Entrepreneurs: how to know your startup will be founded on purpose
I’ve had the pleasure of working with a range of new entrepreneurs over the course of the last five years, and each year it gets more and more exciting. What is becoming clear for me is that the conversation around starting a business inspired by a higher purpose is no longer a foreign concept. If anything, the ideas we discuss and the lessons we teach get the entrepreneurs fired up and even more determined to get their business ideas launched. When Seeds Consulting was conceived over a decade ago, there wasn’t a lot of talk about conscious or purpose-driven business. Social ventures were perceived as only businesses in far-away places around the world dealing with third world problems. Replacing a typical profit-driven business model with one that put purpose before profits was a tough business case to sell around the board table. Now, there’s ample evidence that shows that “doing well by doing good” makes
Indigenous Tourism Start up Program Launches in Whistler
SEA TO SKY PARTNERS CULTIVATE INDIGENOUS TOURISM IDEAS Coming summer 2019, the Indigenous Tourism Start up Program (ITSP) is managed through the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre (SLCC) in partnership with the Whistler Centre for Sustainability (WCS). The ITSP builds off of the Squamish Lil’wat St’at’imc Business Start-up Program (2018) and the Social Venture Challenge that the Centre created in 2015 and ran for three years. These initiatives successfully helped kick start new social enterprises in the region, with forty-one enterprises having completed the programs to date. This year the program will support new business start-ups for members from Indigenous communities in the Fraser Valley to Lillooet region, including, but not limited to: Squamish, Lil̓wat, Lower St’at’imc (N’Quatqua, Samahquam, Skatin, Xa’xtsa), Upper St’at’imc (T’it’q’et, Ts’kw’aylaxw, Xaxli’p, Tsal’alh. Se’k’welwas and Xwisten), Musqueam, Tsleil –Waututh, Sto:Lo, Tswawwassen, Kwantlen, Katzie, Kwikweltlm, and Shishalh Nations. BUSINESS START UP COURSE AND PITCH EVENT This program will focus
Keeping Social Media Simple – a Facebook Live Chat
An inpromptu social chat with Catherine and Heather from Keep It Simple Social Media In this Facebook Live chat broadcast by BeLive.tv, I chat with social media mavens Catherine Aird and Heather Clifford from Keep it Simple Social Media. We cover three main topics: Engagement Strategy: how to design two-way communications and engagement with your core target customers and clients Advice for small businesses or start-ups: how to choose the best marketing approaches for your business with a strapped budget and limited resources The evolution of marketing over the last decade: how to navigate the ever-changing world of marketing and what has stood out the most for an old-school marketer like myself Let me know what you think! Tools like Facebook Live are new and exciting ways to engage with your target audience in an easy and affordable way. Want to learn more about these and other tools to effectively engage on
Helping business become a force for good
By Michelle Ratcliffe Make business easy – tune in to The Big Idea, a bi-weekly column from the Whistler Chamber showcasing a Whistler Business innovating in their sector. It’s commonplace for the bottom line to define business success, but there is a growing global network of over 2,000 Certified B Corporations leading a movement to redefine success. These B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Whistler’s Seeds Consulting is part of this global movement and Principal, Diana Mulvey believes that a healthy profit can be achieved parallel to progress for the planet and people. Mulvey has built a business that takes action on social and environmental issues. Working with companies that aim to do good for humanity and for the planet, her business helps growing enterprises define the difference they are trying to make
How putting employees first boosts your brand
If a company treats its employees well, what does that say about a brand? Recent studies show that consumers are more likely to purchase from brands if employees are treated well. Further, they may even be willing to pay more and recommend the company’s products or services to friends. Should a business aim to bolster its brand through better worker policies and practices? If you’ve ever experienced the challenges of recruiting and retaining great people at your organization, a better question might be: can you really afford not to? A study conducted in 2016 with Cone Communications intereviewed 1,000 adults uncovering some compelling data on what motivates employees, and it’s not just about financial gain. About 85% were looking at making a meaningful difference through their career. About 76% were looking for meaningful personal experiences, such as meeting new people and exploring new places. Breaking down the survey data looking at
New social venture start-up program based in Pemberton gets ideas off the ground
Root Ventures NURTUREs entrepreneurs WITH FOOD OR ART-FOCUSED business CONCEPTs At a kick off event last month, aspiring entrepreneurs crowded into the local coffee shop for a night of inspiration and networking with community members. What brought them out for the evening was the prospect of putting their ideas into action. The Sea to Sky corridor has always been a draw for people who like to do things differently and make a living by their own set of rules so they can maximize their time in this beautiful place. Based on the strong turn out, it is clear that there are plenty of good ideas buried in the fertile soils of the Pemberton Valley, and the time is ripe to get them off the ground. In Canada, the start-up community has become a fast-growing movement from coast to coast. Incubators, design labs, catalyst programs and more have cultivated innovative and viable business ideas with the support from