Driving a Mercedes, dressed in a Harry Rosen suit creates a great first impression and having lunch at Lumierre, but truth is you don’t know that the guys credit card is maxed and he can barely afford to put the gas in his Mercedes.

There are about 10 wealthy families who are the aristocracy in Vancouver. They or their offspring still live in Shaugnessy. The rest are the drug lords who also live side by side in Shaugnessy.

That’s old money. New money in Vancouver lies in the hands of the wealthy Asian fathers who may purchase a 1.5 million dollar home on the west side, leave their wife, grandmother and kids in their house on in the catchment area to qualify for registering their kids at Prince of Wales Secondary, the best academic high school in Vancouver. Then they return to Hong Kong to create more wealth. This is not a racist issue, it;s a FACT. You could be Ukrainian and do the same thing.

And you wonder where the wealth lies. Surrey last year hosted wealthy Asian businessmen to lure them to invest in Surrey. These are not VC or Angel Investors ready to invest in your startup or entrepreneurial venture. Banks aren’t interested either unless you have assets or a spouse with a good paying job.

“Love Money”- family and friends is and always has been the best source for seed money in Vancouver. The Business Development Bank has pretty much the same reputation for lending as banks, and they are not risk aversive.

So who has money here? Do you? Probably not if you are considering leaving the most expensive place to buy and live in North America.

Vancouver is like the beautiful rich girl in high school, who you couldn’t take your eyes off of, you were addicted to her and almost stalking her, but you knew only the rich quarterback driving the chevy convertible would stand a chance to date her.

Doing “bizziness” in Vancouver is a way of life here. People are dancing as fast as they can here, and everybody is still pursuing the beautiful girl, in the hopes that one day she will embrace you and accept you for just who you are; the poor handyman’s son who drives a 54 Monarch.

It’s not a question of when you will leave, but how long you want to keep chasing the brass ring, knowing full well that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.

But it’s like a group of alcoholics who sit around and say that they want to stop drinking and they all turn to one another and say : “Okay You First”!

I’m in Vancouver for the week looking into possibly moving here from Alberta (looking for that next step up the corporate ladder and a change if scenery). But after meeting with recruiters yesterday, it’s become abundantly clear that to move to Vancouver I’d be looking at what would amount to being a $10 an hour pay cut.

In talking with the recruiters, the reason for the lower wage is all outlined above. They said employers don’t need to pay high wages, as people accept less money just to live in Vancouver.

I looked into the cost of living in Vancouver, so I know what I need to earn to live decently in this city. And I thought the minimum number I came up with should have been attainable, as it’s not outrageous… Or so I though.

I have great experience and education credentials to offer this city. However, it seems like I’m going to have to look elsewhere to achieve my goals. But I’ll see what happens over this week first.

Raul, I regularly put in 60 to 80 hour weeks on a regular basis. I work my azz off right now, but I do so with a plan that what I’m developing now will pay off later. The real question on my mind is…when is “later”?

So yes, other people are putting in long hours, I hope its for an adequate payoff.

And about housing. Housing is just insane and ludicrous in this city. I’m working hard so I can afford an overpriced house in the future.
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/52803–b-c-has-one-of-the-hottest-housing-markets-in-canada

First, thanks for speaking to the Vancouver Business, Marketing and Entrepreneur group last night . You gave an awesome talk. http://www.meetup.com/Vancouver-Business-Marketing-Entrepreneur/

Now about your post, I unfortunately have to agree with what you say as I see it time and time again and hear it in the stories relayed to be by other entrepreneurs. Vancouver businesses simply do not want to pay when they can hold back…. meanwhile Calgary is paying top dollar, as well as a multitude of cities in the U.S.

That is a personality of the city, and it’s not just regarding salaries, its widespread here, compared to other cities.

From my business and marketing coaching point of view, I consider myself to quote a little lower than I think it should be on contracts, yet entrepreneurs simply don’t want to pay if they think they can do it themselves for free. Sometimes the ‘cost’ of doing the latter greatly outweighs the former.

I even wrote a brief report on this, as Reason 9 of my Special Report on Why Vancouver Businesses Can’t Market or Sell.

It’s a short report, mean to be taken with the rest of the reasons as a whole (which anyone can get if they go to http://www.elevatedmarketing.ca and sign up for the report), but I’ll share Reason 9 here to morally support you in your lament above: http://www.elevatedmarketing.ca/reason-nine-too-cheap/

Best,

Ronald Lee
http://www.elevatedmarketing.ca
604-781-7093 info@elevatedmarketing.ca
…follow us on twitter! http://twitter.com/ElevatedMarket

Thanks so much for your comments!

There are many companies exploring moving out of Vancouver for cheaper real estate. In fact, it is quite difficult to find commercial real estate of any size for reasonable prices in the city. That said, companies do have difficulty attracting senior talent who love the urban residential environment of the Vancouver (of which I am one). I have spoken to several “suburban” municipalities about what it takes to attract these workers and often, a level of infrastructure beyond personal housing, such as coffee shops, cool gathering places, interesting office environments, etc., is needed for some to consider moving out of the city.

The funny thing is that it is a lifestyle choice! And, for me, lifestyle includes “work, play and live”. I’m just asking Vancouver to consider that work is still an important driver of my lifestyle and we need to make sure it’s in balance with the costs of “playing and living” here. It’s definitely not an easy task!

Thanks again!

Thanks so much for your comment! I completely agree with all four points and it is a fine balance between work aspirations and lifestyle. Yes, I do work a lot, but as I’ve told several people recently, “What you’re now seeing IS the laid-back Rochelle!”. (You can’t even imagine what I was like when I lived in New York City.)

I’m am also hearing more and more that the lifestyle argument doesn’t quite match the lifestyle costs. So, there needs to be a readjustment. On the one hand, Vancouver offers small city salaries, but requests big city living costs… hmmm!

I have spoken a great deal about Richard Florida’s creative class and am hoping that we will soon have quantitative metrics and examples to point to. In the meantime, it is important to get people to think about this new class of professional and creative workers. I feel quite strongly that the regions that capitalize on their potential will, in fact, attract the leaders of tomorrow.

Thanks again for your great comments, and for continuing to be a pillar of the Vancouver community!