Ken Vinge

Transcript

Full transcript page · Interactive episode

============================================================
TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
============================================================

[00:00] SPEAKER_00: It's Calgary's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:19] SPEAKER_00: Hello, this is Bonnie Elchee, coming to you today with Calgary's podcast, a member of the Canada's podcast network,
[00:24] SPEAKER_00: where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen here in the city of Calgary, Alberta.
[00:31] SPEAKER_00: Ken Vinji is the president of Equation, Staffing Employment Solutions, a Calgary-based firm offering staffing and recruitment services
[00:39] SPEAKER_00: and connecting candidates with temporary contract, project and permanent employment opportunities.
[00:45] SPEAKER_00: Ken has a 32-year career in the Alberta's staffing industry, having worked both in Edmonton and Calgary.
[00:52] SPEAKER_00: He is a native Albertan and played minor hockey in both Edmonton and Calgary, as well as for the Calgary Connects and Calgary Wranglers,
[00:59] SPEAKER_00: before attending the University of Calgary to study business and continue playing hockey.
[01:04] SPEAKER_00: In 2008, he completed his Masters in Business Administration through Athabasca University.
[01:11] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show, Ken, and thanks for taking the time to be here today for all of our listeners.
[01:16] SPEAKER_01: My pleasure, Bonnie, and thanks for inviting me.
[01:18] SPEAKER_00: I'm Wendry and Ken, can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your career and how equation staffing came to be?
[01:26] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure. Back when I was going to university in the early 80s, a friend of mine, a connection to hockey,
[01:34] SPEAKER_01: and asked me if I was interested in a part-time job. Of course, being a starting student, I jumped at that opportunity,
[01:40] SPEAKER_01: and went to work part-time while I was going to school for this locally owned and operated staffing company.
[01:49] SPEAKER_01: To make a long story short, I worked there for about four or five years. When I was finished university, I had an opportunity to go overseas and play hockey.
[01:58] SPEAKER_01: At the same time, this company offered me an opportunity to move to Edmonton and start their staffing business there.
[02:07] SPEAKER_01: I foolishly quit my hockey career and trucked off to Edmonton to start that business.
[02:13] SPEAKER_01: I've been in the staffing business ever since, as you say, 32, 33 years all year in the Alberta marketplace.
[02:21] SPEAKER_00: When did you start equation staffing and what inspired you to start that business?
[02:28] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was quite a journey. When we went to Edmonton, my wife and I was my wife at the time, but I knew that was going to be something and after rectify very quickly.
[02:37] SPEAKER_01: We moved to Edmonton, started that business and we were shareholders. We lived in Edmonton for about 15 years. Yes, we did cheer for the others so you don't get to get to us.
[02:46] SPEAKER_01: We lived there and we're shareholders in that business and created that business for about 15 years.
[02:52] SPEAKER_01: As always happens in life, things evolved very quickly around 2000 and 2003.
[03:00] SPEAKER_01: It necessitated a move back to Calgary. We ended up selling our shares in that company.
[03:07] SPEAKER_01: Moving back to Calgary and I worked for another local staffing company from about 2005 to I think it was 2014.
[03:17] SPEAKER_01: Then left that organization, took a little bit of a break and then some colleagues that I'd worked with for a long time.
[03:26] SPEAKER_01: We got together and decided what was next in our lives and we came up with the idea to form our own staffing company.
[03:34] SPEAKER_01: It was the inspiration behind the equation. It was four really good people and they were pretty good friends and really good colleagues coming up with the idea in February of 2017.
[03:52] SPEAKER_01: From that came the idea of an equation. We rented some office space and engaged in marketing and advertising company to come up with the brand and the logo and year and a half, almost two years later, here we are.
[04:06] SPEAKER_00: That was not an easy time to start a business in Calgary. That's an understatement. Did you need financing to start your business or how did you pull it together from the financial perspective?
[04:20] SPEAKER_01: Really good observation. Some friends and some business acquaintances said to us, really do you think this is the right thing to do?
[04:30] SPEAKER_01: Alberta was experiencing about 7.5% unemployment. It wasn't a huge demand for employees. Businesses were downsizing.
[04:38] SPEAKER_01: I think people were questioning our logic and our rationale. With that said, we knew we had great people and we knew we could offer a great product so we forged the hat as we say.
[04:51] SPEAKER_01: Fortune favors the bold. Of course with that, as most businesses, if not all businesses, if they have any defined ads, we certainly have that same requirement.
[05:00] SPEAKER_01: We were fortunate from the perspective that we've been able to finance it ourselves.
[05:07] SPEAKER_01: Given the marketplace last couple of years, it's probably a very good thing going out to two lenders and two banks and financial institutions looking for financing these days would be very difficult and never given the economic climate that we're in.
[05:21] SPEAKER_01: So far, we've been able to take care of capital ourselves and grow the business at the same time. So that's been positive.
[05:28] SPEAKER_00: What is your long term vision for the business do you want to expand into other markets or where do you see equation staffing five years from now?
[05:39] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, good question. So the Alberta marketplace in terms of the staffing industry is about a 2.3, 2.5 billion dollar your business industry even even in this current economic climate.
[05:50] SPEAKER_01: So we look at it and say there is tremendous opportunity here in Calgary to do if customers in Edmonton that we provide services for in red deer and left bridge, important.
[06:01] SPEAKER_01: So our goal right now is to get a fair share of the market here in the Alberta industry and the Alberta economy.
[06:08] SPEAKER_01: I would say our five year goal is to achieve $10, 15 million in sales offering a variety of services that we do which are staffing services, recruitment process outsourcing contract payroll and contract management.
[06:24] SPEAKER_01: So for right now, our five year vision is to grow in the Alberta marketplace really establish ourselves in our fair share of market share really grow our client base. That's the focus right now.
[06:37] SPEAKER_00: Okay, and so what do you see as being the biggest benefits for being an entrepreneur in Calgary? What have you observed over the years are experienced in terms of growing business here?
[06:50] SPEAKER_01: Well, it's as I think most Alberta's know certain Calgary is know it's challenging economic and political environment we're living in right now.
[06:58] SPEAKER_01: And that's part of the fun, you know, really being able to come into work on a daily basis and positively influence our colleagues and our field associates and our clients truly making a difference to them working hard on the things that we can control and really paying no regard to the things that are out of our control, which is a whole bunch of things these days.
[07:21] SPEAKER_01: But focusing on those things we can move forward working on being a good corporate citizen and being very positive in what we do every day and that's I think that's the biggest thing that we find as a challenge in this marketplace is to continue to be a home pole and continue to be respectful of all that's going on.
[07:43] SPEAKER_01: But also I mean that's that cost belief in yourself that you will be successful. Fortunately I'm blessed with some great colleagues that I get to work with on a daily basis and they inspire me to just those things being being a good employer, being a good colleague and being a good corporate citizen.
[08:00] SPEAKER_01: Those are the biggest challenges we see in a day and a day of basis to maintain our positive attitude and keep looking forward.
[08:06] SPEAKER_00: And so for you personally Ken, where do you go like within Calgary or maybe in the surrounding area when you want to get inspired? Do you have a special place that you like to go locally to recharge or even just to think about your business?
[08:22] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a good question. So we've been fortunate to live our whole life in Alberta and we know there's some great places around Alberta to go and visit.
[08:31] SPEAKER_01: So we enjoy the mountains, we being my my way for my son. So we travel a fair amount in in Alberta and get to see places like Jasper and of course, now put our own backyard and we do like the ski and we're outdoors people.
[08:45] SPEAKER_01: So we'll go there either as a family and or with friends. Most of our friends are small business owners. So there's some great energy and tail tail telling with them and sharing them experiences.
[08:58] SPEAKER_01: And so they certainly help both my family and my close group of friends and colleagues and business owners help to inspire me and kind of recharge me and give me enthusiastic again about the business.
[09:09] SPEAKER_01: And you know, they really do remind you that this isn't supposed to be easy. There's there's a certain rhythm that comes with this and there's going to be ups and downs and it's all part of the process.
[09:20] SPEAKER_01: So it's interesting to see them and hear them say those same things that it reminds me that it's a long journey and as long as you're you got to get attitude and you're moving forward, you will be successful.
[09:33] SPEAKER_00: And let's talk a little bit more about some of the things that get you motivated as an entrepreneur.
[09:39] SPEAKER_00: So what does the first hour look like for you in the morning? Do you have a ritual or routine that that helps you get you motivated for the day?
[09:48] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's good question. I'm a certainly an early early morning person. I like to get up pretty early. I won't tell you what times to fight this hits early in the morning.
[09:58] SPEAKER_01: I do like to come to our office for a fortune that in that we have fitness facilities here.
[10:04] SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm in our gym pretty much on a daily basis trying to keep myself as healthy as I can be both for my family and for our business and I'm also say mostly for myself.
[10:16] SPEAKER_01: So I can be that best version I can be. So that takes up the first hour of my day and then I'm usually at my desk by 7 7 30 and waiting to to read today.
[10:26] SPEAKER_01: Our business is as you can imagine is something that is certainly morning dominated. We do a lot of our work in terms of client appointments and employee appointments and interviews for the morning to noon.
[10:39] SPEAKER_01: So that's a busy time of the day and I like to be here and see what's going on. Keep my pulse on on the activities during the day and and that's pretty much my morning routine.
[10:48] SPEAKER_01: After you and I can can be a little bit slower, but there's always stuff to do so that will keep me busy and I like our son is 13 years old and I'm heavily involved in his activity.
[10:59] SPEAKER_01: So I do like to slip away maybe a little bit early on most days to be involved in his activities whether it's school or baseball or hockey and those kinds of things.
[11:11] SPEAKER_01: So it is a busy day, but I enjoy it and I do enjoy the routine.
[11:16] SPEAKER_00: I'm curious. Do you have any books that you have really enjoyed either and are currently reading or have read in the past that you'd recommend to other entrepreneurs as ones that you found to be inspiring?
[11:29] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a good question. So I would say on my on my nape table right now you will see Steve Jobs is autobiography.
[11:39] SPEAKER_01: And that is an interesting read along with I just finished Jeff Bezos's book on Amazon. That is a tremendous read.
[11:51] SPEAKER_01: One of the one of my most enjoyable reads is book called Lessons in Leadership. I believe it's a earnest faculty using explore and I find that fantastically enjoyable.
[12:04] SPEAKER_01: In terms of simply reminding us what qualities are required to be a successful leader and I'm a typical Albertan in the sense that I have probably about 25 hockey books that I move back and forth.
[12:21] SPEAKER_01: So I have quite quite an array of books that I'm reading. I usually have two or three on the go at any given time.
[12:29] SPEAKER_00: And like we said earlier, there's there's lots of lessons that you can take from sports or from hockey and apply them to the business world and and it sounds like you've done that over the years.
[12:40] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure. I think one of the biggest things that any kind of sport teaches us is how to work with people and that I'm a multitude of personalities within any environment.
[12:51] SPEAKER_01: And really as both as a teammate and certainly as a leader as a coach or mentor, you have to figure out a way to work with all of them to grow your boat in the same direction and not that that is no small feat.
[13:06] SPEAKER_01: As a minute, an easy thing to accomplish in the past 30 years and it seems to get more and more complicated.
[13:11] SPEAKER_01: The older I get because you have more and more people, more and more ages of people are different. So I have more and more millennials in the workforce combined with older people like myself.
[13:23] SPEAKER_01: So trying to get all of those people on the right page and moving your your business in the same direction is no small feat.
[13:31] SPEAKER_01: Those are certainly some of the skills that I learned.
[13:34] SPEAKER_01: And I'm growing up in minus sports. I hope they certainly well today.
[13:40] SPEAKER_00: And in terms of business tools, can are there any that you like to use on a daily basis just to help keep your business moving forward and collaborating with your colleagues?
[13:53] SPEAKER_01: We're pretty typical Bonnie. We have all the standard tools you would imagine in the workforce and the workplace that being Microsoft Office products, we have our old temporary staffing or staffing software that we utilize pretty aggressively and pretty enthusiastically.
[14:11] SPEAKER_01: Probably the biggest tool that we use and maybe that's a bit of a loss.
[14:15] SPEAKER_01: Our today. The way that we're organized is we have the advantage of being able to see each other on a day and a day of basis and simply engaging in conversations and we're a small company of seven people.
[14:28] SPEAKER_01: And we do get to engage at very high level conversations on a daily basis in our close proximity.
[14:35] SPEAKER_01: And I would say that's a tool that we've really been able to use to be successful.
[14:39] SPEAKER_01: We're very quick. We're very possible to each other. We're very engaged in each other and in our success.
[14:47] SPEAKER_01: And that's a tool. I would say that's perhaps that face-to-face conversation and engagement is maybe something that's gone by the wayside a little bit given all the other.
[14:57] SPEAKER_01: We have a technological tools that we have at a disposal and those certainly fit a fit a place to avoid and help us be more responsive.
[15:06] SPEAKER_01: But I think one of the things that's really helped us to be responsible and move our business forward is that face-to-face communication and responsibility engagement.
[15:15] SPEAKER_01: I think that's one of the things that we use as a as a difference maker, not only for us internally, but for our candidates and for our clients.
[15:23] SPEAKER_01: We do enjoy that face-to-face piece and relationship building piece and that's one of the things you're counting on to be successful.
[15:33] SPEAKER_00: I'm going to shift gears on you a little bit here, Ken, and ask you if you weren't doing what you do now, what would you like to do for a profession?
[15:42] SPEAKER_01: Oh, one of the good questions that is I think I would be something like a teacher or I might probably would be coaching hockey somewhere at perhaps the minor level or coaching junior hockey or perhaps coaching professionally.
[16:06] SPEAKER_01: I'm assuming that I could be that good, but yeah, that's a good question.
[16:10] SPEAKER_01: It's funny how the older we get, some of those kinds of things come down our come to us in terms of alternatives of the opportunity to teach a little bit and to coach a little bit and have tremendously enjoyed those opportunities, whether it's with school-aged children or whether it's with athletes.
[16:31] SPEAKER_01: Certainly something that has been awakened in me in the last probably 10 or 15 years and course forums with our son being born and getting involved in school and getting involved in minor sports.
[16:43] SPEAKER_01: So that's probably where I would be.
[16:45] SPEAKER_00: And if you were to turn that around, what would be the one kind of job you just absolutely would never want to do?
[16:54] SPEAKER_01: I would not want to be in some kind of corporate bureaucracy where you were simply coming in and working eight or nine hour day and not truly engaged in the business and engaged in your your colleagues and engaged in all the other stakeholders that influence a business, whether it's financial, whether it's banks, whether it's your clients, whether it's the community.
[17:22] SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't want to be a person that's only engaged on one level within a business.
[17:28] SPEAKER_01: Whatever reason I find that need to be involved in all components of it.
[17:32] SPEAKER_01: I enjoy that piece of it and enjoy trying to put all the pieces together to hopefully enable the business and the people really is what it is about enabling them to be successful.
[17:44] SPEAKER_00: And in business, do you have a favorite word or quote or sentence that you like to use or share with your colleagues from time to time?
[17:55] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do and they probably do get sick and tired of hearing this thing about it.
[17:59] SPEAKER_01: Oh, and it reminds me of one of the other books I do enjoy reading a lot and it's Jim Collins's book called Good to Great.
[18:07] SPEAKER_01: And within that, I mean a paraphrase a little bit, but you know, he talks about hiring great people getting on the bus and then once you've got them on the bus and he's making a metaphor to your business, get them seated in the right position in the right seats, doing the right things.
[18:23] SPEAKER_01: And what we've adopted here at the equation and we say quite a bit is, I'm hire great people, give them the tools they need and then get the hell out of the way.
[18:32] SPEAKER_00: Good advice.
[18:35] SPEAKER_00: And so if you had to pick a couple words to describe yourself, what would they be and why?
[18:42] SPEAKER_01: Oh, my goodness, what would they be?
[18:44] SPEAKER_01: I would say committed loyal to be in business these days as we've already talked about with the economic conditions they are.
[18:53] SPEAKER_01: You need the qualities of perseverance and a steadfast belief in yourself.
[19:02] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, those would be the those would be the main qualities or attributes.
[19:06] SPEAKER_00: So as an entrepreneur can are there certain things that that sometimes keep you up at night or that you worry about?
[19:15] SPEAKER_00: You know, in terms of your business and and I guess you know being successful in it.
[19:21] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, good question. I mean, it certainly seems you know, bird it today and in carrot and for absolutely even the world.
[19:28] SPEAKER_01: It just seems to be more and more uncertainty with all the things that go on.
[19:34] SPEAKER_01: You know, we're connected and so many ways to go to the economy, to the political environment, to what happens to us.
[19:42] SPEAKER_01: Self of the border and and really in places like China.
[19:46] SPEAKER_01: And so that can keep you awake at night thinking about, you know, what that's going to mean for us both in the short term and the medium term in the long term.
[19:55] SPEAKER_01: And you know, I would say what we've done and what I what does keep me awake at night is not so much focusing on those things that I can't control.
[20:03] SPEAKER_01: But really just focusing on the things we can't control within from within what can we do better every single day to be the best version of our company.
[20:12] SPEAKER_01: That's what we focus on when I when I boil it down that's implicitly.
[20:18] SPEAKER_01: I can say I can go to sleep every night pretty at ease with what we're doing and how we're going about it and trying not to pay too much attention to those things around us.
[20:32] SPEAKER_01: And we really can't influence so we really try to just stay focused on what we can influence and what we can move forward and keep it simple that way and we rest the evening that way.
[20:44] SPEAKER_01: There's always more work to be done and and more things we can improve on, but we keep a pretty focused that way.
[20:51] SPEAKER_00: Thinking about you know positive things and maybe what your own personal goals are do you have can you share you know three things that we call are on your inspired lifeless so not bucket list, but you're inspired lifeless and things that you hope to do in the future.
[21:09] SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, good question. Certainly certainly the first and foremost we have right now and I would say actually there's two things and it's a personal and obviously a professional obviously building the business we want to continue to grow the business.
[21:25] SPEAKER_01: We want to make it just an absolute number one agency staffing agency with an Alberta for clients for our candidates for our field associates for our journal stakeholders and for the community really being a great corporate social citizen.
[21:40] SPEAKER_01: That's certainly the professional side the most important and then the personal side just being the best father and best husband and a person to be keeping your eye on what's important on the personal side and making sure that we're not ignoring it.
[21:54] SPEAKER_01: It's easy to to take your eye off of one or the other and so it's difficult in this world to be really good professionally and be really good personally so those those are certainly important to me.
[22:08] SPEAKER_01: And then I think the third thing is I would love to become more involved in the community back to what we asked what you were talking about earlier in regards to coaching and or teaching maybe perhaps getting involved with organizations like junior achievement that would be important to me as well.
[22:28] SPEAKER_00: Great well can we have a lot of international listeners and so I'd like you to answer this next question with them in mind so if you were to imagine that you were starting all over again and you just moved to Calgary but this time you didn't know anyone what would you do and how would you start all over again as an entrepreneur.
[22:48] SPEAKER_01: Good question I would so I would assume that I'd have an idea as to a business and then I would personally I would do is reach out to some of those businesses that could be competitors to ask for some help and advice even though people might be apprehensive to do so reaching out to a competitor.
[23:08] SPEAKER_01: What I found for the most part my business career is there are there's no end to the number of people and organizations that will help you there's only one thing important you have to do than that's asked so I would I would reach out to those those people and start to engage in conversation with them I would approach places like your local chamber of commerce banking institutions university education institutions.
[23:34] SPEAKER_01: You would start to call a group of friends that you run to bring into that into that circle and really pick their brains and ask them be courageous that way in terms of asking for help letting you know what you want to accomplish and really asking and engaging them for their feedback and viewpoint in terms of you know building as much information that you can and and getting as many different viewpoints as possible.
[24:01] SPEAKER_01: So I would say that you know all of the night or helping direct you in terms of what's what it is exactly want to do that takes some courage right because that's someone for help they may say no but they also may say yes and you'll be surprised at how many people are truly vested in helping someone you know be a better version of yourself and and build something that's that's one point to the community.
[24:22] SPEAKER_00: Yeah I think that's great advice sometimes we just need the courage to ask for help right or or to go out on a limb and reach out to somebody that we know could could offer some really valuable advice and insight so thank you.
[24:37] SPEAKER_00: So this last question that I have for you can is a hypothetical question and we ask all of the people that we interview on on the Canada's podcast network this question.
[24:47] SPEAKER_00: Imagine there's a small tropical island just off of Fiji that has one phone booth there's no internet there is nothing else in terms of technology so we're going to drop you off there and you're not going to have a computer smart phone or tablet or any of those things you can use the phone booth located there at any time to call the boat and will come pick you up.
[25:11] SPEAKER_00: How long do you think you would last before you made that call and what would you do while you're there.
[25:16] SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness how long would I last that what a great question and it's just myself so my family's not there it's just yourself.
[25:25] SPEAKER_01: I think I would be I would be it would be somewhat enjoyable from the perspective of really being there with yourself which we don't yet much time to do anymore these days given all the ways that we connect.
[25:41] SPEAKER_01: It would be enjoyable to spend time with yourself and really learning reconnecting with yourself to figure out what what it is truly you're about and exploring the island and doing some enjoyable things like swimming and circling and and and you know being somewhat of a pioneer I suppose one might say.
[26:03] SPEAKER_01: So that I could see that being somewhat enjoyable what would always draw me back would be that connection to my family of course wondering how my son is doing across all my wife is doing it our friends and family are doing that way that would be that would be something that would do you'd always want to know what was going on and as well I'm sure they would want to know what what's going on with me as well so that's a great question.
[26:29] SPEAKER_01: I think I could probably handle a couple of weeks perhaps a month before I made a phone call but then I would want to reconnect with my family that way from a business perspective I would feel very very comfortable that the business would continue on without me we've I have great colleagues here and we got a great business partner that they know exactly what they're doing and they would continue to make.
[26:57] SPEAKER_01: Just great decisions and move the business for and I would have any issue with that I think I would my weakness if you will would be that connection to my family I'd want to know what's going on there.
[27:08] SPEAKER_00: Well and I think we can all understand that so just as we wrap things up today Ken I'm wondering is there anything you'd like to add before we sign off on our interview do you have any final advice you would like to give to entrepreneurs.
[27:24] SPEAKER_01: Yeah you know it's it's I would go back to the age old adage you know fortune favors the bull.
[27:31] SPEAKER_01: If you've got a great idea what better time than now to go for it and try Alberta is a tremendously entrepreneurial place you'll find support in many different corners many different organizations many different people again back to what we talked about a little bit before you have to just ask for be creative go out there and make it out.
[27:53] SPEAKER_01: I think I've always been asked in the belief that there's two kinds of people organizations in the world.
[28:00] SPEAKER_01: The first kind of wait for things happen and the second kind are the ones who make it happen if you're an entrepreneur you're you're used to making things happen so go make it happen.
[28:10] SPEAKER_00: Well Ken I think that's a great piece of advice to end our interview on thank you so much for being a guest today I know I've learned a lot from you and I'm sure I listen to our have as well.
[28:23] SPEAKER_01: So thank you. Well my pleasure Bonnie thanks for having me today I've enjoyed that I enjoyed the conversation.
[28:29] SPEAKER_00: Hey there it's Bonnie LG thanks for taking the time today to listen to Calgary's podcast on the Canada's podcast network we hope you enjoyed the show.
[28:39] SPEAKER_00: Make sure you sign up for our new letters and if you have a minute please write us a review on iTunes you can connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn at Canada's podcast.
[28:50] SPEAKER_00: You can also check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country. See you next time.