Accounting software giant Intuit sponsored a study earlier this year that found 83% of Canadian small business owners could not pass a basic financial test. The study concluded that the single biggest reason for small business failure is a lack of financial literacy skills. Small business owners who participated in the study said they recognized the importance of financial management, but needed more tools to help them.

StratPad’s strategy and business planning app was recognized for its contribution to improving financial literacy at Startup Canada’s Bridging the Financial Literacy Gap event. StratPad won both the Financial Literacy Startup Award sponsored by Intuit Canada and the People’s Choice Award in March 2013.

My father once told me something and it has always stuck in my head. He said, “When I was younger, I didn’t go out seeking anything but an interesting life.” Those words impressed me. He never said that he sought fame, riches, happiness or glory. He merely sought an interesting life. And, for better or for worse, he found it. I have had the pleasure of watching him for these last 24 years and sharing with him many of the highs, lows and in-betweens. To be an entrepreneur is to shed the norm and forge out on your own.

Unlike more conventional jobs, the entrepreneur has no job security, no pension, no health insurance and no guarantee of money coming in. The entrepreneur also has the grit and spirit to see these as not impossibilities or deal-breakers, but rather as challenges to overcome. The other side of the coin is, the entrepreneur also has opportunities for far greater achievements and successes than the ordinary man or woman, working at a 9 to 5 job, getting paid what the boss thinks they deserve. I have seen both sides. I remember eating Kraft Dinner one year, steak the next. I have watched my dad come home after selling his first business, beaming with well-deserved pride. I have also watched my dad come home, stress and failure written all over his face. I have never seen my dad give up.

Growing up, I sometimes had a hard time understanding why Dad didn’t just get a regular job like everyone else’s dad. I have asked him that on many occasions. It certainly would have made everyone’s lives, including his own, less stressful and more stable. Isn’t that what everyone wants? But the problem is, some people aren’t built that way. Some people are unable to work for others and need to create their own wealth and opportunity, whatever the cost. My Dad is one of them. He is too headstrong, too set in his ways and too determined to let somebody—anybody—make the decisions for him. I’ve seen it; it doesn’t work.  All of these factors have, in turn, moulded me into the man I am today. I’ve learned the value of hard work, the value of a dollar. I’ve learned that in order to go my own way, sometimes life gets a little tougher. I’ve learned the value of an “interesting life,” and how rewarding it is to work towards and complete a goal.

I have tried to take my Dad’s words to heart; instead of going to university right after high school and being stuck as a corporate drone, I moved away from my hometown, took a cooking apprenticeship and spent five years traveling all across Canada and later the world, cooking and eating. I now live in Germany with my girlfriend, and am learning my third language. I can only speak from my own experience, but heading out on my own and doing my own thing was challenging and scary. Even more scary was the thought of never seeing the world, never listening to the voice in my head that says “what if.”

These traits were taught to me by my Dad, a man who is unable to let others dictate his path in life.  The idea of obscurity and boredom is more terrifying to me than any fear of the unknown. I’ve watched this desire for new experiences and independence drive my father for the past 24 years, and I know that his actions have inspired me to live a life away from the norm. And I am a richer person for it. To all would-be or just-beginning entrepreneurs out there, know that it won’t be easy, but it will be a far more interesting life. You have my respect and admiration. Happy Father’s Day.

—Lewis Glassey

StratPad is a change agent for the entrepreneurs and consultants who use the strategy and business planning app. In a recent customer survey:

• 54% said StratPad helped them think differently about their business
• 33% said StratPad helped them change their business model or business strategy
• 22% said StratPad helped them change how they manage their business.

The April 2013 survey polled users on StratPad features and invited feedback on potential new products and services.

“We were thrilled at how many customers responded to our survey and very grateful for the information they shared,” said StratPad founder and CEO Alex Glassey. “We learned a lot about how StratPad helps customers with their business and where we can do more to meet their needs.”

StratPad is the highest-rated strategy and business planning app in the iPad App Store. User ratings and reviews are posted in the App Store and on the StratPad web site.

Congratulations to winners of StratPad’s survey draw

StratPad users who completed our April 2013 customer survey were entered into a draw for 10 prizes of $100. Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey and congratulations to prize winners Brian Dumas, Oscar Harding, Thomas Jackson, Tony Madden, Luke Mansfield, Hamish Rathgen, Andre Almeida Reggiani, Ian Watson and Shakila Williams.

For most people, there’s nothing more boring than business plans and business strategies. This amazing app will help you with all of that – and will make the process so much easier!

See the full list here. StratPad is in the “business apps” category.

Launch! Youth provides people aged 18 to 30 with the training, financial backing and mentors to start a small business in Greater Victoria. The 12-week program is offered through Community Micro Lending, which supports local people without access to traditional financing to start and grow their business.

StratPad donated the premiere version of its business planning app to the Strategy for Life initiative. “We’re thrilled that sales of our product will help to support young entrepreneurs in our community,” said StratPad CEO Alex Glassey. “The Launch! Youth program focuses on business planning, budget development, and financial literacy which are critical for business success.”

The Strategy for Life team has partnered with the Canadian Youth Business Federation to promote sales of StratPad.

Visit Strategy for Life for more information.

This is the second annual Start Me Up Innovation campaign. Backbone is one of Canada’s largest and most successful business magazines. Campaign sponsors include Bell, Ceridian, the Canadian Innovation Centre, GrowLab and more.

To read the article in Douglas Magazine, download the PDF. The April/May issue is available on local newsstands.

On a related note: some people question the value of business strategy and planning in the face of shortening business cycles.

Really?

Listen: just as buying lottery tickets is no substitute for knowing how to earn a living, and hail-Mary passes by themselves don’t win football games, throwing business ideas indiscriminantly against the wall to see what sticks isn’t entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship is the skill of turning creativity into a sustainable business. The “sustainable business” part requires careful thought and execution. Remove it from any definition of entrepreneurship and you turn “ready, aim, fire” into “fire, fire, fire” in the blind hope of hitting a target. ANY target.

Yes, business cycles are getting shorter. So reduce your strategy and planning cycles accordingly.

Yes, technological changes present frighteningly large, swift and powerful challenges. But the heat of battle is no time to panic; this is precisely when a cooler head with a well-considered strategy prevails.

Yes, complex and time-consuming strategy and planning methodologies are increasingly obsolete. But don’t throw your thoughtful baby out with the turgid methodological bathwater. Instead, find a strategy and planning approach that’s better suited to today’s faster pace — one that encourages you to think critically.

Hey, I don’t mean to disparage hackathons and startup weekends. They provide an exciting new approach to the “creativity” part of our entrepreneurship definition. Just keep in mind that the Red Bull-fueled rush of cranking out a potential new business model is only the first step; it must be followed up by strategic thinking.

Now THAT’S the start of entrepreneurship.