Blissdom

Hello from Blissdom Canada!
I was delighted to be asked to share my experiences at Blissdom Canada. I’ve felt very fortunate to have had such wonderful support and assistance in my entrepreneurial journey, and I’m happy to share these resources with you.

Ontario Self Employment Benefit Program (OSEB)
This is the provincially sponsored program I am currently enrolled in. It was a rigorous application process, 10 weeks of business classes, and then an additional 32 weeks of financial support. I check in with my advisor monthly, but can access her at any time. For the 10 weeks I was in school, I received financial assistance AND my daycare was fully covered. If your idea is more than just monetising a blog, and you’ve been on EI for either maternity leave or job loss within the past 5 years, you may qualify…

Toronto Business Development Centre (TBDC)
This is the organization that ran my OSEB program, and it is a wonderful, wonderfully supportive environment in which to launch a business. They are under contract from the province to run the OSEB program, but they also run very valuable (and reasonably priced) evening seminars and offer a business incubation program as well. I can’t say enough good things about this place. If you are located in the GTA, this is the place to go!

Mom Inc.
This was a great read and it offers a bunch of good resources online. Even though I read it during my TBDC training, I still took a lot away from it.

RBC Business Plan Template
If you are lucky enough to go through the TBDC program or seminars, they give you a bunch of valuable templates for use in your business. However, the Royal Bank has a very thorough business plan template, that is close to what you’ll be producing if you’re going through OSEB.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Good luck, and thanks again!
Corinne