Meet Cam MacArthur, Business Development Manager and Dog Dad to Cedar
- Community Futures Howe Sound
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Cam MacArthur is the Community Futures Business Development Manager, and spends his workdays supporting entrepreneurs and business owners with free business advice, coaching, and setting them up with business loans.
His professional background reads like a who’s who of major international brands, with years of experience in high levels across multiple industries and skillsets. The Sea to Sky is lucky to have him on board to share all of that knowledge and experience with local businesses.
We sat down with Cam to learn more about his background, favourite parts of the job, the advice he finds himself offering time and time again, and his “perfect” dog Cedar.
What's your main role at Community Futures?
I do business advisory.
My day-to-day tends to be more just coaching people. That could be coaching people from the stage of “I've got an idea, I have no idea where to start”, to someone who has an established business already and is looking to expand, make a new move, or simply wants a sanity check.
In the case of someone who has no idea about starting a business, that's everything from helping them create a business plan right through to cash flow and creating marketing plans or marketing strategies, sales strategies etc, all very much at a macro level.
I look at people's business plans, provide feedback. Sometimes entrepreneurs can get so bogged down and laser focused that they forget about basic details, so it’s a matter of pointing them back to remind them to include it.
Often, it's just pointing them in the right direction, giving them next steps, giving them the confidence to achieve what they want to achieve.
The second part of that is community loans. For this, I help people get to the point where we are in a position to entertain a loan for them. This process includes collecting everything, putting together a summary, pitching it internally, and getting a yes or no from the Community Futures Howe Sound board (who make the final loan decisions).
What did you do before Community Futures?
What haven't I done?
My first role back in Australia was in CPG. I became a business national account manager in large petrol companies and supermarket chains.
Then I also became a channel manager or trade marketing manager, so basically I would take the dreams of the brand managers and helped make them a reality in the field.
Next, I looked after a large cinema chain, and eventually moved on to 9MSN, Australia’s largest online news network. There I became the head of mobile marketing for 9MSN.
From there, I went to Thomson Reuters, where I was one of the head sales guys for the global webcasting business. Eventually, had my own marketing agency business, which I eventually sold.
Ultimately it came to the point where I thought I'd like to do something fun, rewarding, and honestly, something not particularly taxing. That’s when the opportunity at Community Futures became available.
I love helping people and that's what fills my cup. Being able to do that every day is certainly rewarding for me.
What is the one piece of advice you find yourself giving again and again?
Often the advice is not even advice, but support.
It takes a lot of bravery to walk into Community Futures and share your idea for a business, so I often find myself simply starting with “good for you for taking the leap and being brave and giving it a go. The worst-case scenario is you go back to working a nine-to-five job.”
My other advice is just to make sure that what you're doing is something that you really want to do. Don't be doing it just because you think you're going to make a ton of money out of it, because that's not going to last.
That incentive isn't a real incentive. You've got to be happy with what you're doing and what you're creating, and you understand really what the reason is that you want to do this.
What is your favorite part of the job?
My favorite part of the job is making a difference.
I love helping people feel confident about what they're doing and also seeing people in the street later on when their business is a success.
For example, I once worked with a client from day one when she wanted to launch a dog biscuit company, to the point when the product was on shelves in stores. And being able to see that from day one to shelf is just super rewarding.
What do people need to know before setting up a meeting with you?
That they don't have to solve everything in that one meeting. It’s not a one-and-done session, so we can easily spend multiple sessions working through problems.
Simply arrive with one or two specific points you want to discuss, and don’t feel like you need to have a big presentation ready - it's literally just a conversation.
So just come as you are. Come with what's on your mind. We'll help you sort through it.
What do you do when you don't have all the answers for a client?
That's often the case. In these moments, we’ll reach out to our network to see if we can find someone.
Sometimes we’ll get specific legal or tax questions, and those are topics that usually require a certified professional.
I’d rather advise business owners to hire an expert in the cases as opposed to trying to bluff and pretend I know something, because that could just lead to people getting in trouble. And ultimately, that's not a service to them all.
Having the humility to say “I don't know” is one of the most important things that you can have in life.
Does your dog Cedar help out with business advice sessions?
Cedar is always happy to sit in on meetings and offer his support to business owners. His advice isn’t usually the most helpful, but what he lacks in entrepreneurship wisdom he more than makes up for in cuteness and enthusiasm.
Is there a local business or type of local business that you would love to work with?
Anybody doing anything interesting in the outdoor space, whether it's equipment manufacturing - any of those kind of interesting things. But also things that make a difference.
I love seeing organizations doing good in the world. And if you can be a people, profit, purpose business, that's someone that I really want to work with.
Set up a free, one-on-one business advice session with Cam today
Need to bounce around a business idea with someone who knows the ins and outs of development? Want help with a specific business hurdle? Looking for a small business loan but not sure how to start?
Cam is available to help. Set up a free business advice session to learn more.