whistle while you work
EVER DREAMED OF MAKING A LIVING DOING SOMETHING YOU LOVE? SEVEN ENTREPRENEURS TOOK THE PLUNGE, CREATING THEIR OWN BUSINESS WITH THEIR PASSION AT THE CENTRE OF IT. SO HOW DID THEY DO IT?
Food and wine have a tremendous power to bring people together”
SARAH & MURRAY BANCROFT THEN: A JOURNALIST AND A CUISINE CONSULTANT NOW: ORGANIC WINEMAKERS
THE SHIFT
Sarah: “The online magazine, www. vitadaily.ca, I co-founded in 2004 was acquired by a larger media group in 2013. I was hired by the new company but, two years in, giving my notice was the most liberating feeling ever. At 44, I knew I needed to go back to being an entrepreneur. That winter, Murray and I bid on a foreclosed llama farm in the Okanagan region and converted it into a pinot noir vineyard. A food stylist and culinary consultant and, before that, a chef, for Murray the move from food to wine was like moving to the apartment next door. Still, it was less of a plan than a set of circumstances that fell into place.”
BOTTOM LINE
Sarah: “We created a vacation rental from the vineyard’s 1968 A-frame, sold our condo in Palm Springs and moved to France for a year with our two young daughters. I managed vacation rentals we had in North America while Murray took an online course in viniculture with UC Davis in California while also taking part in harvests in Bordeaux and Champagne. Two years later, Birch Block ( birchblockvineyard.com) employs a vineyard manager, a property manager and various graphic designers, cleaners, arborists, irrigators, pickers and landscapers. Making our wine in a co-op, sharing labour costs and equipment, makes it more feasible.”
THE REACTION
Sarah: “It was quite a career pivot, but our friends and family were very supportive. Our kids live in constant fear that we’re going to pull them from their Vancouver schools and move to the vineyard. If our dog had his way, that’s exactly what we’d do.”
THE UPSHOT
Murray: “Food and wine have a tremendous power to bring people together and create beautiful memories – that’s quite the reward. We’ve also gained a sense of agency. It’s great to work on your own terms with no ceiling. They say 65 per cent of our kids’ generation will be selfemployed, so it’s good for them to see us hustle.”
THE DOWNSIDE
Sarah: “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the media junkets to Cabo I enjoyed as an editor, but the dirt under my nails is well-earned. Murray often gives me lingerie for Christmas. The year he gave me rubber boots, I knew our lives had changed forever.”
LEARNING CURVE
Murray: “We farm organically, using small-batch natural winemaking practices without sulphites, pesticides or herbicides, which is riskier and more expensive. Most of the work is done manually, and you lose 10 per cent of your annual crop. The learning curve with sustainable biodynamic farming has no end, and I continue to read, research and experiment. As social media is the new storefront, we try to stay ahead of the algorithms. We sold a lot of wine over Instagram this year. We also use Square as a mobile point of sale; people are surprised to see our 10-year-old daughter with an iPad as the cashier.”
NEXT 10 YEARS
Sarah: “We’ll most likely be living on the vineyard. We were thrilled with the wine we made this year – rosé and Chardonnay – and blown away when Cactus Club, a North Vancouver restaurant chain that’s expanded across Canada, ordered all of our magnums of rosé.”
SAGE ADVICE
Sarah: “Get that line of credit while you still have a job.”
VIOLET JAMESON THEN: BANKER NOW: NAIL BAR AND CAFÉ OWNER THE SHIFT
“Starting as an investment adviser in the ’90s, 25 years later I was executive director in capital markets for one of the major banks. Then, in 2012, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. When I returned to work after chemo, I was miserable. Realizing I’d worked so hard climbing the corporate ladder … but somehow it was the wrong ladder. At 50, I took a year off. I read a lot. I travelled. In Buenos Aires, I noticed how everyone gathered in cafés to socialize. Something we don’t really do in North America where our lives are so scheduled, there’s no spontaneity. I got to thinking how everything happens at the hair salon – gossip, sharing stories – and that getting our nails done is also something we do for fun with friends. And I remembered how, working on Bay Street, I’d have given my first-born for a glass of wine with my weekly manicure.”
BOTTOM LINE
“My retirement package paid me for two years and, when that ran out, I used my savings and deregistered my RSP. I trusted myself and my entrepreneurial instincts: I wanted a fully licenced, artfully decorated nail salon and wine and espresso bar. A hybrid space focused on client experience over a strictly transactionbased model. I hired an architect to create a space with ambiance and an interior designer for the finishing touches. I installed a gallery wall because art makes us feel more creative and a playlist of ’50s jazz to livelier songs from the ’80s because music brings back memories. I commissioned a signature room fragrance. Scent, art, music – the whole experience starts the minute you walk in.”
THE REACTION
“A key reason I had the courage to do it was that I’d recently separated, so I didn’t have to convince my husband. He would’ve opposed my leaving a lucrative Bay Street career to open my own business. My marriage was holding me back, not just my job.”
THE UPSHOT
“On Bay Street, I never felt a true sisterhood. Now, I have this amazing group of women, clients and staff, lifting each other up. Yellow Door Studio ( yellowdoorstudio.com) hosts wellness workshops, a full moon ritual, weekly tarot readings. And I love having the opportunity to mentor younger staff, to show them their work is valued. Employing mostly immigrant women who, in many cases, were not well treated by previous employers, inspiring them is a huge reward.”
THE DOWNSIDE
“Like any renovation project, it went over budget. But I had this intuition that the concept would work so I managed it. And being an entrepreneur is 24-7 – there’s no delineation between work life and personal life; no ‘waiting for the weekend.’”
LEARNING CURVE
“Social media. I immersed myself. Studying why certain accounts are more appealing; what elements connect and engage followers. After formulating a strategy, I saw how time-consuming it was and that my time was better spent elsewhere, so I hired someone to manage all the platforms.”
WHAT’S NEXT
“Adding weekly yoga, possibly meditation sessions and a book club.”
SAGE ADVICE
“Learn the power of positive thinking. Ditch a career that’s a burden and build one that affords your life vision and your freedom.”
Ditch a career that’s a burden”