Category Archives for "Business Models"

So, you think you know something about modern-era business models? Well, test yourself by examining what chief executive officer Michael Lastoria has done with his fledgling chain of tiny (300-square foot) &Pizza restaurants, which now number 36 locations on the US east coast. Here’s his secret sauce in which he invokes crucial elements of the […]

[Negative Cost Labor (And Low-Cost Finance)] Sometimes, you can turn a cost into a negative cost. A former architecture student of mine, Dominique Tonetti and her husband, Frank Dutton, are managing to do that on their new project, Solisterra in Québec. Dominique and Frank are building wonderful straw bale structures on a 150-acre property they […]

While it is a long march from humble beginnings to a continent-spanning business operation, if anyone can do it, it’s my friend and coaching client, Chris Long, pictured here with his oldest daughter, Lily, at the grand opening of Longyards at 6571 Bank street in Ottawa Canada on October 1st, 2019. Chris is a trained […]

Where do (good) ideas come from to start your own business? Well, if you are Ben Jacobsen, you marvel at the fact that your girlfriend is willing to spend $10 on a tiny package of bespoke table salt. So, he left Europe and moved back to the Oregon coast where he sampled seawater from 27-bays […]

[Feature image: Airbnb founder Joe Gebbia (right)] In June 2019, I wrote to city consultant Brian Bourns who had held a short-term rental workshop, https://ottawa.ca/en/short-term-rental-workshop-3, which no doubt brought forth many competing viewpoints on Airbnb, VRBO, Expedia et al. Below you will find my note to Brian and also a defense of home-sharing written by […]

I believe it’s time for a new approach to taking care of yourself and your family for at least three generations. By “new” I actually mean hundreds of years old–wealthy families the world over have known for many, many generations that the best way to provide for themselves and their families is by owning their […]