Expanding a business? Motivating your team? Wondering how to be a better person?
We asked some of Canada's entrepreneurial go-getters to share three issues they are chewing on at the moment.
We'd like you to share with us, too. Tell us who you are, where you live and three things you are thinking about, and be sure to attach a photo. Click here to send us your information and photo.
Jodi Hosking is president and co-founder of the Learning Traveller.
Jodi Hosking
Jodi Hosking is the president and co-founder of the Learning Traveller, an educational travel company that specializes in immersion programs and language learning holidays for teens, gap-year students and mature travellers 50 and older. My husband, Cam Harvey, and I established the company in 2003 on Vancouver Island and in 2006 we relocated to Ontario to be closer to our key markets in Toronto and New York and our partners in Europe. In 2008 we won the Language Travel Magazine industry award for best agency in North America and were shortlisted for the same award in 2009. We live in Guelph with our 10-year-old son who thinks one day he might like to run the business.
Three things on my mind are:
- How to continue growing our business without adding heavily to our infrastructure. Ours is a very service-heavy business and when we increase our client numbers we need to hire more support staff. I’m trying to determine the critical client and staff numbers for the most viable business model.
- How to let go of controlling every little aspect of our business while still maintaining the highest possible levels of service. Like a lot of entrepreneurs, I am a bit of a control freak but as the business grows it is impossible to have a hand in everything we do. I’m lucky to have great people on staff but learning to hand over responsibility remains one of my biggest personal challenges.
- Selecting partners to deliver our overseas programs. We are only as good as the programs our clients attend so choosing the right partner organisations to work with continues to be the most important part of what we do.
Matthew Slutsky is president and co-founder of the Toronto-based Web startup BuzzBuzzHome
Matthew Slutsky
Matthew Slutsky is president and co-founder of the Toronto-based Web startup BuzzBuzzHome (www.buzzbuzzhome.com), an online and map based listing service for new condominiums, homes and townhouses. The site launched in early 2009 and has quickly grown to drawing more than 30,000 visitors a month, actively searching for new homes. Matt first conceived of the idea for BuzzBuzzHome while working as VP Development for a Toronto land-developer/builder, and became frustrated with the lack of a publicly accessible online listing of all new residential developments.
BuzzBuzzHome provides users searching for their new home with engaging features such as map based search results, a social media driven ‘virtual hangout’ for each new project called ‘the hive’, and a game based editable wiki whereby users collect points by contributing content to the site.
Three things on Matt’s mind are:
- As a Web-based company, how to maintain our edge amid a rapidly evolving Internet.
- How to remain true to our core business model and vision, while maintaining growth and engaging new technologies and ideas.
- How to recruit, train and manage computer engineers when I myself cannot code a thing.
Alex Rechichi of Extreme Brandz Inc.
Alex Rechichi
Alex Rechichi is president and co-founder of the Extreme Pita and Mucho Burrito restaurants, which are part of Extreme Brandz Inc. Since opening the first Extreme Pita in Waterloo, Ont., with his brother Mark, the pair have launched more than 250 franchised restaurants across North America and are looking to expand internationally by 2010. Mr. Rechichi was a Top 40 Under 40 award recipient in 2008, and was named Foodservice and Hospitality’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006. A father of three, Alex is based in Mississauga, where he grew up.
Three things on his mind are:
- “The slow economy has started a price war in the restaurant business. We have lost some customers, but history shows price wars are short-lived. The quick-service restaurant industry is fighting for its share of wallet; all we can do is focus on our core business.”
- “Today, more than ever, restaurants have to be open and transparent. It’s not the first time the restaurant business has been hit with difficulties. We’ve survived SARS, the avian flu, mad cow disease and now the H1N1 virus. This is just another episode and something we need to endure, but those who are prepared can survive through it.”
- “Competition is no longer in marketing, but more about promises you make to the customers, and making sure those promises are executed at every location. Our best strategy is to build awareness, get people to try our products, and they eventually become users.”
Trina Boos runs Ad Lounge in Toronto.
