============================================================
TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
============================================================
[00:00] SPEAKER_01: It's Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone, I'm Phil Bliss, a business visionary and welcome to Toronto's podcast.
[00:10] SPEAKER_01: Part of the Canada's podcast network, your source of the great insights from entrepreneurs
[00:15] SPEAKER_01: across Canada.
[00:17] SPEAKER_01: Today, I'd like to introduce you to Sean Schaefer, who is CEO of the CEO of Zooloi
[00:23] SPEAKER_01: at the T.S.E.T.O.L. He's been in the last 30 years in the gaming post-Tile of the
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: industries and worked in various areas of that, including hotels and large casinos.
[00:34] SPEAKER_01: Zooloi is listed on the T.S.E.T.O.L.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: and Sean is going to talk to us a little bit how he has helped pioneer technologies in
[00:45] SPEAKER_01: the gaming business.
[00:47] SPEAKER_01: So Sean, welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:51] SPEAKER_01: Before we go much further, tell everyone a little bit about yourself, what your background is,
[00:58] SPEAKER_01: how you got to be an entrepreneur and all of the things that go along with that.
[01:05] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, there's a lot that goes along with that, especially in today's world.
[01:10] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[01:11] SPEAKER_00: So a little bit about the background, born and raised in Reno, Nevada.
[01:16] SPEAKER_00: Zooloi Travel Inc. is a Canadian public company.
[01:19] SPEAKER_00: We're traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Venture Exchange.
[01:23] SPEAKER_00: And I've been in hospitality, casino, hotel, those kind of industries since I was 18 years old.
[01:33] SPEAKER_00: And grew up in the casinos and the sales and marketing departments.
[01:38] SPEAKER_00: Typically would deal with the leisure side of that business, golf groups, ski groups,
[01:44] SPEAKER_00: anything that had to do with activities.
[01:47] SPEAKER_00: And in 1999, I decided that after seeing some of the shortcomings that hotels in general had,
[01:54] SPEAKER_00: and some lack of technology that we would, I'd start my own company and build some technology
[02:02] SPEAKER_00: and become an outsource service provider for big hotels and casinos here in the Reno Lake Tahoe area.
[02:09] SPEAKER_00: And we built interfaces and things that would combine rooms and activities all in real time.
[02:15] SPEAKER_00: Lots of technology that revolved around rooms, golf, ski.
[02:20] SPEAKER_00: At the time in 1999, 2000, we had several products that were first or second in the nation, in the world, in functionality.
[02:29] SPEAKER_00: You know, online, t-time, real time, t-time services, online lift ticketing, you know, all kinds of great stuff.
[02:37] SPEAKER_00: And we had a nice business, but we're very entrepreneurial for a very long time, still am.
[02:44] SPEAKER_00: And would create all kinds of new things that would make people's lives easier and make it easier for customers to get here and do fun stuff.
[02:53] SPEAKER_00: And just a really a very deep hospitality background, but have been running my own businesses since I was, you know, 24, 25 years old.
[03:03] SPEAKER_00: And let's just say that I'm about 30 years into it at this point without giving away, without giving away my age.
[03:12] SPEAKER_00: But it's been a wild ride. It's been a bumpy ride.
[03:15] SPEAKER_00: The life of an entrepreneur is definitely different and it changes pretty drastically when you're an entrepreneur in a public company.
[03:23] SPEAKER_00: Well, we are, definitely.
[03:26] SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
[03:27] SPEAKER_01: Lots of things are not entrepreneurs.
[03:29] SPEAKER_01: You know, what makes us different?
[03:31] SPEAKER_00: Well, what you, I mean, it may be cliche, but what makes us different in my opinion is that we can walk out to the edge of the diving board and step off without checking to see if there's water first.
[03:43] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we have something in us that's missing the plan B gene, I guess.
[03:52] SPEAKER_00: And we're not risk averse.
[03:54] SPEAKER_00: We're able to take an idea and run with it.
[03:58] SPEAKER_00: And you know, have that ultimate faith that what you're building is something that people really want and need.
[04:04] SPEAKER_00: You know, it being an entrepreneur and an inventor or, you know, in my mind, two different things, but.
[04:11] SPEAKER_00: You know, we've invented products, but we believe everything that we do that other people might not, you know, has that ability to go.
[04:20] SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of faith in yourself in some areas, but it's that ability to walk off the diving board and just not know if there's there's water to land in really.
[04:29] SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that's the, that's the risk side of it. What's the best thing you can think about being an entrepreneur for the last few decades?
[04:39] SPEAKER_00: Oh, haven't, haven't any of the products or ideas that you put together have them actually monetize have people use them.
[04:46] SPEAKER_00: See them see them used on a great scale used by thousands of people, you know, to have hundreds of thousands of transactions roll through the things that you've built.
[04:57] SPEAKER_00: It's that is the rewarding piece of this that gives you that adrenaline rush to keep, you know, keep creating and keep building things, but.
[05:06] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's definitely that you know we've had hundreds of thousands of hotel room nights booked hundreds of thousands of rounds ago hundreds of thousands of ski tickets sold and you know we're doing something a little bit different now, but that's the that's the piece that keeps you coming back.
[05:22] SPEAKER_01: So you're sort of the hospitality.
[05:24] SPEAKER_01: The gaming, advanced sports business, what would you see as the future of that industry, although today or just now with COVID-19 that hopefully this is a short thing, but what do you mean, but it, but I know personally, it's changed pretty radically in the last decade anyway.
[05:47] SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, there's a lot that hasn't changed in the last decade if you look at the industry leaders in hospitality, the expedias, the the travel hosties, the trip advisors, there's been subtle changes, but if you go back to the, you know, the early 2000s their platforms haven't changed that much.
[06:05] SPEAKER_00: It's all the same, you know, pick a city pick your dates, see this long list of hotels with a little thumbnail image of a hotel room and book it and that's that's by design on their part.
[06:17] SPEAKER_00: They want you in and out and pop in that credit card out quickly, but you know with the emergence of things like Uber and Airbnb and you know a lot of other hospitality based services, I mean, there is a ton of money that start up to raise these days and hospitality.
[06:33] SPEAKER_00: Tons of products that are raising, you know, eight, 10, 12 million dollars right out of the get go on a on a concept that you know some of them seem a little foreign to me, but some of them have been very successful in summer, you know, summer gone fairly quickly, but there's all kinds of new products out there that
[06:50] SPEAKER_00: are geared towards, you know, helping hospitality companies like hotels and different folks manage the business that they've got, but the big, the big guys on the block, they haven't changed much and going on 30 years now, it's kind of the same.
[07:04] SPEAKER_01: Without getting too formal about it, just give us a little sense of what the company is today and what you're trying to do.
[07:11] SPEAKER_00: Well, the main thing we're trying to do right now is we've got a we call it our flagship product is called zoomed out we're trying to show people the place they're going to go.
[07:21] SPEAKER_00: Which to me is is is crazy that we've gone all this time without letting people see, you know, it's not a website with with a list of hotel rooms what we're creating with zoomed out our product is a 3D representation of the entire city with all of the points of interest in it so that people can can interact with all the places they want to go.
[07:41] SPEAKER_00: Imagine a tool or you could say show me all the hotels and every building in a marketplace drops flat except for the hotels show me the golf course is show me the parks show me the bars the restaurants.
[07:52] SPEAKER_00: We believe that that people are using their devices in in such different ways now and younger generations they're not they're not spending a lot of time on websites they're they're on their phone.
[08:04] SPEAKER_00: I mean, my kid does his homework on his phone and is faster at it than than I am on a keyboard.
[08:11] SPEAKER_00: It's it's a changing world and and the way people see things is different. So, you know, our concept is is you can't you know, I've always been asked the question, how do you compete with Expedia and I've answered this a bunch of times in the last six months, but for 20 years I got that question and I never was competing with Expedia, but you know, the question kept coming up and and the only way to do that is to change.
[08:34] SPEAKER_00: What people see to present them with something different than what they do and show them more of the world and and give people credit for being.
[08:43] SPEAKER_00: You know, a little more advanced than than just want to get it out of the website in in five minutes people want to see what there is to do.
[08:50] SPEAKER_00: They want to earn rewards. They want to interact they want to interact with each other, which is really probably the biggest thing the social side of this.
[08:58] SPEAKER_00: To be able to communicate in large groups, to share experiences with each other, that's really what's different now people are doing things.
[09:08] SPEAKER_00: They're doing things socially, you know, just have it been around for for a long time and that doesn't include Facebook and different things it's it's in everything people want to they want to share and they want to communicate.
[09:19] SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you've been an entrepreneur for a time. What's the greatest challenge you faced in your business career, you know, your entrepreneurial career today.
[09:30] SPEAKER_00: There's probably a couple different answers to that. I mean, the current climate with the with the coronavirus, I've seen instances like this over the years that have been very challenging 9-11 was a very, very challenging time for my business.
[09:47] SPEAKER_00: So much uncertainty and people just flat out not traveling it was it was challenging whether in this market here in Lake Tahoe in 2011 it stopped snowing for a couple years and ski was about 40% of our business.
[10:01] SPEAKER_00: So, that was a challenge. I would say the last 15 years and everything we do has been fighting uphill all the time to make sure that that things work.
[10:11] SPEAKER_00: But today now, you know, it being a public company has its own challenges and has a lot of risk reward and a lot of stress that comes with being a public company.
[10:23] SPEAKER_00: So, there's probably a lot of different answers to that question, but they all make it stronger.
[10:29] SPEAKER_01: So, to other entrepreneurs future entrepreneurs, what is something new that they may have to deal with that that maybe wasn't there when we started off building businesses basically.
[10:44] SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, there's a lot more regulation. There's a lot more security issues, but other than that at the heart of it, it's kind of the same process that we had, you know, starting it's that leap of faith.
[11:00] SPEAKER_00: It's the ability to, you know, kind of go for what you think will work.
[11:06] SPEAKER_00: Things get, you know, technically more challenging. There's more competition. There's more.
[11:11] SPEAKER_00: There's more people, you know, trying to do similar things to you, but I think it just at the heart of it, it's just, it's very similar to how it was before.
[11:22] SPEAKER_00: It's just you have to be a little, you have to be a little more technically savvy than we had to be back in 2000 because it was all kind of being born at that time.
[11:30] SPEAKER_01: People get faced, which we do as entrepreneurs with those, you know, you hit a wall that you didn't expect.
[11:36] SPEAKER_01: Is there a process that you recommend taking you around those obstacles that might be useful for others?
[11:45] SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, obviously you have a lot of times where you have, you know, internal conversations and everything seems like panic at difficult times.
[11:55] SPEAKER_00: And it's easy to, easy to panic and easy to, you know, give up.
[12:00] SPEAKER_00: And I guess, you know, one of the things that most entrepreneurs, I know in my case, you know, I have a stubbornness to not give up to continue to fight on.
[12:11] SPEAKER_00: But at the time, everything, you know, when there's an issue like the one we have going on here right now, you know, people have a tendency to give up to think it's the end of the world.
[12:23] SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you, you know, having come out of several situations like this and several, you know, serious business situations.
[12:30] SPEAKER_00: There's always an answer.
[12:32] SPEAKER_00: There's always a funding source. There's always somebody that believes in your story.
[12:36] SPEAKER_00: You simply have to talk to people.
[12:39] SPEAKER_00: And I got a great piece of advice from my friends in Vancouver when we were getting ready to take this thing public.
[12:45] SPEAKER_00: I don't know who it was that said it if it was Bill Gates or somebody, but somebody gave me a quote that sticks with me always.
[12:51] SPEAKER_00: You can't get help if you don't ask for it.
[12:55] SPEAKER_00: So to try and shoulder everything on your own, you know, to just stress yourself to death, which I've, you know, I've done plenty of myself.
[13:05] SPEAKER_00: It doesn't do any good.
[13:06] SPEAKER_01: So if you could give your 20 year old self some advice, what would it be?
[13:12] SPEAKER_00: It would be to not be short-sighted, not just look at your immediate surroundings, look at the rest of the world.
[13:21] SPEAKER_00: You know, we made a very big mistake in 99 2000 by just focusing on this one place, this one geography, when in reality every hotel or every golf course in the world at the time could have used what we had.
[13:35] SPEAKER_00: Don't be comfortable, I guess, is the bottom line there.
[13:39] SPEAKER_00: You settle in and you have a nice business going and you have a nice car and your family is making nice money and you settle into being comfortable, but it's a mistake.
[13:51] SPEAKER_00: You should always be yearning for something bigger, something more.
[13:56] SPEAKER_00: You should be trying to make everyone around you make their lives better.
[13:59] SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't settle for because good times always change and we know that, you know, today, especially something always comes up and you got to be prepared.
[14:07] SPEAKER_00: And I would tell myself to have a have a rainy day fund.
[14:11] SPEAKER_00: Most definitely back then, you know, September 11 came and we didn't have a rainy day fund.
[14:17] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, always try if you can.
[14:20] SPEAKER_00: It's not the easiest thing in the world, but always have a have a rainy day fund in case something comes up.
[14:26] SPEAKER_01: So just some rapid fire questions.
[14:29] SPEAKER_01: If you were doing what you're doing now, what would you be doing instead?
[14:34] SPEAKER_00: I would be doing similar work, closing deals for, you know, probably a casino or a golf course group.
[14:43] SPEAKER_00: I really like the art of, you know, finishing a deal.
[14:48] SPEAKER_00: So something along those lines.
[14:50] SPEAKER_00: They will morning or a night person.
[14:52] SPEAKER_01: Definitely night.
[14:54] SPEAKER_01: You got to be, because you got to be a night person.
[14:57] Speaker UNKNOWN:
[15:00] SPEAKER_01: If you had one, you got to pick one word to describe yourself.
[15:04] SPEAKER_01: What would it be?
[15:06] SPEAKER_01: Grit.
[15:07] SPEAKER_01: Anything keeping you up at night, apart from COVID-19?
[15:11] SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
[15:11] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[15:12] SPEAKER_00: I mean, we, you know, we, with the public company, you definitely have to always, it's, you know, I have, I have multiple jobs.
[15:20] SPEAKER_00: I wear multiple hats.
[15:21] SPEAKER_00: We run a very lean operation, but, you know, the CEO job in a public company is its own stress, its own, its own animal, its own beast.
[15:31] SPEAKER_00: And then you got the, in my case, I've got the other job of, you know, trying to innovate and build and design stuff.
[15:38] SPEAKER_00: But the public company has its own things that will keep you up at night.
[15:42] SPEAKER_00: And it all revolves around the market and, you know, share price going up or down and just, you know, some of the silliness that goes on there.
[15:50] SPEAKER_01: What's your favorite place in the world?
[15:53] SPEAKER_00: Carmel, California.
[15:55] SPEAKER_01: That's great.
[15:55] SPEAKER_01: I'm monitoring.
[15:58] SPEAKER_01: What are the non-negotiables that have to happen in your morning or evening routine?
[16:05] SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, family is it, you know, I've got to spend time with the family.
[16:11] SPEAKER_00: I love just, you know, we sit around together, do things together.
[16:14] SPEAKER_00: That it's very dangerous for entrepreneurs and, and you know this as well, to let the, let the business become your life.
[16:24] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, for, for the early 2000s, I've got three kids and the two older ones.
[16:30] SPEAKER_00: There's big pieces of it that I don't remember.
[16:33] SPEAKER_00: And that's a crime chain, a crime chain.
[16:35] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have that similar thing.
[16:39] SPEAKER_01: You, you haven't listened to the podcast, but we ask everybody this, okay?
[16:43] SPEAKER_01: So there's a small tropical island in the middle of the, one phone booth, no internet.
[16:49] SPEAKER_01: We draw for you off with no technology at all.
[16:52] SPEAKER_01: At any time you can use a phone booth on the island to call a boat and we'll come pick you up.
[16:57] SPEAKER_01: How long do you last before making the call?
[17:00] SPEAKER_01: And what would you do until then?
[17:04] SPEAKER_00: Oh, I would, I would last 48 hours.
[17:09] SPEAKER_00: And during that time, I would take the longest nap in recording history.
[17:17] SPEAKER_01: Oh, God.
[17:18] SPEAKER_01: Well, that's about it. That was a great show.
[17:20] SPEAKER_01: I was like, I really enjoyed that.
[17:21] SPEAKER_01: It was really good.
[17:22] SPEAKER_01: I did too. Thank you.
[17:24] SPEAKER_01: So thanks for the interview.
[17:26] SPEAKER_01: Now, what I always want our listeners viewers to know how to get a hold of you.
[17:32] SPEAKER_01: So maybe you can let everybody know how to get a hold of you.
[17:35] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the best thing to do is go to www.zoomaway.com.
[17:40] SPEAKER_00: And the website has all of our contact info.
[17:44] SPEAKER_00: It has our entire presentation for our new product.
[17:47] SPEAKER_00: So basically the website is a deck.
[17:50] SPEAKER_00: It's got information on our legacy business because we are a cash flowing business with our, with our legacy products,
[17:56] SPEAKER_00: but our new product is on there front and center.
[17:58] SPEAKER_00: So folks can see it.
[17:59] SPEAKER_00: They can see demo videos.
[18:00] SPEAKER_00: It really is the resource to be able to do anything you want to do.
[18:05] SPEAKER_00: And our stock tickers are on there as well.
[18:08] SPEAKER_00: We're listed on the TSX venture, but we're also listed on the OTCQB,
[18:12] SPEAKER_00: which is a recent development and very exciting for us.
[18:16] SPEAKER_00: And that's the best way to find us.
[18:18] SPEAKER_01: Great. Well, thanks, Sean.
[18:21] SPEAKER_01: And you know, thanks everyone.
[18:23] SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoyed the podcast today.
[18:25] SPEAKER_01: Make sure you sign up for a news service or write a review for us on iTunes.
[18:29] SPEAKER_01: You can connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or at CanadaSparkas.com
[18:36] SPEAKER_01: where you can listen, discover and engage.
[18:39] SPEAKER_01: You can also check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country.
[18:43] SPEAKER_01: I'll see you next time.
