Category Archives for "PB4L"

I read Jon Willing’s October 5th, 2019 well-reported article, Ban some from renting homes short term if they don’t live there, consultant recommends (https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ban-some-people-from-short-term-home-rentals-if-they-dont-live-there-consultant-recommends). I believe the Maclaren Report is flawed, so I wrote the following to the city of Ottawa’s policy people: Dear city of Ottawa, My spouse and I own a home in […]

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 […]

The ROI Group was formed to create a forum for interested parties to get together online (and occasionally in the real world too) to speak to issues surrounding the creation of vibrant communities that are sustainable in every way. The idea is to find new, innovative ways to meet multiple “bottom lines” including how to: […]

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 […]

I am often asked, “What are the keys to success?” I have developed some ideas about this over the years and, like any such list, mine is bound to be incomplete. Worse than that, many of these ideas about success are contradictory. Things that I learned from my Dad, Professor O. J. Firestone, like “Never […]

[This article originally appeared on Spirepoint.ca] The number of mega wealthy people on this planet (a class that includes billionaires and millionaires, the latter, however, must have a net worth greater than $30 million USD to be included) is a tiny percentage of overall population—just 0.004% of adults qualify according to Wealth-X. This group controls […]

The Cap Rate Most real estate professionals do not use IRR, internal rate of return, calculations—they use cap (capitalization) rates to compare one project with another. The cap rate is an approximate assessment of ROI, return on investment, as all financial measures are anyway. But they are more approximate than the IRR is, in my […]

The Telfer School of Management’s professor Barbara Orser assisted by Luc Lalande has asked me to give one last lecture in 2016. I tried to make it both fun and informative. You can watch the video of the lecture below. It is also available on YouTube, https://youtu.be/GqqdLeT25us Here is the slidedeck I used, https://www.dropbox.com/s/jvo3187hnzr3397/firestone-legacy-lecture.pptx?dl=0 Here’s […]