I spent this past weekend in Metchosin, a dreamy sheep farming community near the sea outside of Victoria. It is a place where very little happens but people like it that way.
Metchosin is where I grew up and spent my childhood at a small elementary school of less than 200 students. The reason for my recent visit was a reunion of my grade 7 class, a chance to catch up with about 26 classmates who came from as far away as Tokyo to reconnect. Conversations inevitably turned to the question of work and what each person did for a living now. Interestingly enough, only one classmate ever ended up becoming what he predicted in his Grade 7 annual write up, a pilot who now flies for WestJet but who had to, at one time, go knocking door-to-door at airline offices across 3 provinces looking for work as a 22 year old with wings who didn't look old enough to have a driver's license.
What was noticeably absent from the cohort of former classmates were any entrepreneurs. There was a long list of teachers, government employees, accountants, lawyers, but not a single business owner. This could simply be a byproduct of living in Victoria, the land of government and service industries. However, when I think back to the guidance school counsellors gave me as I was trying to decide which universities to apply to and where to focus my life, not a single adult ever encouraged me to start a business.
Self-employment was something left for people who couldn't handle working for others or who lacked direction or academic smarts to make it into university. Ted Turner himself was quoted as saying, "My son is now an 'entrepreneur'. That's what you're called when you don't have a job." How sad is that? About as sad as it is completely inaccurate.
Prince George has many self starters, business owners that possess determination, guts, confidence, discipline, people skills, creativity and passion. Going into business for one's self isn't something anyone can do but it darn well is something everyone should consider.
According to a Western Economic Diversification report, small business accounts for 98 per cent of all business in British Columbia and employs just over one million people. Fifty-six per cent of all businesses in BC are self-employed individuals with no paid workers and the typical profile of an entrepreneur is an older non-aboriginal man.
In order to grow the spirit of entrepreneurship in Prince George, and therefore enhance our economic outlook and prosperity, a focused effort to make self employment an attractive option must be made among youth, women, and aboriginal populations. If we could do this, we could start manipulating the typical profile and become a progressive, innovative, and dynamic centre for business start ups.
But for now, we should start by celebrating the entrepreneurs we have. Whether by nominating your favourite entrepreneur for a Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award this fall or joining in the events taking place in Prince George for the Start Up Canada tour (www.startupcan.ca) on Sept. 17 as it travels across Canada. Celebrate the business owners in your life by recognizing the risk and hard work it takes to go into business.
Until then stay in the black and keep coming back.
