Jun
26
2013

Get To Know Your Banker

Wherever you bank, your small business banker is there to help you

by: Amy and Danielle

Get To Know Your Banker

Here’s a little tip that will probably save you a lot of aggravation and very likely some money as well: Make friends with your small business banker.

If you’re like us, you probably don’t have enough time to spend with your actual friends, so the idea of shooting the breeze with your banking professional might seem a little odd. We’ve been lucky in our business: We’ve banked with TD Bank since day one, and we’ve always had great people working with us there. Our very first banker was with us for years and even became an Admiral Road customer. Whenever we needed something, he was quick and responsive, and always helpful. On our end, we just remembered to add him to our mailing list, and we sent him the occasional ticket to a show we were participating in. In the early days, we would send him news clippings where our company was mentioned. Why wouldn’t we? We figured that if we invested in him, he would be willing to invest in us. It cost us nothing to build the framework for a great professional relationship.

A few weeks ago we found ourselves back at the main branch of TD Bank, setting up the accounts for our new venture. We had the chance to get to know our current banker, David Canseco, who is not only incredibly friendly and nice, but he’s also really smart, insightful and helpful. He was able to use his expertise to guide us through a pile of processes and decisions. Guess what? He’s already helped us out more than once since then, even getting the bank to make an exception to policy in order to make things run more smoothly for us.

Wherever you bank, your small business banker is there to help you. We’re betting she or he would love to take your call or a meeting to learn more about how to help you succeed. The next time you’re in a pinch and need something from your bank, we guarantee you’ll be glad you’ve got a friend on the inside.

 
Category: 
Life - Work
Tags: 
amy ballon; danielle botterell; small business banking; TD Bank
Amy and Danielle
Jun
20
2013

What I Learned At SUBWAY®

Lessons From Entrepreneur Fred DeLuca

by: Amy and Danielle

What I Learned At SUBWAY®

This week I had the opportunity to meet SUBWAY® Restaurants Co-founder and President Fred DeLuca for lunch in Toronto. Although I’ve enjoyed many SUBWAY® sandwiches over the years, I have to admit, I didn’t know much about Fred before this week. Fred might be the most wildly successful entrepreneur I'd never heard of. He also seems like a really great guy.
 
Did you know that Fred DeLuca opened his first restaurant at the age of 17? (Can you imagine?)
 
Did you know that Fred DeLuca had to borrow $1,000 to open his first location in 1965 with a goal of providing a healthier alternative to traditional fast food?
 
Did you know that today SUBWAY® the world’s largest restaurant chain (that means bigger than McDonalds!) with over 39,000 locations, including over 3,000 in Canada?
 
Fred DeLuca has always had a clear vision for what he wanted to do with his company. He is a huge supporter of entrepreneurs. I learned that he has grown the SUBWAY® chain through fostering the entrepreneurial spirit. I learned that he keeps the franchise fees deliberately low to encourage people to join the SUBWAY® family and allow them to grow their businesses quickly. I learned about SUBWAY® U, and the annual company conference, and about all of the support that’s available to franchisees. I learned that some individuals own dozens, even hundreds of SUBWAY® restaurants.
 
I also had the opportunity to meet Omar and Rakib, the franchisees who hosted us for lunch at their newly opened restaurant at College and Spadina. This is the second SUBWAY® location Omar and Rakib have opened in the past six months. I assumed that at least one of them was a recent business school graduate. Not so. Rakib is an engineer who worked at SUBWAY® when he was in school. He learned the business and fell in love with the brand. His advice to budding entrepreneurs was to believe in what you do. These guys were gracious and lovely and I wish them piles of success. I think they’ve joined a great family.
 
Category: 
Life - Work
Tags: 
fred deluca; subway restaurants; amy ballon
what you didn't know about subway
Amy and Danielle
Jun
11
2013

One Tough Mudder

Working out may be comparable to motherhood but exercise is a kid-free zone for this mom

by: Amy and Danielle

One Tough Mudder

A few weeks ago I found myself hiking up ski hills for hours in very cold weather. There was also plunging into ice water, crawling through subterranean passages, wading through waist-deep mud and hurtling myself over 12-foot walls. Did I mention running through live electrical wires?
 
I’ll bet you’re thinking this is a piece about some kind of political torture situation, right? Actually, I volunteered for all of this. On May 11th I participated in Tough Mudder at Mount St. Louis Moonstone, north of Toronto. Tough Mudder is a 10-12 mile military-style obstacle course designed by British Special Forces to test a person’s physical and mental resolve. The average participant in a Tough Mudder event is a 26-year-old beefy dude, which begs the question of why a 40-something mother of two would want to take something like this on.
 
When I told Erica about my experience at Tough Mudder she remarked how it could be compared to motherhood. She’s right: Hauling myself through muddy, pain-filled miles is not entirely dissimilar to raising children. For starters, it was dirty and gross, so there’s that. It also required the help of many people to complete. I had a great team, but also relied upon the kindness and brute strength of strangers. It took a village indeed. Most importantly, training for and completing Tough Mudder required a large amount of dedication and determination. There were days when I didn’t want to train, and moments in the course when I didn’t want to continue, but I did because I’d made a commitment, kind of like motherhood.
 
Motherhood, though, had nothing to do with my motivation for participating in Tough Mudder. On the contrary, actually. I’m a born-again fitness buff who only discovered exercise at 37. Since then, my fitness has become a motherhood-free zone. When I’m in the weight room, I’m no one’s mom or wife or co-worker. I’m just the kind-of-old broad trying to lift the really freaking heavy stuff, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. When my Lulus go on, I leave the mommy in me behind. The time I spend getting fitter and stronger is challenging and rewarding, meditative, and invigorating.
  
I feel so strongly about the separation of gym and motherhood, in fact, that I didn’t allow my children to come to Tough Mudder and cheer me on. How’s that for a statement? Here’s my reasoning: Kids, being kids, usually have to pee. Or they are hungry, or bored, or cold, or in some other way requiring of attention. I have no problem with this in most areas of my life. I did, after all, sign up for that job. But Tough Mudder was the culmination of hours, weeks, and months in the weight room, on the treadmill, the stair machine, and hills at the park, and it was mine. So what was it like? Really, really cold, for one. It was indeed physically and mentally challenging, and it was a tremendously rewarding experience. I’m going back for round two in September, so I guess there’s something a little addictive about pushing the limits like that.
 
I spent Mother’s Day this year bruised and scratched and completely thrilled with myself. It was this mom’s perfect gift to herself.
 
Category: 
Health - Fitness
Tags: 
danielle botterell; tough mudder; exercise; weight lifting
Amy and Danielle