Making life easier for people with disabilities

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's Entrepreneur, where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: across Canada and deliver the news, trends, knowledge and opinions from entrepreneurs and business
[00:13] SPEAKER_02: influences across the country. Hello, I'm Mario Toneguzi managing editor of Canada's Entrepreneur
[00:21] SPEAKER_02: joining me today on Calgary's podcast is James Teeke who is founder and CEO of my Everythings
[00:29] SPEAKER_02: Store. Thanks James for joining us today. Thank you sir for having me. Let's just start by just
[00:36] SPEAKER_02: tell me a little bit about what is my everythings store. All right, so my everythings store started
[00:43] SPEAKER_00: five years ago and it is we're basically the Amazon of medical supplies. So we are e-commerce only
[00:51] SPEAKER_00: platform where we sell medical supplies west coast to east coast and it's everything from
[00:57] SPEAKER_00: catheters, ostomy, entropheding products and we sell direct to consumer. So we are selling
[01:04] SPEAKER_00: direct to the end user who buys products and yeah it's been running for five years and just keeps
[01:10] SPEAKER_02: growing. Tell me a little bit of the history here how this start and why. That's a great
[01:16] SPEAKER_00: question. Basically I've been using my own I've been using medical supplies for 33 years after
[01:22] SPEAKER_00: an accident of mine and after shopping at the one you know big box store vendor for 27 years
[01:30] SPEAKER_00: I just got tired of the service. I knew I could do something better and I have an entrepreneurial
[01:38] SPEAKER_00: mind so I thought put that to work and said hey I can build something better faster, more
[01:44] SPEAKER_00: convenient for people because I used to have to get in my vehicle and drive down to the store to
[01:48] SPEAKER_00: pick up my medical supplies once a month and you can imagine being in a wheelchair,
[01:52] SPEAKER_00: in Calgary, winter time, you know, not an easy thing to do right. So we delivered two year
[02:00] SPEAKER_00: door typically next day so it's super fast, super convenient and yeah I just knew I could do a
[02:08] SPEAKER_02: better job so I started my store. So you know when you look at and I'm just wondering
[02:15] SPEAKER_02: you're rich, how far do you go and you sales them through this? Yeah so we're like say we're
[02:24] SPEAKER_00: West Coast to East Coast as far as our demographic is concerned and sales are everything from
[02:33] SPEAKER_00: oh, the castlers like say ostomy, interfeeding and you go in the safe zone? No, no we stay away from
[02:42] SPEAKER_02: the US especially now. Yeah that's true, yeah I did everything on what's going on with that. Yeah
[02:51] SPEAKER_02: as I'm just curious also I always curious about the names of companies like how did you come up with
[02:58] SPEAKER_00: my everything store? Great question. So when I started this business I knew absolutely nothing
[03:05] SPEAKER_00: about e-commerce. I had never ran a retail business before. I knew nothing. So what did I do? I
[03:12] SPEAKER_00: jumped on Amazon and I started reading every book I could find on the guy that knows everything
[03:19] SPEAKER_00: about e-commerce Mr. Jeff Bezos and Amazon and Amazon's nickname used to be called
[03:29] SPEAKER_00: the everything store. Oh and so they it's not an official name you know but it's they were
[03:36] SPEAKER_00: voted as the everything store everyone's in the box and so I thought okay well this is not
[03:42] SPEAKER_00: the everything store because we don't sell everything we sell medical supplies so it's my everything store
[03:50] SPEAKER_00: so you know when you're when people are and when people are talking about we'll really buy
[03:54] SPEAKER_00: your medical supplies why buy from my everything store and it's easy for me people to remember
[03:59] SPEAKER_00: it's catchy and there's that familiarity with it? Oh cool. Yeah but what were you doing before this?
[04:08] SPEAKER_00: Well I actually own another company I own a private investigation firm. Oh really?
[04:12] SPEAKER_00: yeah so I've been running that business for for 10 years now and five years ago I started this one
[04:20] SPEAKER_00: so I run both of them. Oh well no that must be yeah that's always you know you always watch
[04:27] SPEAKER_02: the TV shows right and the Ike firms or whatever but I remember one year there was a guy in
[04:34] SPEAKER_02: Calgary that had a firm that was wanted to hire me because because he he just thought that
[04:42] SPEAKER_02: reporters were great but it would be great as PI people right and you know I have asked questions
[04:49] SPEAKER_02: yeah and the funny thing you know I remember during my days at the herald I was a one of my
[04:57] SPEAKER_02: beats was the crime and a lot of cops telling telling myself and at a couple of colleagues that hey
[05:05] SPEAKER_02: you guys would make good detectives right? How did you get involved with that?
[05:12] SPEAKER_00: like doing that? Yeah well prior to that I worked in the insurance I've worked in the insurance
[05:18] SPEAKER_00: industry for years and all insurance companies have kind of it's like an in-house private investigation
[05:25] SPEAKER_00: department they call it a special investigation unit yeah yeah so I worked in that for years and then
[05:31] SPEAKER_00: so I wanted to go out on my own so I just and I I had quite an advantage because I knew everybody
[05:37] SPEAKER_00: in the industry with all the different companies all the different insurance companies because
[05:41] SPEAKER_00: we all kind of coordinated our efforts and worked together and so when I hung on my shingle I
[05:46] SPEAKER_00: didn't do any marketing or advertising and just said hey I've got my own firm now and
[05:51] SPEAKER_02: files are started coming in oh wow yeah so um you know when you look at your my everything store
[06:01] SPEAKER_02: what kind of response are you getting from people like the feedback are you getting from people
[06:07] SPEAKER_00: uh for what you're doing? Oh it's remarkable we have people that are in their 90s shopping on
[06:16] SPEAKER_00: there and they are saying like I can't believe this services this I just go on there I click on
[06:23] SPEAKER_00: the product I fill out my information it gets sent to my you know it's autumn sent to my door
[06:29] SPEAKER_00: automatically I don't have to go anywhere and have to do anything one of the things that we have as
[06:34] SPEAKER_00: well too is an automatic reorder system so if you order your medical supplies on the month the
[06:38] SPEAKER_00: month of basis and it's the same products you just said it and forget it and it just shows up to
[06:43] SPEAKER_00: your door every month the same time and people love it and where we have a huge advantage and again
[06:50] SPEAKER_00: this is going back to Jeff Bezos in the Amazon days um brick and mortar stores can't have
[06:57] SPEAKER_00: every single product skewed that there is like we have 9000 skews on our store right now
[07:04] SPEAKER_00: and we have access to another 140,000 product skews so there's no brick and mortar store anywhere that
[07:12] SPEAKER_00: can have that many product skews sitting on the shelf this is this is physically possible
[07:18] SPEAKER_00: so we operate very very much like amazon where we're connected to all the different distributors
[07:23] SPEAKER_00: so even if you know we have a product uh the person puts the order in through we can check
[07:29] SPEAKER_00: every single one of the distributors in Canada figure out which one has it and have it
[07:34] SPEAKER_02: shipped out directly to them yeah yeah you know you know the the whole e-commerce thing right is uh
[07:41] SPEAKER_02: you know uh took off as a matter of convenience for a lot of people right but but you know think
[07:47] SPEAKER_02: about it like for people with disabilities that's you know it's a become even more critical and
[07:53] SPEAKER_02: crucial for them to have this kind of uh uh entity out there right oh it is it's absolutely for
[08:00] SPEAKER_00: short and if you're a busy person you're a busy professional if you are a caretaker like a
[08:05] SPEAKER_00: mom and dad you know like a brother or a son father who's taking care of an elderly parent that
[08:10] SPEAKER_00: needs the medical supplies you know that's just one more thing you don't have to worry about is
[08:15] SPEAKER_00: okay oh I gotta remember to order dad supplies you know and we we I can't even tell you how many
[08:20] SPEAKER_00: phone calls we get where we get a panic son or daughter my dad's running out of supplies oh my god
[08:26] SPEAKER_00: you know if you got to order you know can you get your supplies like you know tomorrow kind of thing
[08:32] SPEAKER_00: that happens quite often um so you know it is it's a really really great service for people just
[08:38] SPEAKER_02: and at so many levels yeah can you talk about your experience uh and uh you know you mentioned
[08:45] SPEAKER_02: an accident uh also a little bit about that and what happened yeah so I had a car accident 33
[08:52] SPEAKER_00: years ago and it up and um destroying my spine so I ended up paraplegic and then see that
[08:59] SPEAKER_00: through that and you know 33 years ago things were vastly different than they are now you know it
[09:05] SPEAKER_00: was you know basically well this is what a catheter is here you go go use it and you know
[09:12] SPEAKER_00: have a nice day invest a lot to you um it's it's a lot different nowadays where we have there's
[09:17] SPEAKER_00: peer support groups there's online support groups there's all of those different things
[09:21] SPEAKER_00: yeah um so yeah it it was a challenge for a lot of years and what really pushed me over the
[09:28] SPEAKER_00: edge to start this company was I was getting a lot of re-encouring bladder infections uh through
[09:33] SPEAKER_00: the catheter that I was using and so I went to my supplier that I've been with through 27 years
[09:38] SPEAKER_00: and I said you know I need to try these different no-touch catheters that are out there so I can
[09:44] SPEAKER_00: you know stop these infections from coming and they said well those are really you know a lot more
[09:50] SPEAKER_00: expensive so if you want those you're gonna have to buy a box and I said come on I said I've been
[09:55] SPEAKER_00: you know like loyal customer for 27 years you're not gonna give me some samples for free and they
[10:00] SPEAKER_00: said oh no we're not gonna do that that's when I was like okay you know what I can do something better
[10:05] SPEAKER_00: right and um and so yeah I changed over to those new catheters and knock on wood I haven't had
[10:12] SPEAKER_02: a bladder infection in five years yeah tell me just a little bit about your experience uh you know
[10:19] SPEAKER_02: what uh on this journey uh you know what the disability what do you think you you've learned uh
[10:27] SPEAKER_02: about life uh in general I guess uh
[10:31] SPEAKER_00: yeah it's uh it's it's interesting it's a different perspective right it's a very different
[10:36] SPEAKER_00: look in the world not you know that's a mention the fact that I sit down but um you know you see
[10:41] SPEAKER_00: things differently and as I always tell people that are newly injured or anybody that's you know
[10:47] SPEAKER_00: struggling you know you're when you're in a wheelchair and you're you know you have a disability
[10:52] SPEAKER_00: you're almost like in on the spot engineer you have to engineer things and figure out things
[10:59] SPEAKER_00: on the fly you know like if I'm if I'm going somewhere and also I need to be able to get into the
[11:04] SPEAKER_00: bathroom you know and also and I can't fit through the doorway okay now what am I gonna do you know
[11:09] SPEAKER_00: and so you have to be able to think quickly and be able to adapt to your environments I remember going
[11:15] SPEAKER_00: to a party one time um this was many many years ago when when I was going to parties and and out
[11:22] SPEAKER_00: all night um I came up to a situation where I literally couldn't get through the doorway so I was
[11:28] SPEAKER_00: like well I'm gonna go to the bathroom it's a big bathroom but it was tiny little door
[11:32] SPEAKER_00: so I called over one of my buddies and I said hey pop off my wheel take my one wheel off
[11:38] SPEAKER_00: but push me through through the doorway and then pop my wheel back on and he was like yeah we can do
[11:46] SPEAKER_00: that so that's what we did got me into the bathroom was just a real reverse on the way out so that's
[11:52] SPEAKER_00: that's one of the things that you know you really do have to you know it's kind of like an engineering
[11:58] SPEAKER_02: on the fly you have to figure things out um speaking of which uh being an entrepreneur like how's
[12:06] SPEAKER_00: that been for you as a journey oh it's you know it's it's like all the entrepreneur is it's you know
[12:13] SPEAKER_00: it's it's almost kind of like being manic right like you know you can be super excited and everything
[12:18] SPEAKER_00: you're top of the world you know by 10 o'clock in the morning and by noon you're just like oh my
[12:22] SPEAKER_00: word what's going on this and you know and it's just costing up and down up and down up and down
[12:27] SPEAKER_00: but the thing I love about it is um you know you're you're solving problems for people you're fixing
[12:34] SPEAKER_00: things right and a lot of times you know I hear like oh the government needs to fix this or the
[12:40] SPEAKER_00: government needs to fix that government's don't fix things right it's entrepreneurs right that see
[12:45] SPEAKER_00: a problem they are like you know what I can do better I can fix this I can you know I can develop
[12:50] SPEAKER_00: a product or I can develop a service that's going to help people and that's super rewarding it
[12:55] SPEAKER_00: is stressful for sure it is not for everybody like there's a lot of people that are saying oh you
[13:00] SPEAKER_00: I really want to be an entrepreneur and it's like oh you know you really want to look at look at
[13:06] SPEAKER_00: that before you jump in you know and it can be incredibly rewarding but you can also be incredibly
[13:12] SPEAKER_02: stressful for sure yeah how do you how do you deal with that stress as an entrepreneur knowing
[13:18] SPEAKER_02: the fact that yeah most people who are entrepreneurs are always almost always working right
[13:26] SPEAKER_02: if they're not like physically working on on what they're doing they're working up here on
[13:31] SPEAKER_00: on the business right then back great question yeah and for me it's um I don't I don't know I just
[13:43] SPEAKER_00: I can't not I'm one of those people that can't not work I tried taking a vacation here about
[13:48] SPEAKER_00: nine years ago and after the first week I was like oh really I need to get back to work like I can't
[13:55] SPEAKER_00: really turn that off and for me it's not really it's not really work so I don't look at it you know
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: like in the work because I love what I do with my PI firm with my everything story you know I love
[14:06] SPEAKER_00: both of those companies love what I do but you know as far as stress relief is concerned you know
[14:12] SPEAKER_00: like of course I work out you know um take you know go for walks with my wife and her dog you know
[14:18] SPEAKER_00: that's that's important um you know weekends is spent with my my wife and and you know friends and
[14:23] SPEAKER_00: family and having barbecues and and you know kind of turning off but you're you never turn it off
[14:30] SPEAKER_00: right you're never really turning it off especially if you have an entrepreneurial mindset I can't go
[14:35] SPEAKER_00: any I can't go anywhere without saying oh jeez you know what if I could I could solve that problem
[14:41] SPEAKER_00: I could start a company and solve that problem my wife's always like you got you got too already
[14:48] SPEAKER_02: you're good to go for now jeez it's important right it's uh I think that's one of the the biggest
[14:58] SPEAKER_02: problems with entrepreneurs is they don't know when to turn it off and and and and kind of
[15:04] SPEAKER_02: I kind of relax and maybe feed feed your soul or feed feed that other part of you that
[15:11] SPEAKER_02: needs the you know to need some rest and relaxation you know you know what they say you know
[15:17] SPEAKER_02: going a hundred miles per hour you're gonna end up burning out right and that's right and uh
[15:24] SPEAKER_02: so what um uh what advice would you give to a inspiring entrepreneur what what would you tell him or
[15:35] SPEAKER_00: oh hands down don't go it alone if you can start off with a partner or two um you know
[15:43] SPEAKER_00: co-founders without question that is definitely something that um I would say really strongly
[15:52] SPEAKER_00: suggest because when you're you know they say you know number one's the loneliest number
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: when you buy yourself and you got a problem and you turn and go oh there's there's nobody there
[16:02] SPEAKER_00: where there's nobody to ask advice to you know um so if you have founders you know and co-founders
[16:08] SPEAKER_00: you have at least they have people to bounce stuff off and go hey when you think when you think
[16:12] SPEAKER_00: of this what do you think you know um the other piece of advice would be you know try and find a mentor
[16:18] SPEAKER_00: you know to somebody that's been there done that that is not an easy road right because if you
[16:23] SPEAKER_00: got somebody that's a very successful business person you know they're busy they're they're running
[16:28] SPEAKER_00: their business their businesses you know there's a lot of multiple multiple business owners as well
[16:33] SPEAKER_00: um and you know and really you have to you have to learn every aspect of the business you have to
[16:41] SPEAKER_00: learn accounting even though you might not like it you know I am horrible with the numbers ask my
[16:47] SPEAKER_00: wife and ask my accountant who between the two of them they always have heart attack but um find
[16:54] SPEAKER_00: you know like know your strengths and hire and hire soon hire soon for for the problem for the
[17:01] SPEAKER_00: skills you don't have you know um and then that way you can kind of focus on what you do really well
[17:07] SPEAKER_00: and that will help you immensely in the long run for sure yeah now um you know when you look
[17:15] SPEAKER_02: I'm just curious I like I know you know you're based in Calgary but being a
[17:20] SPEAKER_02: you know an e-commerce company is really all over the place but uh you've seen
[17:27] SPEAKER_02: any like benefits or you know what are the positives of having a business that's based in Calgary
[17:36] SPEAKER_00: oh I love Calgary I love Calgary and and it's I mean it's really because we're e-commerce I
[17:45] SPEAKER_00: could be I could literally be living in Italy you know um but as far as Calgary is concerned I don't
[17:53] SPEAKER_00: think I would want to live anywhere else it's it's just such a great city um and you know and
[17:59] SPEAKER_00: you know what's with the time zone differences it's not such a big deal you know um because
[18:06] SPEAKER_00: we deal with a lot of time the companies in the US as far as you know providing services and that
[18:12] SPEAKER_00: kind of thing which you know we always support Canada if we can but there of course there's
[18:16] SPEAKER_00: you know like some huge companies there in the US that we have to use like Google for one um
[18:23] SPEAKER_00: um but yeah I wouldn't I wouldn't live anywhere else either in Calgary now what do you um just
[18:28] SPEAKER_02: curious uh are you involved with like um entrepreneur groups or anything like that small business
[18:35] SPEAKER_00: groups right anything like that no no not not at the moment I've got a couple of irons in the
[18:41] SPEAKER_00: fire for that uh here locally um there's a couple of um entrepreneur groups um and CEO groups that
[18:49] SPEAKER_00: that are kind of grooming me to come on board with them and then uh but yeah I think that I have
[18:55] SPEAKER_02: been pretty much solo on my own since the beginning yeah any beyond your you know Bezos uh is there
[19:03] SPEAKER_02: anybody else that you looked at and uh and how they did business that kind of uh helped you along the
[19:10] SPEAKER_00: yeah I I have literally I am just a voracious reader I read like two hours a day um so I've read
[19:18] SPEAKER_00: every book on Elon Musk on um uh Bill Gates on you know every book I can find on every business
[19:27] SPEAKER_00: successful business person that that there is I've read every book I can find on it
[19:32] SPEAKER_00: and yeah and and taking I literally taking notes on on how do they do this and how do they do that
[19:38] SPEAKER_00: you know and and now when it comes to you know with AI now being so prevalent with everything
[19:45] SPEAKER_00: you know I've had to jump into that into the pool and figure out AI now yeah when you look at all those
[19:52] SPEAKER_00: people um is there a common thread curiosity yeah it's curiosity it's like okay well and
[20:02] SPEAKER_00: they're that that's inclusive you know like how okay why is it why is this being done this way
[20:08] SPEAKER_00: how why is that being done that way or why is this not being done this way you know they they asked
[20:13] SPEAKER_00: a lot like they ask more questions than they give you know advice on kind of think they ask
[20:19] SPEAKER_00: questions and that's where that's where I think a lot of really successful entrepreneurs you know
[20:24] SPEAKER_00: succeed just by asking the great questions and by asking a lot of questions
[20:29] SPEAKER_02: interesting well on that no will end you take into time James that's excellent well thank you
[20:38] SPEAKER_02: I really appreciate the opportunity okay that was James Teguist founder and CEO of my everything
[20:45] SPEAKER_02: store I'm Mario Tonoguzi managing editor of Canada's entrepreneur thanks for joining us today