VANCOUVER—There is creativity everywhere. Even in fishing.

That was the message on Friday, April 13 during the monthly CreativeMornings/Vancouver, which was themed on, of all things, fishing.

The speaker was Bob Kronbauer, founder of the popular blog vancouverisawesome.com. The content-rich, often-updated website has a team of contributors, but Kronbauer is the only full time employee.


During his talk it became clear that Kronbauer is a workaholic. He was diagnosed with a stress-induced eye disease, for which his doctor prescribed a break from work. Not being one to actually take a break, Kronbauer used this period of time to follow a different passion of his: fishing.

He told a story of how, on this break, he helped a B.C. lodge owner improve his business by filling his ponds with trout for fishing. He helped this owner find the fish, transport them, and also will help him build a pier on his property. He also told a story of how he got involved with the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society, which led to the crux of his talk: creativity is everywhere. He encouraged the audience that, If you are passionate enough about something, money will find you.

The sport of sturgeon fishing in B.C. was developed out of the need for conservation of the endangered fish. Recognizing that they couldn't fill their boats with conversationists alone, the owners use the thrill of the catch as the selling feature, and the conservation effort runs in the background.

This fact is that the business wouldn't be able to exist without the conservation effort (the sport of sturgeon fishing allows catch and release, it's illegal to kill a sturgeon) and the conservation effort couldn't happen without the financial gains from the sport fishing business. This is similar to how Vancouver Is Awesome was founded — as a side project that became something much bigger.

Kronbauer noted that "we're all guilty of looking online or within arm's reach," but his time-off experience made him realize that creativity really is everywhere and if you have enough passion, you can turn it into profit or good for the world, and with a little luck, both.

See more photos from the April 13 session here.

May's session will feature Darryl Condon, partner at Hughes Condon Marler Architects. Tickets will be available at http://creativemorningsvancouver.eventbrite.com/