest publications int he world?

Here in Nelson, Cartolina Cards, run by Fiona Richards is the shining example. From a childhood spent surrounded by vintage art and ecentric grandparents, growing up in Scotland, through workign in creative fields and finally finding a home in Nelson and selling paintings downtown, Fiona has mastered the art of telling her own story, and getting that story into the hands of those who can spread it globally.

Catching up with Fiona in her new Bricks and mortar Cartolina store on Baker Street, her unqiue story of growing her passion for art and business into a omni-channel successful wholesale, online etailer, and now retailer is impressive to say the least. With such a great story and so much good advice to pass on, I couldn't possibly cut the episode down to 30 minutes and deprive our listeners of the value rich content. So today I'll bring you part one of my conversation with Fiona Richards where we dive into her businesses origin's in Scotland, to her flourishing wholsale business made possibl by a comibination of a stellar product and a seemingly magical ability to generate positive press coverage on a global scale.

Life on the edge. This is where the truly innovative businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs play. Out in front of the pack there is no one to follow, rule books are unwritten, and possibilities are endless. At the same time, there is no net, and there is no proof or reassurance that any new idea or plan will work until you've gone out and proved it.

You might think the bleeding edge is populated with high tech start-ups, but there are folks out there leading their respective packs you may have never thought of. Take grocery stores for instance.

So much more than just a mere grocery store the Kootenay Coop has grown from humble beginnings as The Vallican-Winlaw Food Cooperative in 1975, into Canada's largest independent consumer owned natural foods retail cooperative.

Taking bold steps beyond the known boundaries of what coops have and can be, the Kootenay Coop has found a magical balance between for profit business, and a democratically run, consumer owned coop. The results speak for themselves with the latest bold step invovling the purchase of 3/4 of a prime downtown block in Nelson, BC and plans well underway to construct a four story mixed use development, that along with retail and condo's will also feature a greatly expanded 20,000 square foot home for the coop.

Joining us on the podcast today are Deirdrie Lang and Jocelyn Carver of the Kootenay Coop.

The systems they've set up and mindset adopted are chaulk full of valuable ideas that any entrepreneurial company wanting to be at or near the leading edge would do well to incorporate.

Advice...We've all received it at certain times and we've all given it out at other times. Sometimes we seek it out from those we consider wise on a particular subject. Other times it seeks us out. Wheter from a trusted colleague, faimly member or friend, a few sage words of instruction can be a critical key that helps unlock the doors to success.

One thing we can take comfort in is that there are very few truly new situations out there. Yes, somewhere, sometime, someone else out there had the same challenge you are currently having and somewhere, sometime, someone elese out there solved it either on their own or with the help of others. If we look far enough around and within our circle of contacts, the chances are, someone has been there and done that and can add in their two cents to help us out.

On today's inbetweenisode we revisit conversations with five talented entrepreneurs as we ask them "What was the best advice you've ever received?"

Frustrated with their jobs, and dreading Monday mornings. Petri Raito and Ryan Arnaud (originally of Winnipeg, but now calling Rossland, BC home) had become master home brewers of beer. Their friends regularly told them that they should get into business and sell their beer. Eventually that message sunk in and the two quit their jobs, moved out west and went all in on their true love...Beer!

Starting from an all grain U-brew operation in Trail, they have just recently opened the doors to their beautiful new craft brewery in downtown Rossland,BC. If the long lines in front of their back-alley garage door are any indication, the new venture has already got Rosslanders frothing at the mouth everytime a new batch of beer is hooked up to the taps.

On today's podcast, Petri and Ryan will walk us through the often time consuming, back breaking and challenging process of following their dreams, going all in, and opening a small scale craft brewery.

Starting from scratch, Tim Baldwin and Jordan Stroble from Trail, BC wanted to start their own business. The idea of being their own boss was appealing, and they had the drive, talent and energy to make it happen. The rest, could be learned along the way.

Combining their love of digital media, graphic design, and action adventure sports, the pair started making up shirt designs, and filming their friends wearing their goods in the mountains of The Rossland Range. Taking advantage of the opportunity a grade 11 class provided them, they went full steam on launching Ebon Supply Co. and hace since gone on to win the Jr. Dragon's Den Contest.

Their story is inspiring and is chaulk full of lessons for even the most seasoned entrepreneurs to learn from.

If you asked most people in the world what they'd most want. I bet you'd get a whole lot of people saying someting like "World peace," or " Make the world a better place."  You'd probably also get a lot of people saying "Make a bunch of money."

What if you could make both of those things happen simultaneously? What if you could inspire people to get off their behinds and get out living a fulfilling life? What if you could raise money for charity? What if you could do all of that and make a profit?

Enter the social entrepreneur who measures success in more ways than simply profits and losses. Mike Kent and Andrea Winckers of Rossland BC have gotten onboard the movement, and launched yodel.org, a digital platform for doing all of the above.

Oh yeah, and they also yodel in the intro, so that alone is worth checking out.