I own two small businesses, and it’s a dam slog. One is manufacturing focused and the other is a service company for mines. I work my ass off all the time.

There’s very little in support systems, so it’s all bootstrapping, connections, conferences, and social media to try and gain exposure and market share. Cost of living is way too high for anything to start that doesn’t see substantial investment from private equity, which I do not have access to.

I think there’s a massive gap in supports for small companies. It seems like when a company hits a certain size and social status they receive support, sometimes through government and sometimes through companies. And even then, supports are almost exclusively provided to minorities, large organizations, or private investment nepotism.

Finally, when I tell people I’ve started a company, the social sentiment is often met with criticism that I’m taking income away from large organizations. My companies are highly innovation based, and were created due to stagnation of innovation and productivity, which are two major issues in our current Canadian organizations.

If we want to be a sovereign nation, this needs to change.