Building Businesses and Changing Lives with Jamie Kozub
Automation Unplugged #285 features Jamie Kozub, President of Oakville Sight and Sound. Join us for an exciting show that dives into Jamie’s entrepreneurship journey, his volunteerism and leadership in community nonprofits, actionable tips for integrators
This week's episode of Automation Unplugged we’re bringing you our guest Jamie Kozub, President of Oakville Sight and Sound and a seasoned entrepreneur based in Burlington, Ontario.
About Jamie Kozub:
Jamie has spent the past 25 years leading Oakville Sight and Sound, transforming it from a stereo shop into a thriving custom integration business. Beyond his leadership in the AV industry, Jamie is a true serial entrepreneur, having started, built, and sold six businesses over the last decade. His passion for community service shines through his role as President and Board Chair of the Burlington Dads group, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting local families. Jamie also serves on the boards of The Carpenter Hospice and the Capillary Wave Community For Men, giving his time and energy to meaningful causes.
In the episode, we’ll cover:
- His journey in transforming Oakville Sight and Sound and navigating multiple business ventures.
- The power of community-driven initiatives and his leadership in the Burlington Dads nonprofit.
- Strategies for balancing business success with impactful community service and volunteerism.
Transcript
Ron:
Hello. Hello there. Ron Callis with another episode of Automation Unplugged. Super excited to bring this serial entrepreneur to you all today. , I've only recently gotten to know our guest and, , I'm so excited for you all to hear his story, hear his background. And, , I think you are sure to gain a few nuggets of wisdom or ideas that, , you will be able to directly apply to your life and, or your business.Ron:
So today I'm bringing you Jamie Kozub. He is a business influencer and serial entrepreneur. So not only is in the AV and integration space, but he's been in a number of different spaces and had a number of different exits. So it'll be really fun to dive into some of that. And today he is the president, , and general manager of Oakville site and sound.Ron:
In Ontario, Canada. So let me go ahead and bring in Jamie and, , we'll get this conversation started. Jamie, how are you, sir?Jamie:
Good. Thanks. Thanks for having me here.Ron:
Oh man. My pleasure. Where are you coming to us from?Jamie:
I'm in Burlington, Ontario and in Canada.Ron:
In Canada. Eh, are you tired of Americans doing that?Jamie:
it's more the sorry part of the like, you know, I thought you guys say, sorry, a lot more. It's , sorry, we used to, we're not as sorry anymore though.Ron:
Ah, boom. That's fun. , this show is gonna drop in early 2025. How are things going in Ontario? I'll be honest. I haven't been there. I'm down here in Florida. , what are things like maybe just, , economically, politically climate. , what's life like there in Ontario?Jamie:
Politically, I think it's a lot like the states. It's 50 50 on where everybody's mindsets are and where everybody should be at. I don't think there's too many people really in politics right now that are trying to find common ground. Proper ground in the middle. , veryRon:
divisive, , for sure. Politics these days. It's pretty frustrating. Certainly if you're a centrist like myself, it's not a lot of fun unless you're looking for entertainment to actually sit back and listen to people.Jamie:
It seems like it's a game that there's no common sense in right now, but, , weather wise , it's awesome here. Like, even though we're an hour North of Buffalo, last winter got. , six ft of snow. We had like two inches of snow. So we get this crazy weather effect from the lake in between so like even right now it's 68 degrees. Where for us , that's pretty crazy. If you guys look at Northern Michigan or Wisconsin or Minnesota, those areas right now are probably like, you know, 50 degrees. And , we're not, so everybody thinks Canada is always freezing cold, but we're actually super lucky where we are in Southern Ontario.Ron:
I, you just so educated me. I would have completely thought that it would have been so cold already and that it would have been so much colder than Buffalo.Jamie:
No. And weirdly enough, when we were in San Diego together. San Diego and Burlington literally had the exact same temperature for three, four days where it was like 78, 76. and that was like you know middle of October. I mean we get some weird flashes that go through and we don't have to deal with any crazy weather issues. Like we get the odd small tornado that may or may not come around but we don't get any hurricanes. We don't get any forest fires. We don't get anything. Yeah, no earthquakes where we are, nothing like that.Ron:
Wow. Sounds like you're pretty blessed, pretty insulated from a lot of the mayhem that goes on across many areas in the U. S.Jamie:
For sure. And, it's super diverse. We're 45 minutes outside Toronto. I wouldn't want to live in Toronto. It's too busy, too hectic for me but in suburbia where we are, it's super diverse, tons of different ethnicities and religions and tons of different community members. So it's amazing that way too. So it's a great place. Love, love, love the city. Love where we are.Ron:
Tell me about Oakville Sight and Sound. What type of business, what type of projects do you guys do?Jamie:
SoI kept the name, but it started in 1988 as a stereo shop, basically it was, you know, sell boxes, sell a bunch of speakers and amplifiers, go big or go home. But even though the name doesn't totally relate, we're a full smart home automation company now. We've been doing full home automation for about 13, 14 years. I believe we've been really good at it for about the last 10 of them, bringing on the right people. We were the typical trunk slammer at first when we were learning it. It was me, a buddy and a vehicle but we've grown from that where we're six crews on the road, two project managers, two sales managers and operations manager. So it's grown to a point where I don't have to be the company. , our key projects that we're the best at would be anything $50,000 to $100,000 and the reason I say that is because we're the most efficient at the ones that we can turn, turn, turn around in a day or two. , we do a ton of jobs that are $150,000 to $500,000 and those are great jobs on paper and in pictures. As a business, I would rather do ten $80,000 jobs than one $800,000 job because there's a different set of expectations.There's so many more headaches. There's clients that you're married to until midnight a lot of times. As we've grown the builders that we worked with we used to do a ton of those $80,000 to $150,000 jobs that were awesome. And the builders loved what we did. And then those builders grew from building 4000 square foot homes to building 14,000 square foot homes. So then we started doing $500,000 jobs and, and such. So, you know, as much as they're there, they can be painful. They're amazing for the growth because it does get your name out there. You hit a different level of professionalism keeps the guys way more excited because the techs love doing those jobs for the most part. They don't like the last 10 percent of the job when we're going around to those jobs and you're kind of trying to check off those final to do lists because that's the point where the guys kind of get frustrated, but yeah, that's where we've grown from, from a stereo den, a stereo box store to full home automationRon:
and still room to grow. What radius around your shop will you guys go to work? Do you guys stay pretty local to your office or do you travel throughout the state or the province or the country?Jamie:
We're pretty much anywhere within two to two and a half hours in southern Ontario, where we are. So, we'll go north of Toronto a couple hours because that's where, that's where cottage country is for us. , so if we're doing, you know, if we're doing $100,000 job or $200,000 job at their house, they're going to want us to do their cottage as well.So we'll go about two to three hours, I guess is, is our max. The bulk of our business is within an hour. So like Toronto's 45 minutes away. So anything. From Toronto to Niagara falls basically is, is an hour each way for us.Ron:
I just had to jump on the word cottage. So is that the guest home or is that the, not the guest home? Is that the second or vacation home? Is that what you call it in Ontario cottage?Jamie:
Yeah. So I grew up in Northern Ontario, which is nowhere near where we are right now. And we call it a camp. When I grew up in Northern Ontario they call it a cottage. So back in Thunder Bay, there were like one or two bedroom places here.They're, you know, six bedrooms, four bathrooms, and they're 9,000 square feet. So that's their cottage. Yeah. It's their second home on a big lake and that's for all the hockey players and celebrities and all those guys. It's not where I've got a place, it's where all those guys have a place.Ron:
Where are those guys? Yeah. You are not your customer. No. You, you and I met, you mentioned you and I, , , we're just in San Diego. It was, , I want to say just a little bit ago, we were out there for the Azione conference. And , you and I actually got to sit down and get to understand and meet each other a little bit. What did you think of the Azione conference? What's your take on Azione and buying groups and that fall event?Jamie:
I love it. We've been a member of Azione for like three years, but I didn't really understand other than, you know, the programs. Like the reason we switched was for the programs. We were a part of a Canadian buying group for six or seven years and it was basically just about the numbers. , and that's why we switched. Yeah, because the numbers were better. And as you on focuses on the custom integration side where. All the other ones are more retail focused. So half of what we sold, you know, we weren't getting accounted for. But it wasn't until a year and a half or two years ago, I went to the Orlando conference and it was truly eyeopening, the amount of support and, and just like the amount of exposure you get to other people in the industry that are willing to really give you a ton of feedback on what they've been through or what their hurting points were and just be able to have open conversations with whether it was guys, the same size as you go with the same struggles or other guys that have been through those struggles and are absolutely just, just crushing it in, in life and in work. Right. So , joining as one's own totally changed us. I sent my sales guys, my couple of techs, my operations manager to some of the smaller conferences that they offered. And they absolutely loved it. They might only bring back a couple of nuggets, but they also feel like they're that much more appreciated. And when they come back, they're just full of piss and vinegar and want to, want to hit the road running. Right. Which is, which is the way I feel when I come back to them. Like, you know, I'm not. Going there to learn as much as I hope that they're going to learn if I can bring back one or two nuggets that, you know, can change my bottom line by one or two points. That's my biggest goal, because if I can change my bottom line by two points every six months that I go to one of these conferences, that's a big turnaround in like three, four years.That gets a couple more toys in the, in the garage.Ron:
This was the first conference this past fall with Patrick now leading Azione, , just for those that are listening or watching and not aware there was a transition and Richard, , retired and, , , ultimately sold, , just a bit ago, , Azione was acquired by nationwide and there was a transition of leadership at Azione. What was your takeaway or what was one or two of those nuggets that you took away from this fall's conference?Jamie:
I love Patrick. I was a huge advocate for him when they announced that Richard was going to be leaving. Patrick's young and I get that that was probably one of the biggest discussions when everybody that had to say was going through this process, but, you know, every time I've seen that guy, he's putting in so much time and so much dedication. He gives everybody a cell phone, everybody's email. So like he lives and breathes this. So I truly believe that he deserved the shot to have it. And I'm happy that that's what everybody decided because he proved at this conference that. , he is the guy for the job. He's stepped up. He's well ready to take everybody to the next level and he still paid homage to Richard a few times. That's who, , that's who he learned, learned the ropes from a little bit. Right. So I think he's gonna be, I think he's gonna be awesome.Ron:
That's, that's cool. In terms of, , the Azione conference, I know there were a lot of different , small group breakouts. There were, you know, speakers, , standing, , and, you know, doing the, the full room presentations. There was one fellow with sticks had to dr, everyone in the room had drumsticks and they were banging on the tables. That was pretty fun. , was there any sort of takeaways from the breakout rooms or any of the speakers that, , , you think are directly applicable or you were able to bring home and, and think about or apply to the business?Jamie:
Yeah, for sure. I, I think the ones that I feel that I get the most from are the breakout rooms when there's six to eight of us in a room. And this year I think was the first year that they tried to bring in like one or two leaders like yourself to kind of, you know, being, being in between for everybody else that's in there. , and they took guys that were the same. Type of business, same size of business. And it really did change the conversation because last time I went to it, every breakout room was kind of like a mixture of everybody. So you'd have guys that were doing 50 million and then guys doing a million dollars. And when you're talking about issues, sometimes you're not really going to be able to take away as much. Like you, you for sure get inspired talking to those guys. , and there are answers that those guys are going to be able to give you that that can help with your business. But I found that. When three quarters of the meetings were more based on the size of your business and partnering you up with like, you know, for us, it was a bunch of businesses that were three to 5 million. We learned way more because we were all dealing with the same types of issues in different ways.And there's things that I was doing really well at that I have no clue on how to build the other part of the business and other guys had the opposite issue. So I took the most away from those. And then, You know, there's one or two meetings where you do have the full mix of everybody and you have those open conversations with guys that are just absolutely crushing it. And those are the guys that. I learned from to try and, you know, how can I change my bottom line by one or two points? And I brought back two, two big things this year that are for sure going to do that for me. And we implemented them the day I got back on, on every project proposal that we started putting out from that point on.Ron:
Now that sounds pretty amazing. Do you mind sharing what that, what that thing or one of those things was?Jamie:
For sure. So one of them was adding a 2 percent shipping fee, , to all the products that are on a quote. So if the quotes are 150 grand. We added a line item right below, you know, products, labor, and then shipping fee, and it was 2 percent of whatever the product cost was. Now, when we've been figuring out our costing, we're usually including what that cost is on some of the products, but you're missing it on a lot, you know, there's discrepancies and stuff. So, , in putting that in the guys were saying that they had. Little to no pushback on it because people understand there's, there's, there's cost of shipping and in Canada, it's way more than the U S like where you guys ship any of these electronics or, you know, products in the States. It's almost always free shipping. 90 percent of what we get isn't free shipping because it's super expensive to ship to Canada because there's 40 million people spread across a country bigger than the USA. , so it makes shipping products a lot more so that was, that was one of them. The other one was, well, that's being a three to 5 million company. We don't properly track our project management costs. , we track our labor really well, but project management , and backend management of every system. We're kind of just guessing when we quote the job at the beginning. So, you know, you quote a 200, 000 job, you guess that it's going to be, say the number is 60 hours of project management time, you can't really change that and there's no real way to scale that where a lot of the big guys were saying that they've figured it out, that it's, It basically always works out to a 15 percent of what your labor cost is, is what your project management should be. So they don't quote project management hourly labor in their labor. They just have labor and then a line item under shipping that's project management fee, 15 percent of labor. And every change order goes out with that. Every quote goes out with that. , and so far, you know, in three weeks, we haven't had anybody push back on that. And like, you know, on change orders, that's a big thing for us. Cause some change orders, you're not always adding the right labor costs. Cause you're just guessing. Cause you know, you don't really know what the guys on site did or didn't do. So having this blanket fee, it makes it, I believe it's going to make a big difference and it's probably going to change it by more than 2%, but. those were two huge things that we've had little to no pushback on and we're not really selling them anything to get that either.Ron:
Well, that's effectively raising prices, but in a very defendable way, which means that's going to track right to the bottom lineJamie:
for sure. Yeah. And we did raise our prices as well. so I guess there was three things. Cause I can't believe what companies in the U S are able to charge. It's on average, it's like one 95 to two 20 an hour. And. We were at one 30 an hour in Canada, which is like a hundred dollars an hour for you guys. , so we upped it to one 50, , the day we got back as well. And we're probably the most expensive in Canada now at that rate. But, , you know, we're, we're booked three months in advance. We, if somebody, Offered us a 200, 000 job tomorrow. Like I had to give one to a competitor a month ago because we couldn't execute it within the next two months or start it in the next two months.So I believe that like for every client that may fight us on that 150 an hour. Then that's okay. We might not get that job. But the other jobs that we are, we're executing them better. We're not sweating as much based on what our labor costs are and are we efficient with our time? , and maybe that shortens what our window is for being able to execute a new job instead of us being three months booked out.Maybe we're only a month. 'cause the other problem we have with being so busy is we're not great at service right now. , so if we're not booked out three months because of this, we could probably make our service to the clients. We are charging one 50 an hour. A lot better. , so I know it's kind of a catch 22, but I really believe that that's going to help us be.and I guess in a way it kind of like weeds out certain clients that don't see the perceived value and, and what we're charging.Ron:
No, I think that's brilliant. It sounds like you've continually been able to gain critical ideas that you could directly apply and make your business better. I think that's amazing.Now, for those that are listening to the podcast and not watching us, what you haven't seen is Jamie waving his hand a few times. And what I've noticed is his hand looks pretty terrible. It's bandaged up. There's three fingers that look like they've been through a blender. What's going on with your hand, Jamie?Jamie:
I thought i would be a good husband. My wife plays co ed soccer and they were down a player or two. So I said, Hey, like I used to play goalie in soccer. So I'll come play goalie for you guys. And, you know, hopefully, hopefully it gives the other guys a break a little bit. With four minutes left in the game, I. You know, I dove, saved the ball, the guy that I saved the ball in front of wasn't overly happy and he just absolutely swung and kicked my hand as hard as he possibly could and broke two fingers, dislocated two fingers, , I knew right away that it happened and I had, I had goalie gloves on, there's still four minutes left, so I played the rest of the four minutes, made a couple more saves, went through the, you know, the handshake line, I didn't want to give them the satisfaction that he, that he hurt me. So, you know, just, you know, toughed it out. And then we went to the sidelines to go get changed. And I took the glove off and showed it to my wife. And I just said, I think you got to take me to the hospital. Cause I've got a couple of broken fingers to deal with. And all three of them were pointing in totally different directions.Yeah, it wasn't a, it wasn't a pretty,Ron:
Were you in shock? Like, did you feel the pain yet?Jamie:
I've never had a broken finger. I mean, I'm admitting I've never had a broken bone. It didn't really hurt until like an hour later, like sitting at the hospital when it started throbbing and swelling up. That's when it started hurting initially. Like it didn't hurt per se. Like it felt like it was frozen cold. Like it was just, it was more in shock. , and like super nb, which is why I was still able to play through, but I could tell, like, I knew my hand was like mangled. I just didn't want to take the glove off and like kill the game with four minutes left.Ron:
Oh my gosh. And so what's your state now? I see their bandages. Are they going to be in a cast or what's the doctor going to do?Jamie:
they're bandaged and in splints right now, Monday, I've got to go see the plastic surgeon and find out, , what they're going to do about my pinky finger because I shattered the whole end of the pinky finger and because they didn't tend to it soon enough, it, you know, Really grew and, , and turned purple. So they had to take my pinky nail off, cut it open and release the pressure and then stitch it back up. , so I got to see the plastic surgeon just to hopefully get the thumbs up that they've done a good enough job, or he might have to touch it up. So let my nail grow back. So it should be good. I don't need a cast, thankfully, but I'm going to have to wear these. These three beauties and Turks and Caicos when I go there in like nine days, so that should be that's your hand in a Plastic bag and yeah, i'll be the creepy creepy dude walking around with my kids with a handbag With everybody else scared wonder and wonder what happened to the other guy.Ron:
Yeah, exactly. That's funny. Well, Jamie, I know that you are a serial entrepreneur, you bought and sold businesses and you just, you've had a really fun, interesting journey. Maybe it hasn't always been fun. Sometimes a fun story means there's been trial and tribulation, but , take us, take us back in time. Can you help us understand your background?Jamie:
Yeah, for sure. , I moved out of my house when I was 15. We lived, we lived, , in, out in the country, like 45 minutes outside Thunder Bay. We didn't have anything. We didn't have a pot to piss in. , so my dad was working out of town like four or five days a week. So it was just myself, my younger brother. , so I said, Hey, like, I gotta go, I gotta be in town. So I moved out when I was 15, moved into Thunder Bay and just couch surfed on a couple buddies. , I started working at the Sony store, which in Canada was Sony Canada, who basically had their own retail stores in Canada. I started to be an assistant manager when I was 17. So I'd go to school from, you know, 8 to 2. I'd make sure my spare classes were always my last class. And then I'd be, I'd be at the mall working at the Sony store from two till 10 and then work there Saturday Sundays. so I put myself through, through high school and, and working full time. And then when I was 18 future shop, which, , Best Buy in the U S ended up buying a future shop in Canada and converting them. They had asked me to come work for them when I was 18. So I did that for six months and then a future shop offered to move me to Southern Ontario, , to go be a system manager, to open one of their. Their stores in Ottawa , which was a cool experience. And then , eight months later, they moved me to Mississauga, which was going to be the biggest future shop in all of Canada at the time. So I went there, , and worked there. And then I kind of realized that like, this wasn't exactly the life that I was looking for, like bouncing around and making somebody else a bunch of money. And, you know, being a 20 year old at that time, it was making 130, 140 grand a year. I was like, Hey, like. I'm better than this, you know,Ron:
It's pretty good money for a 20 year old. Yeah, butJamie:
You know Eagle went to my head and you know, I hit it had been like three years of making that kind of money and , you know paying my own way for everything.So I lived across the street from oakville sight and sound So I went knocking on their door and you know early november one year and I said, hey I'm looking at making a change. Future shop was literally right next door to them. I said, you know, I'm, I'm looking to, to make a change. And are you guys, are you guys hiring?The owner looked at me and, you know, back then I had, you know, I bleached hips, I had earrings in both years. I was, I was the cool, you know, 21 year old with the beat, the beaded seashell necklace. And, , and he's like, I don't think you'd be a good fit here. , everybody that works here is 45 years and older and we don't hire kids. And then, , I said, well, like if you give me a shot, like put me on straight commission. And I said, I guarantee you that by, by the end of Christmas, I'll be your nber one sales guy. And he goes, well, then two things got to happen. He goes, you got to take out those earrings and he got to cut that hair. , and he gave me a shot.you know, it was, he was, he was an old school guy and he was, and he was theRon:
owner of the business. He gave you that.Jamie:
Yeah, he was the owner of the business. , it was two brothers that owned it. And he gave me the shot and he's still one of my best friends to this day. We've got a yearly trip that we take to Nashville every year. And it's been like a 18 or 19 year trip that we've done. An awesome guy helped straighten me out. And so I showed up, you know, on Monday with no earrings, cut my hair, and did my thing and. By the end of December, I was by far their top sales guy. , so they gave me a full time job. We worked out, we worked out the nbers and I worked there for about a year and a half as a full time sales guy.and then they wanted to take a little bit of a pullback. Like they'd been running the business since 1988. And it was literally a stereo shop, right? Like, you know, piles of DVD players, you know, stacked around CD players. And, you know, you just, you go pick your bookshelf speakers and pick your two channel Yamaha amp.that was, that was what that store was at the time. , so they wanted to take a step back. They were going to hire a general manager. And I threw my hat in the ring and I said, Hey, like that's, that's me. And they're like, there is no way that you could manage, you know, a bunch of 50 year old guys, and they're not going to listen to you and you're not gonna be able to handle it. So again, my ego got the best of me. And I said, well, then this probably isn't the best situation for me. And I, I left the job. I was making 130 grand a year. , and they hired one of their best friends who was a used car sales guy. , so I said, well, I'm going to go do something else. So I. Went and started a fine details franchise that we did hand car washing and hand detailing.And over the course of like the next year and a half, I opened up, , four or five locations. I sold a couple of them a few times. Cause you know, I'd run them for eight months, build the numbers up, and find somebody to buy it. They'd buy it. Steal from themselves, not manage the business properly, and then basically go bankrupt and I'd buy it back for 50 cents on the dollar. so we did that for like, I don't know, two, three years total. , but a year and a half into it. Oakville site and sound called up and said, Hey, things didn't really work out the way we were planning. , we're considering closing down the business in the next year and a half when our lease is up, would you have interest coming in, you know, running the business for a bit, and then we'll teach you the backend.And then, you know, we can work out a buyout and you could take it over. , so I did that. I sold all five of my locations, , within the next like two weeks and went and hopped on board with those boys. And. And, , close their location about two years after I had been there. , it was the end of their lease and we opened up a lot smaller custom integration shop and went. And went full, full at it in, I guess it would have been about 2005. So I've, I've had it since 2005. And that was kind of the start of when we thought we were a custom integrator. , but really it was about 10 years later, we were probably a custom integrator. , so it's been, it's been a fun journey. I, I, I love the business. I'm not the super techie one in our business. I don't live and breathe the technology. I live and breathe business. I live and breathe the people. I live and breathe. You know, trying to create an atmosphere that everybody on our team feels like they're part of the family. When we bring somebody else on, we know within the first four weeks, whether that person's going to be a fit, they could be the most amazing tech, but if they don't fit with our operations manager, our project managers, and they're not team players, then we, we don't let them stick around very long. Cause we've got a really, really good, , team and it's, it's a family. My operations manager, you know, make sure every time it's somebody's birthday, she's, she's You know, got cookies there. She's got coffee there. She's taking care of everybody. She's, she's kind of like their mom, but they're also scared shitless of her because, you know, she's our ops manager and she's the next one in charge after me. She keeps, she keeps things under control there. So it's, I love it. I love the business.Ron:
That's awesome. Now you are today, the president and general manager, but a couple of years ago, there was a transaction. Can you describe kind of what you did there in terms of ownership of the business or how you thought about that and how you went about it?Jamie:
For sure. Yeah. So, , in owning it for the last, you know, 20 or so years, The first 10 of it or 12 that I was, I was obviously the main point of contact. I had to do all the sales. I was our main tech. , but 10 years ago, I approached our Crestron rep and offered to give him 10 percent of the business and come on board and become our, our head of sales, our, our, our sales manager.and he took that by the horns and, You know, we went from a million dollars in sales to doing, you know, two and a half million dollars in sales over the next five, six years kind of thing. We were rocking and rolling. He was loving it, but the busier we got, , we didn't. Really start growing our operations team and our inside team.Him and I were taking everything on and trying to grow it. , and when I say we were taking everything on, he was taking on like 75 percent of all of that because he was the project manager, the sales manager. So the more successful heRon:
was, the lower his quality of life wentJamie:
for sure. Because all thatRon:
landed on him.Ron:
Yeah.Jamie:
And like, And he was, you know, he, I, he did buy into some of the business on top of the 10 that I gave him. So say he was the 20 percent owner, you know, when we were, when we grew, this would have been like about five years ago, we had the conversation. He wanted, he wanted more, obviously he wanted to buy the company.or own half the company and we just couldn't come to a, to a number that made sense for both of us. And it was a very, very normal conversation. There was no animosity to it. , just, you know, there's a value in my mind being the business person and there's a value in his mind being dude, I'm the one putting in all the work and I've grown it to this. So, , I, I said to him, Hey, like. Neither of us want to put in 80 hour weeks anymore. Neither of us want to put in more money. We were at a point where it was a well oiled machine making great money. There was no reason for us to put more risk into it. , so we said, Hey, like, let's, let me put it on the market, put it on the open market quietly, , for a value that would benefit us both. And if we find the right buyer that will treat the team properly and take care of our team, because like the biggest thing was not having our team. No. Because I didn't want any of them to think that this was a fire sale or that, you know, we were trying to just disappear. It was just that, you know, my partner was working a ton of hours and I was getting 80 percent of the benefit of that, which I totally understood. So this was the right way to try and solve that. , and in doing this, we listed, we had multiple full list offers and we found a team of five that were, you know, a couple of private equity guys and, and, you know, another father and son and a wife that all, all wanted to buy the company, more of it as an investment. and my partner Galen had to stick around for a year. I had to stay around for three months and during that three months, that just kind of worked out that they said, Hey, like this, this, this is running really well. You guys are crushing it. Like, what would it take for you to stay on board? , and we worked out, you know, something that was, that was perfect for us. Like I still get my, I put in the same amount of time that I always used to put in, I probably put in more now because we've grown and, and my partner's not there anymore. , but it's been a, it's kind of been the perfect storm cause they're, they're fantastic owners. I'm, I kind of have like a second life in it where like, , I don't have the risk that I had as an owner. So you almost changed some of the decisions that you would make because, because all those profits were mine, I didn't need to grow from a two and a half million dollar company to 5 million. You know what I mean? , we were, we were livingRon:
with the profits coming out of a two and a half million dollar businessJamie:
for sure. But now, you know, I w we were holding it back from growing and it was purposeful. We didn't want more headaches. Now we've, , Exploded. And since we've sold it, we've doubled our staff. We've increased, you know, our, our sales, obviously we're busier than we've ever been. And it's inspiring. And I love, I love the push.Jamie:
I love the grind again, and I love trying to bring in more business, but it's almost because I have that different mentality that it's not my risk. And, and, and I, I, I have enough already. You know what I mean? It's, it's, , it's a different mindset, but it's, it's fun. And it still allows me to go do everything that I wanted to do before, , when I owned it, because I was able to go to Operate other businesses and do startups and have fun and put time in doing that.Jamie:
And I'm, I'm still able to do that now.Ron:
You've, you've got, you've been involved in other businesses as well. And I want to go there, but I want to just ask a, maybe a clarifying question or two about the, the idea of selling your integration firm. Most of our audience are in the AV and integration space around the world.Ron:
And it's often. , yeah, I'll just say celebrated the idea of selling a business. I think keeping and running a very successful, profitable business also should be celebrated. I think it's often not celebrated enough. If for those that are looking at the path of an exit, what, what were some of the things that you did to position the business?Ron:
or did you position the business to be attractive to a suitor once you and your partner came to the decision that this is the path that we want to take? Any sort of either lessons you learned or wisdom that you would share with others that might be leaning it forward right now that you're talking about this?Jamie:
Yeah, for sure. And, most of selling Oakville site and sound was based on what I learned selling all of those other businesses, because there's two major factors in selling a business that make it. Attractive for other people. One of them was obviously the profits. So when we owned it for the first 20 years, I didn't want my profits to be high.Jamie:
I wanted my profits to be negative or zero. So I wasn't paying crazy income tax. , so you write off stuff, you, you, you do things differently. You operate differently. Work trips that you maybe didn't have to, don't have to take. , so three years prior to our sale, we cleaned that up. We kept our books as clean as possible.Jamie:
We didn't write off anything and you make the company. You show that the company has its worth. Cause you know, in a conversation, when you're trying to sell a company that's breaking, even for sure, you could try and explain to somebody that, Hey, but I write all this stuff off. So you could be making half a million dollars a year.Jamie:
it's a lot easier when your audited financials show that you're making, you know, half a million, a million, whatever it is that you're profiting. The other part is they can't be buying a family business. And what I mean by that is they can't be buying a business that needs you. Okay. So every business that I've started and ran, I've ran.Jamie:
So it doesn't need me. So like I put in 20 hours a week, 25 hours a week with Oakville site and sound, because it doesn't need me to be there all the time I've I hire people for any of my businesses in this one. Particularly, I hire people who are better and smarter than so in sales, I hire somebody that's going to be a better sales guy than me, which needs to be technical operations.Jamie:
I hired an operations manager because she's a bulldog. She's way better at that job than I could ever be. , in other businesses, you know, I hire a general manager that is smarter and better than me at other things, because that's the only way a business is properly sellable for full value if it's not dedicated on you.Jamie:
There's people that own, you know, own these, these businesses, for instance, they could be doing the same vole we're doing, making the same profits. But I talked to those guys and they're the salesperson, they're the general manager, and then they aren't hiring a sales guy, they're hiring project managers and they're hiring techs, but they don't have a salesperson.Jamie:
They don't have anybody. Helping run the office. , so for sure, they're probably making a bit more profit probably, but then when they go to sell, they're selling a family business, which is very different than selling a business.Ron:
It's going to be a diminished value, right?Jamie:
For sure. So I would say that if somebody is looking to make an exit and they're planning it over the next two to four years, it would be.Jamie:
You know, make sure that business isn't dependent on you for sure. There's things that it does depend on. You're doing like, you know, I do the marketing, I do that stuff, but like anybody could do that. The relationships aren't, aren't mine. I made sure that those relationships are my sales guys. They're my project managers, the relationships with our vendors are my operations manager.Jamie:
I am. Almost never involved in any of the day to day with the vendors. , when it comes to big negotiations or something like that, obviously I get involved, but the business isn't dependent on me. The reason that these guys bought it and kept me in the position for that I'm there more than 20 hours a week.Jamie:
I'm probably 35 hours to 45 hours anyways, cause just the way I am. And it's the office that I operate out of for other stuff. We have such a team atmosphere that like nobody there has any animosity. If I'm only there 20 hours a week, because I'm still doing stuff from home or from my other office with the business and they know that I just trust them.Jamie:
The biggest problem people have managing people is they don't trust people. So they become a boss instead of becoming a leader. I truly believe that the best leaders lead by trusting their people and letting their people do their jobs, not babysitting them, not, you know, trying to micromanage them. Let's that's the worst possible thing you can do.Jamie:
And that stuff all comes up when a sale is going to happen. Like if, if you're that type of person, most people don't want to buy that kind of a business and it's super easy for them to find that out.Ron:
That's amazing. And I'm passing by saying it's super easy to find that out just through an effective interview, they're going to suss out that you're, you're that critical cog in the machine. And, and for many, that's not going to be the type of business they would want to acquire.Jamie:
Absolutely. For sure. 100%. Like they're anybody interested is going to want to talk to one or two key people in the company. And in those conversations, Those people are already nervous because of what the conversation is being about.Jamie:
They're worried about their jobs. They're worried for a lot of reasons. So if they aren't comfortable and they're giving answers that somebody doesn't want to hear, which is very easy to happen, those people are going to walk away quickly or they're going to. You know beat up the price because it means that the price is different and they're going to have to be Involved in every bit of the day to the day and possibly be the face of the company My goal is not to be the face of the company I i'm happy to have my sale guys go be the superheroes on site and my operations manager, you know, talk to everybody I don't I don't need to be I don't need to be the guy that's you know blasted everywhere or whatever but You know, I'll give every client my cell nber.Jamie:
I'll give every client my personal email. I don't hide from anybody. I just don't look for that. And, and they don't, they usually don't reach out because they trust the relationships they have with our people. And it makes our people want to stay like they, they don't leave. They, they feel empowered.Jamie:
And that's part of the, these as your own mini conferences that they do. Like now that we're sending them to those, they, they feel even more empowered going to those and coming back and being able to just execute any of those little ideas that they have. Because I don't make them run them by me. If they think that it's going to make their job better and the company better, by all means, go ahead and do those things.Ron:
That's amazing. What, what are some of the other businesses that you're involved in today?Jamie:
so I just sold, , I was 50 percent owner of a company called Ontario's furnace rentals. So that, that deal closed September 1st. , we had 28 short and midterm rentals, , in Southern Ontario. We didn't own any of them.Jamie:
So the way we operated was we went to, we had homeowners coming to us or we would approach a few of them and we would basically property manage their home. Instead of them having to be landlords rented out longterm. And in Ontario, we have really, really bad landlord tenant agreement laws. , I know in Florida, you guys just recently changed yours were like, if somebody doesn't pay in 30 days, like you can get them out of that house in Canada.Jamie:
It takes 10 months, , the whole process. So as soon as they stop paying, it takes 10 months. So that landlord has to eat 10 months of their house, probably getting beaten up because if somebody is not paying, they're probably not good people. , and 10 months of not getting paid. So, , yeah. It was an easy conversation built based on trust because of the network that we've got that I said, Hey, give me your keys.Jamie:
Let us property manage it. My business partner was a local police officer. , and you know, we'll, we'll fill your place with short term rentals, but our goal was always the midterm market. , we had a ton of referrals from contractors, , real estate agents where people needed homes for like three to six months.Jamie:
some of them 30 days like between closings on houses or, you know, their house is under construction for a couple months and it's just easier to live a few blocks away and not have to deal with it. , so that was the most recent one. , our biggest one was in 2014. , my wife and I and, and three or four investors opened up three trampoline parks in Ontario.Jamie:
there was one trampoline park in Canada in 2014 and the States had over 50, California had like 25 of them. , so my wife and I traveled to California, , back in 2014 to do a bunch of research for three or four days on, on a bunch of them that were there and find the good things and the bad things that seemed interesting.Jamie:
We came back to Canada and. Had to collect, you know, a total of five and a half million dollars to build out the three trampoline parks. We ran them for Five years after the first year and a half, we paid off our loan. All the investors got their money back, so like five and a half million dollars in a year and a half.Jamie:
So all those guys were totally happy. And then we exited in 2019 just before Covid. . Thank God.Ron:
What time in 2019 was it?Jamie:
Literally at the end of the year. So two of them were eight months before the end of the year.Ron:
Okay.Jamie:
The last one was supposed to close on the Monday of March break when everything shut down.Jamie:
So it got postponed for like three months. So we lost a little bit of what our sale value was supposed to be because the bank actually called the deal because they shut us all down. The bank wouldn't give them the funding so that, that extended for about 90 days, but we still ended up selling.Jamie:
it was still a good exit for us. , the new owners took a little bit of a beating for the first. For the first bit cause of COVID, but they're absolutely crushing it now. , one of the parks did end up closing. We had one in Northern Ontario that, , they closed a few years later, but the other two parks are just absolutely explode.Ron:
What is a trampoline park? I don't, I don't know what that exact, I can imagine, but I'm assing it's a place for kids to be loudest,Jamie:
noisiest. Screamiest places for, for kids to be at, at an indoor facility. , ours were 20 to 35, 000 square feet. Half of it was covered in trampolines for kids to jp on. , ours were a little different cause we also put like indoor climbing structures for kids.Jamie:
We put an American ninja warrior course in there for anybody of any age. We put, , a foam pit that eventually turned into, , an airbag. So ours were more like indoor kids, play places, , versus just trampoline parks, and we kind of learned that from a few of the parks that we went to in California, because a lot, almost all of them are just trampoline parks back then.Jamie:
And now you see, if you go to any of them now, they're, they've all converted that. Basically half of their, their area is trampoline. The other half is a whole bunch of other stuff, arcades and diversifyingRon:
the, the, the demands, you know, people may want to do a and not be. So yeah,Jamie:
so we got lucky and we sold that, , just before COVID basically.Jamie:
And then in COVID, , I had a ton of friends in, in Burlington, especially, you know, around, , around a charitable group called the Burlington dads. And we've got 6, 200 members on Facebook. , there was a lot of guys that had small businesses locally in Burlington that couldn't function as a business anymore because of, you know, because of everything that was, that was going on and you know, the laws that we had.Jamie:
so I had an idea and I approached two of my buddies that are very techie, like one of them builds websites, the other one builds apps. And I said, Hey, I'll give you guys 33 percent each of this company. Here's my idea. I said, I've got a company I want to call fresh wagon. And it'll be to your door delivery of fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, fresh meats, fresh bread, fresh chocolates, all local places around our community.Jamie:
That we'll order, we'll pick up from them or we'll get delivered from them and we'll take it to people's doorsteps. , so not really like an Uber eats or that kind of stuff. Cause we weren't like, Hey, like within an hour we'll deliver it. We were like, Hey, Tuesdays and Thursdays, here's our two delivery days, go to our website or go to our app.Jamie:
And here's all the local businesses you can help support by ordering from them directly. , so. Our agreement with all of the vendors where we take 15 or 20%, depending on what kind of margins they had, whatever we sell, we'll take 15 or 20 percent you guys decide on what we price it at. So they would give us the price.Jamie:
We had zero inventory because all the orders had to be in, you know, 24 hours before. Our system was automated so that it would send those orders directly to our vendors. They would have everything delivered to our warehouse that we had, which was Oakville Sight and Sound's warehouse, since I had a bunch of empty space.Jamie:
we would procure it and put it all in, you know, , baskets or bags or boxes. We ended up doing, , big, , I guess like apple boxes, like those boxes that fit like 40, 50 apples. That's kind of like what we dressed up. We ordered a bunch of custom ones that were white and put fresh wagon stickers on them.Jamie:
So every doorstep delivery, we were dropping this off on their doorstep because you couldn't really talk to anybody. , we went within three months of opening it, we were doing 30, 000 a month, , in, in deliveries, just local. Like it was literally just Burlington, like just there's 200, 000 people in Burlington.Ron:
It's a big idea.Jamie:
Yeah. So I ended up getting an email from, , from one of the grocery stores, like one of the big chain grocery stores up here. And they basically said, Hey, like we'll give you, we'll give you a quarter million dollars if you close your doors, , because we were stepping on their toes too much.Jamie:
and that wasn't our goal. Our goal was not to build this, to just sell it, but you were helpingRon:
the local retailJamie:
for sure. So what I did was I approached our biggest vendor and I said, Hey, we've exploded your business. Here's what we're being offered. If you'd like to buy this and continue it on, I'll sell it to you for the same price.Jamie:
And that's what we did. We sold it to her. , she couldn't, she couldn't come up with the financing. So we financed it over the next 12 months for, , and she kept growing with it. , she's, her nbers have been phenomenal. She, Kind of expanded. We were local to Burlington. She was more Mississauga, Toronto.Jamie:
So she's kind of pushed the network more Mississauga, Toronto, and really gone after like supporting women's businesses, women's food businesses, women's soaps, like that kind of stuff. , which isn't exactly what we were doing, but she, you know, she still continued with, she's put her own spin on it.Jamie:
Yeah.Jamie:
But still doing the reason why we wanted to do it. It was to help. Help local places that can't do delivery. Like those places just can't afford to like buy a van and have a full time delivery guy. , so it worked out awesome. We literally sold it within eight months of opening it. , and it was, it was just a crazy cool experience during COVID when everybody was at home going like, Oh my God, like how am I going to pay the bills?Jamie:
What are we going to do here?Ron:
Jamie, I, you have more good ideas. It seems like in a week than some people have in a lifetime. And what you also act on them. So I'm just, that's not even a question. That's a compliment. Yeah. My wife would call thatJamie:
being an idiot. That's what my wife would call it. I'm an idiot.Ron:
Well, not if you’re putting all that change in your pocket and helping the people that you're helping. You mentioned a few minutes ago. , the group that you started, , I made a note here, Burlington dads. , you, you mentioned that that has 6, 300 members. , I know, , , you know, doing some research you you've received.Ron:
You know, local accolades from your government, both your local government, your federal government for some of the things that you guys have been doing. , I'm going to share on the screen right now and I'll say it for those that are listening. The website is burlingtondads. com. Can you talk about what that group is and what you're trying to achieve with that group?Jamie:
Yeah, for sure. , so I didn't start it. The group's actually been around on Facebook for, for 11 years. , it was four guys that started it. It was more of a, you know, if you need to borrow a tool or you need to borrow something or you need a hand carrying something, it was, it was just, it was just a dad's group.Jamie:
and there's nothing wrong with that. Like, it was awesome. It built itself up to like 1100 or 1200 people. , yeah. When I joined five years ago, it was, it was COVID actually, that when I joined the group, , they're, they had done one golf tournament where they had raised a little bit of money, but the goal of the group wasn't to, to go raise a whole bunch of funds and, and, and have a bigger, bigger look.Jamie:
Their goal was, you know, their, their name was always Burlington dads, dads helping others, , which is what they did. You know, anybody, you know, somebody would need a bicycle cause theirs got stolen or somebody needed a wheelchair cause they couldn't afford it. You know, you would have 15 guys that would say, Hey, I can donate 20 bucks.Jamie:
I'll donate 20 bucks. So it was a lot of that. , I approached the guys that started and I said, Hey, like any, any reason why you would be against me trying to, to go and grow this and try and, you know, do bigger things if we can. , and they were all for it. , and the first one was, , one of the guys during COVID actually started this thing that we called the Berlin, , the birthday parade.Jamie:
So kids couldn't celebrate birthdays. They couldn't have birthday parties during COVID. So this gentleman had like three or four cars that they, they got together and the families would get in the cars and they went to three or four houses that they knew it was people's birthday or whatever, right? Like they, they had had a couple of people that reached out and said, Hey, like, that's a cool idea.Jamie:
So. , I, I started helping him with that on, on the second week. Cause this, that, this became a weekly thing. We're going to do this like every Sunday on the third week. , he was kind of like, this is, this has gotten to be a little bit too much for me. Like, do you want to, do you want to take this on? I'm still trying to run my business.Jamie:
And there was maybe like 20 cars at the time that we're doing this. And we had four or five places to go. So I said, yeah, no problem. So we created a page, a separate group for it. It absolutely exploded. And the first drive that we did that I took over, we had 120 cars, including motorcycles in our in our parade, and we had 21 stops to get to throughout the city of Burlington.Jamie:
It took us four and a half hours to do it. And we literally were shutting down streets like the, the motorcycles would like pull up to the front of a major intersection block traffic. And like, it, it blew up, like the media took, like the federal, like federal politicians were talking about it. Like they, they talked about it in one of their house of commons things.Jamie:
the news was going crazy. People were reaching out all over Facebook and they just thought it was like the most amazing thing. And we ended up continuing that for like two or three months. , I think that was the point where COVID started to like ease the restrictions a little bit. And in total, we ended up doing like 250 people's houses and it ended up not just being like, Birthday parties.Jamie:
It was like, you know, it would be other things. Like somebody would pass away. So we would drive by and the family would be outside and they'd absolutely break out into tears because, you know, we're coming by and everybody was decorating their cars too. So we'd have signs on the cars. We'd have lights on them.Jamie:
We started putting Christmas lights on the cars. Like it was amazing. So that was the first. Thing that I was able to be a part of that was like this. This really can be big. This could be super powerful. , so I got more involved as an admin for the group and I probably took took it over like four years ago.Jamie:
and a couple of the original guys are still a part of the team. We have seven guys now that help that help run it. , we're an actual not for profit. Now we should have our full charitable status in January or February, , 6300 members and we've raised. You know, over 500, 000 in the last four years. , that that all stays local.Jamie:
Everything we do is only for local small organizations that really have a hard time getting government funding. , a lot of the times people don't know who these organizations are. They've never heard of them, but they do some super, super powerful things, whether it's women's women's shelters. There's another one called the chifre house, which, , it's.Jamie:
It's they have three homes now in Burlington that a lady runs the organization and it's for for pregnant or or ladies that have newborns. They're usually all new immigrants. , a lot of them have been involved or forced into the sex trade. And once they get pregnant, then they're no longer needed in the sex trade, so they have nowhere to go.Jamie:
so this lady has a total, I guess, between the five houses, she probably has like 15 or 18 of these women that she gives them a place to stay. She nurtures their kids. She helps, she helps raise them until they're about 12 months old. And then she tries to get them out into the, to the workforce. She gets them.Jamie:
A lot of them can't speak English. They're very broken English, , because they're coming from, you know, not great situations overseas. , so it's, it's. Organizations like that, that, that really do some powerful things that nobody, nobody would know about. , so they've, they've started approaching us over the last four years, these kinds of places.Jamie:
And, and we're just trying to take the bull by the horns and, and change as many lives as we can in that group. And it's, it's been amazing. It's been super, super inspiring, super hbling. , there's, there's things that you see that, you know, you, you hear about, but you never really, you never really see it firsthand and, When you do see it firsthand, it, it knocks you back a few, a few marks and makes you go, you know what?Jamie:
There's, there's bigger things in life than, you know, having a business that makes money and paying the bills. There's, there's, there's a lot more out there to work for.Ron:
Where does this inspiration to do good come from? There's a lot of people in the world that make money and. Either they, they, they work their job and they make money or they're entrepreneurs or, you know, whatever their means are, they have money and that might be the end of it and you're, you're my, my interpretation is you're, you're going a next step and, and involving your time, money, and energy to do a lot of good in your community.Ron:
Where does that come from?Jamie:
I'd have to say it was just, it was, it comes from where I was raised. , you know, I, I had a tough, I had a tough upbringing, like, Love my dad. My dad was super stubborn, super hard nosed. , he worked hard, didn't save a dollar though. He wasn't, wasn't great with money. He was super tough on us, like super, super tough on us.Jamie:
I moved out when I was 15 because it wasn't, it wasn't, Wasn't the greatest situation. , my first boss was my dad's boss and he, he'd always said, you know, you're going to be nothing. You're going to be just like your dad. You're never going to live in a million dollar house. He was an old, old German guy that ran a scaffolding company.Jamie:
and he treated my dad like total shit for, you know, the five or six years that I knew him. And he treated me the same way when I was 15, you know, working in the yard for him. And, and I decided back then, , I told myself that I want to change my stars. , and so over the next four years, that's why I worked so hard at, as hard as I did during high school, my goal was to, to learn from what my dad had taught me and, and to not, and still not be my dad, if, if that makes sense. cause I don't look down on my dad at all. He was stubborn. He, he, he taught me everything that I know.Ron:
Sounds like a tough guy that worked hard to take care of his family.Jamie:
He raised us by himself and. And, you know, the only way I could show that I grew and learned from that was to do more and do better.Jamie:
and once, once I got to a point where, you know, we weren't, we weren't fighting to pay the bills. My kids had, you know, the money to go play hockey or go play baseball. And, you know, my wife and I live a comfortable life where we don't have to work 80 hours a week anymore. I realized that that was the time that I've got to start.Jamie:
Trying to enable other people to have that opportunity, whether it was, you know, I, I meet with people every day. I meet with one or two people that just want to talk about something or go over situations there in their life. I want other people to realize that they have the opportunity to change their stars.Jamie:
I want other people to know that like there are ways to get past some shitty situations. And I, I've been through all of them. My best friend. I bought my first house next to my best friend. He hung himself six months later. , you know, I've, I've had a ton of friends from Thunder Bay that, you know, overdosed or, or killed themselves.Jamie:
So like, I've had a ton of adversity that, that we've all gone through. I was broke for a long time. I, I didn't make the greatest decisions with every business that I had. They, they ended up working out in the end, but you know, those first five car washes. , they taught me a lot because I almost lost them all by not knowing how to do my taxes properly and ended up with, you know, 40, 50, 000 bill that my dad who, you know, didn't save money, still ended up pulling off his credit line to like help him bail, help bail me out of that, which, which pushed me more to go to the next level after that.Jamie:
Cause I was not going to not be able to pay him back and not make this happen. And it works out at, you know, there's, there's a reason why you go through the tough things and it's, it's to teach you how to win.Ron:
That's you got to have credit in business.Ron:
You got, well, and in business and in life, well, you're, you're, you're, you're a pretty bad ass guy, Jamie.Ron:
It's, , it's been awesome getting to know you awesome for you to share with our audience. I did want to share you, you also, , I know you said you don't necessarily put your name out behind this, but you are the guy behind it. There's a little Instagram. Channel actually I just , I went there I say little there's more than 10 000 people following this instagram channel And it's a dreamers dot n dot believers And it's a page full of just inspirational quotes What what's the background behind creating this page?Jamie:
Yeah back in I think it was 2017 or 2018 , i'm You know the I have tattoos, you know all around my body and half of them are three quarters of them are Either inspirational quotes or words that mean a lot to me. , so that's the kind of stuff that pps me up and gets me excited and wants, makes me want to go to the next level.Jamie:
So I wanted to do the same for other people that are inspired by the same kind of thing. So, , we created a quote page and after the first two years I brought on one of my buddies to help me cause it takes a lot to post three, four times a day and you know, to keep pages active. And even that, like we, we can still do better.Jamie:
It's, it's not our, our main thing, but, , you know, for, for five years, we've just put out stuff that means a lot to us. , we want people to be able to have a, have a place that even if they're just slightly glancing through and they're scrolling through, they see something like that. It can change your mindset for the next hour, you know, seeing something that's inspirational versus seeing something that Fox News or CNN News or some, you know, bullshit station like that is posting and it's demoralizing you and it's taking you back and, you know, making you think the world's a bad place.Jamie:
Every once in a while, you just need that one thing that triggers happy thoughts for the next hour and that was the whole goal of this. Like, I don't promote on my personal page that I'm this guy. We don't post on, on the dreamers and believers. It doesn't, it's not at all connected to me. My, you know, my name's not on it.Jamie:
His name's not on it. , that wasn't the reason for it. It was, we want people to, to live by those four words. And I live by those four words every day. And I tell my kids to live by them, dream, believe, achieve, and inspire. And that's, that's the order to live through life, whether, whether you come from nothing, whether you come from everything, if you don't have dreams and you can't, you can't try to achieve those dreams, And you can't be successful at those things and then be able to help inspire other people to do those things, then I don't know why we're here.Jamie:
That's the sole reason why I'm here. , I try and make my kids live and breathe this every day. It's tougher when you know, your kids have every, every new iPad and every new video game and every new pair of Jordans and all the stuff we didn't have. And we're giving them all those things.Jamie:
It's tough to hble them and make them, you know, come back down to life. But that's also why we involve our kids in every charity thing that we do. And every, every weekend we're involved in some event that our kids are out there seeing firsthand what other people don't have. , you know, we have a huge toy drive at Christmas that we do.Jamie:
And it's one of the best events of the year because it's one that all the kids and all the other families get to be a part of and, and they see situations that they just wouldn't even believe are happening out there. So when they get to go pick out a bunch of toys for other kids, the same age as them, they're just so jacked up and, and throughout the whole year, they're just asking when we're going to do it again.Jamie:
When are we going to go to Toys R Us and do that big shopping spree toy drive? , so it's, it's things like that, that just. They continue to inspire other people to, to do better and be better. IRon:
love it. Jamie folks that are tuned in, watching, listening, they want to get in touch with you directly. Where can we send them?Jamie:
you can send them to my, my Instagram or Facebook, which is just Jamie Kozub. , they could email me, you know, jamie. kozub at gmail. com or. You know, send me a text. Give me a call. 905 334 8815. , I'm all about, you know, helping anybody out that wants to have a conversation about anything. If there's, if there's a question, if there's something you need to be inspired about, if, if you just gotta, if you just gotta cry on my shoulder, I'm, I'm here for people.Jamie:
I'll, I'll, I'll do whatever it takes to help get people to that next level.Ron:
Love it. Jamie, it's been a pleasure having you on Automation Unplugged. Thanks for joining us today.Jamie:
Thanks so much.Ron Callis is the CEO of One Firefly, LLC, a digital marketing agency based out of South Florida and creator of Automation Unplugged. Founded in 2007, One Firefly has quickly became the leading marketing firm specializing in the integrated technology and security space. The One Firefly team work hard to create innovative solutions to help Integrators boost their online presence, such as the elite website solution, Mercury Pro.