Kamloops Business

> Also: Are you protected?

An exclusive feature publication of The Daily News

DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

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The right BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS: WHAT THEIR TECHNIQUES FOR SUCCESS CAN TEACH YOU

stuff

INSIDE CHAMBER NEWS: SIX WAYS YOU CAN REAP BENEFITS OF CHAMBER MEMBERSHIP

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INSIDE Kamloops Ford Lincoln owner Steve Davidson checks out a new model oustide his expansive new facility on Halston Avenue.

MURRAY MITCHELL /KAMLOOPS BUSINESS

Kamloops Business is published six times a year by The Kamloops Daily News advertising department, 393 Seymour St., Kamloops, B.C. V2C 6P6. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the publisher’s written permission.

Unsolicited material will not be returned.

Publisher assumes no responsibility.

For editorial information, contact Kamloops Business editor Stewart Duncan.

COVER STORY

The Right Stuff Steve davidson and kamloops ford lincoln recently won business of the year in the kamloops chamber of commerce business excellence awards, but what separates him from the pack? /page 12

Publisher TIM SHOULTS

Supervising Editor ROBERT KOOPMANS

Advertising Director kevin dergez

Manager, Specialty Publications keshaV sharma

Editor STEWART DUNCAN

FEATURES

Give Customers Reason To Shop Create an exceptional experience and keep them coming back /10

And They Call It, Puppy Love TLC for Pets is more than a kennel, it’s a resort for Rover /28

Viruses, Hackers and Phish! Oh, My! Cyberworld is full of hidden hazards — is your company safe? /22

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS

The Daily News is a member of the B.C. Press Council. It is published daily except Sundays and most holidays at 393 Seymour St., Kamloops, B.C. V2C 6P6.

Phone 250-372-2331

Editor’s Message, 6

NSBIA Report, 30

Q&A, 28

By The Numbers, 20

Chamber News, 18

KCBIA Report, 26

Across The River, 11

Tech Talk, 22

Contributing writers

Venture Kamloops, 16

TRU Views, 9

Larkin Schmiedl Jennifer Sloan

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- ADVERTISING FEATURE -

Car Accident Season is Upon Us – Are you Adequately Insured?

by Darren Paulsen

With colder, more unpredictable weather moving in, now it’s even more important for motorists in Kamloops and the B.C. Interior to consider whether they are carrying adequate insurance. If you are an innocent driver or passenger in a motor vehicle accident, you have the option of making a personal injury claim against the driver responsible for the accident. In British Columbia licensed vehicles must carry a minimum of $200,000.00 in thirdparty liability insurance. If you are the only person injured in the accident and your injuries are relatively minor, it is likely you will be fully compensated for your injuries even if the at-fault party is only carrying a minimum third-party liability coverage. If, however, your injuries are significant and/or you are one of several individuals injured by an at-fault motorist the minimum $200,000.00 in third-party liability coverage may not be adequate to properly compensate you for your injuries.

Fortunately British Columbia has a program called Under-Insured Motorist Protection (“UMP ”). UMP is statutory program which allows for compensation to injured parties in situations where the at-fault driver is not carrying adequate insurance, or is not carrying insurance at all. UMP is a policy of additional insurance that you can purchase to protect you in case of serious injuries from a motor vehicle accident. It also protects the other residents of your household. Everyone in your household is covered for injury or death under circumstances such as: • When driving or riding in a BC insured motor vehicle; • When you are a passenger in a bus or taxi; or • When you are a pedestrian or cyclist.

It is also worth noting that UMP coverage may protect you or your family members if you are injured while driving in the United States. In the United States drivers are often only required to carry very low levels of insurance. Your own UMP coverage may insure you against under-insured motorists in the United States as well.

Drivers in British Columbia automatically get $1,000,000.00 of UMP coverage under their standard insurance policies, even if they are only insuring their vehicle for the minimum third-party liability limits of $200,000.00. In the event of a serious accident UMP will pay up to $1,000,000.00 from your own policy towards the cost of the injury claim after the crash.

Although $1,000,000.00 is a significant sum of money, it still may not be enough to ensure full

compensation for your injuries. As an example, assume you are seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident caused by an impaired driver. Now assume that the injuries you sustained caused you significant pain and suffering and resulted in a prolonged absence from your employment, such that your personal injury claim totals $350,000.00. If the at-fault driver only has a statutory minimum of $200,000.00 in insurance, your UMP policy will pay the remainder of your claim (i.e. $150,000.00 less deductibles).

If you are severely injured, or if you are just one of a number of people injured in a significant motor vehicle accident, it is not hard to imagine the total damages flowing from the motor vehicle accident exceeding $1,000,000.00. MJB Lawyers have been involved in a number of claims where the damages have exceeded $1,000.000.00. For this reason we urge you to consider purchasing additional UMP coverage to protect you and your family and ensure that you are adequately insured.

In British Columbia you can purchase excess UMP coverage to boost your coverage to $2,000,000.

Excess UMP coverage can generally be purchased wherever you buy your ICBC insurance for a premium of $25.00. If you or a loved one has the misfortune of being involved in a serious motor vehicle accident, this may be the best $25.00 you have ever spent. So, as you mount your winter tires and top-up your anti-freeze, why not check your ICBC insurance policy as well.

Finally, UMP is a last line of insurance coverage.

ICBC can insist that you exhaust all steps to recover against the driver at fault before you can access your UMP policy. This can include forcing you to sue the at-fault driver and obtain a judgment. There are also a number of expenses that ICBC may be entitled to deduct from UMP. Once you obtain judgment, you may have to go to arbitration to determine the amount you are entitled to under your UMP policy. The UMP program can be difficult to negotiate for people not familiar with it. That’s why we strongly urge you to seek legal advise before dealing with ICBC on UMP issues and motor vehicle accident issues in general. At MJB Lawyers, our team has the knowledge and experience to help you through these difficult issues.

R

Meet Your Team

Richard Jensen QC

Barry Carter

Dennis Coates QC

Rob Adkin

Dave McDougall

Jim McCreight

Marlene Harrison

Darren Paulsen

Michael Sutherland

Murray Weeres

Terry Bepple

Joaquin Mariona

Luke Bergerman

Sarah Goddard

Our areas of practice include: personal injur` PJIJ JSHPTZ NLULYHS SP[PNH[PVU MHTPS` SH^ JVYWVYH[L JVTTLYJPHS SH^ YLHS LZ[H[L ^PSSZ LZ[H[LZ LZ[H[L WSHUUPUN [Y\Z[Z

Mair Jensen Blair LLP - Lawyers 700 - 275 Lansdowne Street, Kamloops, BC V2C 6H6

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> Editor’s Message

Passion Essential to Bliss in Business Successful entrepreneurs follow similar paths in personal lives

W

ith every year’s presentation of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards, which was in October, we get a clear focus on who is doing what right.

And if Kamloops Business magazine were only about praising the winners, it wouldn’t have as much appeal to the business community as a whole.

So, we’ve gathered some comments from a few of the award winners. And we spoke with a few influential business leaders who made the decisions as to who deserved the top spot (see story on Page 15). As some those comments show, and most successful businesspeople know, success in business is closely tied to success in life.

So in my first gig as editor of Kamloops Business magazine (though second time around), I garnered some quotes from some of the things in life that I find inspirational.

In most cases, the original speakers meant their comments for their particular discipline, but you’ll see their application to business as well, or any other discipline.

I heard Donald Trump on TV a few years back say he could size up a man’s character in just five minutes of playing golf with him.

I suspect it depends on which five minutes, but golf can certainly bring out the best and worst in a person.

A patient, methodical golfer who plans ahead, keeps his cool and doesn’t get flustered easily will typically show those same characteristics in the flips and twists of competitive business.

One doesn’t have to like the Trumpster to appreciate the insight.

And while I’m no a fan of Eddie Van Halen’s music, his success as a fast-fingered guitar player gives weight to his words.

“You have to be obsessed with it.”

Really, any rock-star guitarist could have said that. They’re known for falling asleep on a couch with guitar in hand still plugged in, then resume playing upon awakening.

Is obsession good in business? We hear a lot about work-life balance, but that’s probably because the really successful businesspeople tend to not have it until their business is sufficiently established that they can afford some freedoms.

6 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

Until then, obsession must play a huge part. (I stand to be corrected on that.)

The late, great Andrés Segovia, who took the classical Spanish guitar to concert halls around the world, said, “Many people can play guitar. Few can play it well.”

What aspect of life isn’t like that?

Segovia had been on track to be a lawyer, but he found his passion in how he plucked six nylon strings.

Successful businesspeople frequently speak of passion for what they do. Without it, one can dabble for decades in business. But passion is essential if one ever wants to compete for a business-excellence award.

Motorcycle aficionado Phillip Funnell ran a motorcycle shop in Vancouver for decades many years ago and knew everything there was to know about riding, racing, wrecking and fixing them.

He taught me something about riding a motorcycle that applies to business: “If you want to go right, steer left. If you want to go left, steer right.” Experienced motorcyclists know this counter-intuitive action is true. And good entrepreneurs recognize that counter-intuitive thinking and acting is often the key to success. Following the crowd works for some, but entrepreneurs often find their niche when they go against established norms and whatever the experts say.

Stewart Duncan is editor of Kamloops Business. You can reach him at sduncan@kamloopsnews.ca. KB

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Congratulations to all the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce Business Award Winners!

Excel Personnel presented the 2012 Business Person of the Year Award to Todd Stone of iCompass Technologies

Celebrating 20 Years… of your wed both ie y rv te in ops facilit I have our Kamlo r fo ve s a te h a I candid el, and el Personn through Exc ry impressed with s ve to say I wa ice and Excel’s serv needs, as . th o b them ur o ttention to personal a bility to quickly ur a s on short well as yo t candidate and fi t h g ri fy identi sistent lways con notice, is a iated. rec hugely app rincipal, hreiner, P - Mike Sc illac vrolet Cad Smith Che

• Finalist in the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce 'Business Excellence Awards for Service Provider over 11 Staff' • Full service recruitment agency in Western Canaa since 1992 • Temporary and contract staffing, payroll services, permanent and executive personnel services • Member of Kamloops, Kelowna & Prince George Chamber of Commerce – supporting each community with local staffing • We can test on 800 different applications from administration to finance to industrial testing applications

“I just wa nte Excel Pers d you to know tha t wh onn more live el and you do tou at s than yo c u imagine hes been loo . I had king for e m months a p nd was fe loyment for 7 by the tim eling fairly down e I lande doorstep d on yo an me emplo d Excel Personne ur l had y e d right awa have don y. I could e it witho n’t ut Excel’s I will alwa help and ys fondly rem now work in the Job ember you. I helping o Wave Pro thers, like Excel help gram ed me.”

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HEAD OFFICE Branch offices in Kelowna and Prince George Suite #600, 235–1st Avenue We are your Kamloops Full Service Recruitment Firm Ph. 1-877-374-3853 with recruiters standing by to work with you. www.excel.bc.ca 8 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

> tru views

Consider Workers’ Assets, Not Liabilities Smart employers try to cultivate positive atmosphere and loyalty

BY RICHARD ROY >> THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY

E

very organization, small or large, needs to pay attention to how it manages employees.

Human resource management is about how to hire the best people, how to design efficient jobs to take full advantage of employee skills and about techniques to develop and reward employees so they are able and want to do a great job. These are practices that can be learned and RICHARD ROY small business owners and managers would be well served to invest in HR much in the same way as they are willing to invest in marketing or technology. Research shows that people management,

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P R O U D

F I R S T

if done properly, is the single most important factor in business success, large or small.

As a human-resource professor and consultant, I often have the opportunity to talk to small businesses about the importance of people management. Most acknowledge its importance, but many question whether their company is big enough to need HR, believing it is more suited to large organizations. Others think people management is about controlling labour costs. But HR is much more than that. It has quickly developed over the past 20 years, driven by progressive organizations that have experimented with a variety of innovative techniques to maximize performance and productivity and gain a competitive advantage; techniques to involve and engage employees and — most importantly — viewing employees as assets to be developed and valued versus costs to be controlled.

We have many local examples of these organizations. Costco is one such company; it has made a deliberate decision to pay its employees above market. Why would they choose to increase labour costs? It may be the realization that the least expensive labour is often not the most productive. By paying more, they attract better candidates, expect and achieve higher levels of performance, reduce the cost of turnover and increase customer service and loyalty. Paying more becomes an investment where the benefits outweigh the costs.

For more information, contact Richard Roy rroy@tru.ca at TRU’s School of Business, human resource management. KB

N AT I O N S

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250.851.6225 www.cscelectric.ca DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS 9

> solid advice

Give Customers Reason to Shop Create exceptional experience and keep them coming back

BY SHANE JENSEN >> NEW QUEST COACHING

W

hy should I choose your business over your competitors? If I asked you that, what would you say?

A lot of you would try to “sell” me on price point.

The second sales strategy is telling me that you have the best quality product, store or service out there.

This is a popular one and it is pushed hard in marketing messages.

SHANE JENSEN A third sales strategy is you might tell me is that I will get the most bang for my buck if I choose you. Another way of looking at it would be the value of what I get for the price I pay. The sales pitch I usually hear for this strategy goes something like this: “For X amount of dollars, we will do this and this for you, none of our competitors offer this much for this price!”

These are three common ways many businesses use to get me to buy their product or use their service.

However, I don’t think any of the above sales strategies are real game-changers where they are going to give you a clear edge over your competition. As a matter of fact, if I asked you that pivotal question, “Why should I choose your business over your competition?” and you gave me one or all of the three

answers, I would not be impressed or sold. Here is why.

Price point. If you plan to build and market your business/ service etc. on price point, then you are in trouble for one simple reason — your competition can copy your price. The reality is, after you tell me you have the best price, I am just going to quickly Google your price and see if your competitors beat it or match it. Then I discover there are other businesses like yours with the same price. Now what are you going to tell me?

Best product. Guess again. At the end of the day, anyone, any store or any business can copy the product or service that you sell. It is easy to do and we see it happening all the time. For every “unique” service or widget you sell, your competitors can always get the exact same product or service and copy it. And don’t tell me quality is your difference maker, because your competitors can copy quality as well.

Best bang for my buck? Again, your competitors can copy this and then some. So why would I choose you when three other businesses are offering the same bang for my buck?

What is the difference maker? What is the one thing that will make me choose your business over your competitor? Simply put, it is going to come down to how you (or your staff, personnel, etc.) treat me as a consumer. Think about it. It is the one thing that your competitors cannot copy. The fancy term I use with clients is “the consumer experience.” How you or your staff make me feel will have a direct impact on whether I choose your product or service versus your competitors.

Notice I use the word “feel,” and that is what really matters. If your customers have a great experience interacting with you, or in your store, or with your sales person and they leave feeling completely satisfied, then you have a customer for life. And don’t ever forget, customers who have a truly exceptional experience will go out of their way to tell their friends. Focus on creating an exceptional consumer experience and you will beat out your competition every time. Good luck!

Shane Jensen, MA, ACC, CEC, is the senior principal for New Quest Coaching & Consulting. To learn more please see www.newquestcc.com. KB

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> ACROSS THE RIVER

Band Opens Land for Development Chief Louis Centre a showpiece for Tk’emlúps and entire region

BY SHANE GOTTFRIEDSON >> CHIEF, TIB

M

any people driving by our main office area have noticed all the earthworks and construction. We are nearing the completion of an important and ambitious undertaking to develop our lands for the benefit of our people.

In order to realize the best return, we have invested in infrastructure and site planning to allow for a develSHANE GOTTFRIEDSON opment that has proper guidelines and proper infrastructure. With this in mind, band leadership engaged the services of local planning and engineering firms to create an overall strategy for development. This master plan serves as our guide to attract retail, service, office and commercial tenants to an exciting new development at the foot of the Sun Rivers community.

With easy access to highways and amenities, our vision is for the creation of a first-class development that will be desirable for a wide range of uses. With proper roadways, sidewalks, design guidelines and quality water and sewer infrastructure, our Chief Louis Centre will be a showpiece for both the Tk’emlúps and the greater Kamloops communities.

This is not the only area we are developing. We have some large, flat sites within the Mount Paul Industrial Park that are almost market ready. Our second phase of sewer expansion will connect with these properties in the coming weeks and months and open them up for quality commercial or light industrial uses.

Sewer service throughout our industrial park is a key component to more intensive commercial development. It allows business owners to use more of their properties because the necessity of preserving septic fields is eliminated. This further allows tenants to expand building footprints or redevelop sites to make better use of the property they have.

We are interested in exploring options with partners for the development of these and other lands. We have proven with Sun Rivers and other partners that we can create deals that work. If you would like to know more about opportunities for development on our lands, please contact the KIB Development Corporation at 250-314-1525. KB

DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS 11

> cover story

STORY BY LARKIN SCHMIEDL

The right

stuff BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS: WHAT THEIR TECHNIQUES FOR SUCCESS CAN TEACH YOU

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hether you bought a business or started your own, success is what you’re after. There are many ways of achieving it, as the stories of these three 2012 Kamloops Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards winners demonstrate. When you find what drives you, you will be closer to knowing how to create your own recipe for success.

Krishna Lakkineni just won the Young Entrepreneur award in recognition of the growth his company, ROI Media Works Corp., experienced this year. Going from one to six employees, acquiring more than 30 new clients over the past six months and seeing 100-per-cent growth in sales, ROI has really taken off this year. Its service? Helping businesses market themselves online using socialmedia campaigns, search-engine optimization, websites and more.

At 34 years old, CEO Lakkineni is a new father of two children ages two and five. He’s also a quiet powerhouse.

He says by staying focused on his “personal why” — in his case, his desire to earn enough to help communities in need around the world — he stays motivated. It stems from his growing up in a 300-person village in rural India.

“Always there was struggle for everything,” he says. As a kid, he couldn’t afford new notebooks for school, so he’d scrounge up leftover pages from older kids’ notebooks and stitch

Jarrod Goddard, president of Net Shift Media Inc., relaxes on the track at TRU, a rather appropriate setting considering his fast-paced line of work.

12 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

them together as his own.

Lakkineni’s dedication shows. The number of hours and the amount of elbow grease and perseverance he puts into his business is abundantly evident.

“Some days I’m here 12 hours and 14 hours, some days 18-hour days,” he says.

Besides long hours at the office, Lakkineni does extensive volunteering in the community. Offering free workshops to help teach businesses how to be successful, he’s also constantly educating himself, reading about small businesses and what caused them to either thrive or fail.

Lakkineni names three factors that play into business success: teambuilding within an organization, a solid and evolving business plan and continued education and focus.

“Part of the success we’re having today is because all the staff that we have here, they work towards their passion. They like what they’re doing.

They enjoy it,” he says.

“They know exactly what sort of product we want to deliver, and what the quality and reputation we have in the market is.” He adds that sometimes they have worked to a loss on products to keep clients happy, since the primary goal is the quality and reputation of his company.

“When I’m not here, they still know what they’re doing.”

Lakkineni says many businesses don’t grow because they fail to do enough internal team-building.

And relationships obviously extend beyond the workplace. He says anyone in town, potential client or not, is important to him.

He encourages business owners to seek mentorship, especially from businesspeople they admire.

“If you like a person and they have built a successful business, just approach them,” he says. Tell them what you’re working on and that you want to learn from their experience.

“Most of the time they will say yes.”

He has travelled to Kelowna and Vancouver weekly to work with mentors on his own business plan.

“Any business depends on the plan,” he says. “Ninety per cent is the planning and executing and how you organize things. The 10 per cent is something you never expected to happen. As long as

murray mitchell/kamloops business

Krishna Lakkineni, chief executive officer of ROI Media Works, poses for a company photo with some of his staff, from left, Stacey Kovacs, Kyle Somogyi and David Sword. you have this 90 per cent correct, you’re most likely to be successful.”

He cautions, however, that keeping focused is key: “Most of the time, people lose focus along the way. You made the plan, you want to do this, after six months, your energy levels go low and you deviate from the track.

To keep myself motivated, I read anything related to entrepreneurs.”

He also says keeping his “why” first and foremost stops him from becoming too focused on money,

which is another way to fail.

“Always keep that focus, why you started that business in the first place.”

It all came about because Lakkineni was faced with a move to Montreal in 2009 if he wanted to stay with the business he was working for.

“I thought, OK, this is time I should have my own. I was growing teams before and working with bigger clients, so now, why can’t I do it myself?

“It was a little bit scary. First of all, I’m a programmer guy, not an entrepreneur.”

DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS 13

ten steps to success in business and in life

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he Brick’s store manager, Mike Caputo, visited Kamloops Business in November to pass on his insights into setting goals for business success. Here are his comments, with 10 points: Success in business requires a clear understanding of what constitutes a goal and what constitutes a wish. Goals require clear and reasonable step-by-step plans, thought through, written down and revised as necessary. One has to expect the unexpected, like a car or home repair. Otherwise, the goal-setter has to adhere to the plan. If it isn’t this well defined, it’s not a goal; it’s a wish.

CAPUTO’S TOP 10 1. Be honest. Do you really want it?

2. It has to be your goal, not someone else’s goal, order or request.

3. It has to be 60-per-cent achievable so you work for it.

It must be a challenge.

4. It has to be written down, and broken down into smaller steps: by the hour, the day or the week, and long term.

5. Analyse your position, recognizing your starting point and your deadlines.

6. Recognize your barriers and get rid of the biggest ones first.

7. Define your ABCs by dividing your tasks into those that are very important, those that are important, and those you delegate.

8. Know what information resources are available to you to help you reach your goals: courses you can take, books to read or study, people you can call on, seminars and workshops.

9. Who is your customer? You have to know your customers to help them get what they want.

10. Make and write down your plan just before going to bed so it simmers in your subconscious and is on your mind when you wake up.

It might take a week or so to clarify your goals and get them down on paper, but once you’ve established your goals and start pursuing them, achieving them is automatic. Adapt and amend as needed.

ppp Jarrod Goddard is another “tech nerd;” he started Net Shift Media Inc. through the Community Futures self-employment program in 2002.

Now president of a successful tech marketing company, he employs five people and won the 2012 technologyinnovator award for Net Shift’s exciting new work on apps.

He says partnering with other organizations has been key to his success. When he started, he was sharing office space with a tech-support company, and they began throwing website work his way.

“They always were getting people asking them to build them websites,” he said, which they weren’t equipped to do. Thus began the roots of Net Shift.

Now partnered with Pulse Group, another marketing company, Goddard says by sharing office space, both organizations save on costs and get larger, nicer offices as well as a boardroom.

Sharing space creates collaboration and each business can do aspects of the work clients want that the other can’t do.

Kamloops Chamber of Commerce executive director Deb McClelland said Net Shift won the innovator award because of the TV auction app they’ve developed, and products they’re working on for the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association and Association of Abattoirs.

The innovative apps will digitize meat-tracking systems, making them more efficient and better able to deal with issues such as outbreaks of E. coli

KAMLOOPS Ford Lincoln owner Steve Davidson

and food recalls.

“It’s a web system for them to track all their clients, but also all the inventory and animals that come into their plants, and when they cut them up,” said Goddard.

“It’s going to help them speed up their traceability immensely.” ppp The Business of the Year winner has his own advice about how to be successful.

With a move to a new location and a 40-per-cent increase in business, Kamloops Ford Lincoln has boosted the local economy by $7 million this year, said McClelland.

Kamloops Ford Lincoln owner Steve Davidson attributes his success to four things: keeping the people around him happy, quality products, marketing, and what he jokingly refers to as his ADD — attention-deficit disorder.

“We donate a lot of money and we’re pretty involved; we’re out there lots,” he says.

“We’ve put more money into the community this year, because we made that part of our budget.”

He says his business philosophy revolves around giving back.

“If everybody around me gets what they want, I will, too.

“I never worry about what’s in this for me. I never build a business plan on, ‘How much can I make?’

“If everybody who works here is happy and getting what they want, well then, that goes to the customers. If you go into a place where everybody’s happy, it’s kind of infectious.”

A couple of years ago, he added a marketing department to his operation, which he says has also been huge.

“I was trying to do both (building a business and doing my own ads) before and trying to run a couple of franchises . . . and it got to be too much.”

He began by hiring an ad agency, and then moved to adding a marketing department in-house.

When asked what drives him day-to-day, Davidson replied, “I get bored easy . . . I’m not real complacent; I don’t like to just sit around.

“I’m always kind of a couple of months or a year (ahead). ADD is probably what motivates me.” KB

COURTESY KENT WONG

14 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

Judges share secrets of award winners What can we learn from winners of the 2012 Business Excellence Awards?

Lots, say those who played a large role in determining who they should be.

Some of the following techniques can be adapted to suit different businesses.

Others can be applied just as they are with little or no change.

Deb McClelland on Business of the Year

K

amloops Ford Lincoln is the Business of the Year because it scored significantly higher than the other nominees. With its new facility at 940 Halston Ave. on the North Shore, KFL poured $7 million into Kamloops.

That’s not something most businesses can do, but the key thing is that the company invested in Kamloops. There’s an element of risk in any investment, so KFL’s faith in the community’s future is a key component to success. With the new facility, KFL realized a 40-per-cent increase in business and is one of the top three car dealers in town. It is also anticipating growth of 10 per cent a year over the next three years. Almost any business that wants to succeed long term needs those same elements: investment, risk-taking and achievable goals.

Karen Watt on Business Person of the Year

W

e looked at four categories: success in the last year, leadership, employment creation and innovation. Todd Stone (of iCompass Technologies) stood out in each of them. “There was really no comparison.” Stone’s 14-year-old company creates software for municipal websites, which it has sold to communities throughout B.C. The company has recently expanded its sales and service across Canada and through the U.S., with forays into Australia and

Europe, all from its base in Kamloops.

Several things that Watt described underlie Stone’s success and are useful strategies for others. Among them is a board of directors, so Stone isn’t a oneman show. He draws on the insights and advice of other qualified people. Also, iCompass has each employee’s shortand long-term goals written on the walls so everyone knows what everyone else is working on, where they’re succeeding and where they need help. “Their passion, intensity and level of communication and teamwork — they’re improvement fanatics,” said Watt. The company also gives back to the community. This year alone, said Watt, iCompass raised thousands of dollars for the United Way and thousands more for a bursary at Thompson Rivers University.

BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS Excel Personnel Business Person of the Year Todd Stone, iCompass Technologies Inc. Community Futures Business of the Year Kamloops Ford Lincoln Home Hardware First Nations Business of the Year Sun Ridge Equipment Ltd. Kamloops Business Magazine Young Entrepreneur of the Year Krishna Lakkineni, ROI Media Works Aberdeen Mall Retailer Award (one to 10 staff) Portfolio Interiors Underwriters Insurance Brokers Retailer Award (11-plus staff) Kamloops Ford Lincoln BDC Manufacturer Award Trout Creek International Homes Tourism & Hospitality Award Scott’s Inn and Restaurant BCLC Technology Innovator Award Netshift Media Inc.

Chamber OF COMMERCE President Maurice Hindle on President’s Award winner

KGHM Ajax Mining Incorporated Home-Based Business of the Year TLC for Pets

here was really no question, says Hindle. “Mel (Rothenburger) has contributed meaningfully to the community for a number of years.” That includes supporting foundations, serving on boards of directors, working with the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce, serving two terms as mayor, and helping in several capacities with a wide range of events and social and political forums.

Hindle said the fact that Rothenburger was retiring as editor of The Daily News at the same time as the awards were decided was not a factor. Still, “it was just time,” he said, acknowledging Rothenburger’s 40 years of community service.

For all the differences people could list between successful businesses and successful individuals, they have this in common: a commitment to the community, a desire to give back, contributing to the health of the place they call home. KB

Berwick on the Park Service Provider Award (one to 10 staff) Summit Gourmet Meats

T

Kamloops Lincoln Service Provider Award (11-plus staff) Kamloops Home Hardware Building Centre Venture Kamloops Resource Industry Award Highlands Irrigation Ltd. B.C. Hydro Power Smart Green Award (one to 10 staff) Think Green Painting RBC Royal Bank Green Award (11-plus staff) Stantec City of Kamloops Community Service Award Canadian Western Bank President’s Award Mel Rothenburger

DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS 15

> VENTURE KAMLOOPS

Giving Kamloops Businesses a Voice Comprehensive survey provides an open dialogue for leaders

BY ANITA GROVER >> VENTURE KAMLOOPS

N

ot long ago we in Kamloops were asked to speak up and be counted. The federal government was gathering valuable information for its 2011 census and our participation in this process provided valuable spinoffs to our community in the form of information, funding and a voice.

The Kamloops business community is once again being given the opportunity to be counted and heard. This ANITA GROVER time, we will be providing critical information that will identify how we do business in Kamloops and identify valuable issues that will greatly affect our future.

16 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

As a community that values the economic contributions of our businesses, we strive to provide for their needs. This fall, Venture Kamloops is undertaking our first comprehensive business retention and expansion survey. The overall goal is to build a positive business environment for the success of local businesses and ultimately the success of the community.

In late October, Venture Kamloops started surveying more than 125 Kamloops businesses from a variety of sectors and sizes through in-person and online surveys. Why is Venture Kamloops undertaking such an initiative? This informationgathering blitz will provide valuable knowledge that accurately assesses the needs of businesses and identifies struggling and expanding businesses. That will enable Venture Kamloops to provide better assistance to help businesses survive economic difficulties and aid with expansions and new jobs.

Like an early warning system, the surveys provide an open, confidential dialogue for business and community leaders to share information in advance and often, thereby minimizing or avoiding unwelcome surprises.

This dialogue can provide development officials with data that enable the creation of a focused plan targeted at improving the business environment and strengthening the economy.

If you are a business owner and would like to participate in the survey, contact Venture Kamloops at (250) 828-6818.

Anita Grover is acting executive director of Venture Kamloops. KB

Finding meaningful work in today’s competitive job market may be more challenging than any of the actual jobs you secure…

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Economic Climate

On-Line Job Applications

SelfEmployment

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Fortunately, you do not have to take the journey all on your own.

Career planning, employment search, and self-employment services for people wanting to make the most of their life at work.

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DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS

17

Chamber NEWS Six Ways Membership Benefits You Businesses of all sizes can reap big rewards

J

oining the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce is a good way to save money and make smart business decisions.

With more than 840 members, the chamber offers various benefits for businesses of all sizes. It’s especially true for small enterprises.

Opportunities for networking, education, marketing and advocacy are among them. There are also group benefit plans and discounts.

Here are six benefits businesses may not be aware of, as explained by chamber president Maurice Hindle.

Discounts on merchant processing “Whether you work with TC Merchant Services, VersaPay, transactions using VISA or MasterCard or Interac, the chamber does a provincewide annual review to make sure . . . (we) offer something that’s proven,” said Hindle.

“For instance, at this moment we’re offering 1.59 per cent for VISA and 1.64 per cent for transactions for MasterCard, which are good (rates) in a relative sense. For Interac, it’s as low as 0.069 per cent.”

Group benefit plans “We offer lots of options in order for the members to keep their premiums low,” he said. Benefit plans include life,

keith anderson/kamloops business

Kamloops Chamber of Commerce president Maurice Hindle says there are lots of different ways businessses can cash in on their chamber membership. disability, extended health, dental and critical illness.

Fuel discounts “Are you using over 400 litres per month? You could save $100 to $200 a year on your fuel expenses, or more,” said Hindle. The chamber has programs in place with Shell, Esso, Petro-Canada and SuperPass.

“Staples Advantage” For office furniture, stationary, toner, computer supplies, cleaning supplies, seating, specialty paper, copy paper and more, businesses can save money and gain convenience.

“We have an online ordering, next-day delivery arrangement with (Staples) where members can save up to 30 per cent,” Hindle said.

18 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

Payworks For easy entry of your payroll, online or by phone or fax, members can make use of this benefit of chamber membership.

Employee payments are made through the payroll service by direct deposit or cheque.

Hotel discounts “For businesses that travel or have people into town, you can save from $60 to $80 off standard room rates as you travel around B.C.,” Hindle said.

The chamber currently runs programs with Accent Inns and the Century Plaza Hotel & Spa in downtown Vancouver.

For more information on chamber benefits or how to join, call (250) 3727722 or visit kamloopschamber.ca. KB

> chamber news i NEW MEMBERS

A New Vision for Wamaco Initial ‘growing pains’ now over for city’s only retail-supply outlet

T

he only retail-supply outlet in town has been quietly undergoing a lot of changes.

Wamaco Distributors Ltd. provides equipment such as racking, tags and bags to retail shops, and since Wanda Herman took over last year, she has opened a discount centre where retailers can get their hands on quality used goods to set up their store displays.

“They need to look for a bargain when they’re opening, for example; they don’t have the capital to open with everything new and shiny,” she said.

Customers can browse the centre located in the upper level of Wamaco’s building at 962 Laval Cres.

Herman bought Wamaco from previous owner Wayne McRann, for whom she had been doing financial management.

Open since 1984, the business serves much of the B.C. Interior, from Prince Rupert to the Kootenays. Herman said the only other companies like it are in Kelowna and the Lower Mainland.

“We had this vision that we could make this company vibrant and viable, and there was a need,” she said.

She runs Wamaco with business partner Kathleen Martin, who she said will buy the company and run it when Herman retires.

“We are just are so excited about it. We love it,” Herman said.

Wamaco’s next mission is to get in touch with customers again, as the customers were “kind of neglected” previously.

Email marketing on behalf of clients may also be on the horizon.

And they’ve recently started supplying to weddings and specialty parties.

murray mitchell/kamloops business

Wamaco owner Wanda Herman, left, and sales manager/business partner Katheleen Martin show some of the discounted supplies now stocked on an upper level of the Laval Crescent business.

“We’ve certainly gone through a lot of growing pains,” said Herman, “but if you were to have seen this place when we first bought it, and see it today, it is just so vastly different.” KB — Larkin Schmiedl, Kamloops Business

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> by the numbers New building permits are listed according to the date the permit was issued by the City of Kamloops.

Builder: N&H Contracting Ltd. Location/Work: Construct a new singlefamily dwelling with 1,347-square-foot main, 1486 Cannel Dr.

Issued: Sept. 4 Value: $239,390 Builder: Snow-Terra Investments Ltd. Location/Work: Construct half duplex, 1939 Coldwater Dr.

Issued: Sept. 5 Value: $40,000 Builder: A&T Project Developments Location/Work: TRU interior renovations, 900 McGill Rd.

Issued: Sept. 4 Value: $239, 239 Builder: Snow-Terra Investments Ltd. Location/Work: Construct half duplex, 1939 Coldwater Dr.

Issued: Sept. 6 Value: $20,000 Builder: Kaloka Cabins Location/Work: Construct a 1,200-square-foot hay shed, 380 Station Rd.

Issued: Sept. 4 Value: $15,000 Builder: Silver Rock Land Corp.

Location/Work: Construct interior walls, 1393 Ninth Ave.

Issued: Sept. 6 Value: $107,300 Builder: Errands General Contractors Location/Work: Tenant improvements for Showcase, 1320 E. Trans-Canada Hwy.

Issued: Sept. 4 Value: $200,000 Builder: HKR Builders Ltd. Location/Work: Demolition of house and construction of 1,300-square-foot main duplex, 955 Desmond St.

Issued: Sept. 7 Value: $266,640 Builder: Grace Contracting Inc. Location/Work: Construct a 1,500-square-foot main single-family dwelling, 2103 Doubletree Cres.

Issued: Sept. 5 Value: $157,320 Builder: D&T Developments Ltd. Location/Work: Construct single-family dwelling, 1250 Aberdeen Dr.

Issued: Sept. 11 Value: $700,000 Builder: Encan Construction Ltd. Location/Work: Tenant improvements for Swiss Chalet (previously Tony Roma’s), 1395 Hillside Dr.

Issued: Sept. 5 Value: $700,000 Builder: Hillside Contracting Location/Work: Construct a singlefamily dwelling with 1,960-square-foot main, 1771 Cheakamus Dr.

Issued: Sept. 11 Value: $5,000 Builder: Con-Ex Civil Contractors Ltd. Location/Work: Fire hydrant relocation, 900 McGill Rd.

Issued: Sept. 5 Value: $1.3 million Builder: Fulcrum Development (Kamloops) Inc. Location/Work: Construct a 2,383-square-foot main single-family dwelling, 1735 Cheakamus Dr. Issued: Sept. 5 Value: $260,720 Builder: Sun Sage Developments Ltd. Location/Work: Construct a new singlefamily dwelling with 1,570-square-foot main, 1092 Latigo Dr. Issued: Sept. 5 Value: $262,705

Issued: Sept. 11 Value: $100,000 Builder: K&C’s Construction and Renovations Ltd. Location/Work: Structural repair of building, 450 Lorne St. keith anderson/kamloops business

Shur-View Concrete worker Ed White uses a plank to level fresh cement in Aberdeen. He was working on a new house in the Carradale Court subdivision for D&T Development.

Issued: Sept. 12 Value: $400,000 Builder: Fulcrum Development (Kamloops) Inc. Location/Work: Earth works and site servicing, 1200 Aberdeen Dr.

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Issued: Sept. 12 Value: $220,000 Builder: Granite Homes Inc. Location/Work: Construct new singlefamily dwelling with 860-square-foot main, 1792 Primrose Crt.

WORKING IT OUT

Issued: Sept. 28 Value: $199,530 Builder: Wayne G. Hammond Location/Work: Construct 718-squarefoot addition, plus renovation on house, 5972 Todd Hill Cres.

Issued: Sept. 12 Value: $220,000 Builder: Granite Homes Inc. Location/Work: Construct new singlefamily dwelling with 800-square-foot main, 1786 Primrose Crt.

Issued: Sept. 28 Value: $90,000 Builder: Woodbrook Construction Ltd. Location/Work: Tenant improvement for Dollarama, 1801 PrincetonKamloops Hwy.

Issued: Sept. 13 Builder: Hazco Environmental Services Location/Work: Excavation of two hectares totalling 4,400 square metres of contaminated soils to be sent for soil treatment and replaced with clean backfill, 2505 W. Trans-Canada Hwy. Issued: Sept. 13 Value: $260,000 Location/Work: Renovation and expansion of the North Shore Canadian Tire to meet prototype standards Issued: Sept. 13 Value: $350,000 Builder: Wrabel Brothers Construction Location/Work: New building for Subway, 5170 Dallas Dr. Issued: Sept. 14 Value: $241,100 Builder: Parsons Construction Ltd. Location/Work: Construct 1,483-squarefoot main single-family dwelling, 620 Hemlock St. Issued: Sept. 17 Value: $212,120 Builder: Highline Developments Ltd. Location/Work: Construct single-family dwelling with 1,360-square-foot main, 8782 Badger Dr. Issued: Sept. 17 Value: $75,000 Builder: Danchuk Construction Ltd. Location/Work: Construct an addition, 803 Seymour St. Issued: Sept. 17 Value: $15,000 Builder: Brian M. and Cynthia M. Hanghofer Location/Work: Construct retaining wall at rear property line, 1736 Primrose Crt. Issued: Sept. 17 Value: $276,779 Builder: EN Bouwmeester Building Ltd. Location/Work: Construct single-family dwelling with 1,376-square-foot main, 2754 Beachmount Cres.

Issued: Sept. 18 Value: $60,000 Builder: Elizabeth M. Dabner and Dennis A. Nelson Location/Work: Construct a 500-squarefoot addition, 2971 Gilbert Rd. Issued: Sept. 20 Value: $132,000 Builder: Metro Homes Location/Work: Placement of new modular home, 1781 Ord Rd. Issued: Sept. 20 Value: $231,265 Builder: K&P Construction (1986) Ltd. Location/Work: Construct 1,335square-foot main single-family dwelling, 2033 Saddleback Dr. Issued: Sept. 20 Value: $233,940 Builder: K&P Construction (19896) Ltd. Location/Work: Construct 1,396-squarefoot main single-family dwelling, 2037 Saddleback Dr.

Location/Work: Interior renovation for Land Titles Office, 455 Columbia St.

Issued: Sept. 28 Builder: Dillman Enterprises Location/Work: Demolition of portion of a commercial building, 2469 Trans-Canada Hwy. E. Issued: Sept. 20 Value: $231,200 Builder: K&P Construction (19896) Ltd. Location/Work: Construct 1,386square-foot main single-family dwelling, 2035 Saddleback Dr. Issued: Sept. 20 Value: $179,520 Builder: MDM Contracting Location/Work: Construct a caretaker’s suite, 2980 Westsyde Rd. Issued: Sept. 25 Value: $260,040 Builder: Fulcrum Development (Kamloops) Ltd. Location/Work: Construct a 1,354-square-foot main single-family dwelling, 188 Fernie Pl. Issued: Sept. 26 Value: $5,000 Builder: The Bicycle Cafe Location/Work: Alteration for bike shop, 1654 Valleyview Dr. Issued: Sept. 26 Value: $55,680 Builder: MJH Contracting Location/Work: Construct a solarium, 7135 Blackwell Rd. Issued: Sept. 27 Value: $980,000 Builder: DW Builders Location/Work: Interior alteration and drive-thru at A&W Restaurant (previously The Verse restaurant), 1885 W. Trans-Canada Hwy. Issued: Sept. 27 Value: $200,000 Builder: Omicron Architecture Engineering Construction Ltd. Location/Work: Alter transit garage into public works storage building, 1550 Ord Rd.

Issued: Oct. 1 Value: $9,000 Builder: Commercial Kitchen Services Location/Work: Exhaust canopy installation at Good Eats, 340 Victoria St. Issued: Oct. 2 Value: $350,000 Builder: Fidanza Enterprises Ltd. Location/Work: Construct a new singlefamily dwelling with 945-square-foot main, 2002 Stagecoach Dr. Issued: Oct. 3 Value: $3,840 Builder: Julie A. and Kelvin D. Dekowny Location/Work: Construct 192 square feet of additional deck, 2535 Glenview Ave.

Builder: Steven and Cheryl A. Herman Location/Work: Construct 759-squarefoot basement suite in house, 1006 Windbreak St. Issued: Oct. 5 Value: $196,220 Builder: H&R Homes Ltd. Location/Work: Construct duplex (side one) with 1,168-square-foot main, 2026 Sunnycrest Ave. Issued: Oct. 5 Value: $196,220 Builder: H&R Homes Ltd. Location/Work: Construct duplex (side two) with 1,168-square-foot main, 2026 Sunnycrest Ave. Issued: Oct. 5 Value: $274,380 Builder: Northmount Enterprises Ltd. Location/Work: Construct new singlefamily dwelling with 1,389-square-foot main, 2102 Doubletree Cres.

Issued: Oct. 5 Value: $10,000 Builder: C&G Holdings Location/Work: Retaining wall, 5-1898 McKinley Crt. Issued: Oct. 9 Value: $20,000 Builder: Gabion Retaining Wall Systems Location/Work: Construct a retaining wall, 2116 Doubletree Cres.

Issued: Oct. 10 Builder: Tilly C. Hlatky Location/Work: Fill in 16 by 32 swimming pool, 1599 Southview Terr.

Issued: Oct. 3 Value: $274,160 Builder: Northmount Enterprises Ltd. Location/Work: Construct single-family dwelling with 1,392-square-foot main, 1075 Latigo Dr.

Issued: Oct. 11 Value: $301,530 Builder: Tim Pache Construction Ltd. Location/Work: Construct single-family dwelling with 1,503-square-foot main, 3045 Similkameen Pl.

Issued: Oct. 3 Value: $50,000 Builder: Pleasure Pools Plus Location/Work: Install 16 by 32 inground pool under geotech supervision, 3037 Similkameen Pl.

Issued: Oct. 11 Builder: Allan R. and Lorraine S. Massey Location/Work: Site for a 12 by eight greenhouse, 6435 Beaver Cres.

Issued: Oct. 3 Value: $2,500 Builder: Nexbuild Construction Corp.

Location/Work: Demolition of detached garage, 632 Fraser St. Issued: Oct. 4 Value: $730,000 Builder: Polson Construction (2012) Ltd. Location/Work: Interior renovations at No Limits Fitness, 905 Eighth St. Issued: Oct. 4 Value: $50,000

Issued: Oct. 12 Value: $3,000 Location/Work: Site a hot tub in rear yard, 38-7545 Dallas Dr. Issued: Oct. 12 Value: $65,000 Builder: Silver Spur Construction Ltd. Location/Work: Tenant improvement, 685 Tranquille Rd. Issued: Oct. 12 Builder: Kathryn B. and Rush R. Tokgoz Location/Work: Construct a pergola of maximum 10-metres square, 4783 Aspen Park Dr.

Issued: Sept. 27 Value: $250,000 Builder: Lamarche Construction Ltd. Location/Work: Construct a new singlefamily dwelling, 25-3665 Westsyde Rd. Issued: Sept. 28 Value: $105,000 Builder: Colin McGaffin Location/Work: Interior alteration, 1425 Cariboo Pl. Issued: Sept. 28 Value: $6,000 Builder: Wayne A. and Lorretta M. Priestlay Location/Work: Legalize a hot tub that is in place, 8941 Grizzly Cres.

Issued: Sept. 28 Value: $445,000 DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS 21

> tech talk

THE CYBERWORLD IS FULL OF HIDDEN HAZARDS. HOW CAN YOU KEEP YOUR BUSINESS SAFE? LARKIN SCHMIEDL REPORTS

Viruses, hackers and phish!

Oh, my!

22 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

W

e’ve all heard horror stories of hackers taking over computers, doing damage to reputations, files and peace of mind. And we all know viruses can wreak havoc.

Kamloops Business spoke to four computer experts to get the lowdown about how to keep your business information secure and worry-free.

Computer safety comes down to four things, say the experts: keeping your programs up to date, and using common sense, antivirus software and firewalls.

“Sometimes customers won’t have any antivirus on their servers, or they’ll have wireless routers and they won’t have any security on them; (they’ll) just be open.” These are two of the biggest issues, says Kamloops Computer Centre manager Kelly Brugger. “People just go buy (computers), plug them in, and don’t secure them.”

He has seen a couple of servers used as remote download or pornography servers by hackers.

“What happens is (people’s) hard drives fill up, so they go, ‘What’s going on?’ and they bring it in here and find that somebody’s hacked their machine.”

Brugger and other experts recommend using a firewall that’s built into your router. He says businesses should have a business-grade firewall such as a Sysco business class router.

“There just is better firewall security in it, and you can block websites if you don’t want your employees to go to Facebook all the time.”

If travel is a part of your business, you can set up the firewall so it allows you onto the system from a distance:

“There are remote salespeople who can actually come in and access the server or the files on the server . . . you can set rules in the firewalls to open that up to certain traffic.”

Because a firewall exists to allow certain information through to your private network and blocks out the rest, if the settings are configured correctly it will allow you on, but not everyone else from the Internet. Without a firewall, computers are accessible to anyone — including those who want to do some damage.

You know those annoying updates that pop up on your screen? Well, don’t ignore them, advises Gerry Stenson, the owner of Spitfire Computers. But do make sure they’re valid updates and not phishing schemes.

“Keeping things up to date like Flash and Java (is) really, really important,” he says.

“So many sites utilize Java runtime. People that write malicious code will take advantage (of that).”

Many people don’t like clicking the Update Now button when they’re busy, but if you don’t update your programs, that’s when viruses can get in.

“Make sure Windows updates are done; that’s why they have them,” Stenson says.

The No. 1 cause of problems he has seen is people running outdated programs.

Be sure to avoid Internet Explorer as well, he says.

“Use something like Mozilla Firefox . . . You can use Google Chrome if you like, but stay away from Internet Explorer.

“Firefox is a much more secure browser, whereas Internet Explorer is updated the least and targeted the most.”

Apple Safari is also OK. Businesses get in trouble when staff members accidentally click on compromised websites, says Stenson. “If staff are not surfing social networks, and sticking strictly to the sites required for business, they probably wouldn’t run into a lot of problems, to be honest.”

Be smart about where you click and read before hitting a button, he says. “It’s all common-sense stuff.”

If staff are not surfing social networks, and sticking strictly to the sites required for business, they probably wouldn’t run into a lot of problems, to be honest.

DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS 23

Chris Stevens, manager of Dial-A-Geek, also cautions to watch what you’re clicking. He says it’s all about common sense and taking the time to read what’s in front of you.

“If there’s a window that pops up on your screen, don’t start clicking and following it. If you get just a one-line email that says, ‘Hey, is this you?’ with a link on the bottom, don’t click it.”

Viruses come in waves, Stevens says, and the current trend is fake pop-ups for antivirus ware. A window will pop up on your screen saying you have viruses on your machine, or even that the RCMP has detected you’ve been sending out child pornography.

The box will instruct you to click, and when you do that’s when the virus programs starts running. This particular scheme goes even further to ask for your credit-card information, telling you it will remove the viruses for $79.

“It’s extortion-ware,” he says.

Stevens recommends installing an antivirus program on your computer.

“We’ve had the best luck with NOD32.”

Stenson says he likes Microsoft Security Essentials, which is free, and Avira is also good.

Brugger says antivirus programs can’t stop viruses that people intentionally let through, however.

“It’s really more people clicking on things. The antivirus says, ‘Do you want to allow this?’ You say yes, and bang, you’re infected.”

Kevin Hendricks of Simply Computing, a Mac provider, said in two years of working there, he has only heard two reported instances of a virus on Macs.

“Apple has a way more secure system,” he says.

When you install an application on a Mac, it requires a password authorization, making it more secure than Windows, he says, which doesn’t require authentication.

He says the Mac UNIX operating system is more secure than Windows’ DOS. For Windows users, Hendricks recommends against Norton antivirus, because it’s resource-heavy.

Having an in-house expert can’t hurt, either. Hendricks says having at least one IT person is worth it.

“Making the investment into getting someone who has the intellectual resources to keep (your business’ information) secure and safe and sound is definitely worth it in the long run because it maintains the business’s integrity.” KB

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> KCbia report

Catch the Spirit of Holiday Season There’s no place like downtown to get in the mood for Christmas

BY GAY POOLER >> MANAGER, KCBIA

I

t is holiday season in our neighbourhood; there is no better place to celebrate than Downtown Kamloops! Twinkling lights, cobblestone sidewalks and fresh, crisp air set the scene for an enjoyable stroll through our eclectic selection of shops. Festive displays and friendly, smiling merchants will vanquish any stress from Christmas shopping. It truly is shopping outside the box; we have a myriad of unique GAY POOLER choices for everyone on your list.

Excellent customer service and quality products ensure good value in your purchases. Personally, I appreciate the extra little

26 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

touches like adding colourful tissue paper and hand tying ribbon on gift bags, or the full-on fancy wrapped boxes with flamboyant bows. How special is that?

As if you need any more incentive to head downtown, remember that when you spend your hard-earned money with local businesses, the benefits stay in your community.

During or after your shopping excursion, be sure to stop by one of our many internationally flavoured restaurants for which downtown is famous. Any time of the year you can dine your way around the world without leaving the neighbourhood. During the holidays there is an additional festive flair.

Downtown is also Kamloops’ cultural and entertainment district. Enjoy theatrical and musical performances, artisan shows, ride the rails on the Spirit of Christmas 2141 Heritage Rail tour or party with your pals at one of our pubs or clubs.

We are truly a complete neighbourhood; it is our neighbourhood, it’s your neighbourhood, we are all in this together.

It is your backyard, your dining room, den, man cave, second office and so much more.

Best wishes to you and yours this holiday season! KB PRETTY AS A PICTURE! e want to know how you spend your time downtown, how you enjoy your neighbourhood. Capture the downtown Kamloops experience through your lens and share it with neighbours in downtown Kamloops’ all-new online photo contest. For prizes, rules and winning photos, see www.kcbia.com or search downtown Kamloops on Facebook.

W

Thank You Kamloops

for voting us The Best East Indian Restaurant once again!

BEST Enjoy the delicate

flavours of chicken, lamb, seafood and vegetable specialties in a traditional Indian setting.

Original • Traditional • Authentic i Simply Kamloops' Finest in Indian Cuisine!

Special arrangements for parties & get-togethers 700 Tranquille Rd, Kamloops (Across from Liquor Store) re)) Take Out & Delivery Available •

250-376-4444

Lunch Buffet from Mon. to Sat. MON. TO SAT. 11:00AM – 2PM; 4:30 - 9:30PM • SUN. 4 – 9PM

OPEN

7 DAYS A WEEK!

DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS 27

> Q&A

PUPPY LOVE KNUTSFORD FACILITY IS MUCH MORE THAN A KENNEL — IT’S A RESORT FOR PETS INTERVIEW BY LARKIN SCHMIEDL

PHOTO COURTESY TAMMY OSBORNE

Pet owners get much more than a doggie daycare when they leave their favourite cat, dog or snake with TLC for Pets in Knutsford.

T

LC for Pets is more than a kennel where you take your animals when you go away: it’s a pet resort.

Operating for five years in Knutsford, TLC won best home-based business in this year’s Kamloops Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards.

Owner Tammy Osborne, whose love of animals is abundantly clear, runs the operation alongside partner Denis Lessard, who’s the “business brains.”

With 34 rooms built especially to house dogs in a pet hotel, and three more rooms for cats, plus space for other pets, animals of all kinds are accommodated on a varying rate scale.

Q: How many animals do you have yourselves?

DENIS: “We’ve got four dogs, four cats, four frogs. Then there is the guinea pig and the bunny, the tarantula, and then, like 40 fish. We have two huge fish tanks,

and an African grey parrot. That’s in our house. And then outside we’ve got three horses . . . And that’s downsizing.”

TAMMY: “That’s exactly what I wanted.

Go out in my yard and have an animal everywhere you look, running around you.”

DENIS: “I had to go up to Williams Lake for three days. I’m gone for three days, I come back and we’ve added a rabbit and four frogs . . . Thank goodness I don’t have to go away for a month.”

Q: How many animals do you usually have staying with you?

DENIS: “I would say about 45 dogs is what we average . . . Right now is our slowest time of the entire year and I think we’re down to 18.”

TAMMY: “But the weekends are still pretty full . . . Roughly on a weekend, (we have) between 40 and 55 dogs.”

DENIS: “Sixty-four dogs is the most

28 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

we’ve had so far (at once).”

Q: What’s the most unusual pet you’ve had?

TAMMY: “We babysat a snake.

Someone (also) asked us to babysit a pig.

They begged us to have it in our house and we didn’t . . . It was a pet pig, and they had it living in the house, but I had a kid who was just crawling at that time, so I was like, ‘No, there’s no pig coming in my house’ . . . We do take (snakes), but only up till mouse size. And they have to eat frozen mice, I’m not going to feed them live ones.”

Q: What made you decide to start TLC? TAMMY: “I’ve always wanted to do it.”

DENIS: “It’s been Tammy’s dream since she was like three years old.”

TAMMY: “My mom would find me in my room with someone else’s animal.

‘Please, just let it sleep with me tonight!’”

DENIS: “She’d find a cat walking down

the road, she’d kidnap and take it home.”

TAMMY: “What happened is I had my dog Alaska . . . for over 15 years. If I were to go away, I’ve always looked at places and never liked them. So I always found family, or I ended up paying extra to get her to go with me, ’cause I’m like, ‘My dog’s not staying there, no way.’ . . . And then I met Denis and we started bringing the animals to my house. And we started getting busy word of mouth doing that.”

DENIS: “We had a little 1,000-squarefoot house, and eight dogs in there over Christmas.”

TAMMY: “So then I was like, ‘I would really like to open up something.’

And I didn’t want it typical. I wanted to have it where dogs can play, and they’re not just going to their kennels and then going out to the bathroom twice and day and that’s it . . . This is what I want, so I want to give that . . . I would want them to tell me everything. I would like pictures, I would like to pick up my dog and see what my dog did . . .

I just want all that information; she’s my kid.”

DENIS: “Whenever somebody brings their pet to us, we take, like, 300 pictures a day.”

Q: Did you expect to win the home-based business of the year award?

DENIS: “We’ve been nominated for top service award five times. This is the first time we were nominated for homebased business.”

TAMMY: “I couldn’t talk. I was going to cry (at the award ceremony), but I held myself (back).”

DENIS: “We were pretty surprised when we did win it.”

TAMMY: “We worked pretty hard putting together a pamphlet (for the award).”

Q: How long is a pet’s typical stay at TLC? TAMMY: “From a day to three weeks.”

DENIS: “We’ve had some dogs stay with us for six months . . . (But) I would say one week is probably average.”

TAMMY: “During the summer, most of them are all two weeks, three weeks.”

DENIS: “We’re booked up for Christmas by the end of September.

By the end of June, July and most of August will be booked.”

Q: What keeps you motivated in the day-to-day business chores?

DENIS: “We work out really well together because she is all about the animals; really she couldn’t care less if we made a dollar-fifty this year on business.”

TAMMY: “He let me write a cheque last year for $500, and I went in right away and bought all these dog toys.”

DENIS: “Yeah, she paid herself $500.”

TAMMY: “And I brought (the toys) home and he said, ‘That was supposed to be for you!’ I’m like, ‘It is for me, because I’m going to go outside right

we’ll probably build another building for it, and make it designed just for cats.”

Q: Did you get this property in Knutsford just for this project?

DENIS: “We drove around looking for a place that would meet our needs.”

TAMMY: “I said, ‘I need a place. I would like it to have a pond and it needs to be a big yard and it needs to have trees.’ It took us a while.”

DENIS: “It’s just outside city limits, so we don’t have to worry about jumping through the hoops for the City, which is huge, because the City has said it’s not

Pets left in the care of TLC in Knutsford go for a dip in a pond on the property. now and play with all those dogs with these toys. It is totally for me.’”

DENIS: “When it comes to surviving day to day, every day that she’s not surrounded by 10 animals, she’s just not happy. And I’ve been working in management in sawmills for 20 years, so I’m really good with the systems part. We’ve got policies and procedures we’ve made up for everything that happens . . . I’ve got a degree in business, so I’ve got enough of the business side of it that we can make it work together.”

Q: What’s the ratio of dogs versus other animals?

TAMMY: “I would say 80 per cent dogs.”

DENIS: “As the cat business picks up,

going to give any more licences for kennels in Kamloops. I can almost throw a rock and hit the border, but we’re far enough out. It was really funny — we went and took a look at it, and we walked through the yard and we walked through the building and then we walked through the house. And we went back and talked about it and we both had similar visions of how we would design the shed to look after dogs.”

TAMMY: “And then I looked at Denis and I said, ‘What’d the house look like?’”

DENIS: “We had no idea. We couldn’t have told you if it was a one-bathroom place or a six-bathroom place. So we went back and looked at the house again.” KB

DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS 29

> NSbia report

Plenty of Improvements Greet Returning Resident Community owes huge debt of gratitude to Peter Mutrie — Face of the North Shore

BY DOROTHY FELLING >> EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT, NSBIA

I

“strip” embodied pride and progress. recently returned to Kamloops All of this impressed upon me the after a couple of decades away, and realization that this neighbourhood was amazed and heartened to see not only looked welcoming, it felt safe, the innovative progress and rebirth inviting and well taken care of. It is of the city’s North Shore. indicative of the community’s resilience Living on the North Shore in the 1970s that such a remarkable transformation and 1980s, I remember an area quite has taken place. different to the one of today.

The heart of the North Shore still Although it was a great place to live rings true: to me it is the one constant in and raise a family, economic and social the area. woes had stamped their At the North Shore BIA indelible signature quite office, I have often been visibly on certain areas and Many people asked where the heart of community pride had have suggested the North Shore is. ebbed.

For me, the heart of the But when I entered that Peter was North Shore cannot be Tranquille Market via the found on a street, shopping Overlanders Bridge earlier more than just centre or avenue. The heart this year, I was pleasantly a cog in the of the North Shore lies surprised at the many solely and wholly within perceptible upgrades and wheel — he its people. improvements.

A united community, The creative building was the entire committed to existing and makeovers, colourful art vehicle. co-existing with neighbanners, vibrant floral plantbours; accepting and ers, improved sidewalks and respecting any differences crosswalks added allure and in class, creed or status; and always willmodernization to the area. ing to extend the hand of friendship.

To someone who had not been in this A strong community guided by a area for more than 20 years, the transforchoice to live, work and play here mation was amazing. Lasting impresbecause of a love for the North Shore sions and off-putting memories of the and the quality of life it offers. area I once knew quickly diminished A steadfast community united in its and were replaced with wonder and quest to challenge the negativity, delight. advocate for change; and enlist the The North Shore was finally coming co-operation and support of those who into its own. could it make it happen.

I saw families walking and laughing “A collective voice and a collective together, sharing their space with jogheart” — without these attributes, the gers and cyclists as they made their way award-winning North Shore down the Tranquille corridor.

Neighbourhood Plan wouldn’t have Spruced up storefronts, new made it to the drawing board. commercial and residential developA collaborative effort not only with the ments, and the overall cleanliness of the

30 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

DOROTHY FELLING community, city planners or architects, but with the engagement of key people who saw the North Shore’s potential and tirelessly fought for its redemption and transformation.

One of those key people, Peter Mutrie, the so-called Face of the North Shore and results-oriented manager of the North Shore BIA, has perhaps been the area’s strongest advocate.

For more than 12 years, he was instrumental in successfully challenging perceptions; campaigning for change; encouraging economic development and growth, and creating innovative strategies to help the North Shore flourish.

The successful implementation and timely delivery of countless improvement projects are a direct result of his can-do attitude and unwavering faith and belief in the North Shore.

His brainchild, and ultimately his legacy, for a safe, vibrant, economically resourceful community, is well on its way to realization.

As Peter moves forward into a new chapter of his life (he retired as manager of the NSBIA Nov. 8), he will be remembered for his invaluable contribution to the North Shore’s regeneration.

Many people have suggested that Peter was more than just a cog in the wheel — he was the entire vehicle. His vision, tenacity, wisdom and affable personality will be truly missed. KB

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www.optimumimmigration.com DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 KAMLOOPS BUSINESS 31

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