The startup culture in Vancouver is not only thriving, it’s growing. It’s become a trend of it’s own that inspires, and encourages everyone to join in. People who move to the city see and experience this first hand, and realize that when surrounded by the energy here, there isn’t anything they can’t do. The world is your oyster in Vancouver, but how did that come to be? Why is Vancouver such a hot-bed of self employed creatives?

As part of an ongoing series, we’ll be meeting and interviewing creative entrepreneurs in Vancouver to see how and why they think this has happened, how they’ve benefited from it, and what makes them tick as an entrepreneur; we want to know, “Why Vancouver”.

Everyone, meet Kurtis. If you don't already know him, you're missing something. This guy is EVERYWHERE. Literally everywhere. With 7 jobs (no joke!) you genuinely cannot be around and about Vancouver's creative community without bumping into him.

 And of course, that's exactly how I met him: attending my first ever Freelance Friday at the beginning of the year (Thanks FF!). Here's what Kurtis has to say about being a freelancer living the Vancouver dream.

"Vancouver is where I want to be when I have time off, that’s why I’m not leaving. It is also (arguably) where other Canadians want to be (we’re looking at you Toronto). That’s our starting point, we have our existing millennials that won’t leave plus the converts from out east. Tons of talent, though not enough inspiring 9-5 positions to go around.

With Vancouver being so "young" it means there is a growing sense of exploration in entrepreneurism. We don’t want to punch a clock until we get to 55 and THEN start living the life we dreamed of. In order to get what we want today, we need to create a job that fits our lifestyle, not the other way around. Starting a business gets easier every day, with 3 hour workshops from Camp Tech and tools like Squarespace, Shopify, Mailchimp etc. You don’t need to know it all to have it all <cheeseball smile>.

When I visited New York 2014 <collective groan from my group of friends on hearing this again> everyone I met was working on a little side project. Their hustle could be a CD they’re recording, a monthly event they run, or a new book they’re writing. Everyone was working their FT job not for the sake of retirement but to fund something they’re passionate about. I feel Vancouver is starting to get a heavy dose of that.

There will always be the early adopters of entrepreneurship. People like the Ryan Holmes’ and Stewart Butterfields’ who take the leap first and reap the benefits. I would argue the conversation “I’m working on my [insert side project(s) here]” is becoming more common in Vancouver. The more people succeeding in taking that leap, the more “acceptable” entrepreneurship as career path becomes.

Long term, I hope, we have a city where everyone is working on something worth getting up for in the morning."

Stay tuned for more interviews (1 every week!) with other creative “do-ers” on the topic of “Why Vancouver”, and in the meantime check out Kurtis’s top 5 for getting sh*t done:

1. Do you have a favourite cafe or local spot to work from?
Primarily I work from home but if the mood strikes/I want some co-working company, I’ve worked out of Creative Coworkers, Groundswell, L’Atelier, and The HiVE. The latter being where we hold our Camp Tech Vancouver classes. Biggest thing that draws me to a space, I like my environment to feel lived in and comfortable. I work much better when I have people in close proximity whom I can ignore (the mind is a funny thing...).

If you liked this post, let us know! We want YOU to be part of our community - so send me a message (lucy@ateliervancouver.com) and you can join in on one our community events, or be part of this blog series! Join the conversation!