Minding My Own Business
How Futurpreneur Helped Me Describe My Work
This is a learning reflection about how a workshop forced me to name what I actually do.
While I started writing on Substack one year ago, I only introduced my independent work and my professional services six months ago. On the day before my birthday actually; you can read the introduction here! At that time, I had a vision to establish a self-publication of reflections on my field practice. I made a promise to subscribers (more to myself) to create more in-depth resources.
Fast forward to now: I have been commissioned for my writing, facilitation skills, creative practice and knowledge, and systemic design capabilities. I have two digital downloads available to share my expertise:
1. Future-forward Scales: A resource for designing survey questions; and
2. How to Practice Anticipation: A gentle 75-day reset for the season ahead.
I feel more confident than ever in my capability, but some hesitation remains. This is around putting myself out into public enough to network and monetize these skills. I have financial realities to keep up with and ever growing dreams.
I catch myself sometimes wondering: am I dreaming big enough? Are my business plans too modest?
Fleeting thoughts like a flickering flame.
Recently, I decided to fan this flame. Igniting the pilot light, if you will.
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Rock My Business Series
A couple of weeks ago I attended Futurpreneur’s three-part Rock My Business workshop series. Futurpreneur is a Canadian non-profit organization that provides young, aspiring entrepreneurs (ages 18 to 39 years) with loans, mentorship and other resources to start or buy a business. Funded by the Government of Canada, Futurpreneur has helped launch more than 15,600 businesses across Canada since 1996. The Rock My Business series is a free resource that provides a collective space for networking and accountability towards advancing business ideas, formalizing a business plan, and creating a viable cash flow.
My time was well spent in the live, virtual sessions. Facilitated by established entrepreneurs and business development advisors, each session provided simple frameworks, heads-down time, and group discussion on product-based business development. However, Futurpreneur offers templates for a range of product-oriented and service-based offerings. The business plan templates are comprehensive; good for those who have clarity on their work. For me, as I am still in early validation stages, I found the templates for a convertible pitch and validation gaps most useful.
The pitch pushed me to state my business idea in plain, repeatable language. Once I created the pitch, I used it to describe my intentions in each round of small group work. My convertible pitch looks like this:
My business offers professional research and strategic consulting services. I am selling instructional designs, research conduct and reporting, and knowledge transfer services. The units of sale include workshops, facilitated learning sessions, graphics, system maps, curricula, and written documentation. These are for micro-sized and small-sized enterprises in public and not-for-profit sectors. My key benefit is that I can create customized learning experiences for adult learners. My credibility comes from over a decade working with complex organizations in public policy contexts and training as a research analyst (Honours Bachelor of Arts, Postgraduate Certificate) and systemic designer (Master of Design).
Naturally, I used the dedicated work time to apply frameworks I’ve come across during my studies and shared those frameworks with others. I am using Strategyzer’s Business Model Canvas to create a one-page vision and explanation of my business ideas and plans. It’s nice to have all the components in view at once and in a layout that anchors all relationships and activities to a central value proposition.
I think I can offer the most value through my (decolonial) ethical and relational approach to foresight, design, and qualitative research. Generally, I work B2B on a 1:Many basis through written material and live meetings. So far, I have been doing this through the Cultural Policy Hub’s newsletter, social media, here on Substack, and over video calls/virtual sessions hosted in Zoom, MS Teams, or Discord. My cost structure relies on micro-transactions (with subscription options) for digital products and fees-for-services. Lucky for me, all my revenue streams have proven viable.
Remaining questions are about the reliability and scale of these revenue streams and about who my best customers might be. If you think it is you, please reach out!
I believe my work is of interest to “change-makers.” This includes policymakers, policy analysts, research analysts, graduate researchers, postsecondary faculty, adult educators, instructional designers, artists, and other creators. My industry niches are specialized design services (NAICS 5414), management consulting services (NAICS 54161), and scientific research and development services (NAICS 5417).
Reflection
Everything I just ran through - those were the easy parts.
The hard work came with cash flow planning, as much of the assumptions come from market intelligence. I am not sure what resources Futurpreneur offers in this regard – I can only say that I am thankful I have worked in market intelligence before and had some tricks up my sleeve. Next week, I will share my market analysis, industry outlook, and consumer market considerations with subscribers. That work took me eight hours! About as much time as I had spent in the workshops.
Futurpreneur’s Rock My Business series is a pathway to loan financing and the RBC Foundation’s Startup Awards. Businesses need to be beyond the idea or research and development phases to secure financing. To work more deeply with Futurpreneur, businesses need to accept a loan, and with the loan gain access to other programs and resources (like a mentor, business development officer, networking events, etc.). Loans cannot be used to pay-off existing debts and Futurpreneur does not provide grant funding.
For these reasons, I am not sure that I am ready to continue working with the non-profit. I appreciated the accountability and the time set aside to document my intentions, but I did not gain new knowledge that I hadn’t already been exposed to through my studies and my work in Ontario’s innovation ecosystem.
Still, I am walking away with new connections and one critical lesson: be sure to invest in liability insurance as soon as possible.
Final Thoughts
Futurpreneur presenters framed the business plan as a communicative document. Something that explains to the reader where the business has been and where it intends to go in the immediate future. Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, and Alan Smith frame business model planning and generation as a search for patterns that can be replicated, subverted, or broken entirely. They also emphasize the usefulness of a business plan as a starting point for discussions, meetings, and workshops: “A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures values. … The business model is like a blueprint for a strategy to be implemented through organizational structures, processes, and systems,” (2010, p. 14-15).
If for no one else but myself, I definitely gained some clarity by drawing up my blueprint. This is also something I am more than happy to walk others through. Reach out to me if you want help with your own business plan.
My professional service offerings are emergent; even this plan is a work-in-progress. Let me know if you have suggestions or requests.
References
Futurpreneur. (2026, January 12). Rock My Business Idea. Rock My Business Series. Online.
Futurpreneur. (2026, January 14). Rock My Business Plan. Rock My Business Series. Online.
Futurpreneur. (2026, January 15). Rock My Business Cash Flow. Rock My Business Series. Online.
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., & Smith, A. (2010). Canvas. In Business Model Generation (pp. 14–51) chapter, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.