Hello all,
I don't post as often as I should, but enjoy reading many of the great ideas coming out on this list. I do have an idea I'd like to share.
We were approached by a big downtown marketing firm to do tune-ups for their employees. This company offers free car parking to some employees and therefore felt they needed to compensate those who ride the transit, so they started drawing a certain number of monthly transit passes. But this left out the cyclists - who are fairly numerous as the company is downtown and hires only extremely hip and good looking people.
So they approached us to do tune-ups. We set up in their conference room and everyday had to refuse people due to the high demand. We charged by tune up. It was, by our standards, very profitable and, by their standards, a very good deal. Win-win.
This company has some clients who we might have moral issues with, but this is a great initiative on their part to encourage cycling on a real one-on-one basis. By dealing with us (an employability program) the company feels that it's giving something back to the community.
On another note about taxes in Canada: Non-for-profits (OBNL) can reclaim half of the GST and PST (in Québec at least) that they have spent. And in Montreal you can get back a portion of your municipal taxes.
Keep those wrenches clinking and those wheels turning.
Richard