The Pacific Club

October 21 2017

Fireside chat with Jennifer Hamilton, CEO of Oxygen Yoga

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Date: October 19, 2017 Name: Fireside chat with Jennifer Hamilton, CEO of Oxygen Yoga Presenter: Jennifer Hamilton Building and scaling a recognizable brand is always a challenge for entrepreneurs. Moreover, many entrepreneurs stumble especially in health and fitness industry. The Pacific Club invites Jennifer Hamilton, the CEO of Oxygen Yoga and Fitness, to discuss her entrepreneurial journey of becoming a successful franchisor in Vancouver. In addition, entrepreneurs will learn the mindset behind Jennifer Hamilton’s strategies. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the professional and personal side of Jennifer Hamilton. Jennifer Hamilton is the CEO and the Franchisor of Oxygen Yoga and Fitness. With over 16 years of experience in the fitness industry, she has established her reputation and expanded over 59 locations. Jennifer Hamilton was nominated for Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the year in 2008 and 2016 and RBC Women’s Entrepreneur of the year in Canada in 2015 and 2016. She received many other awards, such as Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence award and CFA Franchisee’s choice award. She has supported many young entrepreneurs in fitness, and she is one of the major business role models for young entrepreneurs. Interview with Jennifer Hamilton Jennifer Hamilton believes what makes Oxygen Yoga and Fitness special is the combination of 2 energies, which are yoga and fitness. Hamilton has created the attractive environment for people to check out the programs offer by Oxygen Yoga. It is an environment for people to release stress and vent. Aside from physical benefits, Oxygen Yoga creates the community and relationship to engage with all kinds of members. Most importantly, members are able to take care of themselves. The passion of being active helps Hamilton scale up the business. She never thought of the idea of franchising until her members want their own studio. When Hamilton introduced boot camp into her studio, she fell in love with the concept and enjoyed the feeling of how the environment has changed. Before she brought her first studio, she was flipping houses for living. Now, she will arrive to her studio every morning because she discovered her true passion. However, Hamilton wanted an inclusive environment, but it was difficult to maintain. She welcomed any inputs, but she was struggling to execute the approach. Hamilton states many entrepreneurs have the misconception that franchising is easy business; nevertheless, Hamilton puts over 14 hours per day when she started her business. Now Hamilton has developed the right system and approach for franchisee. Franchisee just need to follow the system, but not every franchisee is will to do that. In a typical morning, Hamilton will take her dog for a walk, check with her children, and workout at another gym. She emphasizes she will not workout in her studio because she does not want to be in business mode when she workouts in her personal time. Hamilton’s leadership style is open communication. She believes everyone has his or her own way to express themselves. She will listen before speak. Therefore, she advices entrepreneurs to do 3 simple things: listen, process, and then reflect. “Listen, process, reflect; being able to humble is amazing” In her entrepreneurial journey, Hamilton learned to love fear. Many entrepreneurs are afraid to fail, but she loves making mistake. She is open minded with mistakes because she can learn from the experience. When she falls, she takes it as opportunity to grow from it. Hamilton defines the word “passion” is to be in the moment. The feeling of waking up knowing what to do is amazing for Hamilton. Her personal mission statement is “I love my life”, meaning she wants her and people around her to take care of themselves and improve self-awareness. That is her lifetime goal. When it comes to business, Hamilton believes accountability is skill that every entrepreneur needs. It is a huge piece of success and without accountability, entrepreneur will eventually crumble. Hamilton wants entrepreneurs to know that it is important to be accountable to themselves. She always set goals in 3 categories: family, personal, and business. In any business, the first year is always the foundation. Therefore, by being accountable and present, entrepreneurs will discover and understand the needs of others. Hamilton always encourage her children to try new things. For example, she will teach her children that instead of being jealous, they should learn from others. She will let her children realize people who talk behind their back is afraid of being successful. If she could give her younger self any advice, she will tell her not to make emotionally based decision. She believes decision in business needs to be black and white. Furthermore, entrepreneurs should always leave their ego at the door. “True to your instinct, and trust yourself” “Own that decision, it is a choice” Hamilton recommends entrepreneurs to read “Starbucks experience” because self-reflection is important. She wants to expand her business to Halifax because it is a beautiful city. Her recent accomplishment is that she manages to partner with Costco, so Costco is now offering Oxygen Yoga gift cards. She is proud of this accomplishment because it is one step closer to National. Questions and Answers When there is a conflict between logical minded and emotional minded entrepreneurs, she suggests a neutral person to mediate. Everyone has different communication style. It is important to understand where each one comes from. Hamilton shares her organizational chart is “flower style”. Everything brooms from her as center. The obstacle from promoting Oxygen Yoga in different province is that people do not understand until they are actually trying the class themselves. Introducing the theory itself is hard to expand the business. Therefore, she has to work with external tools, such as video, to expand her business. Hamilton shares that one of her failures is her last marriage. The problem was that she let her ego get to her. When it comes to de-stress, she will use infrared sauna. She will meditate before she gets up from bed. As for marketing, she believes the best approach is still organic grow. When people fall in love with her program, all she needs to do is to provide the business model and everything will follow through. For social media, Hamilton uses the strategies of “call of action” and “retargeting” to expand her online presence.

August 19 2017

Fireside chat with Joo Kim Tiah, CEO of the Holborn Group

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Date: August 17, 2017

Name: Fireside chat with Joo Kim Tiah, CEO of the Holborn Group

Presenter: Joo Kim Tiah

Successful entrepreneurs learn, inspire, and respect other successful entrepreneurs, especially their ambition and desire. The Pacific Club invites Joo Kim Tiah, the CEO of the Holborn Group, to discuss his philosophy of entrepreneurship. In this presentation, he will share his learning form his journey in Vancouver real estate industry. Entrepreneurs will learn his view of success; moreover, Joo Kim Tiah will share how he builds his personal legacy in Vancouver.

Joo Kim Tiah is the CEO of the Holborn Group. He is also the CEO of TA Global Berhad and the President of West Georgia GP Ltd. In 2017, he has successfully completed the development of 360 million Trump Tower in Vancouver and known as the young and powerful tycoon in Vancouver. Many young entrepreneurs inspire his ambition and his leadership style. He comes from a wealthiest family in Malaysia. Moreover, he is the winner of 2009 Prestige Malaysia’s most promising male award.

Fireside chat with Joo Kim Tiah

“When you put your heart into it, you will shock the world”

Tiah was fortunate and blessed to grow up with his successful father. In his young age, he understood the life concept of “the more you do, the more you get back”. He recognizes that people put labels toward the 2^nd generation, but that does not hold him back from achieving what he desires. People have the impression of 2^nd generation do not work hard as others; however, his father gave him high expectation and Tiah was grateful that his family did not spoiled him when he was young. He developed a strong, dominion and independent style that helped him go through his life adversity.

“If you are soft, you cannot survive in the world”

His father taught Tiah the importance of success in life. Since Tiah was the oldest son in his family, his father expected him to prove to people he was capable. He remembered a valuable learning from his father: “if you are not good, please step aside”. Tiah mentions he felt some resentment. It was tough for him to swallow his father’s teaching, but he figured out his father’s teaching was an important building block for his future success.

Tiah’s father made the decision for TA Global to come to Vancouver. The strategy behind the decision was diversity. To develop relationship with Asia and Canada, Tiah believes it is important to be on the ground, know the culture, and know he has his own people. As a developer, Tiah feels he has the obligation to sell real estate. It is not always about the most expensive project. In fact, Tiah considers land cost to be an important factor, and developers do not like to take all the risks. Supply and demand strategy plays an important role for developers, and this goes the same with government policy and politics.

In 2008, the Trump Tower project got stalled due to depression. It was the year Tiah turned everything around. He had to figure out what was best in the market and understand why others were successful. He applied the right principles and revived the development to become the local champion in Vancouver. There were some backlashes from politics. He was hurt from people who did not understand what he stands for. The important lesson he learned was that in reality, people do not live in dream. Tiah knew who he was. He knew his role was business, he knew his had the responsibility towards his shareholders and employees. He knew he had to make the best decision. Most importantly, he knew there were people who supported him behind the scene, which made him comfortable.

Tiah believes people have different views and people are sensitive to certain things. People label others, but that will not solve anything. Instead, people should try to understand first, and that will help people learn from others to bridge the gap.

When people ask him if he could change anything in the past, he responds that he only lives in the present. Tiah believes there is no point going back in the past. He feels everything is a bless because not everyone has gone through what he has been through. Age is never a factor for him. Tiah wants entrepreneurs to remember that no matter what, do not let people look down on them based on age. Entrepreneurs need to be humble, and people will recognize them. Since entrepreneurs cannot control others, they should focus on what they do the best.

Tiah considers his leadership style as “easy going”. He does not believe micro-manage, but he has high expectation. When it comes to stress, he either prays, workout or plays drums. His business philosophy is that money is not the ideal, passion is. Contribution to society is key and create memory and experience for everyone. He wants to be known as the developer who brings new level.

“If the work is not good, you will hear from me”

“When I make people happy, it drives me satisfaction”

“Every project is art”

When it comes to success, it is his father. Tiah mentions there will be more residential and rental projects in line for the future, especially the “Hudson’s Bay Parking lot project”.

Questions and answers

Tiah does not like any “what if” scenarios because he has enough things to worry about. He looks forward, and not backwards. Being a business man, never say no right away. Entrepreneurs should never make any decision in haste.

He never sees himself as special. Furthermore, he feels he is not doing enough. He emphasizes he does not want to be “old and successful”; instead, he wants to be “young and successful”. He believes he still has a long way to go.

In Tiah’s perspective, hotel industry used to be just products and services. Then it has evolved to include lifestyle and experience. Now, it is about building community. Ultimately, hotel must have a soul, so people will follow. In development, Tiah needs to make sure the work drawing is on track. Every change will cost Tiah a fortune. Time and interest is his enemy, so everything must be clear at day one.

“In business, I listen, I do not follow, but I lead”

Tiah was very rebel at a young age. When he felt empty and lonely, God revealed to him. Afterwards, his life was never the same. He believes everyone has his or her own timing. His job is to love people. Eventually, they will find their God. People need to figure out by themselves because only they know themselves best.

Tiah recommends entrepreneurs to engrave their own principle and do not be someone else.

In business decision making, Tiah will go through a list. The list can be varied, but it must have these 4 important things. First, get the facts straight. Second, pray for peace. Third, does it line up with God. Lastly, get inputs from family members. If family members do not like it, he will drop the business.

To balance patient and hustle, Tiah wants young entrepreneurs to remember that most successful stories they hear do not show how they sacrifice. Most people, not matter how talented, they need to work hard. Young entrepreneurs are easily distracted, so Tiah wants young entrepreneurs to be a master of something. Identify the passion first, then focus on the best thing they can master.

Tiah shares the time he got matured was during his late 20s. He realized how the world really works. The world is a harsh place. People do not care about others unless they are successful. So Tiah wants to be successful. He remembers an important advice from his father:” If you are not successful, your wife will leave you”. Therefore, it is important to become the key of the jungle.

Tiah recommends young entrepreneurs to focus on what they are good at. Execution is the key and always keep up the world’s current events. Young entrepreneurs are in the world of distraction of many great ideas and principles. Instead of applying all, Tiah suggests young entrepreneurs to pick a few and master them fully.

May 28 2016

The Pacific Club – Andrew Reid, Founder & President of Vision Critical

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Date: May 19, 2016

Name: The Pacific Club – Andrew Reid, Founder & President of Vision Critical

Presenter: Andrew Reid

The main driver for many successful businesses is people. People matter and that is what drives business to the top. The Pacific Club invites Andrew Reid, the Founder and President of Vision Critical, to discuss his journey of building the top software companies in Canada. In addition, Andrew Reid will share his insight on customer intelligence and market research. Entrepreneurs will learn how to use customer research to influence the trend of their business today. Moreover, Andrew Reid will provide some of his leadership advice for entrepreneurs.

Andrew Reid is the Founder and President of Vision Critical. He was a Vancouver Film School student and Standard University Graduate School of Business. Over 16 years, he discovers new ways to leverage the power of social, mobile and web technologies. When he created Vision Critical, he redefined the meaning of customer intelligence. His passion motivates many young entrepreneurs in software industry. Andrew Reid is also a member of British Columbia chapter of the Young Presidents Organization and a Board of Director for the British Columbia Technology Industry Association.

Interview with Andrew Reid

Reid admits he is not a great morning person and he is more productive at night time. There is no right time for entrepreneurs as long as they enjoy what they do. Reid manages to fit work in his lifestyle.

Reid came from Winnipeg and he moved out in 1995. After Vancouver Film School, he was hired by a company named Blast Radius. He started his business in the year 2000, but he had had time reading financial statements. He managed to pick up the skill by attending Stanford University. Reid believes many entrepreneurs will discover the skills they need during their entrepreneur journey.

Reid did not follow his father’s footstep of becoming a professional Statistician. Reid was not into academic; instead, he approached to do something he understands. Because he lived in a family environment where everything was according to a same beat, it forced him to ignite his side of entrepreneur.

Reid believes there is a huge value in getting a Master of Business Administration. The education makes sense for Reid and he is able to take the recipe to business. Reid mentions many entrepreneurs might disagree with his perspective; however, he wants entrepreneurs to know that business schools normally do not teach passion.

Before he founded Vision Critical, he enjoyed working with graphic design. He loved talking to people. In 1999, his father asked Reid to work in his advertising department. Things were changing in 1999, and Reid was able to make traditional advertising to something innovative. Reid seek the opportunity of virtual shopping and started to understand customer behavior. He built a prototype project to test packaging, placement and price. In addition, the valuation was fairly accurate. The CFO pitched him to venture capital.

When the market was low, all the investors in his venture capital were exiting. His father suggested him to sell. Reid continued his passion and started his own business, which is Vision Critical. He mortgaged his house for rent and his father wanted him to shut down the business.

His big break was in 2002, where he accepted a project for Reebok. Reid created a simulation and Reebok decided to invest more. The simulation application was proven to work, so Reid started to sell it to other people. The application was repeatable. Vision Critical was able to go beyond the market in 2004.

“Do not let idea go if it can go beyond you”

Reid believes traditional method of market research is dead. Entrepreneurs need to have both brand and customers in order to build relationship to help others. Brands need to be close to customer. Entrepreneurs can use stories to connect with customers. Vision Critical is able to help entrepreneurs go far without hurting their brand. It is all about persona. People are exposed by many social media. Reid is able to help them understand with tactical questions. By getting ideas from them, Reid can validate them and create brand engagement for customers.

“It is about influence by your brand”

Reid is confident that Vision Critical does not have any real competitor other than themselves. Research is all about reactive. However, Reid mentions there is a limitation. Currently, there is no opt-out. The market needs to have a tool to prevent from people taking additional data. All data are stored in devices, which can make recommendation for customers. The market is now creating platform for people to upload data and reward them for figuring out the algorithm. The platform helps people to remind them to grow.

Reid believes every product has internal and external triggers. These triggers lead to action and eventually go to rewards. The hard part is to get people to work for it and show the community they are committed.

Reid states 5 reasons that matters people

Quantify themselves
Entertainment
Education
Sense of accomplishment
Social club

Vision Critical helps entrepreneurs to figure out the triggers for their customers. The average participation rate in Vision Critical is 45% in the community. Therefore, they can help entrepreneurs to impact their brand they care about.

Reid suggests entrepreneurs to take time asking themselves 2 questions.

How to become more transparent?
How to fit into the culture?

Customer is important and entrepreneurs need to have more intelligent conversation with customers. They can empower them from social, mobile and net. Vision Critical is considered as a technology company. As business grows, both products and services will compete with the matrix. Entrepreneurs need to focus one. For Vision Critical, Reid picked software. Reid believes all companies are now technology companies because it is the way of future and it is what drives what entrepreneurs do.

“Customer is important. Act on the value and create the dialogue”

The way research changes can impact future. Entrepreneurs need to think ahead. There will be the end of bias. The future technology will take the bottom 30% of the work today. However, there is still need of experts to come and navigate the water.

Reid believes he has the style of transparent leadership. He is honest on the journey. He motivates others together to have good time. Reid shares his best pitch. Reid once pitched to WestJet. He prepared a 45 minute pitch and it was sold to them after 16 minutes. However, he was still pitching after WestJet was sold. WestJet stopped him and said if he goes on for another minute, they will leave. After that comment, Reid shut up. Reid suggests entrepreneurs to get people excited before the start of the meeting, they will help them win because energy can be contiguous.

“In the effort of transparency, just go for it”

Reid restates the old way of doing market research is dead. The speed of data is huge and changes will impact every decision. Reid recommends entrepreneurs to speak up in the meeting. They also should have a list of things that could go wrong. Many entrepreneurs spend too much time on congratulation, and they should encourage others to say what they are wrong about. Entrepreneurs should have sense of purpose on growing their skills, making mistakes, and making their own decisions. Lastly, entrepreneurs should have a story that people can buy into.

Reid comments the virtual reality could stop people having two way conversations. Interact with people is important and entrepreneurs need to think how to take advantage of the change.

October 18 2015

The Pacific Club – Jeff Booth, the Founder of Vancouver highest profile tech companies

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Date: October 15, 2015

Name: The Pacific Club – Jeff Booth, the Founder of Vancouver highest profile tech companies

Presenter: Jeff Booth

E-commerce is becoming a trend in many industries. Moreover, entrepreneurs must realize the advantage and incorporate to their current business operations. The Pacific Club is Vancouver’s most contemporary speaking and social club. The club invites Jeff Booth, the CEO and Founder of BuildDirect, to share his entrepreneur journey. In addition, Jeff Booth will discuss his insight on raising capital and the future of E-commerce. Entrepreneurs will learn the mindset behind Jeff Booth’s entrepreneurship, and they will develop stronger concepts to enhance their businesses.

Jeff Booth is the CEO and Founder of BuildDirect. With his leadership skill, Booth manages to turn BuildDirect into one of the fastest growing E-commerce building supply retailers. Booth has been voted Person of the Year at 2015 BCTIA. Booth creates new online channels and distribution methods in home improvement product industry. Booth is also a speaker and has the passion to share his thoughts to young entrepreneurs. As a member of Young Presidents Organization and a board member of Costal Contacts, he contributes his time and give back to local communities.

Jeff Booth mentions he got into real estate industry after college dropout. When he sold his house to invest in his real estate business, he started a building company. The first house he build is his own home, which created attention for other investors. The company expanded.

In Booth’s career perspective, he looks for biggest solution. He believes what makes consumers feel, which is empathy, will help him do differently than any of his competitors. Booth mentions success is not always look like what market says; in fact, his perception is different. Success comes from hard work and excitement. Money is not the primary factor that keeps Booth continue his career. Even though Booth has no idea what comes next, he will build it simpler and better.

Booth emphasizes building relationship is important. BuildDirect had significant growth until the Finance breakdown from 911. Booth needed to lay off employees and rethink his approach. Booth managed to create strategy to bypass the channel from Costco building materials. With hard work, people started to trust him. Revenue started to go up.

“Keep on going, keep on figuring it out”

Booth states that when entrepreneurs go fast, they will hit the wall faster. In order to sustain further growth, entrepreneurs need to upgrade their teams to see in advance. In addition, if entrepreneurs only drive by themselves, thy can only reach certain point. They need others to drive with them.

Sometimes when entrepreneurs approach one direction and see others go to different direction, Booth encourages entrepreneurs to keep going. This will lead them to become the best. When power is increasing, the immunity will increase as well.

When entrepreneurs get knocked down, Booth believes it is their responsibility to stand up and understand what they learn. There are too many people make excuses not to stand up; instead, they should look at what they can do differently. Entrepreneurs should not blame the market condition; otherwise, they will become the victim.

“Best company always come out from the worst”

Booth does not have mentor, but he is an active listener. He has the habit of trying to learn from everyone. Moreover, he feels he is in service for everyone else.

As for the future of BuildDirect, Booth wants to create a movement. People unite for a common cause to do something great. Booth believes in 10 years, stores will not be the way they are now. Store is a storage for people to pick up. Traditionally, production used to be close to the vendor, which creates the existing steps through different channels. Booth indicates only consumers should be in stores. With the power of users, they have the ability to lead market, not experts anymore. This kind of pattern starts to go on to different industries. Therefore, E-commerce is the new evolution.

Many companies in E-commerce tend to have short business life cycle because it is difficult to find the sustainable values. Booth recommends entrepreneurs to be aware of this issue.

When technology advances, services should stay the same. Process of business growth remains the same, which is identify the problem, fix the problem, and repeat the process.

When companies set free users for people, they are gathering people to one location. This attracts buyers and sellers. Afterwards, everyone will start to go there. Booth considers this as network effect. Public stock market is facing a situation where there is no significant growth from public companies. Since investors could not make money in public market, they will go to private sector. Investors will feed into company before IPO. This shift is another example of network effect.

Will Amazon ever be profitable? Booth comments that when a company has enough cash flow in their assets, profitability is not their concern anymore since they do not need to do anymore financing. Booth believes the key element that drives the success from retail is to look into supply chain. If goods do not go through supply chain, it does not make sense to go through the same channel anymore. Therefore, the existing supply chain management is not working and entrepreneurs need to fix it.

Booth gives young entrepreneurs a valuable advice. If they know what is ahead, they will not know if they even want to start. Therefore, they should always jump in and go for it. Young entrepreneurs should always believe in their ideas because no one else would.

Vancouver startups are wild. Many Vancouver companies pave the way and pay it forward. It takes ambition for entrepreneurs to start a company because nobody will believe in them at first. There are many amazing talents in Vancouver and there will be a breakout in future for Vancouver.

“It is not up to others, it is up to the crazy one to start”

Booth provides many tips for raising capital. It is important that investors need to know entrepreneurs believe in themselves. People will invest when they see the trend. Many investments offer common shares equity. Booth believes there are too many entrepreneurs chasing what success look like from other people’s view. Entrepreneurs need to understand the vision of their success. Eventually, the right investors will find them.

“Sales are like outputs. The logistic will break the components from outputs, which allows customers to get information faster and reliable”

Wisdom comes from mistakes, and success comes from many mistakes. When entrepreneurs encounter the problem of having too many advices or suggestions, Booth suggests entrepreneurs only listen to people who actually perform the action.

Most people think entrepreneurs are high-risk taker, but Booth believes they are actually asymmetrical bets. This means they have unlimited upside and limited downside. Entrepreneurs who put all in are worth more than they were before. They look for bets that are hard to lose.

Most companies in Vancouver choose not to go IPO. Booth believes the reason is because they are afraid of lockdown. People tend to sell at IPO instead of buy. If companies have the same valuation in both private and public sectors, there is no point of rushing into IPO. In future, companies in Vancouver will eventually go IPO. This is a timing thing.