Why is this so unfortunate? Because I know that no matter how accomplished or hardworking the Top 50 are, regardless of their generous charity work or the number of jobs they create, there are people out there who will use our celebration of their efforts as an opportunity to criticise.

It could be a disgruntled employee, frustrated competitor or someone stuck in an unrewarding job. Whoever they are, they’ll find some reason to “justify” sneering at triumphs, downplaying achievements or claiming that results are exaggerated. They’ll argue that so-and-so had it easy – that they were “given” their job and wealth because they were born into an entrepreneurial family. Or they’ll insinuate that favouritism, nepotism, or some other skulduggery was involved in the awarding of a lucrative contract.

Enough already. Success is not a birthright. And it does not happen by chance.

In an April 3, 2012 article on fastcompany.com, Josh Linkner rightly pointed out that there is no such thing as an “overnight” success. He explained that it took Rovio eight years to create the popular Angry Birds video game – and they nearly went bankrupt doing it. James Dyson reportedly had 5,126 failed prototypes before he perfected his revolutionary vacuum. Well-known lubricant WD40 is so named because the first 39 experiments failed. Even Groupon had a near death experience in its earlier days.

Paul LeBlanc of Extreme Group (and a Top 50 CEO alumnus) has a message for everyone afflicted with the lobster pot syndrome: “If you think anyone driving a BMW, Audi or Mercedes was handed a golden opportunity or just dealt a better hand, and that there should be an equalization of success, (there are) challenges, hazards and stress that come with risking it all … I can promise you that there’s a more than good chance that Sobeys and Irving had many close calls that could have tanked their business at some points in their life cycle.

“The public needs to know that without risk takers, our economy would cease to exist. Jobs are created on the backs of those brave (or crazy) enough to pursue an idea and we need to respect that, not shoot them down.”

His self-described “rant” was spawned by online comments about SeaFort Capital, a new investment company started up by the Sobeys and McCains. Launched March 26, SeaFort will focus on making controlling investments in Canadian businesses with $2 million to $10 million in earnings. Negative public response ranged from “fat cats getting fatter” to “maybe they will both lower the price of the foods they supply so us common folk can pay for oil and electricity that they probably are shareholders in also.”

LeBlanc says he was extremely angry at the sentiment and ignorance of the general public about this “exciting” announcement. “Perhaps if they shadowed an entrepreneur for a month, they would happily return to their jobs with an appreciation for what it takes, day in and out, to run a successful business.”

Personally speaking, I’ve never resented someone else’s success. Envy them? Yes. Begrudge them? Never. When I was growing up and I wanted something that someone else had, or was bested in something that mattered to me, my parents invariably responded with a question: What are you going to do about it? There’s a wealth of power in that question, in being taught that you yourself have the ability to effect change. So, rather than be intimidated or threatened by the exemplary achievements of the Top 50 CEOs, I am instead inspired. They make me want to work harder, take risks, reap rewards.

That’s why we began publishing these awards 14 years ago: to recognize the singular strengths of award-winning leadership and to show other Atlantic Canadians that this is a great place to do business.

If you’re looking for the motivation or inspiration to pursue your dreams, please read on. If you’re one of those sadistic crustaceans I hear so much about, please put the magazine down. You don’t deserve it.

I’m the record keeper/accountant-type person in the business; my husband is the sales guy. And he was the one who unfortunately answered the call from Revenue Canada. I wasn’t home, and he couldn’t answer all the questions he was asked. Bottom line: the woman on the other end of the line couldn’t believe that we had not had any income during our first three months in business. Hubby explained that we had to pay our money upfront, then do three months of training before we were allowed to sell anything. But she either didn’t believe him or couldn’t grasp the meaning of “start-up phase.”

The result of which was that I had to meet with Revenue Canada, in person, and bring along all of my financial records related to the business – every single receipt, my mileage book, and hard copies of my electronic records. I also had to provide them with three months of records for my personal bank accounts, the business account and my credit card statements. I didn’t think they had any business looking into my personal records, but this is Revenue Canada right. You’re afraid to say no to anything, figuring they’ll put you on auto-audit for the next decade (which is what’ll probably happen anyway once someone there reads this blog).

When I arrived at the government office, I was met and questioned by the phone lady and her supervisor. Both were nice enough people, but the tag team approach didn’t help my anxiety. Their questions were straightforward enough, and I answered them without any problem. What kind of business do we have? It’s a service-based company that shall here go unnamed. How is it structured? It’s similar to a franchise model: we purchase the rights and licenses to operate under a particular corporate banner, but the expenses/operations/marketing are entirely our own. Did we have to get a loan to pay for it? No, we took advantage of the payment plan offered by the parent company. Did we anticipate having a lot of expenses going forward? Not really, the biggest investment was upfront. Would we be collecting HST from clients? No, it would be collected by head office. We will receive some HST as part of our commission payments.

When they finished their questions, I had one for them: had we done anything wrong that triggered the audit? Apparently not. They said the Revenue Canada computer system routinely and randomly identifies subjects to be audited. They also said, and this is a direct quote (said with a straight face too): “You’re actually very fortunate. Most new companies would welcome the opportunity to have their finances examined like this, to make sure they’re on the right track from the beginning.”

Yeah, right. Pardon me, but I’m having a little trouble envisioning anyone clamouring to be audited.

That said, there was good news. After three weeks of scrutiny, my financial records received the Revenue Canada stamp of approval. Now I just have my first business income tax filing to look forward to. Oh joy!!

For those of you who don’t know her, she’s the MP who brought her three-month old into the House of Commons. She reportedly couldn’t find her husband in time to pass off the infant before taking part in a vote on the long-gun registry. So, she took the baby with her.

That’s when the doo-doo hit the diaper. Hassainia says a page told her that the Speaker of the House, Andrew Scheer, had ordered the baby booted. Scheer, in turn, says it was a misunderstanding — that he was prohibiting the picture-taking of said babe-in-the-Chamber, not the child’s actual presence. He has since communicated to Hassainia that her little bundle is welcome any time.

Less easily dismissed is the online social commentary about the incident. Frankly, I was appalled at the volume of Canadians who lambasted Hassainia for bringing her baby to work. Some accused her of being self-indulgent. Others claimed that her actions insulted the integrity of the House. Still more argued for the sanctity and decorum of the workplace.

I agree that there’s a time and a place for everything. Children, quite often, don’t belong in a professional environment, strapped to his or her parental bosom. Meetings can’t run effectively with toddlers underfoot. And a bawling infant does no one’s concentration any favours. That’s not the issue.

The problem I have with the Hassainia situation relates to our national social priorities. Think about it: how archaic are our rules and regulations when MPs don’t qualify for maternity leave? We often hear from political parties that they want to see more women running for office, but what kind of message are we sending when it’s obvious that the rules which women — biologically engineered for childbirth — must play by are rules that virtually yell at them to keep them out?

That’s only child’s play compared to the bigger issue. Yes, I’m talking about the need for a national child care strategy.

If it weren’t for immigrants, the Canadian population might well be in freefall. The gap between rich and poor is ever-widening in this country. Many companies are desperate for workers, particularly in the retail and service sectors. A social system that supported families would address many of these problems.

Think about it: there aren’t enough daycare spaces to keep up with demand. And, if you’re fortunate enough to get a spot, the cost of keeping a child in care is so expensive that it’s often the equivalent of a second mortgage payment. That, combined with the rest of your typical living expenses, requires creative budgeting on an $86,000 a year salary (the average for Canadian families with two income earners). Provide more cost-effective daycare, and more people could actually afford to go to work.

Then there’s maternity leave, which provides up to one year paid leave (at severely compressed benefit levels). A lot of daycares don’t accept kids between 12 and 24 months. So what do you do with your child for a year?

That doesn’t even begin to address the challenges of daycare for shift workers: a quick search of my phone book didn’t turn up one single daycare that was open 12 to 14 hours a day.

There are nations with workable family-friendly national policies (Norway being one of them), so it’s obvious that this is doable. The question is: are we willing to do it?

Let me tell you a story. When I was in university, I was like most students in that I still lived at home with my parents, had a student loan and worked a part-time job. But I was also a mom. One day, when my son was three, I had a dilemma: daycare was closed; university was not — and I had a quiz. Instead of staying home, I brought my son to class. I thought I’d be safe for the measly 10 minutes I needed for the test.

I wasn’t.

He behaved as three-year-olds normally do and I was ordered to leave. I was embarrassed, but eventually went back, finished the course, then my degree and graduated to build a rewarding career. But not everyone does. And that, more than anything else, is why we can’t afford to let this issue go ignored any longer.

To recap on my previous entry: my husband and I have taken on the challenge of starting up a home-based business that we’re operating in addition to working our regular day jobs. No, I won’t be promoting or publishing either the business name or the industry here – that would be taking unfair advantage of you and my employers (supremely supportive though they are).

When I last left off, we had just finished three months of online training. Late November found us in Halifax for five intense days of in-person training. Then, on December 1, we were let loose on the world. Tossed from the nest. Told to spread our wings and soar. We’re soaring alright – as fast and as far as our gimpy wings will take us.

Since officially opening our e-doors (it being a mostly online enterprise), we’ve shamelessly networked the heck out of our family and friends, getting them to distribute our business cards and promotional material to their respective networks like it was the world’s most sought-after Halloween candy. Plus, we set up a website and solicited subscriptions to our e-newsletter. And we’ve mailed a notice of our business opening to everyone in our home town. Heck, even one of our Christmas gifts was a tongue-in-cheek promotion of the new company.

The result of that feverish marketing? A promising number of enquiries about our products and services, which are teaching us just how much we don’t know. Learning “curve” doesn’t come close to describing it: it’s more like trying to climb Mount Everest, only you have to figure out how to use the climbing gear as you’re on your way up. In some cases, we’ve had to find the gear first, then try learning to use it.

A recent phone call to a supplier left both partner and I feeling like the biggest losers on the planet. We’d called looking for answers to what we thought were simple questions, only to find out our passwords wouldn’t work and we couldn’t access the responses. Imagine the frustration when we realized the problem was that we had been trying to login to the wrong website. Needless to say, voices were raised and cross words were said (not at the supplier, but ourselves).

In case you’re wondering, we do have head office support, but it’s more often in the form of general directions than a specific step-by-step guide. Hint to head office, if you’re reading: when someone’s new to the industry, and they’re trying to get set up as quickly as possible, telling them to “experiment with it until you’re more comfortable” does not inspire confidence.

The good news is that we are learning, and the more we learn, the more excited we get about the products we’re selling. And, the more excited we get, the more excited our potential clients become and the more enquiries we get. We’ve already had a number of sales, with at least double that number waiting to be reeled in.

But even this has its challenges. Mainly, the time crunch. How can you build your business when you’re spending all your time working on your business? Seriously, I’d like to know.

Hmmm. What else have we been doing? Ah yes, business expenses and taxes. One of the best pieces of advice we were given was to consult an accountant in the very early days and get some advice on how to set up our accounts. Thanks to that, we have an incredibly basic but effective accounting system. We keep the receipts of every business-related item we purchase (not credit card slips, mind you, but actual receipts). This includes gas, car insurance, mortgage fees (home office remember), office supplies, furniture, computer equipment and upgrades, utilities and municipal fees such as taxes and business permits. With regards to the home-related expenses, we’re allowed to charge a percentage of the expenses that is equivalent to the size of our home office in relation to the square footage of our home.

Loyola Hearn talks hockey, direct flights and his plans for dealing with seal hunt protestors — assuming they ever show up

It was a mildly disappointing day for Canada’s 28th Ambassador to Ireland. March 15 is known as “seal hunt protest day” throughout the European Union and Loyola Hearn’s staff had advised him it might be a good day to make himself scarce.

“Are you kidding,” the former Minister of Fisheries and Oceans reports thinking. “Bring ‘em on.”

Hearn’s staff needn’t have worried. Instead of the expected parade of protestors, there wasn’t a placard to be seen outside the Wilton Terrace consulate.

Even if they had appeared, it’s hard to picture this particularly good-willed ambassador going head-to-head with anyone. Reclining on the leather sofa in his modestly furnished corner office, sipping coffee and offering visitors a light snack, Hearn is a study in genteel hospitality.

So comfortable and relaxed does he appear that you could easily assume he must have the least stressful job imaginable. And that the role of Ambassador entails little more than a merry round of chit-chat, that it’s just a grand gold-plated send-off for retired politicians. Which is pretty much how Globe and Mail columnist John Ibbitson described it in on November 19, 2010. He said Hearn had been awarded the “plum Dublin post” for his “good and faithful service” to Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.

While Hearn is the first to admit that socializing is an important part of the job, he says he “didn’t come over here to sit around.”

“I never had a drink in my life. If I did, I wouldn’t have the time to have a pint. But that’s what I wanted. …It’s a great opportunity to do something worthwhile.”

The opportunity is indeed considerable.

According to Canada’s Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, two-way trade between Canada and Ireland was worth $1.8 billion in 2010. “Stronger trade and investment links… will support growth in the two countries and help increase both countries’ standard of living.

“Both Ireland and Canada profit from the trade between our countries and Canada is a good destination for Irish investment. Strong, solid business opportunities, in particular in the services sector, still remain between Ireland and Canada and there is considerable scope to increase trade in investment services.”

The broader picture is that Ireland could well be Canada’s springboard to a larger sphere of global influence. It’s no secret that the Eurozone is in an economic crisis. Greece, Italy, France and other nations have seen skyrocketing debt, rising unemployment and nigh-unbearable increases in the cost of living. Canada hasn’t been immune to the malaise, but its situation is nowhere near as dire.

“Our government paid down significant amounts of debt when times were good,” said Flaherty, “and we kept our debt to GDP ratio well below our G7 counterparts.

“Canada did not suffer one bank failure throughout the global financial crisis.”

In other words, the Maple Leaf has become a symbol of financial stability. Though the Irish have already made significant progress in turning their economy around, any Canadian success in helping them recover more quickly could see other European nations lining up for a good dose of Canadian sensibility.

On the flip-side, Canada’s big break could just as easily go bust. Which is why this country’s ambassador to Ireland has never been a more strategically important role. Flaherty, for one, believes the country is “fortunate to have someone of Loyola Hearn’s capabilities and enthusiasm representing us in Ireland.”

When Loyola Hearn retired from politics in 2008, he says he fully intended to settle down for good in his hometown of Renews. But he couldn’t say no to the chance to work in Ireland. “I had always said that the only thing for which I’d lace up again was if I got a chance, in some capacity, to work with Ireland.”

When Pat Binns’ term as ambassador was cut short (he was appointed Canadian Consul General to New England), Hearn was invited to take on the role. It’s a position he seems almost born to fill.

Hearn was born and raised in a part of Newfoundland known as the “Irish Loop” for its strong concentration of Irish settlers. Area residents sound so Irish that parish priest, Father Peter Golden, sounds just like one of the locals – and he’s actually from Ireland.

Ambassador Hearn laughs as he recounts the number of times he’s had people on the greener side of the Atlantic argue with him that he’s one of their own. “They think I’m from Waterford or Wexford. ‘Yes,’ they’ll say, ‘absolutely, you’re from Waterford.’ They don’t believe me when I say I’m not. They think I’m fooling them.”

Fitting in has its advantages. “If you want to get people to include you in the planning process, you have to be one of them. It’s not a difficult job for me.”

His accent, however, is only part of the story.

In its basest form, an ambassador’s job is to represent one country in another country. Within that definition, however, are three distinct spheres of influence. One involves the facilitation of bi-lateral trade. Another entails observation of the political situation and building cultural ties. The third requires management of consular property and personnel.

Altogether, the three divisions ensure that the ambassador is kept hopping. Hearn reports that he regularly sees two to three groups of Canadian visitors every week, people who stop by the embassy when they’re in the city. “If they’re on the way in, we can recommend a few things for them to do. If they’re on the way back, we can gather from them what they saw, what they got out of it and what they can take home.”

He also works with Canadian companies that are in Ireland as well as Irish companies that want to invest in Canada, providing information, offering advice and making contacts. He holds receptions that enable musicians, artists, authors and others to establish ties with appreciative Irish people. And he arranges meetings for any visiting Canadian government officials.

There’s a strong argument, however, for the case that Hearn’s greatest successes are in the “extras” he undertakes on his own initiative. A recent visit to Tralee is a fortuitous case in point.

While stopping in town for lunch on his way to Dingle and Valencia, he decided to drop by the county council office to say hello. Upon asking for directions at the hotel where he’d stopped for lunch, the woman at the front desk said she knew the deputy mayor and would give him a call.

“Before we’d finished our sandwiches, the deputy mayor arrived and took us to the council office for a chat with the regional manager. Turns out that they had been meeting recently. Valencia is where they laid the ransatlantic cable on this side of the Atlantic and they were wondering how to make connections with people at the other end (Heart’s Content, Newfoundland). They were wondering about embassies and did ambassadors get involved in stuff like that and do they ever go out of town — and I walked into their office. Two and a half hours later, we had it all settled.”

On another occasion, he led a multinational delegation that met with Irish officials regarding an agricultural issue related to wheat. Ireland was initially neutral on the issue and potentially even negative towards Canada’s position. But after Hearn’s delegation met with the Irish, explained the situation and identified how it could affect Ireland negatively, they changed their vote and sided with Canada.

Just one year into his four-year post, Hearn says there are two things in particular that he wants to accomplish before he returns home: he wants to see hockey played in Dublin, and he wants to see year-round direct flights between Canada and Ireland.

At the moment, there are direct flights between the two countries only during the summer months. This even though Canada has passed the United States to become the second-most popular destination in the world for Irish young people (Australia is first). What difference would direct flights make? Hearn says that it took him 34 hours to get home to Newfoundland from Ireland last Easter. “If we had a direct flight between here and St. John’s, it would be a little less than four hours.”

Hearn is working to change that. He, along with representatives of Tourism Ireland, the City of Dublin, Dublin Airport Authority, the Irish-Canadian Society, the Ireland-Canada Business Association, St. John’s Airport Authority and Halifax Airport Authority, are members of a committee that’s made contact with a number of airlines. He reports that interest has been expressed by some of them. “We are encouraged,” he says, while acknowledging that these things take time.

Hockey, however, is moving forward at a faster pace. An official NHL size rink has been built in Dublin and, as of press time, is almost ready to open. Hearn doubts that he’ll play (“I’ve been too long off skates”), but he has been asked to drop the first puck. “Hockey is Canada,” he says, “it’s another door opener. Hopefully, it’ll culminate in closer relationships, better knowledge of each other, to the benefit of both countries. If I can say I helped that a little bit (during my time here), it’ll be a real feather in my cap.”

And if the seal hunt protestors should show up before he heads home for good, “I would invite them in,” says Hearn. “I’d like to offer them a cup of tea or coffee and try to get to the bottom of what’s behind it all. Why are they here? Who’s sponsoring them? What’s behind it all?

“More than anything, I’d like to really sit down and have a chat. That’s what I do.”

Every week, I’d tag along with Marlin Perkins and first-name-only “Jim” as they encountered animals in their natural habitat. Come to think of it, Jim did most of the encountering while Marlin narrated. Nonetheless, their tag team efforts did a great job of showing lions and tigers chasing giraffes and wildebeest, birds on the hunt and evasive prey doing its best not to get caught. It was a tough lesson for a young age, but I soon learned that the wild really lives up to its name — and you never want to be left behind by the herd.

The same is true in business. You’re either first, or best, or fastest – or you’re gone. Fall behind and you’ll be picked off by hungry predators.

Which is why we here at Atlantic Business are dedicated to constant improvement. Yes, we’re the most award-winning business magazine in the region. And yes, we have the largest circulation in our class (audits put us 39% ahead of our closest regional competitor). We use only high quality recycled papers and inks in our print products and work hard to take full advantage of electronic delivery systems. All of our stories are available on our website in text and PDF formats (in case you hadn’t heard, we’re smartphone-friendly too). We’re also active on Facebook and Twitter, steadily building an ever larger and more loyal audience.

It’s all good stuff, but good is never enough.


In this jungle, it’s you — the reader — who is king. Call it the law of the eyeball: either we deliver must-read content or you look elsewhere. So when you talk, we listen — very, very closely. Which is why, based on your submissions to our annual readership survey, we’ve refined some elements of the magazine.

You may have already noticed one of them: our expanded and refined contributors’ page. We’ve adopted a more insightful and entertaining presentation style, allowing our writers and photographers to explain some of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into content creation.

Speaking of contributors, we’re proud to say we’ve added a well known and highly respected name to our editorial roster. Stephen Kimber is a professor of journalism at University of King’s College as well as an award-winning writer, editor and broadcaster. His work has appeared in almost every major publication in Canada, from the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star to Canadian Geographic and Financial Post. As our new contributing editor, he’ll strengthen our coverage of Nova Scotia’s business scene. Follow the jump to find his inaugural column.

We do, however, have some words of caution as you move forward: don’t panic when you can’t immediately find John Risley in his usual slot behind the Upfront section. He’s not gone, he’s just moved up the food chain. His new home is on the most valuable piece of real estate in the magazine, just inside the back cover. We thought it was a more fitting locale given his popularity with readers.

We’re also making adjustments online by beefing up our coverage of home-grown Atlantic Canadian businesses with our Business of the Month club. Each month, we’ll select a subject from submissions received on our website and publish an indepth profile of that company on atlanticbusinessmagazine.com. Plus, we’ll promote the profile via our e-newsletter and on our Facebook and Twitter channels.

Still hungry for more? We’re also partnering our online publishing section with student journalists throughout Atlantic Canada and posting their reports for your electronic consumption. It’ll give you a taste of emerging talent, provide next-generation journalists with a public platform for their work and boost our online offerings.

After all, there really is strength in numbers, and we’ll need that if we want to stay in front of the pack. We are Atlantic Business Magazine. Hear us roar.

The de-amalgamation of Halifax Regional Municipality has been a recurring theme since the day of its reluctant formation in 1996. If certain prominent residents have their way, it’s going to be one of the central issues in next year’s municipal election.

Logistically speaking, it’s hard to comprehend why the provincial government of the day forced HRM’s 5,850 square km. of scattered settlements and cosmopolitan cores to the altar in the first place. Bigger than the entire province of P.E.I. and spanning 165km from wingtip to wingtip, it must be one of the most unwieldy municipalities in the country.

A majority of residents agree. At least, that’s what five years of polling results from Corporate Research Associates seem to say. Specifically, the polls show that from January 2005 to September 2011, 48 to 61 per cent of residents 18 years of age and older support the idea of splitting HRM into two municipal units: one for rural residents called the County of Halifax and one for urban residents called the City of Halifax.

If CRA is accurate — and they claim they are, to within plus or minus 4.9 percentage points, 95 times out of a 100 — Coun. Steve Streatch is in the minority.

Not that he cares. The representative for Musquodoboit Valley – Eastern Shore doesn’t give a lot of credence to CRA’s polling results, in this instance at least. “Don Mills (CRA’s president and CEO) is seeding public opinion, not searching for it,” asserts Streatch, referencing the fact that the pollster has asked the same question 18 times in five and a half years.

“(I sense) a distinct disdain from him for the rural way of life.”

Mills, for his part, doesn’t deny that he believes dividing the municipality into two distinct municipal units would be in the best interests of all citizens. But he does take issue with the criticism that he doesn’t respect his country cousins. “Completely contrary. I believe that rural citizens are not as well served by the current municipal structure as they were previously under the old county of Halifax model. I do have complete disdain for parochial politicians, however, who are unable to see the better picture.

“The current governance model … has proven to be essentially ungovernable given the distinct differences in the needs of those living in the more than 130 communities that compose HRM.”

Malcolm Fraser doesn’t like the “d” word (as in de-amalgamation), but he agrees with Mills that the existing governance structure isn’t working. Fraser is president of ISL web marketing and development and chair of Citizens for Halifax, though he says he wasn’t speaking in either capacity for this interview. And it is his personal opinion that there needs to be more local management. “There are all sorts of neighbourhoods in any city. Those neighbourhoods should have a say in how money gets spent.”

An adjacent issue to governance reform, according to Fraser, is tax reform. “The taxes that a business pays in Bayer’s Lake versus Quinpool Road are substantially different. We have a sprawling city. Infrastructure is expensive to put in place (in rural areas), and it’s subsidized by downtown taxpayers.

“Is it fair that only one or two per cent of all tax dollars raised in the downtown is spent in the downtown? The imbalance is causing the core to crumble.”

Streatch describes such comments as “insulting” and “narrow-minded.” “What would they do if we cut them off from the water supply? What if we installed a toll at the landfill?

“There are benefits to being such a large and diverse community. And we (HRM council) are doing the best we can to support both the rural and urban parts of our municipality.”

And no, I’m not going to tell you what the business is or what we’ll be doing (other than to say it’s home-based and involves a partnership with a larger organization). More than that is neither important nor necessary — for this forum anyway.

My purpose here is not to promote our particular business venture (and I won’t — not here and not in print), but instead to promote discussion and debate about business ownership in general. As editor of a business magazine, I’ve been writing about small business issues for over 13 years; now, I’m finally experiencing it for myself.

I’ll blog about it from time to time, and hope you jump in to celebrate our successes or offer advice when we’ve obviously gone off the rails (a little commiseration wouldn’t go astray either).

I’ll start by discussing our first loss: innocence.

Shiny-eyed dopes that we were, we thought we knew everything there was to know about the business before we signed any contract. We checked it out with the BBB. We cold-called other partners around the country to see what the parent company was like to work with. We examined and re-examined our budget to ensure we could handle the required cash investment.

Yep, we had all our homework done — we had it all figured out. We climbed aboard the entrepreneurial train, and started sharing the news with family and friends.

Incidentally, we were surprised by the number of people who either didn’t acknowledge what we’d told them, or seemed to be smirking at us in disbelief. Still, reactions were, for the most part, encouraging and we continued to smile broadly at what we thought would be our brighter future.

Then, training started.

It’s a completely new industry to the both of us, so we had expected it was going to be a steep learning curve. What we didn’t expect was that it would be the equivalent of a compressed full-time university course load, made all the more challenging because we both have full-time jobs.

I can’t help but laugh when I think of the night we started training, eagerly hurrying through dinner and dishes to begin our first webinar. It wasn’t long before that eagerness was transformed into a supreme loathing for computer screens (for me, anyway). And there have been times when Hubby was convinced we’re “effed.”

A two-page checklist of webinars later, we thought we’d put the worst of it behind us. But nooooo — the bonus for passing the first dozen online training sessions? Another 40 hours each of online technical training involving highly nonsensical coded gibberish. Oh goody.

But wait, I haven’t told you the best part yet. When we have that done (and remember, it’s all nights and weekends), we win five full days of intense hands-on learning. And we’ve learned from talking to those who’ve been there, done that — with the telling usually accompanied by a cackle and malicious grin — that this final training bootcamp will have us cursing the day we ever signed up for this darned thing in the first place.

Funny how no one thought to mention any of that before we signed up. The moral of the story? Misery loves company.

Know what’s funnier still? We haven’t lost our enthusiasm for business ownership. Challenging as it has been to slog through the learning materials, we know it’s a means to an end. As long as we keep that end goal in sight, I have a feeling we’ll be fine.

Next time: our steps and missteps in setting up the business, from ownership structure to GST registration.

Speaking from experience, I know there’s a lot more to it than that. But how much more? And, as taxpayers, are we really getting our money’s worth? Too often, it seems as if we’re spendng too much money and getting little in return.

With provincial elections in the offing for both Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, I’d love to see someone with the guts to pose – and honestly answer – the question: what is the role of government? What does it do, and what should it be doing, for its citizens?

Think what an interesting platform that would be for a politician to take: a pledge to eradicate all government spending that is not deemed essential to the role of government. What an intriguing spin on the ancient ”render unto Caesar” argument.

What would go? Marketing and promotional funding? Economic interventions? Studies and consultants reports? Start-up dollars? Would we put more money into health care and education?

Let’s get the conversation started. What do YOU think is the role of government? Would you like to see government spending restricted to services directly related to its mandate? Do you think this would help or hinder our society?

Click image for story in PDF format

July 25, 2011, was the worst kind of Monday for the people headed to work at 50 Innovation Drive in Bedford, Nova Scotia. One of them, tuning into CBC Radio as he always did, was stunned to hear that his employer, BlackBerry creator Research In Motion, was laying off 11 per cent of its global workforce. He continued along his regular route, parked his car in the company lot and headed inside, making it to his workstation without incident. By the end of the hellish week that followed, close to 30 friends and co-workers wouldn’t be so lucky.

One woman, on her first day back to work after a two-week vacation, was intercepted by security on her way in, escorted to HR, then shown the door. She’d been with RIM for six years. Another staffer, a newlywed returning from his honeymoon, reportedly punched a few hours before he, too, faced the firing squad.

It was a startling turn of events for a company which, on another 25th day in the not-so-distant past (November of 2005, to be exact), was hailed as “a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide global market.” At that point, just six years after the initial launch of BlackBerry, RIM boasted a customer base of over four million subscribers – and growing.

More relevantly, in the eyes of the Halifax citizenry, the month before Christmas 2005 was a time of celebration. That was when RIM announced it had chosen HRM as the home for its new technical support operations centre. The official press release crowed about the estimated 1,200 people who were to be hired at the centre over the next five years, a feat which many believed deserved the provincial government’s pledge of a $14-million payroll rebate and $5-million recruitment and training incentive package. Nowadays, they might not be so sanguine.

This has not been RIM’s year, to put it mildly. The rising popularity of Android and Apple have pulverized the once-invincible BlackBerry – seriously, is there anyone who doesn’t want an iPhone? – and RIM’s response has been to release “new” products that are essentially upgrades of existing models. Excuse me while I yawn.

While clients are left less than impressed, shareholders are screaming for someone to do something about the rapidly depleting market share and at least one analyst (Ironfire Capital’s Eric Jackson) predicts the company will be dead by 2013.

And what motivating, inspirational word has been issued from on high to help defuse the tension? Bupkiss.

Speaking as an industry outsider, it seems as though both RIM co-CEOs, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, have lost their mojo. If there’s any truth to an “open letter to BlackBerry bosses” from an anonymous senior executive – and there must be something to it, as RIM issued an official response (read the original post and company response at bgr.com) – outside opinion may well be accurate.

The “open letter” states that staff at all levels have lost confidence in the company. It also argues that the company has essentially forgotten how to be innovative. Sure, there have been rumours of a marvellous, showstopping QNX operating system that’s going to wow the heck out of consumers and take RIM back over the top, but customers are tired of hearing that song. According to “open letter,” QNX should have been released several years ago.

Illustration by Iain Keith Murray

It’s a situation that would typically be described as actions speak louder than words – except RIM management doesn’t appear to be either talking or listening, not even to their own employees.

A staffer at RIM Halifax agrees: “We’re afraid to say anything, speak up or voice objections anymore. Everyone’s afraid of going on the chopping block or getting passed over for opportunities.

“I can go on for days about how our higher-ups have no idea about technology and where the industry is going. We are numbers and as long as we answer the phone, it (innovation) doesn’t matter anymore.”

Yet, incredibly, there’s nothing that RIM staff want more than to get “their” company back – the business they were proud to work for, the firm whose confident leadership epitomized techie cool, the international corporation that boldly went where its competitors hadn’t dreamed of going before.

It’s likely that many more heads will roll before RIM gets back on track. So far, they’ve been the wrong ones.