Grow Vantage and Ask For Directions Training Privacy Policy

Grow Vantage™ Inc. (“Grow Vantage™” or “GV”) and Ask For Directions™ Training have established this Privacy Policy for the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training organizations, and also for the Ask For Directions™ Training organization, which is a subsidiary of Grow Vantage™ Inc.) to explain how it protects and manages the personal information that it collects from you (the client) online and offline. This privacy policy may be updated at any time, and a copy of the updated policy will be posted on the Grow Vantage and Ask For Directions Training ™website.

Privacy Officer

The privacy officer of Grow Vantage™ Inc. and Ask For Directions ™ Training is the director, Patricia Dent. The responsibility of the privacy officer is to respond to inquiries and complaints; establish and maintain directory listings for clients; assist in updating information that is published on the website; understand the legislation; and apply pertinent changes to the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training Privacy Policy. Contact information is: phone: 705-727-0789 or email: patricia@growvantage.com.

Why is this Personal Information Collected (Business Purposes)?

Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training collects and uses personal information for the following Identified Purposes:

  • To understand and fulfill client needs or requests for Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training  products and personalized services; and to refer business to Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training  participants;
  • To develop private client accounts for our clients, provide access to our website and to maintain the integrity of the website;
  • To allow access to private/member only areas of the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training  websites, directory listings, and the announcement mechanism which allows our clients to advertise their services;
  • To provide services and products for our clients, including transmitting training information, training class schedules or materials.
  • To confirm the Identity of specific clients (to avoid breaching the privacy of other clients)
  • To communicate with clients and site visitors, when necessary, and to inform clients of upgrades, as well as marketing offers for other products and services available from Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training , its affiliates and third parties;
  • To bill accounts and maintain payment records; and to collect payment, or unpaid accounts if necessary;
  • To comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or government request; or to bring legal action if the company is threatened.
  • To respond to a legitimate claim, or to address our reasonable belief, that you are violating the rights of any third party or any of the agreements or policies that govern your use of the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training  site or any product or service;
  • To protect the services, products or rights of Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training, including but not limited to the security or integrity of the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training  sites; and
  • To identify and resolve technical problems concerning the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training  site, products and services.
  • To analyse client activity in aggregate form (i.e., not individually attributable to you) to understand visitor and client preferences via cookies or pixels for the website and/or social media, for its business analysis, operational, marketing and other promotional purposes; and to provide general statistics to organizations that track aggregate information regarding entrepreneurs.

When you visit the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training  web sites, a cookie may be placed on your computer, or the cookie may be read if you have visited the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training  sites previously. If you choose to not have your browser accept cookies or pixels from the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training  web sites, or social media sites, you may not be able to view all the text on the screens, or to experience a personalised visit, or to subscribe to certain service and product offerings on the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training sites.

Consent for Collection, Use and Disclosure of Information

Your use of the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training  sites and/or your registration for products and services constitute your consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training sites or Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training products and services.

Consent is obtained from each client by giving them a form to be signed that explains the use of material; requests consent to share our clients’ business information, the set-up of client accounts, access to advertising mechanisms. If a new use of client data is contemplated, Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training will seek approval for that use.

The consent statement explains that information permits business referral activities to Patricia Dent, owner, Grow Vantage™, Inc., and Ask For Directions™ Training, other Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training participants, and potential clients or associates for mutual benefit. This information is also used to create a membership profile, a web profile and establish email communications related to the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training programs.

Registration forms also outline the information that Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training use to set up profiles on the public directory, and contact emails for Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training information. Further updates to client information are the responsibility of the client, and they are given instructions to make updates or changes to their information. They may also inform Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training sites about changes to their personal information by email or phone to receive assistance in managing the updating process. When made aware of these requests, we commit to using the new or updated personal information received.

Consent may be withdrawn by advising the Privacy Officer that the client is withdrawing consent (e.g. by unsubscribing from lists or requesting that information be unpublished).

Limiting the Collection of Personal Information

Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training limit their collection of personal information to only that information which is necessary for the Identified Purposes. Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training do not direct their sites to, nor knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of thirteen.

a)  What kind of information do Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training collect?

For clients: Grow Vantage™ collects information to fulfill the business purposes outlined above, at the time of your registration, certain “personal information” (information that personally identifies you) including but not limited to the following:

  • Contact information (both business and home information, including name, email addresses, home and business addresses, phone numbers)
  • Financial information, including credit card information to establish recurring payments for Grow Vantage™, for those who choose this option and while payments are due to Grow Vantage™. This information is kept by approval on physical forms during the period that payments are due to Grow Vantage™, and then shredded.
  • Age categories
  • Business information, e.g. business purpose and marketing information in conjunction with business coaching activities.
  • For general visitors to the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training sites or social media, computer hardware or software information through cookies or pixels (e.g., IP address, operating system, browser type, domain name, URL, access times, and referring web site addresses).
  • Information may be made available to the following third parties, all of which have privacy policies in place. They include:
  1. The Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training sites accountant and bookkeeper (financial information for the purposes of tax planning and reimbursement)
  2. Searchie software (onboarding platform for and Ask For Directions™ Training)
  3. QuickBooks software, Stripe and PayPal software (online)
  4. Collection agencies (in the case of delinquent accounts)
  5. Email Marketing services (currently Aweber, Gmail and Google)
  6. Web firms which support the Grow Vantage™ website or which perform digital marketing activities (e.g. Gravity Stack Marketing) and Ruzuku (online teaching and sales platform) Member Mouse, Cloudflare
  7. Virtual Assistants (from time to time to monitor announcements, send referral letters, past due collections, and miscellaneous administrative activities, including managing social media and learning platforms)
  8. 3rd party backup software to ensure the security of Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training data and files (Backblaze)

5.     Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention

Clients and non-clients who sign-on to receive email communications (without necessarily becoming clients of Grow Vantage™ or and Ask For Directions™ Training), provide their name and email address. This information is stored in our Aweber account and the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training websites.

How will this information be processed and stored?

Your information may be stored and processed in the Canada or the United States, or in any other country in which Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training or its affiliates, subsidiaries, suppliers or agents maintain facilities. By using this web site, you consent to any such possible transfer of information outside of your country.

  • Electronic files and information is primarily managed internally and is stored on computers belonging to Grow Vantageä and Ask For Directions™ Training employees or contractors.
  • When consent is obtained from each client, their email is added to our email list, a membership profile is added for each client and a web profile is established on the Grow Vantage™ website.
  • Client contact information is shared with the other members of the client’s GV cohort or and Ask For Directions™ Training coaching group and instructors (based on signed agreement within client contracts).
  • Training notes and communications regarding the program are sent by the email address provided to Grow Vantage™. The information is also used to understand client demographics and from time to time, to provide non-specific statistical information to organizations who track entrepreneurial statistics. 
  • If Grow Vantage™ hires other companies to provide some products or services on our behalf, we will only provide those companies or individuals the personal information they need for the Identified Purposes within their scope of work, and we will limit their rights to use and further disclose your personal information as appropriate in the course of their work for us.
  • Information that Grow Vantage™ gathers is retained in web-based software associated with the Grow Vantage™ website, in an Aweber account for email services, in Ruzuku and Ready2Go accounts that manage online sales and provide a teaching platform, QuickBooks and PayPal software to manage finances and in an excel-based database or reports.
  • Financial data for both companies is stored on a main stand-alone server owned by Grow Vantage™, which is not connected to the Internet, and which is backed up each time it is accessed, to a USB key and a second back up to an external hard drive (also not attached to the Internet). Information is also stored on password protected computers owned by individuals who are participants in the company or are contracted to the company, to provide support. Hard copies of reports may be retained in a locked filing cabinet in the Grow Vantage™ (home-based) office on the Grow Vantage™ Google business account (in Google docs). Backups of Grow Vantage™ computers are made on a continuous basis to Backblaze (in the cloud).

Will this information be disclosed?

Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training do not sell or rent your personal information to anyone. Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training do not disclose your personal information to anyone who falls outside the umbrella of the Identified purposes, except in limited situations (e.g. in accordance with subsection 8 (2) of the Privacy Act), for example in the following cases:

  • To someone you have designated to act as your agent, for one or more of the Identified Purposes (listed above);
  • To Grow Vantage™ employees, independent contractors, subsidiaries, affiliates, consultants, business associates, service providers, suppliers and agents, who provide services to Grow Vantage™;
  • Someone our clients have designated to act as their agent, for one or more of the Identified Purposes
  • If Grow Vantage™ or Ask For Directions™ Training has reason to believe that disclosure is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference (either intentionally or unintentionally) with Grow Vantage’s™ and Ask For Directions™ Training rights or property, other users of the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training web sites, products or services, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities; and
  • To respond to judicial process and provide information to law enforcement agencies or in connection with an investigation on matters related to public safety, as permitted by law, or otherwise as required by law.
  • In addition, as Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training continue to develop its business, we or our affiliates or partners may sell or buy other businesses or entities, or we may merge with another company. In such transactions, personal information may be one of the transferred business assets.

How long will the information be retained?

Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training member information will be used in relation to the identified purposes below. After your account becomes inactive (that is, if you request to be removed from our database), Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training sites will keep your personal information in its private archives. Your information will then be used only as necessary for tax reasons or to prove that Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training is compliant with any applicable law.

  • A public directory listing will be deleted if a member advises that their directory listing should be removed because they no longer wish to be associated with Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training, or their business has been closed.
  • When a member has unsubscribed from the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training email list, their email address is maintained in our 3rd party database under the unsubscribed category (and in our website database as an unsubscribed email address) to ensure adherence to legal statutes.
  • Products or services may be removed from a client as a result of an account that is not in good standing (and until payment is made and according to CRA guidelines).
  • Financial records are retained according to CRA guidelines.
  • Clients who pay by credit card are invoiced for one time or recurring payments through PayPal or Stripe which means their credit card information is not held inside the Grow Vantage™  or and Ask For Directions™ Training businesses.

How will information be disposed of?

  • Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training account records are maintained to satisfy CRA requirements, and then will be shredded.
  • Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training databases will be archived and stored in a secure location, since Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training may offer clients long-term advertising services on their website for an extended time past their active participation as paid clients.

6.     Ensure the Accuracy of Personal Information

The Chief Privacy Officer is responsible to ensure the information collected is as accurate as can be at the time of collection. Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training ensure the accuracy of personal information by asking their clients to fill in and complete their own profile information and registration forms. Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training will use reasonable efforts to keep client personal information accurate for the Identified Purposes, and to minimize the possibility of making inappropriate client decisions based on such information.

Clients are responsible for informing Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training about changes to their personal information. They can do this by sending an email to patricia@growvantage.com or using the contact form on the website. Grow Vantage™ will use new or updated personal information it receives from clients to update its own records.

7.    How will the information be safeguarded?

Electronic databases, servers and individual computers are password protected. All computer hardware has firewall and virus protection in place and data is backed up using Backblaze software which is password-protected, and which has the same safeguards in place.

The filing cabinet housing personal information in the Grow Vantage™ office is locked when not in

 use. Access is only granted on a need-to-know basis to those individuals who are under contract to Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training to provide specific services. No unauthorized parties are able to access this information.

8.    Openness, and Individual Access

Requests for access, updating or withdrawal of information

Grow Vantage™ will afford clients and vendors a reasonable opportunity to review the personal information in their file. Please direct any requests for access to your information in writing to Patricia Dent, patricia@growvantage.com or by mail at Suite Success at ESS Direct, Suite 5, 411 Huronia Road, Barrie, ON L4N 9B3.

  • Please allow 14 days for a response to your request.
  • Your information will be provided to you as quickly as possible (but no later than 30 days from the date of your request), as long as that information may be legally copied to the person making the inquiry.
  • If Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training are not able to provide access to some aspect of a client’s personal information, it will provide reasons for denying access such as (see legal restrictions and examples below):
  • That the information relates to a breach of an agreement or a contravention of law or Its disclosure could reasonably be expected to threaten the life or security of another individual.

In terms of mandatory exceptions, organizations must refuse an individual access to personal information:

  • If it would reveal personal information about another individual unless there is consent or a life-threatening situation. This is unlikely since records are usually individual but could be required in the event of involvement in a law suit; or
  • If an individual requests that he or she be informed of information disclosed to a government institution in certain specified cases, or for access to the information itself, and the government institution objects to the institution complying with the access request. In such cases, Grow Vantageä and Ask For Directions™ Training must refuse the request and notify the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. As well, Grow Vantage and Ask For Directions™ Training cannot inform the individual of the disclosure to the government institution, that the institution was notified of the request, or that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada was notified of the refusal.

In terms of discretionary exceptions, Grow Vantage ä or Ask For Directions™ Training may refuse access to personal information if the information:

  • Is protected by solicitor-client privilege
  • Would reveal confidential commercial information, although if this information can be redacted, Grow Vantage ä or Ask For Directions™ Training will release the remaining information
  • Would reasonably be expected to harm an individual’s life or security; although if this information can be redacted, Grow Vantageä or Ask For Directions™ Training will release the remaining information.
  • Was collected without the individual’s knowledge or consent to ensure its availability and accuracy, and the collection was required to investigate a breach of an agreement or violation of a federal or provincial law (the Privacy Commissioner of Canada must be notified)
  • Was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process, or
  • Was created for the purpose of making a disclosure under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act or a related investigation.

10. Challenging Compliance: Recourse

Complaints about the organization

  • Please direct any complaints about the Grow Vantage™ or Ask For Directions™ Training organization in writing to Patricia Dent, patricia@growvantage.com
  • Please allow 14 days for a response to your request.
  • To find resolution to a complaint, first approach the Grow Vantage™ and Ask For Directions™ Training privacy officer. Should that prove unsatisfactory, individuals can contact the Privacy Commissioner of Canada:

Daniel Therrien,
112 Kent St., Ottawa, ON K1A 1H3.
1-800-282-1376
1-613-947-6850  Fax
www.privcom.gc.ca

Clients have the right to request that information is removed that is no longer accurate or complete and information be amended as appropriate, by contacting Patricia Dent as described above, who will promptly correct such personal information. 

Any challenges an individual wishes to make to the organization’s compliance with the above principles in this policy should be addressed to Patricia Dent, the Chief Privacy Officer at the above contacts, in writing.