When Deland Jessop joined the Toronto Police Service, it was difficult to become an officer because there were no Canadian application and testing materials on the market that would allow him to prepare for the exam.
By 2001, Mr. Jessop had left the force and was pursuing an MBA at the University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business.
Sensing a business opportunity, Mr. Jessop drew on his policing experience and joined two classmates in developing the first Canadian website that would offer application and testing materials to prospective RCMP and Ontario police officers (policeprep.com).
Sales were slow at first, but through persistence and after dozens of rejections, Police Prep finally landed a major client, Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ont., in 2003. That deal led to many others, and today, Police Prep's revenue exceeds $1-million and the company has signed on 20 colleges in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Today, Mr. Jessop joins us live to discuss his company's breakthrough.
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Dianne Nice: Hi Deland. Thank you for joining us today to talk about your company, Police Prep, and how you closed your first deal with Conestoga College. How long were you with the Toronto Police Service and what made you decide to leave to pursue an MBA?
Deland Jessop: Hey Dianne, thanks for having me. I was with the Toronto Police Service for four years. I loved the job and worked with some great people. I don't know what made me apply to the MBA program, but when I was accepted at Ivey, I figured it was far too good of an opportunity to turn down. There are a number of things in life that I always wanted to do including policing, business, teaching and politics. You only live once and why not do it all? FYI, I completed teachers college recently, so I'll probably be teaching some day soon and after that I might have to run for office somewhere.
Ray D Eight from Toronto writes: This is a very interesting article and quite informative. It goes to show just how pervasive and equally beneficial web-based technologies have become when implemented to all sorts of businesses. And how critical online tools have become for entrepreneurs. Cool.
Deland Jessop: Ray, thanks for the comment. I think there is a lot of opportunity out there for individuals looking to start businesses on the Web. My advice would be to find some green space and plant a flag. Target an area that no one is servicing and try and own that area. Eventually you will get copycats coming in and trying to mimic you, but if you are established, provide a great service, you will have a good head start on the others.
Dianne Nice: Deland, you suffered many rejections before your company landed its first big deal. How did you stay positive?
Deland Jessop: It isn't easy, especially when your plans aren't working out according to your predictions. We knew we had a really good product, and had great feedback from our users, so we were confident. I think what helped the most was the fact that the three of us (Adam, Kalpesh and myself) got along so well and were a moral support group to each other. Be very careful about the business partners you choose, as you have to trust them completely and work well with them. I guess the three of us got really lucky finding each other.
Dianne Nice: What did you learn from those first rejections? Did they help you tailor your sales pitch?
