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Editor’s Letter

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies

December is the shiftiest month for getting anything done. People are out of the office, but not at the same time, which leads to a “ships passing in the dark” experience as at least one person has her out of the office message turned on. And with the holidays and a much-needed break for many of us, it can seem like the 31 days between November 30 and the New Year are a vast gap we must bridge before we can jump back into anything.

It’s also a time to reflect on the year behind us, sure, but also on strategies to find joy and meaning in our jobs. Which is where Unlimited’s interactive advent calendar comes in. We didn’t just want to present presents (though we do have a giveaway on until December 31). We wanted to offer up ideas, links to interesting people and the occasional wise word (wait for the ones from management guru Groucho Marx). Check back every day until December 24 for people, ideas and a little bit of chocolate.

Here are some of the other stories you’ll find in the December issue.

+ Officeland: The Problem Solver
A privacy specialist for the Ontario government opens up about his job, his office and how he manages information overload

+ The Accidental Businessman
How Vancouver’s Jeff Hamada grew a small online community into a global phenomenon

+ Get More Done
The strategic value to laziness, and other lessons from a day with a productivity expert

+ Five Tips to Study Smart
It’s about quality, not quantity. First tip: focus

There’s more. Check it out.

– Craille Maguire Gillies, editor
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Moving On

Monday, November 30th, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies
Officeland was one of several new features we've introduced on unlimitedmagazine.com

Officeland is one of several new features we've introduced on unlimitedmagazine.com

In 1968, when he was 36 years old and had published several books, the American writer John Updike told Paris Review “You can’t always rehearse your instincts. Far better to seek out models of what you can’t do.” Now, Updike was speaking about literary matters and his own career, but that advice is well heeded by anyone looking to push themselves in their lives.

A bit more than a year ago, I ran into Dan Rubinstein at a conference in Vancouver. We immediately hit it off. It turned out, he was looking for a second-in-command at a little magazine called Unlimited. Me, I had worked for several years in the same role in Montreal and I was seeking out something new—even if it meant moving across the country to do it.

This is not the first time I’d moved across the country, or the first time I’d started a job where the learning curve was like the spike on a seismograph. But this position turned out to belong squarely under Updike’s dictum. Over the past 14 months, I’ve worked with a small, but passionate group of contributors, fellow web editors such as Rachel Singh and Duncan Kinney, with our web technician Gunnar Blodgett, associate publisher Joyce Byrne (who moonlights as a fount of pop culture knowledge and wit), art directors Malcolm Brown and Stephanie Chan and others to re-imagine what Unlimited could be as we launched the magazine as an online-only publication.

The past year in Edmonton has been busy, cold, often fun, sometimes challenging and unforgettable. Now I’ve decided take Updike’s advice once again and leave Unlimited to travel and write, write and travel and all permutations between. As a bit of a year-end review, I’d like to share some of my favourite stories UL published only online.

+ Job Training
Laura Trethewey’s cross-Canada trip, talking with ordinary gen Y-ers about their jobs.

+ Audio: Batman Was a Businessman
Greg Hudson’s chat with venture capitalist and comic book aficionado Sean Wise

+ Officeland: Sharesies for Freelancers

+ Coming tomorrow… Unlimited’s special Advent Calendar
This interactive box of goodies goes live tomorrow. Check back for details.

Enjoy!
Craille Maguire Gillies, editor, unlimitedmagazine.com

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Editor’s Letter: The November Issue

Monday, November 2nd, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies

On one of the last nice days of summer (ok it was September), I met chef-entrepreneurs Cam Smith and Dana Ewart, who run a little outfit in the Okanagan called Joy Road Catering. We were at a dinner held al fresco outside Township 7 winery before a special screening of Tablelands, a documentary that profiles the passionate and often young food producers who populate the hills around Penticton, Kelowna and Naramata. (What draws 20- and 30-somethings out of the city and into areas that were formerly thought of as retirement communities is another story.) Dana, who is in her early 30s, stopped some of her prep work on our meal to explain her ethos about food. What struck me was her passion, earnestness — not to mention her energy.

The energy bit is important. Like many small businesses, Cam and Dana work very long hours. Unlike many small businesses, their company is dictated by growing seasons — no Cisco trucks back up to their house and unload a seasonless supply of food. Which means that Cam and Dana rely only on what they can get from local farmers. They often work 12 to 16 hour days, with their staff of four and a few part-timers, up to seven days a week for six months straight. At that winery dinner, they were in the home stretch of a brutal work schedule… and Dana still had a bit of energy left. (In a day or two, I would see her wandering the farmers’ market where the pair have a booth, stocking up on cupcakes. She had spent the previous Friday night baking and couldn’t have had more than a few hours sleep.)

This passion seems to define, for me, a more realistic approach to work. For a cyncical crowd, work-life balance might seem like an easy excuse to kick off work at 4:30 on a Friday and simply call it in. But Cam and Dana and the other people we profile in Unlimited are more likely to find some personal work-life balance, to give their life’s work a passion that represents our generation. To see Dana excited about her work, even after five months of unrelentless work, was inspiring, which is why we spoke with Cam and Dana  for this month’s Officeland.

Some other stories in this issue:

+ Crowdsourcing’s Second Coming: From Dell to Netflix, how six companies are making money off your great ideas

+ Money for Sale: Payday loan stores are the pawn shops of the pay loan industry – and they’re doing big business among 18- to 35-year-olds. The risks and rewards of cashing in.

+ Dresscode: Warm winter accessories that don’t sacrifice professionalism for style.

+ Your Own Personal Stimulus Plan: in this month’s Rich by Thirty podcast, Lesley Scorgie gives the low-down on how Canada’s new Economic Action Plan affects you

+ Deskercise: Jesse Lipscombe’s energy boosters to get your through the fall blahs.

+ The Benefits of Night School: The benefits of a little after-hours learnin’.

There’s more. Check it out.

– Craille Maguire Gillies, editor
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Unlimited’s October Issue

Thursday, October 1st, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies

Last week, I travelled to the Okanagan, which spreads across the northern tip of the Sonora Desert and is often, unimaginatively, called Napa of the North thanks to its tiny plots of vineyards that are stitched together like a patchwork quilt. I had travelled there to teach one session at a three-day workshop. That the workshop a) took place in wine country and b) involved several in-depth excursions to said wineries didn’t hurt.

Still, I spent a fair bit of time before the course trying to convince the organizer that I wasn’t qualified, that no one was going to want to hear what I had to say, that I should be taking a course, not teaching it. She bolstered my self-confidence by saying, “Just tell your story.” Which I did. Of course, I also provided some suggestions – not gospel, mind you – on some things I’ve picked up throughout my career. The session went wonderfully, the participants seemed to pick up a few new tools and I was given an opportunity to reflect on not only why I do what I do but how do it. I’m certain that I learned far more than the people who attended my session.

Pushing yourself outside your comfort zone is perhaps one of the hardest, but potentially most rewarding things you can in your career. This past weekend at the Governance for Women Symposium in Jasper – bunking at the grand old Fairmont and gazing out at the Rockies was a nice touch – I met many entrepreneurs and women leaders who’ve taken risks and had those risks pay off. Though not always, Rebecca MacDonald, named Canada’s Top Women CEO in 2002 and the head of a company that grosses well over $2 billion a year, told me that you must fail often. Just don’t fail at the same thing twice, she added.

In the new issue of Unlimited, we profile one group of entrepreneurs who took a big risk, but succeeded because they found a niche. Aaron Coret and Stephen Slen, Vancouver engineers-cum-inventors at Katal Innovations, designed what is essentially an enormous mattress-shaped balloon that cushions the fall of daredevil snowboarders. Coret, who was paralyzed in 2005 from a snowboarding accident, had a personal reason to improve safety on the ski hills. But introducing a new product, convincing ski resorts to carry something they’ve never carried before, investing in R&D and then going out on the road – as Katal is doing, takes capital, perseverance and more than a bit of self confidence. It seems to be paying off.

Also in this issue:

+ Laura Trethewey hopped a train from Toronto to Vancouver, stopping in cities along the way to talk with regular Gen Y-ers about their jobs. Take a look at our interactive map to read her profiles, which are being added weekly. Then, get the backstory to the trip, all the things that weren’t on the itinerary – bike wipeouts, for instance – on Trethewey’s blog.
+ Ready to Read: Fashion expert Reanna Evoy reviews the shiny new book from the Sartorialist, a blogger-turned-book author who has taken street photographer to a new level.
+ Recruiter Eve Lessard fills us in on some trends we can expect in 2010.
+ Our personal finance columnist Lesley Scorgie talks about tools to track your finances in this month’s Rich by Thirty podcast.
+ Jesse Lipscombe offers up a couple Deskercises to strengthen your core in our latest video

There’s more – check it out.

– Craille Maguire Gillies, editor
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The September Issue

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies
How do you like them digs? Toronto's Centre for Social Innovation features in this month's Officeland

How do you like them digs? Toronto's Centre for Social Innovation features in this month's Officeland

Perhaps one of the most charming out-of-office messages I received this summer – after requesting, ASAP, a file I wanted – was that my colleague would be on the deck, playing with the kids, but sure to get back to me in, oh, a week or so. Everywhere across the web I ran into similar messages. One acquaintance in Toronto simultaneously taunted and entertained me with lakeside tweets. Sample: “Visited by the second hummingbird of the day as I sit on the porch, reading. ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME FALL MORE IN LOVE WITH THE UNIVERSE?” Another left me a message to catch up on a few projects about two hours before I left for my own vacation, a roadtrip from Whitehorse to Alaska. When I got the message he had long since left the building.

I thought about these postcards from vacationland while we were putting together the September issue of Unlimited. (Not related to the movie.) The magazine is about work-life balance, and we all probably have the work thing figured out. It’s the balance part that trips us up. There’s no single path to balance; it’s not a static thing, and anyway, that would be boring. Efficiency and organization is, in some way, a proxy – and not a bad one – for balance.

This issue comes at balance from the perspective of productivity.

Officeland: More staff layoffs also mean a boon for many freelancers. These co-working offices across Canada get those freelancers out of their pajamas and into these great spaces

In the Loop: Two Toronto brothers ditch the consulting jobs to make it in the big Apple (store that is) with a new iPhone app

No Gossip Girl: A one-time government employee just says no

Podcast: Our Rich by Thirty expert Lesley Scorgie outlines how to build an emergency fund for that recession-hangover

Time Machines: Craig Silverman offers up three ways to organize your digital life

Canada’s Food Guide for Your Face: Get your vitamins with these grooming products

There’s more. Go here.

Craille Maguire Gillies, editor
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Editor’s Note: August Issue

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies

As we were putting together the August issue of Unlimited, the calendar on my computer sent a reminder every day to “Check in on your RRSPs.” I’d set up the reminder because I knew that I had a few investments coming up for renewal. Interest rates seem to be at about, oh, minus 3% these days, and I didn’t want my modestly growing nest egg to turn over automatically without asking CIBC if there was, pretty please, something — anything — that could be done to get a better rate.

As it happened, I was working with designer Stephanie Chan on a socially responsible investing slideshow, a primer for people like know they could be expanding their portfolio to include “good” stocks, but wonder where to start. On deadline, I kept clicking the snooze button to call the banks and may have missed the opportunity squeeze an extra half percent out of my RRSPS. Such are the challenges of balancing our personal business with work.

Balance is a theme that runs through most of Unlimited. Our new issue includes a conversation with one of Vancouver’s most lauded chefs, Vikram Vij, who  told me about how, in the early days, he had the goal to make $100 in sales. On the days he only made, say, $97, he’d ring in an order of naan bread just to make himself feel better. These days, of course, Vij’s is enormously successful (writing in the New York Times, food critic – and friend of Gwyneth — Mark Bittman said Vij’s, just off trendy Granville Street, is ” easily among the finest Indian restaurants in the world.”), Vij has published a cookbook and is now starting chef-led culinary tours of his native India. Read my interview, Man of Taste, for more on cooking, leadership and what he’s learned about business.

Also in this issue:

+ Deskercise: Get out your dictionary for an arm exercise that will bulk up your biceps

+ Officeland: Take a tour of a technology company in Calgary that is changing how we collaborate

+ Batman Was a Business Man: Part two looks at Sean Wise’s top 10 things  business superheroes should know

There’s much more. Check it out.

Craille Maguire Gillies, editor

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Editor’s Letter

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies

Not quite a year ago I packed up my apartment in Montreal then drank tar-black espresso with my upstairs neighbour, Joseé, while movers attempted to angle their transport truck down my narrow street – only to discover it wouldn’t fit. In the end, a smaller truck was sent to courier all 3,000 pounds of my life in boxes to the big rig.

The man who took over my apartment was an art professor in his 30s who was rising through the ranks of academia. As he arrived from Vancouver to take up a new position at Concordia University, I was moving west for a new adventure at Unlimited. This mobility, this constant shifting of our lives as we move across latitudes and longitudes, take on new jobs, grow in (and out of) those roles and move on, represents the spirit of Unlimited.

Back when Unlimited launched in September 2007, founding editor Dan Rubinstein described it as “a ‘work’ magazine and a ‘life’ magazine, because the two terms are increasingly intertwined in our borderless, technology-driven world.” While much has changed in the economy and with the magazine – this marks our first digital issue, for starters – the spirit of Unlimited is the same. It is a business magazine for a generation who might not buy business magazines. It is about the wonderfully nebulous ways our approaches to work have changed. And it represents a new, evolving matrix of working and living and how our generation is exploring its new frontier. Most of all, Unlimited is about storytelling. About Canadians in their 20s and 30s whose careers have no borders or limits. It is about you.

The beautiful thing about the Web is that it is malleable, interactive and layered. Swim through what we’ve created this issue. You’ll find profiles, advice on work and careers, news, reviews and everything to, as our tagline puts it, expand your life’s work. The stories we tell will be truly national, so whether you live in Victoria or Iqaluit or Conception Bay, tell us what you’re doing.

Here are a few things to check out:

Deskercise. A monthly video blog with exercises that you can do in the time it takes to respond to your email

Rich by Thirty. Our personal finance expert Lesley Scorgie takes her advice to the digital airwaves with a monthly podcast

Officeland. A new visual spread that visits cool offices across Canada. This issue, we go to a company in Halifax where “beer-o’clock Fridays” and an airy layout that inspires creativity

Profiles. This issue, Marcello Di Cintio meets “philanthropy junkie” and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation alumnae Michele Fugiel Gartner

Features. Our main feature, Success: The New Rules, provides career advice – whether you own a small business or are just starting out.

Elsewhere in this issue. New UL contributing editor Greg Hudson speaks with comic book fan and venture capitalist Sean Wise about how superheroes are the ultimate businesspeople (and why the recession is a good thing for entrepreneurs).

In coming weeks and months we’ll roll out more new multimedia and interactive features, new blogs and constantly updated stories. Have an idea? Tell us. And while you’re at it, enter to win a $3,000 trip to the Canadian Rockies by signing up for our newsletter.

Web gurus use a nifty visual heatmap called ClickHeat, a digital roadmap that reveals where readers visit on a website. If we applied ClickHeat to our hyper-connected, mobile age, I suspect that they would reveal the strange, wonderful new routes each of our careers take – and we’d find that everything overlaps in new, unexpected ways. Like that trip I made west almost a year ago, the bold trajectories each of our careers take are unlimited.

Craille Maguire Gillies, Editor

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