Entrepreneurs Start Here: Recent Episodes
Entrepreneurs Start Here
You know your what, you might even know your why, and we want to show you the how! Explore the ins-and-outs of being an entrepreneur on Entrepreneurs Start Here. Through inspiring and candid interviews, you'll learn about turning ideas into reality by asking questions like "Where do I start?" Our podcast helps bridge the gap between now and what is next. We cultivate skill through education, practice, active coaching and live feedback. We embrace taking action and leaning into your community to grow your ideas.
This week's episode is with Riley Butcher, an alumni of College Pro who now works as a Business Coach with WSI. Riley talks about what he learned, why he's grateful for the experience, and how he's been able to use these skills in all of his endeavours since running a business with College Pro. Check it out!
Nicholas Waldram ran a College Pro franchise from 2017-2019. Through this experience, he learned the foundations that would help him to start his own business, EaveSafe. Listen in to see how Nicholas did it, and how he believes College Pro played a fundamental role in his entrepreneurial journey.
This week our guest, Jessica Tufnell, discusses the differences she's experienced between working for yourself or working for someone else in a big corporation. She talks about why working for yourself is great if you want to make decisions, why working for someone else can provide more structure, and ultimately what she's loved about her time in both settings. Tune in for yourself to see which you resonate the most with!
You can learn more about being a student franchise owner here at: www.student.collegepro.com
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!! Today's episode is with a Muskoka-born female entrepreneur, Danielle Ryan! Danielle is not an alumni of College Pro, but is a fellow entrepreneur who shares the same mindset. Danielle tells us how she got started, from quitting her corporate job to evolving as a business coach, she shares the steps she took to start. Check out her story here!
Our guest on the pod today is Alex Pezutto, a College Pro alumni. Listen in on Alex's story as he shares how he got started as an entrepreneur (and no, he wasn't born a natural selling lemonade at 5 years old). Alex has started 7 ventures over the last 7 years, learned many lessons, and has achieved great success, a lot of which he attributes to fundamental selling skills he learned at College Pro. Check it out!
Today's guest is none other than a valued College Pro alumni! Mohit Kanyan was a franchisee back in 2018. Mohit tells us his story, how he got started as an immigrant to Canada, and where he's headed now. He credits learning small business management from his days with College Pro. Tune in to find out what he's been able to do with his entrepreneurial skillset. Enjoy!
This week's episode features a fellow window cleaner! Jersey is the owner of Window Cleaning Nation, and is a passionate entrepreneur. Listen in as Quinten and Owen discuss what it takes to start a business, what trait Jersey believes will set you apart, and what he is up to now. Enjoy!
Meet Azren Raju, also known as Azren the Language Nerd! Born and raised in Calgary, Azren grew up speaking English, French, and Gujarati, an experience that would lay the foundation for his love of languages.
Azren started working for College Pro in 2011 as a first year university student, after hearing about the program through an in-class recruiting presentation. After a difficult first year, Azren came to appreciate the various skills that become second-nature through the College Pro experience: cold-calling, managing the finances of a business, conducting interviews, and leading a crew to name a few.
Fast forward several years, and Azren eventually decided to start the Calgary Language Nerds in 2016, a company committed to creating self-study resources and teaching a wide variety of languages. As he explains, building the business was a “brick by brick” process, but he’s now in his 6th year and loves it just as much as when he started!
Check out the Calgary Language Nerds here: https://azrenthelanguagenerd.com/
You can also reach them by email here: info@azrenthelanguagenerd.com
Casey Clark, CEO of Cultivate has constantly shared his love for College Pro and the entrepreneurial start he got from his experience, and how his experience with College Pro fuelled his passion and desire to help business owners optimize for growth.
Casey started his entrepreneurial journey at the tender age of 10 when he started rollerblading paper routes with his Dad. By 18, he was running his own College Pro franchise. In his third year with College Pro, he was one of the top performers in the company. While still pursuing his college degree, he became a General Manager with the company so he could learn to coach and teach others how to grow their own successful College Pro business.
Over the next 7 years, Casey became Vice President and bought in as a Partner with College Pro. In 2015, after promoting someone to replace himself, he partnered up with another College Pro alumni and together they started Cultivate Advisors.
Cultivate is one of the fastest growing small business coaching and advising firms in North America. In 2019, Cultivate was the 280th INC fastest growing company in the US and the company has made the list every year since. At this point, Cultivate has partnered with over 2,000 businesses and has a staff of over 100 full time entrepreneurial employees. The company continues its growth as it works towards its vision of a World Made Better by Entrepreneurs.
Think this episode is about teaching you how to power pose? Think again! Aaron Mansoor, a College Pro alumni and current Franchise Owner shares his story of HOW he got started as a business owner. From studying business to coining himself a life long learner, Aaron put theory to action in university. Serving over 1000 customers in his career, he is taking the window cleaning world by storm in the GTA.
Aaron explains why he loves College Pro, what he learned when he left and ultimately what brought him back to the Franchise Ownership opportunity. Tune in to hear his story!
This week's episode is a good one (we're biased but we won't lie). Quinte and Owen get the chance to sit down with Ruth Agbaji, Founder and CEO of CodeWiz. Ruth's story is a powerful one, and hopefully you can resonate with pieces of her story to your own. We talk the power of mentorship, the importance of structure in order to scale a business, and HOW Ruth got started with CodeWiz (fun fact: she says she tried and failed at 11 different businesses before this one!)
Like this week's episode? Rate us below! We'd love to hear your feedback and your reviews are what will help keep this podcast going!
This week we talk to Tony Valle, CEO of College Pro. He talks about how he got to where he is today and what goes into building a successful people first company. He talks about the importance of training and how important the development of skills and abilities are to creating a cohesive team.
Tony talks about what its like to leave a company, and comeback and the importance of perspective on everything you do. We also talk about the behavior and mindset of the youth of today and how for better or for worse todays climate is much different than it was 30 years ago.
We hope you enjoy this week's interview!
This week we reflected on our new year's resolutions of the past and present. Our hosts talk about what has worked and what has not in the past and how long they have actually been able to keep their resolutions. This quickly turns into a conversation about goal setting, and the importance of changing your habits to better yourself.
The new year is a good excuse to make these changes but it is self discipline and hard work that make you keep these habits permanently. Follow along with us and we will see how long our hosts will hold on.