#a different booklist

[bookaddict24-7]

✨I love visiting new bookstores in Toronto!✨

I was given the opportunity to interview Jackie Khalilieh and the event was at A Different Booklist in Toronto! It was such a great space and had so many diverse titles. The audience was wonderful and the afternoon was full of laughter.

[writtenbygrimes]

Milestones

I am terrible at marking milestones. Just awful. In general, but specifically, my milestones. It may be due to a deep-seated disdain I have of self-aggrandizing, and it seems my brain refuses to make the distinction between braggart behaviour and the simple, public acknowledgement of an achievement. Anywho, let’s get this out while my brain is distracted. As I sat quietly on the train the…

Milestones

[inhernature]

A Conversation With Fiona Raye Clarke

Fiona Raye Clarke’s talents, works, and efforts towards Black mobilizing and empowerment spans the breadth of law, politics and art in the Black Diaspora. Fiona is highly accomplished, having attained a Master’s degree in Law, and being called to the Bar in 2017. She has also edited and published three anthologies: "Basodee: An Anthology Dedicated to Black Youth," The “Black Church in Canada” and now, “Black Like We: Troubleshooting the Black Youth Experience,” and is currently working on her own literary text. This young, awe-inspiring woman continues to work with Black youth in and around GTA in efforts to engender change for the better, especially around self-actualization. In light of all these achievements, A Different Booklist found that it would be most fitting to highlight Fiona Raye Clarke, in the wake of her latest anthology. 

[blprblog]

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New businesses come and go every week in Toronto. The restaurant business is the most infamous for quick turnover, yet no industry is immune. 

Honest Ed's closed forever December 31, 2016 after sixty eight years in business. The founder, 'Honest' Ed Mirvish, was a local legend, the building is an iconic destination and the business itself is a Toronto institution giving many generations of people fond memories of going with their parents for one of their first bargain basement experiences or memories of participating in the annual Turkey giveaway. On a marketing scorecard Honest Ed's did nearly everything right: it had a founder people like and remember, a unique atmosphere, a venue worth visiting, fond memories customers could refer to, competitive prices, a social responsibility initiative and frequent free press. And yet after all of these perfect scores the business still did not survive.   

It is definitely essential to have a great marketing strategy, execute it and to create customers who love your businesses almost as much as you do. But it is just as necessary to have a long-term view of how you want your business to grow, why you want your business to exist and how long you intend to be involved. We have all heard business and marketing gurus (like Simon Sinek) talk about the "why" of your business as a reason to stay motivated to work at it every day. But beyond your reason for daily motivation what is your end goal? Is this business a project for you or a legacy for your kids? Are you willing to sell it for the right price or are you creating a movement? Can you envision evolving into something else or will the core problem of your business always need solving? These are questions that you must answer for yourself before you can recruit effective and loyal people to your team.

At the same time that Honest Ed's has shut it's doors for good A Different Booklist is still fighting the good fight on the other side of Bathurst Street. For over twenty years Itha Sadu and Miguel San Vincente have been owners of the bookstore and stalwarts of the black community in Toronto. The store is more than a place to do business, it connects people. This is a business that has a 'why' that extends beyond the building and even beyond their product, books.  

So what's your end game? How do you want your business story to play out? What's your exit strategy?

Tell me in the comments below. Where do you see your business in five, fifteen or twenty-five years?

[ayanna312]

This is why I spend ages longer than anyone combing the shelves of children's books trying to find books that reflect my son. We are forever thankful for stores like A Different Booklist in Toronto and Knowledge Bookstore in Brampton for making our search easier.