While it’s been said that it’s lonely at the top, we don’t believe it has to be.

At Student Works, the vast network of operators, coaches, district managers, and alumni available to rookies can be a key factor that drives their success. However, when Angela Lister began her tenure as an operator, she wanted nothing to do with it. 

In a recent conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast, Angela detailed how her once oversized ego hindered her attempts to build a scalable business. Here are two key lessons she learned during her journey from running a 90k business to hitting 225k the following year: 

Making her Own Success

Unlike many rookie operators, Angela had previous painting experience. This led her to falsely believe that she was above her colleagues. 

“I thought I was better than everybody. I would look at our little staff page where we could see all the other operators and how they were doing and [I’d think] ‘these people have never painted before, I can’t wait until they start to do their jobs, they’re going to fail’ and I was just so negative. I don’t even know why, but I got so in my head and I didn’t reach out to anyone in the network because of my ego. I was so alone,” she reflected.

After two years of moderate success, it was a fated weekly call with fellow operators that inspired her to kick it into high gear. One afternoon, a colleague advised her to spend the day knocking on doors to market her business. This was, at the time, her least favourite part of the job and she chose not to do it. Instead, she opted to drive around town and put up mailbox signs.

“I was listening to the weekly call between mailboxes. I thought I was doing amazing and then it was John Morgan or Austin Trudeau that said ‘you don’t deserve success at any point in your life, you are a blank slate and at any point you have to work to earn what you will bring,’” she recalled. 

Those were the exact words she needed to hear at that moment.

“[From then on,] I told myself every single day that if I didn’t feel like doing marketing, I’d look at myself in the mirror and say ‘Do you actually think you deserve to book a job if you don’t go and knock on doors right now’, you’re a first year, this is your first time out, no one is going to call you.” she told Chris. 

Gratitude Journaling

After hearing Chris speak on the merits of gratitude during training, Angela bought a journal for the sole purpose of cultivating more of it in her life.

“Instead of just thinking of what I was grateful for, at the end of each day I’d think of the things I was the least excited for and I would find small pieces of them that I was grateful for. That made a huge difference. For example, I used to really hate marketing, going door to door and knocking on doors. I just told myself it’s something that I had to do and then once I started doing that earlier in the years, I focused on the fact that I was very grateful that I could knock on someone’s door in January and they could literally hand me a deposit for painting months later. I never marketed any more in any other year. I didn’t have a marketing team, it was just me. That to me, was huge,” she explained.

We’d like to take this moment to express how grateful we are for all that Angela has gone on to contribute to the supportive ecosystem that is the Student Works community!

Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!

On the first day of his journey with Student Works, Hugo Geoffroy showed immense promise.

But unfortunately, the charisma and confidence that radiated off of him failed to overpower the mindset he held that the world owed him something. 

After falling prey to many rookie mistakes that year, he turned it around and is now a coach and mentor to rookie operators just starting out.

In a recent conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast, Hugo detailed the peaks, valleys, and everything he learned in between on his journey thus far with Student Works:

Power On

After that disappointing first year on the job, Hugo refused to let his failures define him. In a rush of ambition, he asked us if he could return again for the upcoming season despite his previous track record. 

“At the end of the summer I was so convinced, it was so clear in my mind that there was no way I was not going back to prove to myself [that I could be successful], it was possible. So I asked you if I could come back and the deal was that I would have to help my new district manager during my recruiting season to show that I could work hard and do what I needed to do. So I did that and I think it was the second best decision of my life, the first one was entering this program in the first place,” he explained to Chris. 

He then spent the following fall leveling up his weaknesses and doubling down on his strengths by reading every business and productivity book on the shelf in an effort to grow his raw talent into something tangible.

Invest in your People

One of Hugo’s innate strengths is his ability to connect with people, a skill that transfers across both work and life.

“[I invited my team] to work at my house, [and we ended up] having a great time and learning about each other. It really felt like a family. As I said from the beginning, I’m really huge on relationships. One of the mottos Student Works has is that relationships are everything. I really embed this. I just wanted to build my own family and be able to be the one who can guide them and make them shine more.” he explained.

It only makes sense that Hugo landed on his current role of coach and mentor. 

“Seeing other people enjoy their responsibility in the business just made me think, ‘people want to do more, people want to feel valued’, so my role as the leader was to make them shine. I’m not the star of the show, they are. So I set everything up so that they can succeed, make clients happy and just feel good about themselves,” he detailed.  

Shine on, Hugo.

Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!

Kathleen Fitzpatrick isn’t your average operator.

A star performer all her life, Kathleen excelled in adolescence as a competitive swimmer. Having come from that high-stakes background, she was prepared to work to make her business succeed.

And that she has! From earning a place on our top performer trip to Mexico, to already having sold $250,000 worth of business this year, she is an amazing young leader poised for success. 

However, like all of our operators, Kathleen had lessons to learn in her rookie year. In a recent conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow podcast, she shared her insights from those early days:

Ask for Help

To all the rookie operators out there reading this: asking for help is not a sign of weakness.

“I had a really tough time asking for help ‘cause I was like, ‘I can do this on my own, I’m independent, I don’t need more help, I can do everything on my own,’ but in reality there’s so many people that have done what you’re doing that can [help you grow] and you don’t have to feel bad about asking for help and feel like you aren’t doing good enough because it’ll just make you better,” she revealed.  

Fun fact: Our rookie operators who aren’t afraid to seek guidance are often our most successful leaders. Why? They didn’t wait until they were in the weeds to admit they needed help.

Brave the Rejection

Not so fun fact: Rejection is part of the deal whenever you put yourself out there to achieve your dreams. While initially demoralized by her experience of getting told “no” on her door-to-door marketing trips in her rookie year, Kathleen eventually realized that despite the initial refusals, a “yes” was always right around the corner!

“I thought I could do everything on my own and make it go well and not have anyone say no to me, but it was definitely the rejection that was just at the door [where people told me] ‘no painting, no painting, no painting,’ that really got to me. I didn’t want to put in the work because I had never faced that rejection ever before in my life so that was just hard …  But once it started to turn around and I was more in that positive feedback loop, I went right up,” she recalled.

Just like we talk about in training, building that positive mindset is one of the keys to achieving lasting success!

Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!

Maddie Quirk is done with excuses.

In contrast to our top performing rookie operators, she had a tumultuous start to her journey with Student Works (back in 2019). While numbers consistently revealed that Maddie was one of our weakest operators, she insisted on skirting accountability in favour of blaming others for the challenges she failed to overcome. Maddie has come a long way from those initial challenges and recently broke through $250,000 in revenue, something reserved only for Student Work’s top-performing veterans. What changed?

In a recent conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow podcast, Maddie revealed that it was a discussion with her business coach that made her realize that the cause of her floundering business was herself.

Here’s how Maddie was able to turn it around and come out the gates firing all cylinders in her second year with Student Works: 

Take Accountability

Sometimes when we veer off course, all it takes to achieve that lightbulb moment is a conversation with someone who has your best interest at heart.

When her business coach, worn down by hearing Maddie’s usual tirade of excuses, finally asked, “Maddie, what is it going to take for you to get it together?” everything shifted. 

“When he said that I was like, I have been so [set in] my own ways, so ingrained in my personality, in my life, in my habits, that even running a small business and having all these challenges still wasn’t enough for me to face myself until we had that conversation. I remember [thinking] ‘wow, I have been living my life [without] integrity, blaming other people for my results, and not taking accountability for my own success. It was when Luke and I had that conversation [I realized] there was no other perspective,” she told Chris. 

With a new mindset, Maddie was able to triple her revenue and quintuple her profit the following year! 

Display Integrity

There’s no tonic more powerful for self-esteem than a life lived with integrity. Since fostering the virtue in herself, Maddie has only soared. 

“I truly believe that you are the one that holds yourself back from your own success through excuses, which is an easy thing to do by the way. It’s so easy to find an excuse for why you shouldn’t be successful or find an excuse why you shouldn’t do the things you should do. It’s so easy and that’s comfortable and that’s why a lot of people do it, which makes sense. But when you operate from a place of integrity and not because it’s easy or not, you will completely change your life,” she explained.

Taking the easy way out never pays in the long run, kudos to Maddie for realizing this and radically transforming her business and her life!

Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!

Tycho Koren understands that he doesn’t have all the answers, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t dead set on trying to find them.

In 2020, the Queen’s Commerce student came onto the Student Works scene guns ablazing, and earned the title of #3 Rookie Operator of the year. In a recent conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow podcast, Tycho told the story of how he went from feeling aimless, to becoming the successful operator he is today. 

Here are a few of the key lessons he learned along the way:

Find your Passion, and Work for it

As a young man living with ADHD, Tycho had trouble focusing on school, scheduling his time, and finding the challenge in entry level jobs. 

However, it wasn’t until he began working for a pool company that the idea that he didn’t want to work for other people’s visions cemented itself in his mind.

“We would drive around in this van, service pools, balance the pH, that sort of thing. I realized that we were actually doing all of the work and we were making 15, 16 bucks an hour. Clients would sometimes ask, ‘Do we pay you? What’s going on here?’ Sometimes the bill, 400, 500 dollars for something we would do in an afternoon felt like something we could 100 per cent do ourselves,” he explained.

It wasn’t long before Tycho found Student Works and began putting his vision front and centre, eventually learning that he loved working for himself.

“Being able to work for myself and working hard for something I’m passionate about has just changed my life completely and shown me what I’m capable of,” he told Chris. 

Eliminate “Try” from your Vocabulary

To Tycho, the word “try” only signifies that you’re not sure if you can achieve what you’re setting out to do.

“I set my goal last year to be 400,000 dollars in revenue. If I just told [my partner] that and went ahead and tried my absolute hardest to make it happen, I probably wouldn’t because I don’t know what would be actually required of me, on a weekly basis, to realize that goal,” he said. 

So instead of arbitrarily sticking to that number, he broke it down, determining how much work he’d need to secure each week to meet his goal, and how many doors he’d need to knock on to secure that work. 

“It’s not a question of ‘let me try and do this’ … it’s a matter of ‘I know what’s required of me to do this, let me see if I can get there,’ either I do or I don’t right? There’s no try in that equation,” he explained further.

Stay Accountable

One key strategy for success from Tycho’s playbook: Accountability meetings. 

“I meet with [my team] on a weekly basis. We set goals for each other and then we hold each other accountable as the week progresses. So if I say I’m going to do 20k in sales this week, I’m going to continue with my inputs, I’m going to get to that 400,000 dollar goal. If I don’t do that, they press me on why, [asking] what systems didn’t I have in place, and what can we change to make sure that I hit those goals next week?” he detailed. 

With that sort of commitment to growth, we’ve got a hunch that it’s just the beginning for Tycho Koren. 

Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!

In his years with Student Works, District Manager Tyrus Reid has developed a detailed understanding of what it takes to run a successful operation. After realizing that the 9 to 5 world wasn’t his cup of tea, he felt pulled towards the results economy and never looked back.

In a fascinating conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leader of Tomorrow podcast, Tyrus went into detail about what it takes to be an entrepreneur, how to avoid burnout, and most importantly, how to have a positive impact on those around you.

Here’s a peek into how Tyrus Reid gets it done:

Commitment

Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. In fact, it’s a vocation that requires determination and commitment from those set out to succeed in it. 

“One thing you really just have to do is fully commit to whatever it is that you want to do … Not having one foot in the water, and having one foot out, or sitting on the fence. If you’re not fully mentally committed to it you’re going to always be looking for a way out or for something that would be easier. I think [being that committed] is the definition of an entrepreneur,” Tyrus explained.

The sentiment rings true. As Tyrus went on to say, “if you really want something, you need to throw yourself into the fire for it.”

Delegation

One mistake new business owners often make is failing to delegate, a lesson Tyrus learned the hard way in his first year as a rookie operator. However, upon entering his second year he ensured that he was equipped with everything, and every one he needed to avoid burnout the second time around. 

“I made sure that I hired really really great people. I spent a ton more time hiring. I hired a production manager so he could help me run the business. The amount of free time that I had, comparing my first year to my second year was laughable. I was blown away by what was actually possible by having other people and using their skills and leveraging their skills. It helps you not get overwhelmed as much,” he told Chris.

Give Back

For Tyrus, it’s important to give back to his community in any way that he can. In his rookie year, his district manager “changed his life”, and without that sage wisdom from the one who came before him, he wouldn’t be where he is today. 

Therefore, Tyrus is applying to become a district manager himself, so that he can help the new batch of rookies weather the storms that come along with operating a new business.

“What I’ve been able to see is possible with my life and in general though the Student Works program, it would be wrong of me not to share that with other people. I wanted to get involved one on one with that experience. Working from the recruiting stages, finding great people and then working with them until the end of the season and then just seeing how much they’ve developed as a person and changed. That was one of the big reasons why I wanted to become a district manager and a coach,” he said.

And the Student Works ecosystem keeps on keeping on!

Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!

Taylor Nicholls has a big engine for work.

Before he became a veteran operator with Student Works, Taylor always felt under utilized at work. While he gave his all in the dish pit of many restaurants, he watched his coworkers “kicking rocks” and knew he was destined for something greater. 

In a conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast, Taylor opened up about his personal work ethos and how he envisions his future:

Empower Others

When it comes to leadership, there’s a wide variety of approaches that people swear by. For Taylor, being a successful leader all comes down to your ability to empower your team. 

“All in all, the best leaders are leaders that allow other people to lead. If you’re a true leader, you want what’s best for other people and what’s best for other people is allowing them to grow and develop themselves as well,” he explained.

Rely on Accountability Partners

Failing to plan is planning to fail, and this is a truth that Taylor learned the hard way.

“Last year I had a production scare where I just started my second crew and they quit… That week was just terrible. I don’t want anything like that this year so I’ve prepared my teams early, I’ve prepared training early. I’ve gotten everything ready,” he explained.

Learning this lesson, according to Taylor, is a key stepping stone on the journey to becoming a top performer.

“Top performers are planning ahead and using their time wisely because when it all comes down to it, sales and marketing is always great to know and great to excel at, but production is a whole other piece. For those who can prepare for production and get things done earlier, they will see themselves being given the opportunity to not be completely consumed by production and taken away from the other half of the business,” he told Chris.

Work Now Play Later

While some entrepreneurs can’t imagine a life without going to work, Taylor has different ideas for his future. He wants to put in the work now, so that he can reap the rewards later on in life.

“One of my main processes is that I want to do the work when I’m young, so that when I’m older I can sit back and relax with a mojito in hand,” 

Can you blame him?

Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!

Hope DesRoche is a prime example of what happens when opportunity meets hard work.

Hailing from Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Hope began her time with Student Works in the midst of pandemic restrictions that barred her district manager from assisting her in person throughout her entire first season as a rookie operator.

In a recent conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast, Hope shared her journey with the listeners. Despite the initial hardships, Hope prevailed and has gained major success with her painting business. In fact, as of right now, she’s booked orders worth close over $400,000 in her two summers with Student Works!

If you’re a rookie operator looking to fill Hope’s shoes, here are a few key details found in her playbook for success:

Push Yourself

Hope is a firm believer that top performers are born out of a deep desire to push towards self-optimization. 

“You should always be working to be the best possible version of yourself. Whether you’re completely winning and you’re at the top of the leaderboard of whatever you’re doing in life, or if you’re dead last. You should always be working just as hard to be the best version of yourself because at the end of the day you’re striving for success for you. It’s not about anybody else and it’s not about beating the standards that are out there for anyone else. It’s about beating your own personal standards,” she advised.

Dream Big

Before her tenure with Student Works, Hope struggled with her ability to dream beyond what other members of her community were doing.  

“It’s changed my view on what was possible. For the longest time I expected myself to live a great life but I expected myself to be like everybody else. I wanted to get a good job, get a good pension, have a house, have a family,” she told Chris.  

It wasn’t until she stepped outside of the traditional model she had been sold her whole life that she began to embrace a future of wild possibilities.

“I always knew going to bed at night that these were my goals and these were my dreams and I knew that’s what I wanted. But to be honest with you, I didn’t know how to get there. [I really believed that] if I follow the traditional steps, if I go to school, if I get my degree, if I study really hard, things are just going to work out. It’s not really the case because thousands of other people are doing the exact same thing you’re doing hoping to get the same results,” she shared.

Raise the Bar

Hope is no stranger to setting the bar high for herself.

“I find my minimum standards are what some people call their top standards,” she told Chris. 

She believes that if you set your lowest standard to mean that you are winning and on top of the game, you can set yourself up for success. Accepting mediocrity isn’t an option.

“The top performers are constantly working on that consistency and they’re always wanting to be better so that they can reach those goals and I think that just keeps propelling them forward to the point where they’re hitting everything that they want to. But that’s still not enough, so they want to continue to grow,” she explained.

When you consistently raise the bar for yourself, leadership and success will follow. Hope is living proof!

Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!

With each season that passes, our Student Works operators never cease to astonish us with their tenacity, determination, and strategic entrepreneurial minds. Faraz Khan is no different.

Hailing from Pakistan, Faraz arrived in Canada in 2013 after dropping out of high school to support this family. It didn’t take long working a 9 to 5 for him to become intrigued by the outcome economy, wherein the effort he put into his work life could yield larger monetary returns.

Cut to Faraz earning our Rookie Operator of the Year Award, during the pandemic we might add. 

In a conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast, Faraz let us in on the key insights gleaned from his time with Student Works. Here’s what he had to share: 

Foster a Curious Mind

Top performers distinguish themselves in a variety of ways, one being their ability to see everything that comes their way as an opportunity to grow. 

Admittedly, Faraz was delayed on the uptake for this one. In fact, before beginning his first year, he thought Student Works was “just a program”. Nowadays? He calls it a “life changing experience” that taught him beneficial hard and soft skills that he will keep in his back pocket for all future endeavors.

“I did see that I did need to be more focused towards my organization skills, communication skills, and more focused towards relationship building. Relationship building is huge when you’re building a business,” he shared. 

Rely on Accountability Partners

Trying to get a new company off the ground? Faraz says focusing on accountability is what helped him achieve the goals he set out for himself. In fact, he currently has 5 accountability calls per week etched into his calendar.

“I’m talking to all the rookies. I’m talking to the vets. I’m talking to painters and operators. I’m just trying to see what other people are thinking as well right? So I can take what works for my business and also give them tips as well…  Student Works, this company is basically take or give, right? We make sure we help others so we can get help from them as well. This is a huge aspect for me. Actually keeping myself accountable by talking to different people,” he explained. 

Put in the Work

There’s no cutting corners when it comes to achieving entrepreneurial success, and that is something all of our rookie operators learn quite quickly. 

“Putting in the work is honestly the key. The amount of work you put in [is never wasted], it’s going to give you benefits, not right away but in [the] longer run. That’s the mindset I’m looking at from my first year to second year. I want to make sure [to stay focused on] the end goal, how are we going to make sure that we hit our goals, and how are we going to keep ourselves accountable to that?” he told Chris. 

We’re excited to see what Faraz does next!

Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!

In a matter of two short years, Olivier Grenon has transformed himself from a struggling young man with no clear path, to a student painter poised to hit the $200,000 revenue mark by the end of 2021.

Not bad for an individual who claims his former success strategy amounted to always trying to take the easy way out. 

In a recent conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast, Olivier shared how he had always wanted to work in business but didn’t know where to start. Furthermore, he outlined how he was able to turn his life around and secure his spot week after week at the top of the Student Works leaderboard. 

Grab your pen and notepad, because we’re here to share the 3 C’s that guided Olivier towards becoming the success he is today:

Confidence

While he once struggled with feelings of aimlessness, Olivier has grown increasingly confident during his tenure at Student Works. How could he not, with $90,000 of painting orders already under his belt? 

“I know how to do the work, for example, I know how to paint that door. And when I’m on the phone I’m really more assertive. I know what it’s going to take to do a good job and I’m able to really give that energy to my clients and be confident and also let them be confident. That really helps me to sell all of the aspects of the business,” he told Chris.

Complacency

Did you just do a double take? Don’t fret, because Olivier states, from experience, that complacency is one of the top setbacks leaders of tomorrow need to avoid on their journey upwards.

“I did have a lot of sales. I thought I was ready. I thought I was just going to kill it and continue doing good. I stopped doing those little things that were gonna make me successful. I call it “The Production Wall” and the wall just hit me in the face. I got employees that quit the company and then …  I was painting decks when I was supposed to be the manager who was selling,”

An airtight business operation can only exist under the watchful eye of a manager who remains vigilant of any loose ends that the company needs to address. Otherwise, you could end up in the same position Olivier was.

“It happens slowly. It’s not like one day you’re complacent. It’s a little bit everyday [where] you don’t do [all the work] and it feels good and then you start to get comfortable,” 

Consistency

A key factor in all of our Student Works success stories is consistency. When you constantly put in the work, you yield greater results. In Oliviers time with Student Works, he’s measured his success by setting weekly goals that could hold him accountable.

“It’s not a big thing, [but it’s actually] a lot of small steps that are going to get you where you’re going,” he shared. 

Small steps, big strides. We couldn’t agree more!

Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!