I spent twenty-six days on the road this summer, travelling between Toronto and Winnipeg, most of it in northwestern Ontario between Sault Ste. Marie and Kenora.
I met many new people and learned new things while also spending a lot of time actually outside in the landscape. One wonders why more people don’t do this. (We have the tools, yet cling to fixed places, routines and ways of doing things.)
I am especially grateful to a few people who encouraged and supported this time of exploration. Marjorie Brans at the School for Social Entrepreneurs connected me to Katie Elliot at the Nordik Institute in Sault Ste. Marie, which gave me the opportunity to give a workshop on the structure of non-profits and social enterprises. This prompted me to start visualizing the different ways enterprises can be structured and compare them; something that I hope to develop into a more polished presentation. Katie in turn connected me with Roslyn Lockyer of the PARO Centre, an organization that supports women entrepreneurs in Thunder Bay and across northern Ontario.
An important outcome of all this traelling was connecting with Cathy Beamish, the force behind Beamish & Associates, a small law firm located in Sioux Lookout, Ontario. I started working part of every month in August, filling some gaps in their legal service offering while continuing to develop my connections in northern Ontario.
Working on the road is challenging. Meeting people face to face can be challenging, depending on schedules, money, and the unpredictable factors of weather, road construction, even wildlife. But folks in the north understand these things and roll with whatever comes up. By being flexible and understanding, the work gets done. More importantly, I believe there is a qualitative difference in the relationships that are formed and the work product itself. Hard to measure, but doing work in the north, on the road, or remotely, is never “just business.”
