Creativity Lives in a Dark Place, In the Mystery of Not Knowing. I had the torn-out Yellow Pages for "bicycle shops” spread across a Montreal city map on the passenger seat of my rental vehicle. In the back of the Chevy wagon, jammed in beside my luggage, was our first Sherpa “all terrain bike.” “There’s the next store. Why do I feel so nervous?” I muttered, turning into the slushy curbside parking spot. I hoisted the Sherpa over a snowbank onto the soggy sidewalk. A young guy held the door...
11 days ago • 3 min read
Dangerous yet Wonderful - My First Venture as an Entrepreneur I was a restless fourteen year old -- school wasn’t inspiring me. My family gave me security, but I was searching for something more – my own money, my own sense of control. Mom paused, turned from the sink to face me, potato in one hand, peeler in the other. “Why? What do you need that for?” We were a family of savers, and I knew just what to say next. “I want to start saving, start my own bank account.” Her answer was...
18 days ago • 2 min read
How my First Partnership Broke Historical context. Rocky Mountain Bicycles was built by a group of enthusiasts that shared an obsession – to create a better bicycle. There was no roadmap, just a team of enthusiasts with a range of skills: Jacob Heilbron, Pippin Osborne, Paul Brodie, and Sam Mak. We named the company Rocky Mountain Bicycles, even though “mountain bike” was still a registered trademark of a U.S. company called Fisher MountainBikes. Legal letters arrived telling us to stop using...
25 days ago • 3 min read
Trust doesn't just grow. It has to be built, tested, and repaired. I was behind the counter, fumbling with our new digital cash register, when the old front door swung open. In walked a guy about my age, a little shorter, dark curly hair, a cyclist’s tan, and a self-assured grin. “You hiring?” he asked. I nodded, caught off guard by his bluntness. “Yeah, for summer. We’re looking for a mechanic.” Vancouver, April 1975. At nineteen, I was only a couple years out of high school. My dad had...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Boredom. An Uncomfortable but Honest Friend. There’s an invisible fog of discontent that seeps into each vacant moment. I’m bored. I’m restless. So I reach for my phone to distract and avoid discomfort. It’s as if they – marketers, algorithms, advertisers – sell me a drug, a dopamine hit wrapped in fast food packaging so that I eat it up so easily, again and again. And I wonder why I still feel unfilled, not settled, not truly present in my own life. Like eating junk food, I end up with a...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
My Dad, and a Rift I Regret. I was thrilled. Finally after seven years, I was running my own store! I had stepped away after managing my Dad’s three Vancouver stores – not just by moving to Edmonton, but also emotionally, I was now independent of Dad. Dad grew up in the hardscrabble northern Alberta farmlands, raised by just his father, Will Bain – a quiet, inward man consumed with keeping the farm running. There were no siblings nearby, no neighbors for Dad to play with, no safety net. Just...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
I bought my first business at 25 with $10K. Thanks to an excellent mentor! During the ‘70’s I was obsessed with expanding my dad’s Vancouver shop into a chain of the best bicycle stores in the country. My vision was bold and relentless. In 1971, Dad bought Fred’s Cycle Shop (now West Point Cycles) because he really wanted all of our family to work together on something. His vision was that this business would be the glue that kept his four teenage sons close to home and to him. While my three...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
“Grayson, where’s your sandbox?” It was a typical Sunday evening, but I felt adrift. In 2010, I exited Solaris Properties; I wasn’t best suited to act as a consultant. But then I found myself without a meaningful role to pour myself into. Everything ahead looked flat, empty. Frustrated with my aimless scrolling through YouTube, I lay down, hoping rest might bring clarity. What it brought was a vivid dream. I was walking through a vast landscape of sandboxes, arranged in a loose grid. Each one...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Allen, I just want to give you a hug! “It’s good to see you, sister!” I exclaim. Melanie, my sister in law, heroically looks after their family of four growing hungry kids while caring for my brother Allen. “Sister?” Allen queries me. “Yes brother.” I ask, “Do you remember who my sister is?” Allen looks up at her from where he is seated at the table. “I can’t remember her name, but she is my mama. No… that’s not right. My mama is up there.” Pointing upward toward heaven. “But she…” he...
2 months ago • 3 min read