Benoît Comeau

Born in Ottawa where I spent my early childhood, then on to Montreal where I barely survived grade school and experimented with a handful of juvenile delinquent encounters with the local police (Outremont, QC), they being most adept at 'catching me'. Then banished to a boarding school for my first year of high school (Rigaud, QC); barely surviving that experience as well.

Moving on to more misadventures in Ottawa to finish high school and attend university (Ottawa U. aka the U. of O.), from which I promptly dropped out when my father dropped dead. After a few years of misspent youth and rather mindlessly starting a family, I didn't have a clue what to do with myself. In quiet desperation I decided to start over and go back to school. Carleton U. was gracious enough to take me in and it was during that period that I acquired my first computer (an uncommon move at the time). Working a variety of jobs as I studied, I eventually graduated with a B.A. in Law (High Honours) and a minor in translation (Class of '88).

Not having the right temperament for a career as a criminal, the first 15 years or so of my working life were in sales and its close cousin, fundraising. I was fairly good at both endeavours and earned a decent living, yet I can't say that I much enjoyed the work.

Having dabbled in business during my teens & early twenties and realizing as I approached my forties that this route held the most promise of fullfilment for 'moi', I dove in. Some 25+ years in business followed. Burning with ambition at the outset (blooming late, as it were), I was fortunate enough to be successful at it; such that retirement in relative comfort as my sixties approached became an option.

Too stupid to quit (as I like to say), I chose instead to leave one business and start another, along with two of my three daughters (in order to have someone to tell me what to do and when — I have not been disappointed on that score). The result being that the night & day job became owning – and working in – a document translation agency.

Having recently turned 65, I have been thinking about 'retirement' and what that would look like for me. I can't imagine not working at something and the environment I live in affords me the opportunity to devote myself to a lifelong passion, namely, roughing it in the bush (where my home is located).

So, it's official, the 18-year Plan is officially launched. I have, in recent years, shared with close friends the many environmental wonders that make up the forestry parkland that surrounds my home. I would like to widen the sharing circle by recounting stories related to my 18-year Plan in these pages.

Résumé

Work Experience

   
◊ 10+ years of active involvement in the language industry: acquired (in 2002) and currently managing, on a full-time basis since 2007, an established document translation services business headquartered in Ottawa and servicing clients throughout North America. 25 years of business and management experience: general manager of an Apple dealership; partnered in startup and establishment of thriving, diversified service sector enterprise (association management - meeting planning - trade show sales and coordination - translation services - communications); initiated and orchestrated successful divestment of business.
10 years of sales and marketing experience in a variety of direct sales positions: department store retail; pharmaceutical (detail man); medical supplies (sales to hospitals); perfumery & cosmetics (calling on department stores and drugstores); desktop computers (Apple dealership). 5 years of fundraising experience: working with community organizations, national and international NGOs.

Education and Training

   
◊ BA High Honours (Major: Law; Minor: Translation) Carleton University (Class of 1988) Successful completion of Canadian Securities Institute Program (exam passed)
Successful completion of Sears Canada Management Training Program (promoted to management)  
Successful completion of Dale Carnegie Sales Training Program Successful completion of Apple Canada Sales Management Program
Successful completion of a variety of Peak Potentials Training Programs, including: Guerilla Business School; Train the Trainer I; World's Greatest Marketing School  

Technical skills and Practical Experience

   
Strong communication and presentation skills; fluently bilingual (French and English); solid public speaking abilities Superior writing skills (English); extensive proofreading and editing experience (French and English) Excellent understanding of contracts; strong legal agreement drafting abilities: commercial agreements; employment contracts
Human Resource Management (recruitment, hiring, release, exit interviews) Full range of IT knowledge and hands-on experience: network and server management (incl. LAN planning, component acquisitions and deployment); workstation troubleshooting and maintenance (multiple platforms) Strong database development skills (Filemaker; SQL); solid website development experience (incl. extensive HTML coding, some CSS and PHP) and deployment (incl. CMS-equipped websites)
In-depth knowledge and use (25+ years) of office applications (MSWord; MSExcel; PowerPoint; FileMaker; MSAccess; Photoshop; Quark XPress; Adobe InDesign; Adobe Acrobat Professional; etc. Extensive internet marketing experience; expert knowledge of website Search Engine Optimization (SEO); working knowledge of Google AdWords and Google AdSense  

Work Résumé