vendor
profile
Right on
schedule
Polestar Calendars
The founders of
Polestar, Julian Ross
and Ruth Porter,
persevered through
initially lean years
and now publish
more than 80,000
calendars per year.
celebrates 25 years
in business
By Ellen Schwartz
THE CLOCK STARTED ticking, or, rather, the
datebook began filling up in 1982, when Julian
Ross, a student at the University of Victoria,
wanted to find something better than the boring student agendas that were then available. So,
the creative-writing major designed his own calendar especially geared to students, with witty
quotations, an attractive design and space to jot
down assignments and social engagements.
response to customers’ requests for something
similar to the Family and Business calendars
but in a smaller format.
ROD CURRIE
sumer recycled text paper, processed chlorine free
with vegetable-based inks.
Ross and his wife, Ruth Porter, a Montessori
preschool teacher, printed 1,800 copies of The
Original Student Calendar. As newcomers to
the marketing game, they sold just 40 per cent
of that first print run. But they persevered. The
next year they sold twice as many calendars, and
today, 25 years later, their mom-and-pop business, run from their home outside the village of
Winlaw, British Columbia (population 400), is
still going strong.
Over the years, some elements of the calendars have remained constant: the three-part
daily planning format, covers featuring artwork
by Canadian artists, the inclusion of thought-provoking quotations. From the beginning, the
calendars have been entirely created, published
and printed in Canada.
Other elements have evolved over the years
in response to customer comments and requests.
Polestar has increased the number of note and
address pages, added pockets to the inside covers and enhanced flexibility by providing more
room to write in. Three years ago, Ross and
Porter responded to their own environmental
concerns by switching to 100 per cent post-con-
According to Ross, the largest challenge the
business faces is establishing a national presence from a rural area: “As a small independent
publisher, it can be challenging to get our calendars to where our customers want them to
be.” The solution: commissioning national sales
reps who sell to the trade, allowing the pair to
run the business from the Kootenays.
Polestar now publishes more than 80,000
calendars each year, and distributes them to
15 countries around the world, including
Australia, Belgium, Brazil and Papua New
Guinea. This year, a French-language edition
of The Family Calendar is being published by
a Quebec-based publisher.
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And the rewards? Porter counts them off.
“Talking to our customers and hearing their
stories. Creating a business that reflects our values. Donating calendars to non-profit groups
we want to support. And,” she adds, gazing
past the cedar-plank workshop that serves as
Polestar’ production centre, “walking through
our garden to get to the office, setting our own
hours—all the perks of the self-employed.”
The Original Student Calendar gradually
expanded into a whole line of time-management agendas, each of them inspired by the
couple’s personal events. As Porter explains,
“The Family Calendar came about because we
had a 4-year-old, a new baby and a time-consuming book publishing business. We needed a
family time-management planner, and we figured other families would appreciate one, too.”
Ross’ advice for other small businesses
is to have a unique product that fills a need.
“Grow slowly,” he says, “and hold on to control
as much as possible.” He adds with a smile,
“Believe in your own vision.”
Next came The Business Calendar, designed
for people who recognized—as did Ross and
Porter—that their lives are more than just
their work. The Polestar Planner was created in
Clearly, Polestar’s calendars are filling a
need. The Family Calendar is recommended
by Canadian Living magazine, and a typical
customer testimonial, echoed by everyone
from students to executives to single moms,
say, “Thank you for another year of organizational sanity in our busy lives.”
People’s lives made a little easier, with
warmth and flair—exactly what Porter and
Ross set out to do 25 years ago. C
The Costco Connection
Polestar calendars in English and in French
are currently available at Costco warehouses.
Business Name: Polestar Calendars Ltd.
Founded: 1983
Owners: Ruth Porter and Julian Ross
Number of employees: 4
Address: G.12 C.9, R.R. #1
Winlaw, BC V0G 2J0
Web site: www.polestarcalendars.com
Products: The Polestar Planner; The
Polestar Family Calendar (available at
Costco); The Original Student Calendar;
The Polestar Business Calendar
Comment about Costco: “Costco is
a great customer for us—they are so
easy to deal with and have become the
favourite place for many of our custom-
ers to shop for The Family Calendar.”
Ellen Schwartz is the award-winning author of
12 books for children. She lives in Burnaby,
British Columbia.
