My friend leaned forward in her chair and looked at me with a combination of amazement and fear in her eyes.
"You actually want to start your own business?" she asked. "That's so risky. Nobody is getting into entrepreneurship anymore."
She was almost correct. You can't make money without risk, especially considering how sharply worldwide stock markets plunged to record lows earlier this month. The number of small-business owners is down slightly this year, according to the latest numbers from Industry Canada.
Government researchers report that, as of last December, there were more than 2.3 million "business establishments" in Canada, compared with 2.4 million the year before.
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| David Hatton |
But I couldn't be talked out of it. Last July, I signed all the documents for registering my new business and started planning everything right away. I quickly learned it was far from the glamorous lifestyle I had once envisioned - rather than fancy sports cars and power lunches, my days were filled with interviewing staff and making client presentations. Never mind the power lunches, I was lucky if I had time for lunch at all.
There was also this feeling like a proud parent holding a newborn for the first time. My brand-new business was about to enter the great big world. Ready or not, here it comes.
The business would be called Condo Clean, cleaning residential condominium units in downtown Toronto's fastest-growing real estate sector. Research showed most of the condo residents are busy professionals who have the best intentions, but no time to clean. When they finally make it to the weekend, the last thing they want to do is spend it scrubbing, polishing and dusting. That's where I would come in to fill a need in the marketplace. Looking up at the thousands of condominium units in downtown Toronto, there looked like infinite potential. It would be easy to pick up several hundred clients within the first month. But I would soon find out nothing is ever as easy as it looks.
My next step was to assemble a team. After all, there's no way any entrepreneur can do everything on their own. Chris Sorichetti of Toronto-based Sorichetti Design put together a great logo.
Project manager Carla Harrison and designer Laura Garnett of Back2front even worked a few late nights and weekends to come up with an initial website (www.condoclean.ca).
One of the biggest marketing initiatives would be a booth at the Toronto Condo Show in early October. Organizers were expecting about 18,000 people to visit the show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, so it seemed like a great place to introduce Condo Clean. Once one more person agreed to come on board the team, everything would be all set.
Warren Coughlin, an award-winning Coach of the Year with Action Coach International, said he doesn't usually work with a lot of startup companies. But he agreed to make an exception for me to show Business Edge readers what coaching was really about.
During our first meeting in a downtown Toronto coffee shop, Coughlin explained business coaches don't run an entrepreneur's business for them. "I won't do your marketing or sales calls for you," he said. "You have to do this yourself. I will help you design the right structure and put processes in place to help you run a successful business.
"It's like having a personal trainer at the gym for fitness training. They won't do the pushups or any part of the workout for you. They will show you the proper way to do it for maximum results."
The rest of that first meeting was spent going over my marketing materials. Coughlin thought they looked good, but he questioned my approach to advertise for market awareness. There was no time for that, he said, with the Toronto Condo Show coming up fast on the calendar. We quickly sketched out a direct mail postcard design on the back of a piece of paper that used Coughlin's direct mail response techniques.
Normally during meetings, I write down only the thoughts and ideas that sound interesting. When I left that first two-hour meeting with Coughlin, I had six pages of notes.
Coughlin's clients had strong praise for his coaching ability. "Warren has been a huge help to me in growing my business," Cynthia Richards, president of Toronto-based Event Spectrum, told me one day.
Event Spectrum has become a Canadian success story in the event-planning business since Coughlin started working with Richards about three years ago.
The company has gone from annual revenue of about $3 million and six staff to $9.7 million and 12 staff during that time period, Richards says.
Richards has been named several times to Profit magazine's W100 female entrepreneurs list. Last year, the Toronto-based firm was named to the magazine's annual list of the Top 100 fastest-growing companies in Canada.
Other weekly meetings I had with Coughlin were spent looking at profit margins and goals. At one point, he sent me a document called his "Dream Builder" exercise, where clients are encouraged to be as detailed as possible about their ultimate goals.
"A Lamborghini," I quickly scribbled on the top of one page where it asked what kind of car I wanted.
Coughlin wasn't impressed.
"You need much more detail here," he told me. "What colour car? What kind of seats? Put down everything you can think of about this car so you can start to visualize it in your mind. The more you can visualize it, the easier it becomes to actually achieve it."
Another meeting was spent putting the structure in place to achieve the goals.
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| Warren Coughlin, Action Coach International |
I told Coughlin I wanted to make $100,000 in profit my first year.
"How many clients would it take to achieve that goal? What kind of a response are you getting from your marketing?" he asked me.
"So how many new clients would you need to make that $100,000?" OK, it might take me two years to make that $100,000 a year and drive my red Lamborghini with black leather seats down the street. But at least thanks to Coughlin, I have a good road map.
One of his latest projects is a series of monthly seminars for entrepreneurs in various Toronto locations. You can find out more information at www.successcircle.ca.
The first morning of the Toronto Condo Show, I felt better prepared than ever. It was time to shift my business into high gear.
At my booth, I waited for the crowds to start. And waited. And waited. Thousands of people wandered through the aisles during the three-day show and the people I did talk to were qualified customers.
But it was nowhere near the numbers organizers expected.
"These are moments that are called a test of your character," Coughlin said with a grin the following week. We made up a list of 10 different marketing methods to diversify the approach.
Right now, I'm happy to report business is increasing every day. Leads are coming in by the internet, telephone and other channels. But it's not easy.
One of the best parts of my job writing for Business Edge has been talking to entrepreneurs from across the country, hearing about your successes and challenges.
For example, last month I got an email from Alan Schwartz, owner of Careful Delivery Services (www.carefuldelivery.com) in Toronto. Gas prices were starting to inch downward after a summer of record high prices. I thought of how much it would impact profit margins in the highly competitive transportation sector.
Schwartz, however, kept looking for a bright side. "... in some respects it may even be cheaper to do local deliveries because there is less traffic on the road, which means you can be more productive," he wrote back to me.
On the wall of Robert Herjavec's office in downtown Toronto is a professionally framed typewritten letter from one of his first bosses. It was telling him he was fired. Herjavec, one of the stars of CBC's entrepreneurial reality show Dragons' Den, told me earlier this month he finds it motivating.
Herjavec went on to help negotiate the $335-million sale of Ramp Networks to Nokia in 2001 and founded the Herjavec Group in 2003, which was ranked in the top 10 of Profit magazine's Hot 50 fastest-growing companies In Canada.
I'm also impressed with Jim Estill, CEO of Synnex Canada, who writes the CEO blog on his website at www.jimestill.com.
Jim is a true entrepreneur, going from selling computers from the trunk of his car to owning a company that has more than 300 people and $350 million in annual sales.
Keep reading. It's definitely going to be an interesting time.
Small-business Resources in Alberta
http://canentrepreneur.blogspot.com
www.albertafirst.com/businfo/guides www.canadabusiness.ca
Small-business Resources in BC
http://canentrepreneur.blogspot.com
Small-business Resources in Manitoba & Saskatchewan
http://canentrepreneur.blogspot.com
www.enterprisescanada.com
Small-business Resources in Ontario
http://canentrepreneur.blogspot.com
www.actioncoachwarren.com (David Hatton can be reached at hatton@businessedge.ca)
