Miracles do not, in fact, break the laws of nature.

Once upon a time…

I’m free, 100% clean, I made it to the other side.

I behaved mostly okay, was given the gift of poverty without leaving home, and tried acted as if my life depended on it.

In business meetings, the old is always attended to before the new can be introduced (Tupperware, Country Style, Mr. Sub, Water Depot, WIP). The door’s open but the ride it ain’t free.

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.

It matters enormously if I alienate anyone from the truth.

All that we call human history–money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery–[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

Χάρων, C.S. Lewis 1898-1963, Fisher King 1, 2 1991

The Apprenticeship of Les Stewart

Some background:

• born on RCAF Station Senneterre, PQ, 1959,
• school: Cedarview and Forest Hill in Midhurst, St. Mary’s, St. Joseph’s and North Collegiate in Barrie,
• twice a franchisee (Arjay Painting and Nutri-Lawn, Midhurst, ON),
• a franchisee’s crew Barrie and 1st assistant manager, Orillia 3254, McDonald’s Canada (B.O.C., Silver Hat, & AAA, 1972-80),
• BA, 1983 and MBA, 1987, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON,
• Medical audit coordinator, St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital, St. Thomas, Canada, (1987, provincial psychiatric hospital),
• Budget analyst, Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario, (acute care regional teaching hospital, 1988-92),
• founded Canada’s 1st national franchisee association, Midhurst, ON (Canadian Alliance of Franchise Operators, CAFO, 1998-2005),
• been sued twice: Nutri-Lawn’s then owner, The Franchise Company (FirstService Corporation) and then then by a consulting client’s franchisor (Tupperware Canada Inc.), SLAPP,
• took my franchised lawn care business independent in 1998,
• represented myself at an injunction hearing, franchisor unsuccessfully sought to enforce their non-compete clause, Barrie, ON, 1999 (Justice Paul Herminston, Barrie),
• experienced a 5 day trial, (Justice Katherine Swinton, Toronto,  May 1999),
• lost (+$125,000 unfavourable award),
• bankruptcy papers for self and corporation when the fee waiver agreement was withdrawn (Jay Harris, Harris & Partners Inc., 2001),
• unpaid policy analyst for Mr. Tony Martin, MPP Sault Ste. Marie, 1998 to 2001 (provincial, federal politician),
• expert witness at public hearing which lead to Ontario’s first franchise law, Toronto, ON (Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure), 2000),
• created the Information Sharing Projectand submitted unsuccessful project proposal to the Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Affairs in 2003 (digital teaching, due diligence and business risk assessment tool; embryonic form of WikidFranchise.org),
• identified Predatory Franchise Lending to Industry Canada, 2005 (18 month investigation: bank, consultant, franchisor, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Minister of Finance, RCMP Commercial Crime Unit, OBSI, FCAC, PMO, etc.),
• case preparation for a +$6-million civil law suit based on predatory lending principles,
• media contributor, 1997 – present,
• contributed to the Prince Edward Island, Ontario, West and South Australian franchise inquires, http://www.cafo.net (ret.),
• Blue MauMau contributor: 459 posts (since Oct 2007),
• founded and editor of FranchiseFool weblog: 1,082 posts, 150,732 views & 994 comments (since Feb 2008),
• founded and co-editor of WikidFranchise.org, world’s 1st independent industry reputation wiki (repository of franchise-specific documents, unique business risk search capability, and open source archive for investment-grade information): +2,300 documents, 324,054 hits  & 7.5 GB bandwidth downloaded, (since Feb 2009),
• endorsed Bill 102, An Act to amend the Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure), September 23, 2010,  Legislative Assembly of Ontario (start @ 1440),
• attended the International Association of Franchisees and Dealers annual conference, Indianapolis, 2010,
• attended Ontario Bar Association annual Franchise Law Conference (2009 and 2010),
• named Knight of the Year – 2011, Barrie Council 1626, Knights of Columbus, Barrie, ON,
• editor of FranchiseBanker.ca weblog: 21 posts, 588 views & 14 comments  (since March 2012), and
• leadership training and support to independent franchisee associations (members, boards and executives),
• team member: management consulting team specializing in mom-and-pop business format franchising,
• pre-trial development of large-scale group and class action legal actions, and
• ongoing investigations (Les Stewart Consulting, 2000, LinkedIn).