Pivoting from a career in the financial industry to being an entrepreneur

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: Hello, I'm Mario Tonigusi and this is Calgary's podcast with on Canada's podcast network
[00:12] SPEAKER_01: joining me today is Robin Covitz, who is president and CEO of Baskets.
[00:18] SPEAKER_01: Now I know that Narabana is based in Toronto but she has a long history of being in Calgary
[00:25] SPEAKER_01: so that's why she's on Calgary's podcast.
[00:27] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us, Robin.
[00:29] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me, Mario.
[00:30] SPEAKER_00: It's such a treat to be here.
[00:31] SPEAKER_01: Well, let's talk about baskets.
[00:33] SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit about what the company is and what you guys do.
[00:37] SPEAKER_00: Sure. So we're Canada's leading purveyor of fine gifts.
[00:41] SPEAKER_00: We really connect people through the joy of gifting and our gift baskets and boxes are perfect
[00:45] SPEAKER_00: for any occasion like the birth of a new baby or big life accomplishment or even just a birthday.
[00:50] SPEAKER_00: We ship all across Canada and the US in fact we send lots of gifts to Calgary,
[00:54] SPEAKER_00: my hometown where I was born and raised and we really aspire to make wow factor gifting quick
[01:00] SPEAKER_00: and easy by sourcing the highest quality products using best-in-class systems and always providing
[01:05] SPEAKER_00: top-notch customer service.
[01:07] SPEAKER_01: Okay, tell me a little bit about the growth of the company over the last few years and you
[01:12] SPEAKER_01: want a few recognition in that area as well.
[01:17] SPEAKER_00: Yes, so I purchased the company in 2014 and it was at a time when I just had my first child and I
[01:24] SPEAKER_00: was receiving a lot of gift baskets and I was really interested in the space and I thought,
[01:31] SPEAKER_00: wouldn't it be interesting if this industry was shook up a little bit, shaken up a little bit and
[01:35] SPEAKER_00: sort of the product was elevated and the process was easier and so I had the great fortune of
[01:41] SPEAKER_00: finding this platform to acquire and then I've acquired some competitors and we're really trying
[01:45] SPEAKER_00: to build it into the leader in Canada and sort of updating the space and so yeah, we've grown
[01:51] SPEAKER_00: considerably since 2014 and very pleased to be recognized as one of the fastest growing companies
[01:56] SPEAKER_00: in Canada two years in a row.
[01:58] SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's backtrack for a second here Robin and talk about that history behind
[02:06] SPEAKER_01: 2014 coming around and you buying the company.
[02:09] SPEAKER_01: What were you doing before then and maybe why were you looking at buying a company?
[02:16] SPEAKER_00: Sure, so I was born and raised in Calgary in the southwest and grew up sort of evenings
[02:21] SPEAKER_00: the weekends around my father's business which was in protein manufacturing and distribution.
[02:26] SPEAKER_00: I came out west or out east to study finance at Queens University and then I joined
[02:33] SPEAKER_00: went to Bay Street. I think like a lot of Calgary and I was sort of intrigued by Bay Street and
[02:37] SPEAKER_00: I worked in private equity and investment banking for many years and then I turned the right old
[02:42] SPEAKER_00: age of 30 like many women where you reach that inflection point where I wanted to start a family
[02:46] SPEAKER_00: but also couldn't reconcile how that would drive with my career and so I sort of thought back to my
[02:52] SPEAKER_00: fondly on my days growing up and Calgary walking around my dad's business and thinking wouldn't it be
[02:56] SPEAKER_00: neat if I could run a small business on my own where I could bring the baby and you know I would
[03:00] SPEAKER_00: create the rules so I could set my own hours you know that the naive me right that thought being
[03:05] SPEAKER_00: a business owner would be so easy. So fast for that was the goal was to have more flexibility really
[03:12] SPEAKER_00: I wanted to work from home before the whole world started working from home. Wow okay then super
[03:17] SPEAKER_01: can you talk a little bit about the family business in Calgary what it was and how you were
[03:24] SPEAKER_00: involved maybe at a young age with it. Sure so my father and his partner's business was
[03:30] SPEAKER_00: called Centennial Foods and it was started in 1967 it was purchased by my grandfather in the 70s
[03:36] SPEAKER_00: and his partner and my father and his partner really grew it to be a huge company it was
[03:41] SPEAKER_00: several hundred million dollars in sales and employed several hundred people and they were really
[03:45] SPEAKER_00: innovative in the in the hamburger space so for example they made all the hamburgers for QSR
[03:50] SPEAKER_00: chains like and W and then also at Grocer Retail like for example that they can juicey burger
[03:55] SPEAKER_00: or something that they developed in partnership with Loblaws. All right why didn't you continue on
[04:01] SPEAKER_00: with that business in that business. So my father and his partner ended up selling the business in
[04:07] SPEAKER_00: you know we always had this thing that the family you know it's not not guaranteed that you'd
[04:13] SPEAKER_00: be offered a spot in the family business you have to go out and learn something outside and show
[04:18] SPEAKER_00: your value and then apply to work for the family business and so I was sort of on that journey when
[04:22] SPEAKER_00: actually my father and his partner sold the business and so it wasn't an opportunity to join full time.
[04:28] SPEAKER_01: All right and when we look at baskets what's your vision for the future for the company.
[04:35] SPEAKER_00: I would love to grow baskets to be a large company like my father's my dream has always been to
[04:39] SPEAKER_00: hit a hundred million in sales. I think especially right now it's such an important time that we're
[04:46] SPEAKER_00: learning that human connection is more important than ever and I think I love that baskets is a
[04:51] SPEAKER_00: vehicle to connect people you know I see gifts going to Calgary for you know parents sending it to
[04:57] SPEAKER_00: their kids who are at U of C who they really missed and it's just a really a way a beautiful fun
[05:02] SPEAKER_00: business of connecting people and so I want to continue that and I also want to create a really fun
[05:06] SPEAKER_00: great place to work you know the kind of business that that wasn't available to me which is why I
[05:12] SPEAKER_00: left my career on Bay Street you know a place where you know you can talk openly about wanting to be
[05:17] SPEAKER_00: a mom and working and and that kind of things so my goal is I'm here for the long term I want to
[05:22] SPEAKER_00: build this into one of kind of those great companies I have an incredible team we're continuing to build
[05:27] SPEAKER_00: and just keep making people happy through the art of gifting. So when you made that transition
[05:34] SPEAKER_01: back in 2014 what was the biggest challenge for you in making that transition from what you were
[05:42] SPEAKER_01: doing to to be coming an entrepreneur becoming an owner of a company. Yeah great question I mean
[05:50] SPEAKER_00: there was it was night and day right Mario because it was like you know I went from being an analyst
[05:55] SPEAKER_00: or an investment banker to managing people and they often and managing people much older than me
[06:01] SPEAKER_00: in an industry that I was still learning and so it was it was quite a shock and then also you know
[06:06] SPEAKER_00: in small business where there's the you know casual management and all other challenges that
[06:10] SPEAKER_00: you're sort of dealing with all at once drinking from a fire hose and I think with entrepreneurship
[06:16] SPEAKER_00: through acquisition which is the way that I became an entrepreneur which is by buying a business
[06:21] SPEAKER_00: as opposed to starting one I think you have to add a challenge that it was someone else's baby
[06:26] SPEAKER_00: and so you know there's a team that was built by by the former owners and a set of systems and
[06:32] SPEAKER_00: processes that were developed that way that are now all changing and so I found it to be quite a
[06:38] SPEAKER_00: shock definitely was not a great CEO when I was sort of thrust into it but it worked really hard
[06:43] SPEAKER_00: over the last eight years to really become a great leader and being an entrepreneur Robin what are
[06:49] SPEAKER_01: some of those key things that you do you love about being an entrepreneur? It's it's such an interesting
[06:56] SPEAKER_00: career path and I the reason why I like to speak about it is because I really do want to encourage
[07:00] SPEAKER_00: other women especially women who want more life flexibility to to look at this as a career path
[07:06] SPEAKER_00: and in many ways it's it's similar to becoming a mother right there's so much multitasking and
[07:10] SPEAKER_00: you're on all the time so I think what I love about it is the excitement I think every day is different
[07:18] SPEAKER_00: and if you're you enjoy solving problems it's you're just constantly solving interesting and
[07:23] SPEAKER_00: new dilemmas and problems the hard part of course is the down the ups and downs and you know
[07:29] SPEAKER_00: every day there's some sort of disappointment or problem I can't solve or someone saying no
[07:33] SPEAKER_00: about something and you have to really learn how to roll with it let it roll off you and get back up
[07:38] SPEAKER_01: what about you know some of the the biggest challenges I guess you you faced as being an owner and
[07:47] SPEAKER_01: obviously you've gone through some that you know difficult times in the world that's what you know
[07:54] SPEAKER_01: with the pandemic and stuff but what have been you know some of the biggest hurdles or obstacles
[07:59] SPEAKER_01: that you've had to overcome being an entrepreneur yeah another great question I mean just so many
[08:06] SPEAKER_00: and when I was you know in an office tower downtown I didn't imagine these types of scenarios so for
[08:12] SPEAKER_00: example our Instagram account was hijacked by pirates and ransomed and we had to pay ransom in
[08:20] SPEAKER_00: Bitcoin like just you can't even write a movie with these things we had a container on that boat
[08:28] SPEAKER_00: coming from overseas that caught on fire and sunk you know just like the weirdest strangest
[08:34] SPEAKER_00: business problems and so you know then quickly figuring out how to make and procure 40,000
[08:40] SPEAKER_00: bows without a lot of notice so I think you know there are endless sort of interesting and crazy
[08:46] SPEAKER_01: situations that I'm constantly dealing with throughout this journey I guess and becoming an
[08:52] SPEAKER_01: entrepreneur for yourself besides perhaps your father did you have any other mentors out there that
[09:00] SPEAKER_01: that either personally or mentors that you know through books or something like that that you kind
[09:08] SPEAKER_00: of followed and followed their advice yeah so I'm really big on sort of working you know a lot of
[09:13] SPEAKER_00: people work on their strength or play to their strengths I really work on my weaknesses and so
[09:17] SPEAKER_00: throughout my whole life I've been so lucky to have tons of mentors in different areas who've
[09:24] SPEAKER_00: really helped me get to where I am I think in terms of entrepreneurs I really admire of course
[09:29] SPEAKER_00: there are many but in in terms of female entrepreneurs I really look up to Sarah Blakely from
[09:35] SPEAKER_00: Spanx in the US you know she's built a billion dollar business her way and really shown that there
[09:40] SPEAKER_00: there's some value in sort of the female style of leadership you know I look up to Whitney
[09:46] SPEAKER_00: Hurd in the US too who just took Bumble public with a baby on her lap in Canada you know Michelle
[09:51] SPEAKER_00: Romana and Joanna from NYX is amazing and Michelle from Claire Claire Co. I think I think it's a new
[09:59] SPEAKER_00: exciting time where these female entrepreneurs are changing the rules and and it's going to be
[10:04] SPEAKER_00: really exciting to see what comes out of the next 10 years well you mentioned female leadership styles
[10:11] SPEAKER_01: how do you think you're different being a female how do you think you're different in terms of
[10:18] SPEAKER_01: you're managing of people compared to say a male counterpart yeah it's I think gender is pervasive
[10:27] SPEAKER_00: and so you know we're at such an interesting point in time where we're learning about sort of
[10:31] SPEAKER_00: this spectrum of gender but I think you know traditionally female style you know I can be
[10:37] SPEAKER_00: I can be um hot headed I don't know if that's a gender gender thing but I think I think being a
[10:44] SPEAKER_00: mother in particular has really helped and influenced my management style I really I really identify
[10:49] SPEAKER_00: with certain things that like Adam Grant or Simon Sinek have written and just about you know
[10:54] SPEAKER_00: actually I think some of the leadership philosophy is really rooted in military leadership that
[10:58] SPEAKER_00: you really have a responsibility as a service leader and if you don't care for the people you're
[11:02] SPEAKER_00: leading you don't deserve to lead them and I see that sort of model as being quite feminine I guess
[11:08] SPEAKER_00: whereas you know I genuinely care about my team I want to help them be the best they can be
[11:14] SPEAKER_00: um you know when I was a young CEO I think I used to get frustrated or angry and now it's more like
[11:19] SPEAKER_00: talking to your child right what's wrong what's going on what did you miss this deadline um so
[11:23] SPEAKER_00: that real sort of maternalistic I think is a feminine approach to management would you encourage
[11:27] SPEAKER_00: your children to become entrepreneurs I don't know I'm still in the middle of it can we talk in
[11:34] SPEAKER_01: ten years yeah exactly what what advice would you give though it's if somebody young well not
[11:43] SPEAKER_01: necessarily young but just somebody new wants to become an entrepreneur what advice would you give
[11:49] SPEAKER_00: them I would say to just go for it I think I have the great privilege of of counseling a lot of
[11:56] SPEAKER_00: MBA students and other people who are thinking about entrepreneurship and often I find you know
[12:01] SPEAKER_00: that you can get stuck in that paralysis of what if what if I fail or what if I can never get another
[12:05] SPEAKER_00: job and I would say you know some part of you know obviously calculated risk but some part of this
[12:11] SPEAKER_00: you just have to believe that you're going to be successful and go all in and give it your best shot
[12:14] SPEAKER_00: for an expiry of time um to kind of my advice would be to just go for it and get out of that
[12:19] SPEAKER_00: analysis paralysis of all the things that could go wrong do you think there's a certain qualities
[12:25] SPEAKER_01: that and personality types that make for a good entrepreneur I do and I think some of the key qualities
[12:33] SPEAKER_00: that I think you need to be a good entrepreneur aren't my natural strengths and so I'm constantly
[12:37] SPEAKER_00: fighting and working to try and find coaches and mentors to help me improve for example I think you
[12:43] SPEAKER_00: have to be really good at sort of half doing things like done is better than perfect I'm naturally
[12:49] SPEAKER_00: more of a perfectionist I'd like to read things over and over make sure they're perfect I think as
[12:53] SPEAKER_00: an entrepreneur you don't have that luxury and it's more important to be thoughtful about your
[12:56] SPEAKER_00: output obviously you can't be careless but really balancing that better to get things executed over
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: having them perfect the whole concept of the MVP sort of adventure capital um so I think yeah being
[13:08] SPEAKER_00: comfortable with sort of doing things at a high level and executing a bias to action I think makes
[13:13] SPEAKER_01: for a very strong entrepreneur um well I did uh go back a little bit to motherhood uh because I found
[13:19] SPEAKER_01: it interesting because as so for all our listeners here I talked to Robin recently for another
[13:26] SPEAKER_01: story and I just found her story quite fascinating about how motherhood changed you know feelings
[13:33] SPEAKER_01: about the careers and career path and and and coincidentally I Robin a couple of weeks after we talked
[13:41] SPEAKER_01: I had almost the exact same conversation with a lady in Calgary named Emma May who uh
[13:48] SPEAKER_01: who was a lawyer also a very strong political uh person she was almost like uh in a premier
[13:58] SPEAKER_01: Jim Prentice's government as an advisor type uh role with the Prentice uh and then she started
[14:05] SPEAKER_01: up a real estate company being a realtor uh but everything changed uh you know uh over time uh
[14:12] SPEAKER_01: you know and because of motherhood and she is now a fashion retailer she runs a company called
[14:18] SPEAKER_01: Sophie Grace but I thought that was an interesting story it was very similar to yours you know uh uh
[14:24] SPEAKER_01: in in many ways uh do you think we're gonna see more and more opportunities now for for women uh
[14:33] SPEAKER_01: that who become mothers to to look at entrepreneurship as uh as a career path as opposed to being a
[14:40] SPEAKER_01: lawyer being an investment banker uh uh or you know that nine to five uh 17-hour day job type thing
[14:48] SPEAKER_00: yeah I think we're at a very exciting time with the rise of things like Shopify which make it so
[14:55] SPEAKER_00: lowers the barrier to entry to entry to starting a business um and you know the the sort of rise
[15:01] SPEAKER_00: of the side hustle where a lot of people are doing little shops and things other own at sea for
[15:05] SPEAKER_00: example um yeah I really do think that women are are uniquely suited to be entrepreneurs and I think
[15:11] SPEAKER_00: we're at a point in time of society and technology and information where it's sort of a perfect moment
[15:17] SPEAKER_00: in time and I'm excited to see what the next 10-20 years looks like I mean 10 years ago when I
[15:22] SPEAKER_00: said out to do this there was no way I could have raised money Mario like I would have been laughed
[15:26] SPEAKER_00: out of the room and to see someone like Joanna Griffiths from next raised 53 million dollars while
[15:31] SPEAKER_00: pregnant with twins is just mind blowing and it you know I have an 11-year-old daughter so I'm very
[15:35] SPEAKER_00: excited to see what this means for her um I am so excited to see what the next the next level of
[15:42] SPEAKER_00: entrepreneurship means for women I think a few things still need to continue to evolve um I think for
[15:47] SPEAKER_00: example uh the venture capital world has done a great job of exposing the bias that exist and how
[15:53] SPEAKER_00: how much more difficult it is for women to raise venture capital and I think something that I'm
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: working on is really exploring how how much more difficult it is for women to raise debt capital to
[16:01] SPEAKER_00: I think there is um sort of an inherent bias of can you do this while your mom while you're this
[16:06] SPEAKER_00: that's this gender bias that I think it really is prevalent that hopefully will a road of the next decade
[16:11] SPEAKER_01: okay super uh so Robin before we uh we sign off here I just curious that you know you're obviously
[16:19] SPEAKER_01: quite busy being an entrepreneur an owner of a a national uh international brand so to speak
[16:27] SPEAKER_01: and obviously being a mother and with with children uh do you have time to you know uh to do
[16:32] SPEAKER_01: anything else like do you have any other interests besides working family or I do I do I do I I
[16:39] SPEAKER_00: can't pretend to have a lot of balance right now in my life because between my kids and my business
[16:44] SPEAKER_00: which I affectionately call my third child there's not a lot in my husband there's not a lot of time
[16:48] SPEAKER_00: leftover um but yeah I really I love playing soccer um I love watching my kids play sports
[16:54] SPEAKER_00: and I really love designing so baskets fills that sort of itch for me so a lot of the sort of designs
[16:59] SPEAKER_00: and things are are more my passion and hobby and fair time and quote so you do uh much of the
[17:05] SPEAKER_01: designing as well yes I do well where does the inspiration come for these all over the place
[17:11] SPEAKER_00: Pinterest walking down the street house and home magazine love linder eaves um yeah I just think
[17:17] SPEAKER_00: I'm inspired to come up with really high quality things that I would love to be gifted
[17:22] SPEAKER_01: okay then so that's kind of the using the both sides of the brain I guess right that the creative
[17:28] SPEAKER_01: side and the logical side right yes design is my hobby for sure okay super then anything else
[17:35] SPEAKER_01: you wanted to mention uh Robin before we close today I think I just wanted to thank you again for
[17:41] SPEAKER_00: this opportunity marion also the article that you did which was so lovely and I wanted to kind of
[17:45] SPEAKER_00: close with just a little note for calgarians um I remember you know being calgary and being so
[17:51] SPEAKER_00: intimidated by the rest of the world because it seems like sometimes it can feel like calgary is small
[17:55] SPEAKER_00: and that the rest of the world is unachievable and I just want to say go for it uh you know
[18:00] SPEAKER_00: here I moved to trono and made a go of it I know so many calgarians who have moved to other new york
[18:05] SPEAKER_00: or other big cities and done things so obviously calgary is an incredible city and if you want to stay
[18:08] SPEAKER_00: there that's great too but if you have aspirations of going somewhere don't uh don't stop yourself
[18:12] SPEAKER_01: go for it all right super thanks robin for joining us today thanks mario all right that was
[18:18] SPEAKER_01: robin covids who is president and CEO of baskets i mario tonnegoosie this has been calgary's podcast
[18:25] SPEAKER_01: on canada's podcast network thanks for joining us today