Kurt Leavins's blog

I can’t help but be impressed, every time I am in a room full of Edmonton business people.  Magic 99 and its sister station NOW! radio held our client reception last night, right here at the radio station.  When I returned home, yesterday, I was relating to my wife the impressive crowd of people that joined us.  There were family owned businesses, like the one that

I’m frustrated.  Over the past day or so, I’ve been reading headlines suggesting that the sky is falling, in Alberta.  The job market is bleak, they whine, and as peopleabandon the Province, its driving vacancy rates up and rents down.  Oh, the humanity!  I have trouble with this kind of reporting, on so many levels.  First of all, it’s lack of accuracy.  The job market in Alberta is NOT bleak.  Employment in our Province increased, in May, for the 2nd consecutive month.  Employment was UP 15 thousand jobs, mostly full-time ones.  That lowers our unemployment rate to 6.6 per

Size does matter.  Just ask the construction crews hard at work on the new Epcor Tower in downtown Edmonton.  At 490 feet, it is just a few feet away from being the tallest building in Edmonton.  And, once a couple of flagpoles are installed, it will finally tower above the Manulife building…which has had the crown for over 2 decades, now.  Now, the precise high of the building is largely symbolic.  But there can be direct links between symbolism and prosperity.  First of all, this landmark will be the new high water mark for downtown revitalization.  Yes, valuable steps in that pr

Size does matter.  Just ask the construction crews hard at work on the new Epcor Tower in downtown Edmonton.  At 490 feet, it is just a few feet away from being the tallest building in Edmonton.  And, once a couple of flagpoles are installed, it will finally tower above the Manulife building…which has had the crown for over 2 decades, now.  Now, the precise high of the building is largely symbolic.  But there can be direct links between symbolism and prosperity.  First of all, this landmark will be the new high water mark for downtown revitalization.  Yes, valuable steps in that pr

Rain, rain, go away?  A nice, sunny, hot weekend has perhaps tempered our frustration with Mother Nature, but the fact remains…we have seen one of our dampest May/June periods in record, in this past of Alberta.  No doubt, all of the precipitation has slowed work at construction sites, and put a bit of a kink in just about all businesses that rely on good out-of-doors weather to make a buck.  It has been damp.  But there’s an old saying that goes “An ill wind blows someone somewhere some good”.  And the dry April combined with great moisture levels these past 2 months has Alber

It feels good to be back on top!  RBC Economics has peered into its crystal ball for the rest of this year, and is predicting that Alberta will lead the entire country in retail sales.  They’ve pegged the rise in business at 7-point-7 per cent!  To go along with that, Alberta’s economy is expected to grow by 4-point-2 per cent next year.  That would outpace all the big players like Ontario, B.C.

Are you raising Edmonton’s next successful business person?  I think a lot of parents dream their kids will become doctors, teachers and lawyers…but maybe not CEO’s or Chief Financial Officers.  And I’m not sure why not.  After all, those jobs are just as reputable as the more socially popular ones in medicine or in one of the social sciences.  And the dough can be decent, too!What can you do, as a parent or grandparent, to give the child in your life a bit of a head start on a career in business?  First and foremost, set a good example.  Make business challenging and fun.  M

Elevators don’t read minds.  It’s a quote I got from a book I picked up the other day, quite by accident.  But its significance, for almost any business person in Edmonton, struck me almost immediately.  Elevators don’t read minds.  You have to pick which floor it will take you to.  But often, we’re so busy thinking of or doing other things, we forget that we have to push the button.  This is indicative of your customers, in general, today.  So many choices available, so little time.  As a result, it’s not good enough to just “be there”, anymore.  If you don’t stand

Mentoring can be a key to your success in business.  But accepting help in the first place can be hard to do.  After all, we trained all of our lives for certain opportunities, and spent 10’s of thousands of dollars getting the best education.  It can be hard to admit we STILL don’t know it all…right?  Well, one of my favorite phrases (and I admittedly stole it from someone else) is “you don’t know what you don’t know”.  And for entrepreneurs, this can be a critical weakness.  Part of what makes them great is self-confidence.  But that very trait can also blind you to t

The national economy created 25 thousand jobs in May!  The big numbers always sounds nice, but add in the fact that this was the 5th consecutive monthly gain, and then you get the full effect of how well Canada is bouncing back from last year’s slowdown.  It’s very encouraging.  And virtually all of the gains have been full-time.  There were some losses in part-time jobs, but in almost every case, those resulted in full-time gains.  So, it’s all good.  But where are all of these new jobs popping up?Alberta!  We gained 15 thousand jobs in May.  Yes, more than half of that big n