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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:08] SPEAKER_00: I'm River's Corbett, the Atlanta Canada host, lucky enough, the win, the jackpot of jackpots,
[00:13] SPEAKER_00: representing this amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, and Canada.
[00:18] SPEAKER_00: And there's some really cool stuff happening in Atlanta, Canada when it comes to entrepreneurs.
[00:24] SPEAKER_00: And my guest today, Ken LaBlanc, is no kind of mystery towards that piece.
[00:31] SPEAKER_00: He started his business, propertyguys.com in Monkton, New Brunswick, and continues to now grow an international business from Monkton, New Brunswick.
[00:41] SPEAKER_00: And that's what we're going to talk about today is that story.
[00:45] SPEAKER_00: So let me just kind of get in a bit.
[00:47] SPEAKER_00: First of all, hey, Ken, did you see it, dude? You're looking at, you know, golf and labor today.
[00:51] SPEAKER_00: It's not a golf shirt you've got.
[00:54] SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow morning, I'll set for tomorrow though.
[00:56] SPEAKER_00: Where are you going with that?
[00:58] SPEAKER_00: Well, it's nice. Nice golf course, man. Nice golf course.
[01:02] SPEAKER_00: Ken, Ken has really successfully challenged an established industry, which is all about real estate propertyguys.com for those of you that know about it,
[01:12] SPEAKER_00: has been really about zanging when everybody else digs.
[01:16] SPEAKER_00: And that's really what my whole stick is about.
[01:18] SPEAKER_00: He summically shares his passion for helping others to build a business through activities such as the Canadian Youth Business Foundation.
[01:27] SPEAKER_00: I want to talk a bit about that too.
[01:29] SPEAKER_00: He's been a business building his own business since his student days.
[01:32] SPEAKER_00: And one of our previous guests, Dr. Danny Brown, talked very, very highly of you.
[01:40] SPEAKER_00: I asked him about whether or not he had taught, he had taught all of you guys.
[01:43] SPEAKER_00: And he said, yes, except for Walter was in and off.
[01:47] SPEAKER_00: And I said, well, that's probably the one you don't want in your class anyway, Dr. Brown.
[01:52] SPEAKER_00: So the untieiable, the untieiable, untieable, exactly.
[01:57] SPEAKER_00: And he's driven his drive and vision into the largest real estate marketing franchise network in Canada,
[02:04] SPEAKER_00: which is absolutely the truth and is now porging into other markets such as Australia.
[02:10] SPEAKER_00: And I think, can I solve something about South Africa?
[02:14] SPEAKER_00: Is that a market that you're going to be playing?
[02:16] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[02:17] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think our team there is already get over nine franchise for the first 10 months of operations there.
[02:23] SPEAKER_04: So they're growing really quickly.
[02:25] SPEAKER_04: So pretty excited for South Africa team as well.
[02:27] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so cool, dude.
[02:28] SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, let's kind of dive into it.
[02:30] SPEAKER_00: Take us back to those days.
[02:31] SPEAKER_00: And as they say, you know, you told the story again, this is all about one being proud of being from Atlanta Canada,
[02:36] SPEAKER_00: being an entrepreneur.
[02:38] SPEAKER_00: And they were going to touch on some elements as to why you stayed there when you could add a chance to go to the big smoke.
[02:43] SPEAKER_00: But tell us about those initial days when that seeded my idea, because it started when you guys were in school, if I remember.
[02:49] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, 100%.
[02:50] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we were first year business students at the time.
[02:53] SPEAKER_04: It's called Atlantic Baptist University.
[02:55] SPEAKER_04: Today's called Crandall.
[02:56] SPEAKER_04: So we're first year business students.
[02:58] SPEAKER_04: And a lot of people think rivers that it was a school project.
[03:01] SPEAKER_04: It wasn't.
[03:02] SPEAKER_04: It was just something we happened to pull off as we were in school.
[03:05] SPEAKER_04: And we were very fortunate to go to an amazing university.
[03:08] SPEAKER_04: It was fairly small.
[03:10] SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
[03:10] SPEAKER_04: So all the professors were able to, you know, to work with us one-on-one.
[03:15] SPEAKER_04: I look back at some of those days.
[03:16] SPEAKER_04: We had some exam dates changed for so we could do a 10 home shows and things like that.
[03:21] SPEAKER_04: Nice.
[03:22] Speaker UNKNOWN: And amazing.
[03:22] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that was really cool to have that.
[03:24] SPEAKER_04: So back in the day, as we're going to school, myself and my business partner, Jeremy Demont, still partners today.
[03:29] SPEAKER_04: No, 23 years later, still business partners in this venture.
[03:32] SPEAKER_04: But we kept seeing these orange and black for sale by owner signs.
[03:36] SPEAKER_04: These physical signs you would call them for sale by owner.
[03:38] SPEAKER_04: And you're going to make a new tire, right?
[03:40] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there's a lot of things.
[03:41] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I can't tire exactly.
[03:43] SPEAKER_04: You still get them there.
[03:43] SPEAKER_04: You know, hardware stores and stuff.
[03:45] SPEAKER_04: But at the time, you know, one of us knew anything about real estate.
[03:48] SPEAKER_04: We were both, I was renting an apartment.
[03:50] SPEAKER_04: JD was living at home and driving back to school as kind of, you know, living off campus.
[03:54] SPEAKER_04: And we knew nothing about real estate.
[03:56] SPEAKER_04: And we were like, what kind of, what, why are people putting these Canadian tire signs in the front lawn to sell their house?
[04:02] SPEAKER_04: Because we would watch them in a couple weeks later to be like a traditional real estate son in front lawns.
[04:07] SPEAKER_04: It doesn't make any sense.
[04:08] SPEAKER_04: Is that what they do to get agents to go and pitch them so that you're not to lose their house with an agent, right?
[04:12] SPEAKER_04: So no clue whatsoever.
[04:14] SPEAKER_04: So we looked into it.
[04:15] SPEAKER_04: And at the exact same time, I was developing Thomas L.P. T.M.L.
[04:19] SPEAKER_04: Also, I was developing websites for local companies.
[04:22] SPEAKER_04: So, you know, I did one for the local radio station, a couple of my friends had small businesses.
[04:27] SPEAKER_04: So I created these websites for them.
[04:29] SPEAKER_04: This is before you could actually go and go get it.
[04:31] SPEAKER_04: That's why I would buy domain names for them.
[04:32] SPEAKER_04: I'd build them a site in HTML.
[04:34] SPEAKER_04: So I said to Jay, I said, you know what, these physical signs.
[04:37] SPEAKER_04: Let's go talk to a couple of them.
[04:38] SPEAKER_04: I'll figure what's going on.
[04:39] SPEAKER_04: So went and knocked in some doors and and there people, you know,
[04:43] SPEAKER_04: another great thing about being a Lanakanian.
[04:44] SPEAKER_04: Come on in, you know, put up a pot of coffee on with that.
[04:47] SPEAKER_04: So just kind of figuring out.
[04:49] SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
[04:49] SPEAKER_04: So it was so cool.
[04:50] SPEAKER_04: They're talking about how this thing works, right?
[04:53] SPEAKER_04: So we found out real quick that, okay, the reason why they're trying to sell for sale by owner's style
[04:57] SPEAKER_04: is that they are trying to save a few bucks, which is obvious.
[05:01] SPEAKER_04: Most people want to save money.
[05:03] SPEAKER_04: But more importantly, rivers, what we found is they wanted control.
[05:06] SPEAKER_04: So we didn't know at the time that if you called an agent, an agent would come in and they would basically take control of your house.
[05:12] SPEAKER_04: But we were told from each for sale by owners.
[05:14] SPEAKER_04: They would tell you when they're going to show it.
[05:16] SPEAKER_04: They would tell you what you're going to ask for it.
[05:19] SPEAKER_04: They would actually negotiate on your behalf.
[05:21] SPEAKER_04: How much you're going to get to your house.
[05:23] SPEAKER_04: And the home owners, the physical home owners, times that I want to control that process.
[05:27] SPEAKER_04: I know my house better than anybody else.
[05:29] SPEAKER_04: Why would have some agents never been in my house show my house?
[05:32] SPEAKER_04: You know, so why, you know, why, why, why, why are they only taking one photo of the outside of the house instead of showing all the beautiful features I have inside and next year stuff?
[05:40] SPEAKER_04: So we thought, so JD and I thought, you know, let's, let's create a little website.
[05:44] SPEAKER_04: We'll do something local here in Monkton.
[05:46] SPEAKER_04: There was no KGG at the time.
[05:49] SPEAKER_04: There was no, you know, starting those.
[05:53] SPEAKER_04: We actually used to get faxes into the school.
[05:55] SPEAKER_04: So faxes are still going on.
[05:57] SPEAKER_04: So we'll create this website and what we'll do is we'll organize all these private sale listings.
[06:03] SPEAKER_04: We'll actually be fully disclosing potential buyers by adding interior photos.
[06:08] SPEAKER_04: We'll let the home owners show the house because they know the house better than anybody else.
[06:12] SPEAKER_04: And then we'll just step out of the way.
[06:13] SPEAKER_04: We'll charge them a fee upfront, a flat marketing fee to MMO and will advertise our house on their front lawn.
[06:19] SPEAKER_04: So there's a great story about our signs.
[06:21] SPEAKER_04: But on the front lawn with the nice property guys calm sign.
[06:24] SPEAKER_04: We will actually will do or run a classified ad for you in the Monkton times and transcript.
[06:29] SPEAKER_04: So you get a newspaper to drive people to this thing called the internet at the time.
[06:33] SPEAKER_04: So 1998 so people are still at the get comfortable with it.
[06:37] SPEAKER_04: And that was how the whole idea started.
[06:38] SPEAKER_04: So I didn't have a whole lot of money.
[06:41] SPEAKER_04: You know, basically we were bootstrapped from day one JD night.
[06:45] SPEAKER_04: Don't put together 100 bucks.
[06:46] SPEAKER_04: We bought the domain name you registered our business.
[06:49] SPEAKER_04: And we kicked it off.
[06:50] SPEAKER_04: So what we did early on one lesson and we still teach us today.
[06:53] SPEAKER_04: We talked to new franchisees.
[06:55] SPEAKER_04: But one of the things we did early on is we knew that if we were going to convince people to give us.
[06:59] SPEAKER_04: I think it was like a couple hundred bucks at the time like 200 bucks a list on our property guys calm website.
[07:04] SPEAKER_04: We knew if we're going to convince people to do that that they didn't want to be the first one in the game.
[07:08] SPEAKER_04: So we had to fill that basket with the inventory.
[07:10] SPEAKER_04: So we did this thing we called we call this thing called sampling.
[07:13] SPEAKER_04: So we went out and we basically knocked it all the for sale by owners of the community said look we're organizing for sale by owner.
[07:18] SPEAKER_04: We're the property guys.
[07:19] SPEAKER_04: We want to put your house on the internet free of charge to you.
[07:23] SPEAKER_04: But we're going to put you on this thing called the worldwide web.
[07:25] SPEAKER_04: We're going to put a sign your front lawn and people from all over the world are going to be able to see your house and make you an offer.
[07:30] SPEAKER_04: And we convinced people say yeah, I'll give that a shot.
[07:32] SPEAKER_04: So we knew we don't have to build that inventory.
[07:34] SPEAKER_04: So we had like 2030 listings on our platform before we actually started actually marketing our business and trying to realize.
[07:40] Speaker UNKNOWN: Nice. Nice.
[07:41] SPEAKER_04: Yeah. And honestly it was an overnight success point honestly in Monkton.
[07:45] SPEAKER_04: It just really just you know we I think the first year as we're full time business.
[07:49] SPEAKER_04: I think we had over a hundred listings in our first year just in greater Monkton.
[07:53] SPEAKER_04: And it just took up overnight because people were just and trade early adopters right there all want to be.
[07:57] SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
[07:58] SPEAKER_04: They thought it was super cool that we're having interior photos you know.
[08:02] SPEAKER_04: And back in the day if you want to buy a house you had to call an agent and you would bring the book the big old white book.
[08:07] Speaker UNKNOWN: The cat.
[08:08] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they almost broke you through that.
[08:09] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the MLS book and you go through us.
[08:11] SPEAKER_04: I like to see that one that one that one and you would organize a showing and it's it was all about control control right.
[08:16] SPEAKER_04: And so we found early on that our customers wanted control.
[08:19] SPEAKER_04: They want to set the price.
[08:20] SPEAKER_04: Of course everyone wants to save a few dollars so that that was a kind of a bonus for them.
[08:24] SPEAKER_04: But it was more about the control aspect of it.
[08:26] SPEAKER_04: So that's all that's off.
[08:28] SPEAKER_00: That's so interesting.
[08:29] SPEAKER_00: Can because you're great lesson to entrepreneurs again you found that pain point and when everybody looks not everybody.
[08:35] SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to say that there's a lot of people look from the outside and do your business and they say well I just don't like pay the six percent or whatever.
[08:42] SPEAKER_00: And they would naturally go to that's the reason why it's successful.
[08:46] SPEAKER_00: But I've always said that you can't win the game of business.
[08:50] SPEAKER_00: If you're going to be price competitive that's all you are it doesn't work that way.
[08:55] SPEAKER_00: And you've touched on doing an emotional piece which is that control piece which is a niche.
[09:01] SPEAKER_00: There's others that don't want that control.
[09:02] SPEAKER_00: You say just go ahead and sell it.
[09:04] SPEAKER_00: That's not your market.
[09:06] SPEAKER_00: You say go ahead.
[09:07] SPEAKER_00: Royal.
[09:08] SPEAKER_00: But our market.
[09:09] SPEAKER_00: I love that piece that you that you reinforce that now there is a story about a liberal political science.
[09:17] SPEAKER_00: So tell me about that story.
[09:19] SPEAKER_04: But that's what I was just this funny story on on signs that so once we actually kicked this business online we need to have something about offline presence and in real estate offline presence is typically signs online.
[09:32] SPEAKER_04: So when you own the sign that's your piece of real estate that's your marketing that's your billboard.
[09:35] SPEAKER_04: So we knew early on we had to get a bunch of signs in the community.
[09:38] SPEAKER_04: So we did the sampling thing.
[09:40] SPEAKER_04: But again, shoes drain universe.
[09:41] SPEAKER_04: We never used no money whatsoever.
[09:43] SPEAKER_04: So we decided that it was just like this week here in Monkton again across the country.
[09:48] SPEAKER_04: It was there was a national election election was over.
[09:51] SPEAKER_04: We saw all these big giant core plus signs.
[09:54] SPEAKER_04: So we called the local liberal leader at the time.
[09:57] SPEAKER_04: Platte at Bradshaw.
[09:59] SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
[09:59] SPEAKER_04: What do you guys do with these signs up to the election?
[10:03] SPEAKER_04: Because well, typically we have a crew that goes and picks them up and we just you know we recycle them.
[10:07] SPEAKER_04: We throw them away.
[10:08] SPEAKER_04: Why why you asking?
[10:08] SPEAKER_04: Well, we've got a business we'd like to we'd like to take them down and use whatever she's fill your boots wherever you want to get.
[10:15] SPEAKER_04: So we went I think we pulled like 40 or 50 signs down.
[10:18] SPEAKER_04: We chopped them down into the size we wanted and it's kind of funny because we had to we had glued two together because they're only single.
[10:23] SPEAKER_04: Most of them were single size.
[10:24] SPEAKER_04: So we used the side that wasn't printed on and we we printed on the back of these recycled election signs is what it was.
[10:29] SPEAKER_04: So you drove by somebody you could turn around like what's platte of Bradshaw.
[10:35] SPEAKER_00: That's so brilliant.
[10:39] SPEAKER_00: So you kept her on the other side.
[10:41] SPEAKER_00: We did.
[10:42] SPEAKER_04: We should be glued together but yeah, most of them were glued together but if everyone ever came apart then you could see the recycle election sign.
[10:49] SPEAKER_04: But great stories all about bootstrapping and doing what you need to do right early on for us.
[10:54] SPEAKER_04: It was you know we didn't have the budget to go get customers like to see today are beautiful round lullipop signs and things like that.
[11:00] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're beautiful.
[11:02] SPEAKER_00: So so it's it's when I'm talking to you and I consider you be a great friend.
[11:06] SPEAKER_00: I said this is the story they started with the flipper slides at a hundred bucks in their pocket and just so proud of the journey that you've been on for over 20 plus years.
[11:15] SPEAKER_00: And so it's 23 years now.
[11:17] SPEAKER_00: 23 years over nice success.
[11:19] SPEAKER_00: So so you get you and Jeremy and I know there's some other guys that were involved but I'm going to talk about you right now.
[11:26] SPEAKER_00: How did you decide that you were going to be the president and CEO what went through that whole process and how did you do it and why you.
[11:36] SPEAKER_00: Sure.
[11:36] SPEAKER_04: Yeah. Well, I think at the time we had a third partner Michael Ryder who was part of our business around the three of us were the original property guys.
[11:44] SPEAKER_04: JD and I were graduating from university so we're getting her degrees at a candle.
[11:48] SPEAKER_04: Michael had another year left so he was a bit of the crossroad so we decided on our fourth year we're graduating like you know it was like I said it was an overnight success in Monk and quick quick lays that we decided that this is going to be this is going to be our gig my intentional turn.
[12:01] SPEAKER_04: I was supposed to go on and continue my education.
[12:03] SPEAKER_04: I was going to get a lot of degree and become a lawyer by you know what this property guy's thing is hot.
[12:08] SPEAKER_04: We were just looking into franchising at the time as well.
[12:10] SPEAKER_04: So we're going to expand and you know we thought we thought we were really onto something.
[12:14] SPEAKER_04: So we said this is that we're going to a full time Michael didn't have the time to do that so he decided you know what guys I understand you guys are taking it to another level I can't.
[12:22] SPEAKER_04: I need to bow out finish my education and wish all the best so we end up buying Michael out but it gives an opportunity to bring on Dale bets and Walter at the same time so we brought in the original four property guys coming the business that time.
[12:36] SPEAKER_04: The leadership part basically I think what it was is if you if you look at myself Walter Germany and even Dale at the day when he was a partner property guys.
[12:45] SPEAKER_04: You're not going to find any four people anymore different than the four of us.
[12:50] SPEAKER_04: Right.
[12:50] SPEAKER_04: We are very very very and I think I talk about that with other groups as well when you bring just be partnerships.
[12:55] SPEAKER_04: You don't want someone who is a yes man you don't want someone who's going to agree with every you don't want someone who has the same skill sets as you and the same.
[13:01] SPEAKER_04: You obviously the same beliefs in regards marketing and things like that so we really compliment each other by bringing in what we call the four corners of a successful business and and obviously my my my personalities and a type personality I'm a leader I take charge.
[13:18] SPEAKER_04: I'm very they call me a bit of a bit of a bulldogish and and our company you know the our company being in a disruptor disruptor and go ahead ahead we we need it someone to lead the company.
[13:30] SPEAKER_04: With that type of persona we didn't want to be known as a passive persona we didn't want to be known as you know kind of way up in regards to ideology it's more like someone who's going to stand up and stand the front lines and and and and you know muscle your way through.
[13:44] SPEAKER_04: Through whatever challenges are kind of along the way so that's where we decide I took the air the leadership position initially was you know my my idea initially obviously but they were on the day one with me when I put it to them but.
[13:56] SPEAKER_00: It's primarily because of the leadership style that we brought to the table and everyone's been able to work very well that structure yeah that's so cool and and you know I see so many so many leaders entrepreneurs were going to come start their business and and it's that it's all for the wrong reasons that they choose to see you or the VP of marketing because you've got the Facebook page and so on and so I think that question is so important it's part of our part of our journey so.
[14:23] SPEAKER_00: So you you get into franchise in earlier that was a part of your strategy pretty well since the long going to say plan anyway whether or not it was execution or not right away but why franchisey why not you know ownership of your own your own model what you're going to just why franchise because you're big.
[14:45] SPEAKER_04: I think I am a big fan of it and and quite honestly I'll tell you two reasons one one is as as a real I guess the right reason and a logical reason because when we looked at expanding our footprint across the country we looked at multiple ways expand like you said we could open up corporate offices we could expand in product lines and became more of a classified section we're not just.
[15:06] SPEAKER_04: But cars and boats not there's all kinds of different avenues for us to expand but we knew in this channel we're in which was real estate and residential real estate and nor to be successful we need to feet on the street so real estate is one and lost it will call this three foot arena like people only buy and sell houses from the people they trust so we're going to establish that we need a local representations across the country but we didn't have the budget to open up corporate offices higher managers directors you know area reps and all the stuff so for us when we looked at.
[15:36] SPEAKER_04: Franchising is an option it made sense we're going to get people interested in I already I already are they're actually going to pay us invest in our business and then they're going to be responsible to promote and grow their business locally now we need to split the obviously with the royalty structure so they're going to get a line share the money for doing that but we get the expand our footprint we get the grow we get this world he's structure we get we get opinions you know from coast to coast and now internationally on how to improve our product services are in the front line so.
[16:04] SPEAKER_04: So for us franchising was was the ideal situation now being a Atlantic Canadian company it was difficult I'm not going to lie we knew nothing about franchising asked Danny Brown I got an A plus on it but I got my senior thesis was on franchising because there was very little at the time in like you would do like a chapters or a bookstore and you know even Google it when you Google were franchising it was all about how to buy a franchise and look for a franchise there's nothing on how to set up a franchise or like to be a franchise or so.
[16:33] SPEAKER_04: Yes one of the anxiety like I said I did my senior thesis and I joined the Canadian franchise association right away I think we had I don't even know if we had a franchise on board before we joined there and I was so lucky that that association took me in like they're kind of adopted child because there was no lot of franchise or from Atlantic Canada I can be in the mall in one hand how many franchise.
[16:53] SPEAKER_04: So they took us in I end up getting a seat on the board directors and end up where if I have to be the chair of the Canadian franchise so she's like they I learned I learned a lot just being part of that association in franchising and that's what allowed us to expand now like you said Australia South Africa we're in Texas and Florida so we went to the US this year as well so they franchising Avenue for us is the perfect avenue there's ups and downs for franchising I mean you know it's you are kind of.
[17:22] SPEAKER_04: Especially in our brand river we give exclusive franchise areas so we're betting on one horse to be successful and just like professional sports your number one draft pick may not always turn out so there is those challenges in franchising so we work through those but that's part of the whole I guess all ecosystem in franchising.
[17:45] SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about that because who was who was when I was running the relish organization you recommended me to the gentleman at a Toronto you remember the lawyer the franchise later I don't even know.
[17:58] SPEAKER_00: Dan so yeah yeah 100% you still are loyal today yeah great great great great great but you know one of the things he warned me about when we began our journey with that franchise is he said rivers your biggest challenge and this is where I want you to talk about why I'm sure you run into it too I want to know how you now prepare for it not to happen he said the biggest challenge that you're going to run into when running a franchise.
[18:28] SPEAKER_00: So I think that's the biggest challenge is rogue franchising those that want to do it their own way I got this I know this and so and he's so so freaking right for an obvious the guy and I think you got the pieces we'll talk about that how do you guys prepare for that and minimize it.
[18:47] SPEAKER_04: Yeah well it does happen in franchising and and I guess the challenge is franchising that most people when they think of franchising they think of McDonald's importance like the big the big franchise or is that the subways not and they have a very very tight structure very tight operation manual very tight you know hours of operation like they've got everything kind of lights lights up yourself so what we have to do in our business because we're not we're not like that we are like I said we are even though we're a franchise network real estate is local.
[19:17] SPEAKER_04: So we need to be able to be flexible we create this thing called structured entrepreneurs so it's basically an entrepreneur who you need to be you know you still need to be entrepreneurial spirit to run your franchise but there is a structure there is a set of rules that we've created the franchise or the need to follow there's certain things you can say certain that you can't say there's brand you know you want to keep the brand on par and that's all what we do is we look for those types so when we bring in a franchise we we kind of look for that type of persona so we have the perfect persona we profile them they get interviewed by other franchisees we have to do it and we have to do it.
[19:47] SPEAKER_04: We have a very tight as you know so a very tight franchise agreement that's clear black and white if they step out of line you know we we you know I guess another disadvantage of being a landing night and there's not a whole lot of them but one of the is that as a franchise doors that we tend to as a landing needs to be a little more open to ideas a little more relax when it comes to you know implementing policies and you're
[20:12] SPEAKER_04: I know I know I'm a ball but not not not a downtown tronable right so I still I still I'm still a people person right I still want people to be successful so we so we tried to work with people like we don't send out defaults like like Dan would recommend we would do if someone you know with you know they're they're posts and other sign was in the right color and the back or something like that like we'll try to work on so I'll call you up like River is modeling be the fix and explain to you I'll wear a candle
[20:41] SPEAKER_04: take care we go so because of that we get taken advantage of by franchise these right right so so we really have to be very very open and clear and communicate to the system what's acceptable what's not acceptable they have a backyard you know that they can play in but there is a fence around it and you don't
[21:02] SPEAKER_04: go so far in your background so as long as I have that backyard and scratch that itch because I'll tell you one thing in our system and like most franchise systems every franchisey things are a marketing expert and they all want to play marketer and they want to play play some stuff with the brand and mix and things up so you got to really keep an eye keep that tight so so yes so the way we
[21:21] SPEAKER_04: protect yourself rivers is we we train them we have a really amazing training session we call it PGU property guys I'll come to university they're trained in what they can do and what they can't do they're trained because these people are going to people's houses right so they're talking and they're talking for the most part people's most valuable asset they're ever going to own their life which is their house so you've got to be professionally you got to present yourself a certain way there is no there is some regulations that we get a follow because we're in real estate even though we're not in real estate though we're not playing by the real estate rules that are per se that other agents play
[21:51] SPEAKER_04: in so you know so we get it and we attract these disruptors so as you know disruptors don't want to play by the rules they want to make their own rules so we have to balance it that way and we've been doing pretty good at it for the most part yeah I will I think you have and you know look again when I had the
[22:08] SPEAKER_00: relish brand it was both yeah it's not it's we're not here to hurt people what we're here to protect is the family it's not just about them or trying to protect
[22:16] SPEAKER_00: we're trying to check this brand, which is other people involved.
[22:19] SPEAKER_00: You got other families involved and they bought into a system.
[22:22] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
[22:22] SPEAKER_00: You're making sure that you're trying to protect that.
[22:25] SPEAKER_00: Can you, or-
[22:26] Speaker UNKNOWN: One of the ways-
[22:27] SPEAKER_04: Sorry, Dr. I was just going to add to that.
[22:28] SPEAKER_04: One of the ways, and I just, because it just came to my mind,
[22:30] SPEAKER_04: one of the ways that we've been able to protect that in,
[22:32] SPEAKER_04: I know you've probably been experienced with relish,
[22:34] SPEAKER_04: but what happens when you get to a certain size,
[22:37] SPEAKER_04: you create a community of franchisees,
[22:39] SPEAKER_04: so we have a franchisee advisory council
[22:40] SPEAKER_04: and you get other franchisees.
[22:42] SPEAKER_04: And those, the good franchisees,
[22:44] SPEAKER_04: we built good businesses.
[22:45] SPEAKER_04: They don't want their neighbors doing anything rogue
[22:47] SPEAKER_04: that can harm their business.
[22:48] SPEAKER_04: Right.
[22:48] SPEAKER_04: We don't have to police as much.
[22:49] SPEAKER_04: They're kind of self-police now amongst their own group,
[22:52] SPEAKER_04: which is awesome for us.
[22:54] Speaker UNKNOWN: So yeah.
[22:54] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[22:55] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's nothing better than peer-to-peer responsibility.
[22:59] SPEAKER_00: So that's very cool.
[23:01] SPEAKER_00: You were ahead of the game, as you know,
[23:04] SPEAKER_00: with the internet, the WWW World Wide Web.
[23:08] SPEAKER_00: The information highway,
[23:09] SPEAKER_00: remember it was called the Information Highway?
[23:11] SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
[23:11] SPEAKER_00: Right, time.
[23:13] SPEAKER_00: But COVID came along.
[23:15] SPEAKER_00: And even though I'm sure you were well ahead
[23:18] SPEAKER_00: of the ability to hang out in that space,
[23:22] SPEAKER_00: what adjustments did the property guys have to make
[23:25] SPEAKER_00: because of COVID?
[23:28] SPEAKER_04: Fortunately for us, very little.
[23:31] SPEAKER_04: We were all excited.
[23:32] SPEAKER_04: We've seen it come in, not COVID,
[23:34] SPEAKER_04: but we saw this video conferencing thing
[23:39] SPEAKER_04: being a necessary for customers.
[23:41] SPEAKER_04: You know, I don't have time,
[23:42] SPEAKER_04: but I'll always just do an info appointment
[23:44] SPEAKER_04: and do a video confer.
[23:46] SPEAKER_04: So we saw things like that.
[23:47] SPEAKER_04: We built a technology to allow our customers
[23:50] SPEAKER_04: and our franchisies to upload their own listings
[23:53] SPEAKER_04: and APIs to build and to plug in the other platform.
[23:56] SPEAKER_04: So we had the technology there for them.
[23:59] SPEAKER_04: The biggest pivot for us,
[24:01] SPEAKER_04: even our training session here.
[24:02] SPEAKER_04: So we turn our physical PGU in this room
[24:05] SPEAKER_04: and right now, which would sit 20, 30 people.
[24:08] SPEAKER_04: We turned it into a virtual PGU.
[24:10] SPEAKER_04: So we just did our last PGU training session last week.
[24:13] SPEAKER_04: We had 19 people in the room.
[24:15] SPEAKER_04: And I don't think we could have pulled it off
[24:16] SPEAKER_04: even if we wanted to physically.
[24:18] SPEAKER_04: We had eight people from South Africa.
[24:20] SPEAKER_04: We had two from Texas.
[24:21] SPEAKER_04: We had four from Florida.
[24:22] SPEAKER_04: I think two from British Columbia
[24:24] SPEAKER_04: and a couple from Newfoundland.
[24:25] SPEAKER_04: So I mean, it's just to get those different time zones
[24:28] SPEAKER_04: and put that all together.
[24:29] SPEAKER_04: And under one roof and have that virtually,
[24:33] SPEAKER_04: which was even better for us here
[24:34] SPEAKER_04: because physically even we're having our PGU's
[24:37] SPEAKER_04: physical at the building.
[24:37] SPEAKER_04: Well, the whole office kind of shut down for that week
[24:39] SPEAKER_04: because you're people, you're entertained.
[24:41] SPEAKER_04: You're going out for dinners.
[24:42] SPEAKER_04: You're doing all those things.
[24:44] SPEAKER_04: So you lose a bit of that culture
[24:45] SPEAKER_04: and you lose a little bit of the social.
[24:47] SPEAKER_04: But on the other hand, you get to be able to, you know,
[24:49] SPEAKER_04: properly educate and share ideas with them virtually,
[24:52] SPEAKER_04: which you could do before.
[24:54] SPEAKER_04: So again, COVID-Fress was awesome
[24:56] SPEAKER_04: in regards of not hurting our business in any way.
[24:59] SPEAKER_04: And actually, as you know, the real estate in Atlanta,
[25:02] SPEAKER_04: Canada and throat Canada actually just went...
[25:04] SPEAKER_04: I'm going hot.
[25:05] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[25:05] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, red hot.
[25:06] SPEAKER_04: So just our franchisees were just, you know,
[25:09] SPEAKER_04: making the best of it as they could.
[25:11] SPEAKER_04: And they just, the little pivot they had to go
[25:13] SPEAKER_04: over instead of showing up at your house ribbers.
[25:15] SPEAKER_04: Now I'm going to send you a link and log in
[25:17] SPEAKER_04: with your computer and we'll talk you through the program.
[25:19] SPEAKER_04: So that's kind of how it went down.
[25:20] SPEAKER_04: I love it.
[25:21] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, which is fit, it's well with your process anyway.
[25:25] SPEAKER_00: We've been that it's a lot of virtual.
[25:28] SPEAKER_00: Ken, we talked about in the at your intro
[25:30] SPEAKER_00: with regards to your work with youth and business.
[25:32] SPEAKER_00: Can you talk about that journey?
[25:35] SPEAKER_00: That's focused and...
[25:37] SPEAKER_00: What, you know, why?
[25:40] SPEAKER_04: Always been a personal big fan of youth entrepreneur.
[25:42] SPEAKER_04: So we're big into JA now here in Monkden,
[25:45] SPEAKER_04: you know, the futurepreneur, which was the old,
[25:48] SPEAKER_04: you know, whitepreneur before that you talked about.
[25:50] SPEAKER_04: That was on their board.
[25:51] SPEAKER_04: So it's always been kind of a drive for me,
[25:53] SPEAKER_04: I guess, being a young entrepreneur and going through,
[25:57] SPEAKER_04: you know, the challenges as a young entrepreneur
[25:59] SPEAKER_04: being taken seriously and things like that.
[26:01] SPEAKER_04: I think it was important for me as I'm matured
[26:03] SPEAKER_04: as a business owner to be able to help young entrepreneurs
[26:06] SPEAKER_04: kind of break down some of those barriers.
[26:08] SPEAKER_04: So that's why I've been near to you,
[26:10] SPEAKER_04: not just my heart, but even my partners
[26:11] SPEAKER_04: are the same way.
[26:12] SPEAKER_04: Walter and Jeremy, we both believe heavily
[26:15] SPEAKER_04: in the future of the young, young minds in entrepreneurship.
[26:18] SPEAKER_04: And I think, you know, we hire young people
[26:21] SPEAKER_04: to come into this office.
[26:22] SPEAKER_04: I mean, not the entrepreneurs, we always try to be like,
[26:24] SPEAKER_04: Walter says, I want to be the oldest person in the office
[26:26] SPEAKER_04: because I think there's so much we can learn
[26:28] SPEAKER_04: from the young people staying hip, staying, staying current
[26:32] SPEAKER_04: and ahead of the curve.
[26:33] SPEAKER_04: So it's pretty exciting to have you in work with those groups.
[26:36] Speaker UNKNOWN:
[26:36] SPEAKER_00: What's your message to young entrepreneurs leaning in right now?
[26:39] SPEAKER_00: You started as a young entrepreneur.
[26:42] SPEAKER_00: You're actually joining now 23 years in.
[26:44] SPEAKER_00: What's a nugget or two that you would share with them
[26:47] SPEAKER_00: beginning their journey as an entrepreneur?
[26:50] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I really think that to me, and I've always said this,
[26:53] SPEAKER_04: you know, even before COVID, but I really think that any,
[26:56] SPEAKER_04: you'll be successful if whatever you're doing,
[26:59] SPEAKER_04: you're doing it for the right reason.
[27:00] SPEAKER_04: And for me, the right reason is,
[27:02] SPEAKER_04: it's my passion.
[27:03] SPEAKER_04: I want to do it, right?
[27:05] SPEAKER_04: If you want to be a YouTuber or an influencer, do it.
[27:07] SPEAKER_04: That's your passion.
[27:08] SPEAKER_04: Go for it.
[27:09] SPEAKER_04: If you're doing it because you think you can make money at it
[27:12] SPEAKER_04: or you think that there's a, you know,
[27:13] SPEAKER_04: you're going to be rich someday because you're building this big,
[27:15] SPEAKER_04: you know, big company, whatever.
[27:17] SPEAKER_04: That's the wrong reason in my eyes.
[27:19] SPEAKER_04: You know, we built, we built property guys from the ground up
[27:22] SPEAKER_04: with a hundred bucks and a good idea.
[27:23] SPEAKER_04: And it was because we really wanted to change the face of real estate.
[27:26] SPEAKER_04: And that was our passion and our drive.
[27:27] SPEAKER_04: And then we got into franchising because we,
[27:29] SPEAKER_04: nothing gets me more excited
[27:31] SPEAKER_04: seeing a franchisee go to someone's house
[27:34] SPEAKER_04: and successfully putting a sign in front lawn
[27:36] SPEAKER_04: and getting paid to do that and thinking,
[27:37] SPEAKER_04: wow, I just hope that franchisee
[27:39] SPEAKER_04: make money for his family or her family
[27:42] SPEAKER_04: on an idea that we had 23 years ago.
[27:45] SPEAKER_04: So to me, every time I see a sign pop up to me,
[27:47] SPEAKER_04: that's what it's all about.
[27:48] SPEAKER_04: So, and these are entrepreneurs as well
[27:49] SPEAKER_04: starting their business.
[27:50] SPEAKER_04: So, and we attract people.
[27:52] SPEAKER_04: And when I look at, you know, the personas,
[27:54] SPEAKER_04: like passion needs to be there.
[27:56] SPEAKER_04: Like if you're buying a property guys.com franchise
[27:58] SPEAKER_04: because you want to make a boat load of money,
[27:59] SPEAKER_04: that's not the right reason to buy a franchise and our eyes.
[28:03] SPEAKER_04: You know, you buy because you want to make a difference
[28:04] SPEAKER_04: in your community or you want to make a difference
[28:05] SPEAKER_04: in your lifestyle.
[28:07] SPEAKER_04: You want to control a little more of your work life balance.
[28:11] SPEAKER_04: Whatever that reason is, tell me that's why you're buying it.
[28:14] SPEAKER_04: If it's to make money, you'll make money.
[28:15] SPEAKER_04: Don't worry about it, but it's not the reason that
[28:17] SPEAKER_04: it's going to keep people up.
[28:18] SPEAKER_04: Because when the money, when the money,
[28:20] SPEAKER_04: you know, when you hit a hard time or whatever happens,
[28:22] SPEAKER_04: like most on, there's a lot of real estate.
[28:24] SPEAKER_04: Here's an entrepreneurship, right?
[28:26] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
[28:26] SPEAKER_04: And if you're doing it for just the money
[28:27] SPEAKER_04: and I guarantee you there's going to be a time
[28:29] SPEAKER_04: when there's not much money coming in.
[28:31] SPEAKER_04: You'll just pack up and leave town
[28:32] SPEAKER_04: and that's not what we built this round.
[28:34] SPEAKER_04: So you need that passion to drive.
[28:35] SPEAKER_04: So I always tell the young entrepreneurs the same thing,
[28:37] SPEAKER_04: like, hey, if you believe in this idea
[28:39] SPEAKER_04: and you love doing this idea,
[28:41] SPEAKER_04: the money part will come naturally.
[28:43] SPEAKER_04: Don't worry about that.
[28:43] SPEAKER_04: That's secondary.
[28:44] SPEAKER_00: Tell me about your dining room table conversation
[28:47] SPEAKER_00: with your wife and your daughter around the PG.
[28:51] SPEAKER_00: How does that operate or is it taboo?
[28:54] SPEAKER_04: You know, I wouldn't say it's taboo,
[28:56] SPEAKER_04: but it isn't usually part of the subject.
[29:00] SPEAKER_04: You know, I did a teenage daughter is about 15.
[29:03] SPEAKER_04: I used to be cool.
[29:04] SPEAKER_04: I'm not so cool anymore because she's 15, right?
[29:07] SPEAKER_04: So, yeah.
[29:08] SPEAKER_04: So, like, we were just on the cover of a national magazine.
[29:11] SPEAKER_04: I kind of brought one home and she looked at his world rise.
[29:14] SPEAKER_04: Like, oh, yeah, you're doing it again.
[29:15] SPEAKER_04: Like, you know, it's like, you can't wait, right?
[29:17] SPEAKER_04: So, yeah, no, I mean, and my wife has been amazing.
[29:21] SPEAKER_04: She's supporting us since day one.
[29:23] SPEAKER_04: I always say, I equate a lot of my our success
[29:25] SPEAKER_04: and my personal success to her.
[29:28] SPEAKER_04: You know, not too many women who will allow you to,
[29:30] SPEAKER_04: you know, travel the world, be gone nights and weekends,
[29:34] SPEAKER_04: working till 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning,
[29:36] SPEAKER_04: getting up at 4 in the morning, going to work,
[29:38] SPEAKER_04: and not saying, uh, it's about it,
[29:40] SPEAKER_04: and just kind of have your back taken care of our daughter
[29:42] SPEAKER_04: and doing things that need to be.
[29:43] SPEAKER_04: So, she's been amazing, amazing support that way.
[29:46] SPEAKER_04: And, you know, when I involve her,
[29:48] SPEAKER_04: when I involve her, like, going to her national conference
[29:50] SPEAKER_04: and that she loves going there.
[29:52] SPEAKER_04: She loves being the franchisees,
[29:53] SPEAKER_04: but she's never trying to, you know, pull or push any,
[29:56] SPEAKER_04: any agenda in regards to property, Izzana.
[29:59] SPEAKER_04: So, she knows, she knows my persona.
[30:01] SPEAKER_04: Like, I'm, I believe in I'm an introvert.
[30:03] SPEAKER_04: I like my downtime.
[30:04] SPEAKER_04: I like my long time.
[30:06] SPEAKER_04: I get charged from sitting home, watching a leaf game with my dad,
[30:09] SPEAKER_04: and that's, that's kind of where my, you know,
[30:10] SPEAKER_04: I get, get back into that.
[30:11] SPEAKER_04: Even though it was very painful last year.
[30:14] SPEAKER_04: Very painful.
[30:15] SPEAKER_00: I was talking about the brand about that the other day.
[30:19] SPEAKER_00: For those of you that are not hockey fans,
[30:21] SPEAKER_00: Montreal and Toronto will get together in the first round.
[30:24] SPEAKER_00: Toronto bowed out at the last minute,
[30:26] SPEAKER_00: and Montreal went onto the final,
[30:28] SPEAKER_00: which I think is probably more painful than the bow.
[30:31] SPEAKER_00: It was.
[30:31] SPEAKER_00: The one that, the one that, the one that, the one that,
[30:34] Speaker UNKNOWN: the one that, the one that, the one that, the one that,
[30:36] Speaker UNKNOWN:
[30:37] SPEAKER_04: I don't know if I would have done it if they would have won the cup.
[30:39] SPEAKER_04: I'm not sure I'd be talking hockey anymore.
[30:42] SPEAKER_00: My biggest fear as a hockey fan is to have Toronto
[30:46] SPEAKER_00: and Montreal meet in the final,
[30:47] SPEAKER_00: and they could have the last time Montreal won the final in 93.
[30:51] SPEAKER_00: It was to lose, to have the final, and then to lose to Toronto.
[30:55] SPEAKER_00: To lose to the other team.
[30:57] SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
[30:58] SPEAKER_00: That's the one.
[30:59] SPEAKER_00: So tell us where we're turning the bend on being close to finishing Canada.
[31:04] SPEAKER_00: I can't thank you, and after you're always
[31:06] SPEAKER_00: getting so much of your time to me as,
[31:07] SPEAKER_00: as a friend and a colleague, but also in the community.
[31:13] SPEAKER_00: Why Atlanta Canada?
[31:14] SPEAKER_00: Why just stick around Atlanta Canada when you could have gone to Toronto
[31:17] SPEAKER_00: and hung out with your, with your buddies there in the least get.
[31:20] SPEAKER_00: In the least little line.
[31:22] SPEAKER_00: Because you're good.
[31:24] SPEAKER_00: I remember there's one thing you don't,
[31:26] SPEAKER_00: you were skating with them or something at one point in time.
[31:30] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[31:31] SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
[31:32] SPEAKER_04: No, I love these.
[31:33] SPEAKER_04: I'm definitely a diard from my home.
[31:35] SPEAKER_04: I'll die leave fan for sure.
[31:36] SPEAKER_04: Yes, sir.
[31:37] SPEAKER_04: Why Atlanta Canada?
[31:38] SPEAKER_04: You know what, born and raised here.
[31:41] SPEAKER_04: Got some family left, not a lot, but some family left here.
[31:44] SPEAKER_04: But for me, I think rivers and I touched it earlier,
[31:47] SPEAKER_04: I think the Atlantic Canadian
[31:50] SPEAKER_04: persona or I guess mentality of giving,
[31:54] SPEAKER_04: you know, working, communicating.
[31:57] SPEAKER_04: And I'd been able to travel this beautiful country from coast to coast.
[32:01] SPEAKER_04: I've been through every single state in the US.
[32:04] SPEAKER_04: I've been to Australia.
[32:06] SPEAKER_04: I've been all over the world and I tell you there's nothing like
[32:08] SPEAKER_04: Atlantic Canadians in regards of
[32:11] SPEAKER_04: willing to help one another, have each other's back, support, support you.
[32:15] SPEAKER_04: Like I look at the early days, like I went to a Atlantic Canadian University.
[32:19] SPEAKER_04: I don't think there's any other university in this country,
[32:22] SPEAKER_04: even where professors would take phone calls for you,
[32:25] SPEAKER_04: help you with your marketing, move exam dates,
[32:28] SPEAKER_04: you know, instill 23 years later, still have a relationship
[32:32] SPEAKER_04: that you can call up as a buddy and a favorite anytime.
[32:35] SPEAKER_04: And you get that Atlantic Canada, right?
[32:37] SPEAKER_04: So I think being, you know, so.
[32:39] SPEAKER_04: And then just the way the community embraces the brand,
[32:42] SPEAKER_04: embraces you as an entrepreneur,
[32:44] SPEAKER_04: puts you on a pedestal, which is nice.
[32:47] SPEAKER_04: You know, it's definitely not the small, you know, small pond,
[32:50] SPEAKER_04: big fish mentality.
[32:51] SPEAKER_04: It's more so.
[32:52] SPEAKER_04: I really think it fits our, I talked about the passion and drive
[32:58] SPEAKER_04: and why you're doing this thing.
[32:59] SPEAKER_04: It fits our why.
[33:01] SPEAKER_04: I couldn't see, I couldn't see this company being in a downtown
[33:06] SPEAKER_04: Bay Street office and with a bunch of suits coming in
[33:09] SPEAKER_04: and barking orders at a middle management team.
[33:13] SPEAKER_04: Like, you know, we're growing.
[33:14] SPEAKER_04: We've got almost 40, 50 people working here in Monkton right now
[33:17] SPEAKER_04: in our Monkton office supporting our project across the world.
[33:20] SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
[33:20] SPEAKER_04: But I just, everyone who works here has that same type of
[33:25] SPEAKER_04: servant mentality and I think Atlantic Canadians,
[33:29] SPEAKER_04: you know, we typical Canadian personas who apologize
[33:32] SPEAKER_04: and say thank you a lot, but I think Atlantic Canadians are way more.
[33:36] SPEAKER_04: We probably, we probably cause that, that, that, that,
[33:38] SPEAKER_04: I guess that tagline for most Canadians,
[33:40] SPEAKER_04: quite honestly, because like I said, I travel the world.
[33:42] SPEAKER_04: I enjoy Canada, but you know, no one holds a door for you in
[33:47] SPEAKER_04: downtown Toronto, no one's, no one's, you know,
[33:49] SPEAKER_04: no one's doing the things they do here.
[33:52] SPEAKER_04: I've been fortunate to, like, even not just the university,
[33:54] SPEAKER_04: but the Chamber of Commerce, you know, when we joined the first one,
[33:57] SPEAKER_04: we're a kid, we're 20 something, right?
[33:59] SPEAKER_04: So you're joined a Chamber of Commerce with like a West Armor
[34:02] SPEAKER_04: and you know, Bernardo and Paul, like these are like,
[34:05] SPEAKER_04: these are the elite of the elite of business entrepreneurs
[34:07] SPEAKER_04: and they're taking your table and taking your
[34:09] SPEAKER_04: around like your buddy from high school, right?
[34:11] SPEAKER_04: Just opening up the restaurant.
[34:11] SPEAKER_04: They were restaurants, 20, yeah.
[34:13] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, and any question, any time they would answer
[34:16] SPEAKER_04: and, and I was really weird because I thought, you know,
[34:18] SPEAKER_04: because I was taught, you know, through business now,
[34:20] SPEAKER_04: like you had to keep your secrets closed, you don't,
[34:22] SPEAKER_04: you don't, you don't, don't tell anybody what you're doing,
[34:24] SPEAKER_04: but that wasn't the case in the Atlantic Canada, right?
[34:26] SPEAKER_04: And I got to experience that with the Canadian
[34:28] SPEAKER_04: franchise association as well.
[34:30] SPEAKER_04: I get on that board and it's like, this is interesting.
[34:32] SPEAKER_04: We're all franchise owners.
[34:33] SPEAKER_04: We're all trying to get franchisees to join our system,
[34:36] SPEAKER_04: but I'm hearing from an A&W executive
[34:38] SPEAKER_04: and an McDonald's executive and what they do
[34:40] SPEAKER_04: and the UPS store and how they work their system.
[34:43] SPEAKER_04: And I'm creating all these ideas.
[34:44] SPEAKER_04: They're an open book.
[34:45] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I became an open book.
[34:46] SPEAKER_04: Well, right?
[34:47] SPEAKER_04: So it was really good.
[34:48] Speaker UNKNOWN: Love it.
[34:49] SPEAKER_04: Love it.
[34:49] SPEAKER_04: That work in that community.
[34:51] Speaker UNKNOWN:
[34:51] SPEAKER_00: Well, it's, I think there's something I agree with it.
[34:53] SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it's a great specialist.
[34:56] SPEAKER_00: The great minute, and I'm sure a lot of the
[34:57] SPEAKER_00: Atlantic Canadian culture permeates throughout your entire
[35:00] SPEAKER_00: network of your franchise.
[35:01] SPEAKER_00: These, which is that specialness you talked about.
[35:03] SPEAKER_00: I know with my business now,
[35:05] SPEAKER_00: Shaftorial, which we're fortunate enough to do in
[35:08] SPEAKER_00: throughout North America and into the UK,
[35:11] SPEAKER_00: we bring the element of the social bull.
[35:14] SPEAKER_00: And you know, the social bull is all about that.
[35:15] SPEAKER_00: It is amazing how many people have never heard of the social bull.
[35:19] SPEAKER_00: It's an Atlantic Canada piece.
[35:21] SPEAKER_00: And we're able to share that piece of fun
[35:24] SPEAKER_00: and camaraderie and connection.
[35:26] SPEAKER_00: And so that's the best reason you could have for one
[35:30] SPEAKER_00: is there because it's a darn good place to live,
[35:33] SPEAKER_00: bring your family up into a connect with other entrepreneurs.
[35:36] SPEAKER_00: Ken, how do people connect with you?
[35:39] SPEAKER_00: You're on LinkedIn?
[35:41] SPEAKER_00: Ken LeBlanc?
[35:41] SPEAKER_00: LinkedIn?
[35:42] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, LinkedIn.
[35:43] SPEAKER_04: Ken LeBlanc, Twitter, Ken LeBlanc, Facebook, Ken LeBlanc,
[35:46] SPEAKER_04: propertyguys.com.
[35:47] SPEAKER_04: You can just leave it there.
[35:48] SPEAKER_04: You want to fire me an email,
[35:50] SPEAKER_04: K LeBlanc at propertyguys.com.
[35:52] SPEAKER_04: I've still been old school in the email stuff,
[35:54] SPEAKER_04: so I check that quite frequently.
[35:55] Speaker UNKNOWN: But, nice.
[35:56] SPEAKER_00: Well, one thing about you, dude, is you,
[35:59] SPEAKER_00: you may be busy, but you're always trying time.
[36:02] SPEAKER_00: And I, again, thank you enough for your continued support.
[36:05] SPEAKER_00: We look forward to getting this great story,
[36:07] SPEAKER_00: not only to Atlanta Canadians, but to Canadians across
[36:10] SPEAKER_00: across our great nation who are going to continue to hear this story of what you're doing.
[36:15] SPEAKER_00: One last question I will let you go because I did have that in my head.
[36:18] SPEAKER_00: What's the next two or three years look like?
[36:20] SPEAKER_00: What's the vision from the CEO's desk?
[36:23] SPEAKER_04: Awesome.
[36:23] SPEAKER_04: No, we got a really good roadmap,
[36:25] SPEAKER_04: I think we got a five-year plan.
[36:27] SPEAKER_04: But the next two or three years,
[36:28] SPEAKER_04: we're getting heavily into some of the licensed service side of things.
[36:31] SPEAKER_04: A lot of our franchisees are bringing on licensed agents into their business,
[36:36] SPEAKER_04: which are going to allow us to, yeah,
[36:37] SPEAKER_04: what you're going to allow us to get into, like,
[36:39] SPEAKER_04: buyer side agreements, so representing people back and forth,
[36:43] SPEAKER_04: and disrupting the traditional, I guess, market within.
[36:46] SPEAKER_04: So licensed services, showing houses,
[36:49] SPEAKER_04: negotiating prices, all those fun things that we haven't done before.
[36:52] SPEAKER_04: Rentals is coming down the pipe.
[36:54] SPEAKER_04: We're looking at doing a DIY product in the US.
[36:58] SPEAKER_04: It'll allow basically an Amazon product where you can drop,
[37:02] SPEAKER_04: ship a sign your front lawn and be on our platform.
[37:04] SPEAKER_04: So lots of things coming.
[37:06] SPEAKER_00: Look out. Here we go.
[37:07] SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
[37:08] SPEAKER_00: Keep on happening, my man.
[37:10] SPEAKER_00: Look forward to chatting with you again.
[37:11] SPEAKER_00: Appreciate your time.
[37:12] SPEAKER_00: We'll be in touch.
[37:13] SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Rivers.
[37:14] SPEAKER_00: Bye now.
[37:15] SPEAKER_00: Cheers, man.
