Business View Magazine - January 2024

organized for the coming season,” Thomson begins. “They [the students] are given their manuals and all the things they need to learn over the Christmas holidays and even in the fall they are learning about the business so they can be prepared for the three- day training weekend in January,” Thomson relays. The weekend that Thomson refers to represents a comprehensive live training where all the aspects that go into developing a dynamic and thriving business are covered in detail.There are many follow up training sessions that involve going out in the field and testing those skills within the community where their home maintenance business will be providing leading summer-based home maintenance services. “The students are taught how to market, how to sell, how to do the services we provide and work on time management skills,” Thomson describes. THE ‘SECRET SAUCE’ “We have a philosophy called show don’t tell.” “We don’t want to tell people how to be successful; we want to show them how to get an estimate, how to convert that estimate into a customer wanting to be there on a Sunday afternoon for you to present that estimate to them, and then show how the customer would want to choose you over other potential suppliers in the marketplace,” Thomson details. “We have two secret sauces of the business.” “Canadian families overwhelmingly, or at least the customers who choose us, love the idea that they’re supporting students. [These customers] see that there is this young entrepreneur who is keen, eager, and motivated, and then on top of that they’re going to be recruiting other students who are going to work on their home; they see themselves as being part of [the student’s] future.” The second secret sauce is that we attract incredibly driven and ambitious students to our program. “One of the biggest skills, or mindsets, is just integrity. We spend an enormous amount of time focused on integrity and this relates directly to our key habits,” 105 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 11, ISSUE 01 STUDENT WORKS