ROBERTS CREEK — When computer programmer David Chisholm moved to the Sunshine Coast, he brought his job with him.
“That’s a lot of tech geeks, a lot of writers, architects, designers and music producers,” Chisholm said. “Home-based workers are the single biggest sector of the coast’s economy.” “One of them works on the Sunshine Coast, but the others are in Ireland, Quebec, Comox, northern B.C., wherever,” he said.
Without a huge budget for business development, Gibsons focuses mainly on maintaining the town’s livability and quality of life, he said. About a dozen retail businesses are clustered around the Roberts Creek post office, along with a tiny library and two restaurants. But the surrounding rural neighbourhoods are bristling with hundreds of home-based enterprises.
“We weren’t in the fun part of the city, we were just stuck in traffic between Queensborough and our jobs,” she said. “It just wasn’t the place for us anymore.”After moving, Gordon continued to commute to her job with Telus for about six months before packing it in to go freelance in a home-based studio.