CPPA - Detailed Experience
My name is Eric Jordan. I am a CPPA which means Canadian Personal Property Appraiser. There are over 700 CPPA’s across Canada. I specialize in Business Valuations. The Canadian Personal Property Appraisal Group provides members a proper legal structure with which to do valuations. They do not give instruction on anything other than how to use the forms and templates they provide to make a legal appraisal or valuation report. I am providing the following information on my experience because experience is the key ingredient in my credentials and my experience is extensive, relevant and when combined with my proprietary system I describe in the book '25 Factors Affecting Business Valuation' allows me to deliver what many believe to be the most accurate small Business Valuation available in Canada today.

EARLY LESSONS
I was born in 1952 in Southwestern Manitoba. Like many other boys that were born on a farm / ranch I was a member of the local 4H beef club. The Canadian 4-H motto is “Learn To Do By Doing”. It was at the age of 12 to 15 that I received my first training in valuing or judging. My 4-H group provided a lot of training in judging cattle. Like business valuation the process involved many factors. I enjoyed this and did well at the judging competitions. I got started in the construction industry at 16 learning about steel stud framing, drywall, drywall taping, acoustical tile, and other types of ceilings. I took training as an apprentice and at 19 years-old I was a sub trade foreman at the construction of J H Bruns Collegiate in Winnipeg Manitoba.

LEARNING TO LISTEN
I soon started my own business doing textured ceilings. I learned a lot of important lessons while running this business. The most important was learning to listen. I did specialized work. I would texture the ceilings in houses that were occupied as I had perfected a way to do this while protecting all the furniture and accessories in an effective and efficient manner. I would book work over the phone and set up a route that could take me from Manitoba to Alberta and back. One did not want to arrive at a house and find the work was impossible to do or that the owner was not likely to pay on completion. I was successful in that business. The key was to listen, listen, and listen. Asking the right questions and then listening carefully was critical to finding the correct information. Hearing the nuances became easy after a while. This is a very useful tool I use to this day while seeking information in the valuation process.

INTRODUCTION TO SMALL BUSINESSES
It was at about this time I got involved with the advertising business. I did advertising placemats across South Western Manitoba and Saskatchewan. If any of you are old enough and frequented Buddy's Steak Ranch on Albert Street in Regina, SK or Aunt Sarah’s Restaurant in Brandon MB. you may remember my placemats with a character called "Prairie Tom" in the middle surrounded by squares of advertising. I don’t believe my creation died when I quit doing the placemats. A short time after that "Coffee News" publication started in Winnipeg, Manitoba and the character they use to this day looks amazingly similar to “Prairie Tom”. I believe I at least partially inspired the creation of that very successful publication and I am very happy for that. The placemat advertising business put me into hundreds if not thousands of small businesses where I got to deal with the owners. Great experience for my future valuation career as my eyes were beginning to open as to what really happened in a small business.

AUCTION BUSINESS - Learning to See
In about the same time period I had a mentor Charlie Salfries who was sure that I should be in the auction business. I ended up doing about six auction sales in 1980 and held an auction license in Brandon Manitoba. This was a real learning experience for understanding value and being able to see and feel how live events work. Nobody understands value better than auctioneers. When the Canadian Personal Property Appraisers Group started in 1995 most of the first members were auctioneers from across Canada.

ONE ON ONE - With Hundreds of Small Business Owners.
The next business I got involved with was the movie business where I owned several rental stores and operated a movie broker business. In those days movies were a sideline to almost any kind of small business. I walked into thousands of small businesses and introduced myself. Hundreds ended up dealing with me. During this two to four hour process of dealing with the client on these video tapes, I really started to learn about what happened in a small business. Not all of the money went into the till. These business owners were happy to have someone to confide in. They would tell me amazing ways they saved on paying tax and all sorts of quirks about their particular business and industry. My experience extended to the US, as I purchased movies from small businesses then leased and sold these movies back into Canada. From this experience I could now understand what really happens on the ground in a small business as compared to what shows in the financials. This was invaluable one on one experiences with hundreds of different business owners across all sorts of industries. One can never learn these things in academia and I have a real edge on those who don’t have this type of experience, most especially those situations where bookkeeping is suspect or non existent.

PIN.CA - HELPING BUSINESS OWNERS ADVERTISE FOR BUYERS
Some video clients would tell me that they were selling so I should not leave movies with them as their business would be sold and gone by the time I was back in three months. My experience at that time suggested otherwise and I would ask them to just call me if they sold and leave the movies with a neighbouring business in the town. Two years later the business would often close down “unsold” and there would be an empty building for sale. This is where I got the idea to set up an Internet showroom or catalogue of businesses for sale on the Internet. I was correct and the Pin.ca website has been successful helping business owners to find buyers for the past twenty years.

VALUATION
Working with hundreds of small businesses, advertising to the market place I got to understand about valuation. I had a client who was a Chartered Accountant who helped me to understand from the accounting industry viewpoint, how they look at valuing a business. I knew however that that was not the whole story. At about the same time I had a client who was a Resume Broker. He had a formula for getting inside his clients head and finding out what intellectual property they retained in their brain. He would write that into a resume and these people would easily find a job. I knew that same thing would work with a small business. A friend of mine Reid Nunn had spent a long time in the insurance industry and he taught me a lot about risk. Between those three things I was able to start to put the pieces together for doing an accurate business valuation and that was the beginning of the 25 Factors Affecting Business Valuation.

BITCOIN AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS
By 2013 I had my valuation process fairly well in place had spent thousands of hours researching intangible assets which I felt were the most valuable part of a small business. I was doing business valuations and I decided to test my process on the toughest intangible asset in the world "Bitcoin" I purchased 78 Bitcoins and proceeded to test. My process led me to believe the key element in Bitcoin was the "blockchain" and for the reason of the blockchain, I deemed that Bitcoin would have value in the future. I predicted $500 Bitcoin, $1,000 Bitcoin and the real possibility of much higher. I think everyone can agree my analysis was correct and Blockchain has proven valuable.

CPPA CERTIFICATION (National Accreditation)
This brings us to 2015. I had a formula and a lot of experience but I lacked the legal structure to present a business valuation to a court. That is when I reached out to the Canadian Personal Property Appraisers Group in London, Ontario. I got certified through them and became a CPPA. Now I had a proper legal structure for doing my business valuations. Canadian Personal Property Appraisers Group teaches you the legal structure you must use to produce a valid Valuation. The CPPA certificate for me now is really a mute point as my experience and the legal structure I use stand on their own.