Two of the finalists in the Calgary Chamber of Commerce's 2006 Small Business Week awards have firm ties to the local real estate industry.

Those ties anchor aspects of the real estate business that a lot of Albertans spend remarkably little time thinking about. But maybe that's the true beauty of an industry where opportunity still knocks - and hard work and innovation still count.

When Diego and Rosa Soto moved to Canada from Chile back in 1976, they never dreamed their personal tale of hard work and entrepreneurial success would put their janitorial, maintenance and carpet-cleaning company, Delta Facilities Maintenance (DFM) in the running for the chamber's 2006 Small Business of the Year Award.

Similarly, Avnish Mehta and Lynne Perry-Reid are delighted their company, Corporate Connections, is a finalist in the Calgary chamber's Emerging Enterprise of the Year category. A corporate head-hunting service that aims to do a better job matching employees and employers, their client list includes a high-end residential home developer who wanted a project administrator who could manage the business and personal relationships involved with new-home construction.

Larry MacDougal, Business Edge
Diego and Rosa Soto have carved out a significant niche in the cleaning/maintenance industry.

"More than anything, it was going to be a very customer service-based and customer service-driven (position)" for an employee who is interested in long-term employment and is open to learning by experience, says Mehta.

He and Perry-Reid short-listed six candidates. From there, the client chose to interview three, then hired one who started in late September. He holds a general business degree and is knowledgeable about construction.

"We've worked with a lot of different companies and different industries," notes Perry-Reid of their first year in business.

And they do tend to have one thing in common, adds Mehta. "We're working with a lot of companies that we call 'sleeping giants.' " These tend to be small or mid-sized firms with a large share of niche markets and special corporate cultures that make finding the "right" employee very important.

The winners of Calgary's Small Business Week awards will be announced as part of the chamber's Small Business Week Expo that runs from Oct. 17-19.

The Edmonton chamber hosts a similar event Oct. 23-27, and while the shortlist for their awards was released after press time, a review of previous finalists shows firms with connections to Alberta's real estate industry will likely be on this year's list, too.

The fact that DFM and Company Connections made this year's shortlist for Calgary serves as an interesting reminder about the kinds of jobs it takes to keep Alberta's real estate industry - and the economy it services - operating at top speed.

DFM, for example, recently secured the contract to clean Home Depot stores across Western Canada. The Alberta segment of that commercial contract now includes 20 stores - twice the number DFM was initially hired to clean.

Soto's company, whose first job in Calgary saw him clean the Sunnyside Community Centre, has also provided janitorial and maintenance service to the Westin Hotel for about five years. Another multi-national chain asked DFM to provide the same services for their hotel in downtown Calgary, but Soto's turned them down.

Having just signed a contract to clean West Jet's planes in Toronto, an extension of work DFM is already doing in Edmonton and Calgary, Soto won't risk taking on new business if it puts existing service at risk.

Indeed, promising what you can deliver and building a reputation for delivering what you promise are essential components of Soto's business plan. A resident of Calgary since 1982, he willingly speaks to newcomers about what it takes to do well in his adopted country.

"I tell them, the people here believe in you. And if you deliver what you say, they will trust you."

Like Soto, Mehta and Perry-Reid see Calgary as a city of opportunity. Even though entrepreneurship demands longer hours than they'd have to work if employed by someone else, the long-time friends are excited about the future of the company they started in June 2005.

They say the venture puts their business degrees to good use and they're learning to leverage their education and business contacts into repeat business.

Historically low office vacancy rates in the downtown core mean their current office space in a downtown business centre is a remodelled locker room. And a tight labour market dictates that Mehta and Perry-Reid must look for their own staff even as they source employees for a growing clientele.

These are startup issues with which Diego Soto can relate. He remembers when he and Rosa cleaned while their two young sons slept in a nearby car. Today, those boys are in business with their parents.

With a business background that dates back to his Chilean youth, when a 12-year-old Soto sold "magic jumping beans" he'd made himself on the streets of his hometown, Soto admits he has little time to think about what it means to be a finalist in this year's Small Business Week awards.

He's proud of what he does. But when you run your own business, life is a work in progress - and there's always more work to do.

It's work he views with enthusiasm - and gratitude. "Canada is the land of opportunity. Now Calgary is above that (and) the future in our city is unbelievable. Whatever you want to do in this city you can do it."

If his enthusiasm is tempered at all, it's with caution about what it really means to take responsibility for your own destiny. His advice? Give your customers what they've paid for "and treat your people with respect."

These days, Soto's people number more than 100 employees and sub-contractors.

"Without them, I am nobody."

(Joy Gregory can be reached at joy@businessedge.ca)