Stephen Clements - When the Family Business Is More Than Business

His father opened a sports store in Toronto, and from an early age, the family business wasn't just where he worked, but where he grew up.

But not everything built with love is easy to sustain. So he walked away, not from the work, but to save the relationship that mattered most. 

He forged his own path in entrepreneurship, until his father called him back. This time, not to run the business, but to sell it.

Then came the hardest transition of all. Learning, for the first time, to work for someone else. What followed was a masterclass in people leadership, built on a foundation his father had laid years before.

This is a conversation about family, identity, and a legacy that has nothing to do with what you sell and everything to do with how you make people feel.

#pivotalmoment #family #leadership #legacy

Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership strategist, and storyteller who believes growth happens in the everyday moments that define who we become. Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiousity, and heart to the conversation, as each interaction is an opportunity to define what truly matters.

One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

To learn more about Lesley: www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca

@the_lesley_hawkins_podcast

The Lesley Hawkins Podcast is a Marsley Canada production.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Welcome to the Leslie Hawkins Podcast. Each week, my guest and I discuss one pivotal moment in their life, what they learned from it, and their words of wisdom. His father opened a sports store in Toronto, and from an early age, the family business wasn't just where he worked, but where he grew up. But not everything built with love is easy to sustain. So he walked away, not from the work, but to save the relationship that mattered most. He forged his own path in entrepreneurship until his father called him back. This time, not to run the business, but to sell it. Then came the hardest transition of all: learning for the first time to work for someone else. What followed was a masterclass in people leadership built on a foundation his father had laid years before. This is a conversation about family, identity, and a legacy that has nothing to do with what you sell and everything to do with how you make people feel. Welcome to the Leslie Hawkins Podcast. I am so grateful that you are here joining us today. Please welcome today's guest, Stephen Clements. So Stephen is a leadership coach, he is a former corporate executive, he is a business family leader, he's an entrepreneur. There is so much that Stephen has done, and I can't wait for you to hear his story. So welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

So good. So this podcast is all based on one question, which is what is one pivotal moment in your life? And the reason I chose that question was first of all, it's really universal. We've all had multiple pivotals through our life. And some we've chosen, some have been chosen for us or imposed on us. But throughout the journeys and all of the pivots that I've been through, I've found that there can be a moment where you feel like you're the only person that's gone through this particular pivot. And the moment you start talking about it, you realize, oh, wait a second, there's an entire community out there who has been there, done that, and can help. And so I wanted to create this platform to introduce the audience to amazing people like yourself and also to hear their stories so that there is an understanding that people have been through things and really tell their human experience.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Awesome. Great.

SPEAKER_03 2:41

So let me ask you, Steven, what is one pivotal moment in your life?

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Well, like you said, um, like most people, I've had many. Um, but I think um the one I think of the most is in uh 2005, we sold our family business to a competitor who was a public company, and um that changed everything for me.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Yes, exactly. So your family business was national sports.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Okay, so tell us about national.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Sure. Um well my father was a uh serial entrepreneur, and uh in the mid to late 60s, he actually started working for a company called Collegiate Sports, which was uh predecessor to SportCheck and uh other old firehouse sports. He worked there, and then he ended up starting his own business called National Gym Clothing Limited, driving literally out of the trunk of his car, delivering um running shoes, t-shirts, shorts to uh high schools across Ontario. And from there in 1971, he opened a little store on Young Street. Uh the people from that would remember it, uh, if you're as as in my vintage, it was called National Gym Clothing Limited. So National Gym is what the people knew it as. And then uh he eventually changed it to National Sports and uh over the years ended up uh opening up to 21 stores at one point and uh went through quite a ride. I mean, um, if you think about it, he was uh he was there wasn't a lot of big box stores back in 1971. There wasn't really any. Collegiate sports might have been one. Uh Nike was just kind of getting started, like you know, 60s, and they really weren't that well known. So uh he was a bit ahead of his time. And then uh yeah, so he he was known for crazy things like uh midnight madness sales staying open all night long, um, you know, selling stuff at 80% off at four o'clock in the morning, crazy stuff like that that uh was happening back then. And uh went through quite a journey uh in 1994. I actually went through uh uh uh bankruptcy protection, CCAA, and came out of that alive. And then um in 2005, um we sold the family business to uh Forzani Group, uh John Forzani and the Forzani Group, uh, which is the owner of SportCheck and sports experts and many other banners. And uh yeah, so that was kind of that moment.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

That's a big change. Yeah. So when did you start working at National? Were you like indoctrined right in?

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Yeah. Like um probably when I was like 12 years old. So I was uh the store at Young's Shepherd. So I would have been 10 years old when it opened, so I was probably around then. But I think I remember uh taking the bus after school. We could do that back then in the and the subway, and and it was you know pretty short. I would work nights and weekends when I was 12, 13, 14 years old. And I remember having the keys at one point at 15 or 16 and when there was only one store. Um and um yeah, worked up until I went away to um I went away for uh grade 12 and for college and came back and got kind of back into the business after that, and then uh worked right up till I worked for about eight years, and then uh my father and I decided it was better to remain father and son than Boston employee. So we parted ways. Um smart move.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Um, it wasn't really voluntary. Um he says I quit, but he really fired me. So um so that was it. So we parted ways and uh we we got along actually better after I didn't work for him. And uh I was gone for uh 12 years and did my own thing with my wife. We had a couple, many, several other businesses we ran during that time as an entrepreneur. And then um in 2003, he asked me if I would come back and help him sell the business. Uh he was ready to sell the business, and uh so I came back and I ended up becoming president, and then uh two years later we sold the business.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

Okay. And why did you want to sell the business? Like national sports. I mean, there was one right down the road from where we live. Yeah, and it was a great going concern.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yeah, I think um it was uh mostly financial pressure. I think that uh trying to grow come out of uh coming out of the bankruptcy protection CCAA, there was uh they take on a lot of debt and the company always made money, uh, but it was mostly servicing debt. Uh the Frizani group was putting a lot of pressure fine um other competitors as well, but uh they were opening Sport March stores, like covering they would open three or four surrounding every one of our stores. And I found out later it wasn't a coincidence. Um saw a map. Uh anyways, uh it was it was business. And uh so they really wanted to buy us, and there was a lot of pressure, and um it just became it became it became a lot. My dad was 65 at the time, okay, and are just about to yeah, he was actually 65 when he sold the business. So it was a turning point. And uh in hindsight, could we have made it? Probably. Would I do I wish we would have? Maybe, but we didn't. And um so at the end of the day, it was uh it was the right thing to do, and it was the right thing to do for him. Uh he'd also had some health issues a few years before that, and so uh it was just it was it was good timing to uh for him to be able to walk away, yes, uh especially after bringing the business back out of uh CCAA, which no most people didn't do back in those days and still don't today. And uh it was just the right, it was the right time. Right. It was the right time. And uh it was also for the employees. I mean, we we you know we had 700 employees and uh uh it was, you know, we wanted to make sure that that that that lived on. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

And if memory serves correct, because I remember National Sports was one of our customers over the years, that the employees were very much like family, like it was really a family run business in that way that you guys did a very good job of taking care of your associates.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Yeah, yeah, that was uh that was my dad's thing all along. Like he really, if you asked him today, he's he's gonna be 87, he's still going strong. Um he would just say if you if you said what's one secret for business, he'd just say it's people. So it's all about the people. So he did crazy things that people wouldn't do. Like uh, you know, um when Furzani Group bought us, we had 38 uh cars leased out for employees. Um every store manager, it was like Oprah, you get a car and you get a car. You get a car. So um we had um, you know, employee loans. Um we had a we had two two chaplains that would go visit people if they were sick or in the hospital or um if they had personal issues, they could call and that was all free. Um yeah, we'd have an annual picnic uh up at his property in Uxbridge where you know they'd bust all the employees in and have like a little Olympics uh on every July 1st. And most employees just loved it, and they would come up uh bust with the team, we'd all have team shirts on, and we'd play they'd play volleyball and do uh canoe races and do uh horseshoes and softball and whatever else they could do, and they'd have a big competitive day. So it was it was definitely uh uh a family. That was kind of his approach, and which was hard to do as you got a little bigger, and we got up to over 20 stores and uh closer to a thousand employees. It was a little tough, but that was that was that was definitely him.

SPEAKER_03 10:14

That's amazing. Yeah, and it's um you know the expression of the good old days. I mean, uh that's the way business should be. I wish it was more like that now. Um, but it's amazing to see that I hopefully that legacy lives on with some of the people that were still within that that organization. Because that's so impactful when when you can actually dial in on what's important as people. Yeah. It seems somewhat lost.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Yeah, it's um it's hard to do in a corporate environment. Um, you know, when we when when we got acquired, we were able to keep we did our best to keep that going. Um one of the other things that he'd always done is um we'll probably talk about it later, but there's a charity that he started called the Jennifer Ashley Children's Charity. And so all the stores would raise money. And today, like Canadian Tire does a really good job with jumpstart. So we were doing that, you know, like 25 years ago with Jennifer Ashley. So anybody that came in the store, we were asking for money for charity and they were giving it. And so the stores got a part of that. So they were they were part of helping this charity, which was helping kids that are in term you know, terminally and chronically ill in hospital. And and so there was something bigger than just selling running shoes and selling uh hockey sticks. Like they were actually part of they felt part of the charity, they would come and volunteer at the at the dinner, they would come and volunteer at the you know, there was an annual picnic, they would volunteer. So there was a big connection with the charity. Um so when we took it over um after when Frisani Group bought us, then uh my dad retired that first day. He was done, and um, I actually took it over. Okay. And um we did our best for the next 16 years to try to keep that legacy. And I think we did a fairly good job in in a corporate environment to keep that going. Uh not as easy, but um they gave us a lot of freedom uh culturally. Um we had our own office, so we were able to do that from a corporate point of view. So I think we, you know, we did our best to keep that going.

SPEAKER_03 12:12

So you spent first chunk of your career as an entrepreneur or working for your dad.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

And then the sale happens, and now you're working for the fa for Zanny Group. Right. And what was that pivot like?

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Yeah. Well, it was um I was 43 years old and I'd um only ever worked for myself or my father. Uh I did have a part-time job when I was 16 carrying patio stones. Somehow he got me doing that to just get me. I don't know how I agreed to that one, but uh, it was a very heavy labor job, one of his best friends. But um other than that, I'd only ever worked for my dad or myself. So um when for Zanny Group bought us, I had no idea what to expect. Uh so the day that the sale closed, I sat in uh in our office with uh the CEO at the time, Bob Sartor, and on a scrap piece of paper, he scribbled out a um a contract offer. And um I looked and you know it was a two-year, two-year contract offer with um their ability to fire me in six months if they have with six months' notice if they wanted. Um, and I said yes. And uh most of my friends said you won't last the six, you won't last six months. You can't work for a big company. And I said, You're probably right. Thanks for your faith in me. Thanks for your faith in me. Yeah, so um, but um yeah, so that was January 31st, 2005, and uh ended up, you know, in different versions of the business. I was there till May of 2021.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

So that's amazing. Yeah, okay. And then but national sports is no longer, right? So they at some point folded that business in to SportTreck.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Yeah, so um when c when Furzani Group bought us initially, uh we were a competitor. And you know, at the time we thought they probably just bought us to, you know, to close us down just to get rid of us, but we were making money and doing well, and it was gonna be an expensive proposition, so they kept us going. And uh and then I think when Canadian Tire came along, kind of the same thing. We had we had a couple of supporters inside Canadian Tire that really liked liked what we were doing and saw the different differentiation between us and SportCheck. We were more team sport focused and more value focused. Um SportCheck broader lifestyle uh does a great job in that area. So we felt like we had a niche that we could really um continue to build. And uh so Canadian Tire supported that. They gave us more capital than we had before. We all had at least fixed up some stores and things. And then uh as we came through COVID, uh Kenny and Tyre went through an operational efficiency season where they were looking to save, um, you know, become more efficient operationally and kind of cut costs. And we'd never really been able to get a get strategic support support to grow. We'd always been maintaining and we were profitable every year right up until the end, even during COVID. And um, you know, had some highly profitable years when the Blue Jays weren't on a run and we were like, you know, we were probably one of the most profitable businesses as a as a percentage in the company. Um but eventually it was a strategic strategic decision, which I understood at the time and and understood and understand corporately why they did it.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Um in November of 2020, they said, you know, we're gonna close you down. And um we're just gonna, you know, we just believe that um we can pick up that between Canadian Tire, between SportCheck, um, Marks, whatever else, other banners, sports experts in Quebec, every other banners they had, they thought they could pick up that business and uh that um they would uh you know help us. We'd we'd run a closing sale and then we would be uh all done. So yeah, it was uh it was definitely a uh it was a difficult moment. Uh, but I knew it was coming. I knew it potentially would be coming. And if you think back to what that was like in 2020, things were really up in the air. Nobody knew it was gonna happen. So absolutely. I don't think there was a big surprise, but it was a um it was it was a difficult uh you know thing to have to oversee. But uh they gave me the opportunity fortunately to stay until the end and help do the window and focus on getting people jobs and uh and going out the same way we l we we ran the business for fifty years of you know being customer focused and also doing a good job for the owners, which was Canadian tire.

SPEAKER_03 16:33

So and while strategically it makes total sense emotionally, that must have been challenging for you and your dad, though, also to see like but this is our banner, this is our family legacy. Um, and while I appreciate the sale in 2005, that must have been a tough day, tough last day.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Yeah, the um when I found out in November when I was told, um surprisingly my dad was fine. I think he'd I think he'd decided when he sold it that that was no longer him. So he and he probably didn't like everything we did, so he didn't want to take so I'd do it differently. Yeah, you guys don't know what you're doing. I bet you're probably right. But um, so he really he he kind of disconnected from it and was really focused on other things, uh especially Jennifer Ashley charity and other things. So I think he saw that more as his legacy, not so much and I think the relationships with people, he could still walk into a store and and they'd be giving him hugs and you know he'd he'd be um you know, even five, ten, fifteen years later. So um I think that uh it was difficult, it was emotional, and the challenging was around the timing. We found out we had to keep we had to hold that information for um because it's a public company for quite a while. Yeah. Uh when we finally told the the staff in in February of 2021, uh it was it was a very emotional, and we had to do it over Zoom because you know we had we had stores across the province.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

It was still tons of restrictions, and so we uh we did that.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

But then what happened after that is uh we had a Zoom call. We had to do it after the market closed because it was the day before Kenny Tower's um quarterly call. And so we did it after the after the markets closed. And uh, you know, I was looking at the faces under the store manager on the screen. They were they were in shock, of course. They're you know, the woman telling them your business is about to be shut down. Um and then we said, you know, tomorrow afternoon we're having a call to talk about how we're running a closing sale, and they all showed up gung-ho, and let's do this, let's do it well. And so it was amazing, like the the culture of the company that even we'd kept for those years. And then uh my wife Tanya and I uh once that was announced, we set up a uh we did a cross-province tour over three weeks. We visited all the stores and let them know we were coming so that you know they'll make sure all the management and as many people wanted to be there, and we'd spend a few hours in each store. And um what I found really that's where the motion emotion came because I'd I'd go to the store and and I'd be there. I went there to console them and to try to help them. How can I help you find a job? How can we help you? And they were only concerned about me. And so, you know, I was balling my eyes out every time I walked into a store. So totally so it was um I kept it pretty good um most of the time, but there was a few moments when it kind of kind of just hit me and it just kind of broke down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

It's an incredible legacy though. I would congratulate it.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

And I will say that we were able to find uh we had 700 employees, and you know, we kind of gave them an option if you want to stay, we're gonna do our best to find you a job somewhere inside the corporation because there's lots of banners. Yep. Um, you know, some people like to took advantage of having the opportunity to to receive severance after, you know. So we had we had a lot of 20, 30, 40 year employees. So they were, they were more than they were saying, I think I'm good. You just, you know, I'll take I'll take some time off. Exactly. I'll go get a job somewhere else. Um, or I'm maybe I'm all done. But um, so they would uh so we did our best, and I think we we can say we found pretty much everybody who wanted a job internally, we got them a job. We helped, you know, try to refer people to other companies to get them jobs there. So and we, you know, we set three objectives. One was to find everybody a job that wanted a job, one was to um, you know, honor our customers and our vendors, the way we just, you know, way we shut down the business, and then um, and just to be good um stewards of you know, Canadian tire and make sure we we we did the best we could, and we did that right till the end. So we went out with class.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

So that's amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

And when you do a closing sale, um when we announced it in February, we were running a store closing sale and a business closing sale, and the stores were literally closed because of COVID. So we were not even open. We were doing curbside pickup and e-commerce. So we were running a store going out of business sale with the stores locked. You had to either online orders and come pick up, or for the I don't know, I can't remember how it was a few weeks before we could actually actually physically open those doors in in March of 2021. So yeah, so that was an interesting time and uh learned lots there.

SPEAKER_03 20:57

I bet. I bet. Well, that's incredible. Um that culture that you built focused on people, like from day one till the final day.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

Uh that's amazing. You should be in I'm you and your family should be incredibly proud of what you built and what you have sustained as your legacy. Yeah, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Thank you. Yeah, and there's still people there. Um, you know, I I don't know, there's not many, but there's still some that are there, still working. And um and I think from what I've been told, anybody who's stuck around and stayed that they've you know done a really good job and they you know they've continued to wear that. And um, you know, if if I walk in any of those stores today and you know there's still in there some of them still working, then they're really excited to see me. And just uh and and my dad can still walk into those stores and they'll still, you know, he's sold it he's like norm. Yeah, exactly. And literally that's his name. So that's perfect.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

That's so good. Okay. Um so one part of the legacy obviously is national sports.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:58

But the other part is also the Jennifer Ashley Foundation.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

So tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

So uh close to 40 years ago, uh 30 35, 36 years ago, my brother uh and sister-in-law had a baby, and the baby girl um died at six months old. Her name was Jennifer Ashley Clements. And um during that six months, she was in sick kids hospital pretty much the whole time uh because they didn't really know it was it was um called spinal muscular atrophy. Today there's actually some medicine that there's things that it's really expensive, but there is a there is some um some um medical help for that disease, but there was nothing at the time. So there was nothing they could do. And they knew that uh pretty early on. So um, you know, we spent a lot of time in the hospital, and my dad, um, being the entrepreneur that he is, decided that he noticed that you know, he was my brother and sister-in-law were fortunate that my dad could help them and um you know, help them with costs and help them because they couldn't work. But he noticed all the other people around there. He's like, How do people do this? How do people have a child that's dying in the hospital and they have to quit their job? And often the the marriage splits because it's just too much stress. Um sometimes they're from Sudbury or Sault Ste. Marie or Thunder Bay or Ottawa, whatever, and they're coming to sick kids. So so he decided to do what he know only knows how to do and raise some money and give it away. So he the first um, so he he just, I don't even know if he registered anything. He just he asked all his vendors to give him free stuff. And uh, of course they did, they did. And uh I remember we had the first one was uh the first fundraiser was uh was an auction of um his uh his friend that ran CCM gave him a game worn set of jerseys from Montreal and a game worn set of jerseys from Winnipeg.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

And uh we had an auction at the North York City Hall, um, just like an auditorium. There was maybe a hundred people there, and uh mostly were family and friends. And uh, but at the front row was somebody from the hockey hall of fame who we didn't know which jersey he wanted, but we knew he wanted one. So my dad made sure he paid well. So there was some jersey in there they wanted because it was a game-worn jersey from if it was Gila Fleur or what it was, but there was something that they had that they wanted. So they were there from who's that guy? He's from the Hockey Hall of Fame. What do he bids then? Let's get the price up. Yeah, so uh, but that was the start, and then from there it just became this volunteer-led mostly uh movement. And uh today now, um this past year, we raised over two million dollars and uh got a small team, an executive director, which actually we're just hiring a new executive director right now. Our current one is retiring. Okay, and we will be um, yeah, this year our budget is to give away two million dollars. And uh that's you know, typically four to five thousand dollars at a time. And it's for it's we've really narrowed our focus over the years and determined that it's back to the original roots, which was it's for families with kids in medical crisis, and they're either in the hospital or in and out of the hospital. So um we've helped a lot of different things over the year because we don't want to say no to anybody.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

But because there's so much need and because we have limited funds, even though there's quite a bit of money, um, we've had to narrow it down. So we're really focused and now we're we've actually got, you know, helping families in Ottawa and Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie, different hospitals that we've connected with all around uh London, southern Ontario, and and further beyond, it started this little grassroots charity that's now, if you ask any social worker at Sick Kids Hospital, um, they know who we are and they've you know that we're like a go-to because we're paying, we're we're helping with emergency funds. It could be things like um rent money, it could be food, it could be transportation, staying at a hotel when you're like you, you know, there's so many costs. And so um we do a big fundraiser every year, plus we do some annual appeals and uh got some great corporate supporters. When we started, it was 95% sporting goods industry, uh, because uh my dad would be able to um ask strongly for donations and they wouldn't say no to him. No um but that's gone. So now it's uh there's a little, there's a remnant still from sporting goods, but it's um it's all different industries construction, insurance, uh financial, um um technology. So there's like um consultants, like there's we've we've broadened the base. So now and there's a family, a lot of family foundations, um uh business foundations, bank, the banks, the major banks we've foundations. So there's a lot of people that are have bought in and are uh contributing money on a regular basis. So so yeah, so we just hit our we had a record year this past year in donations and in on what we gave. So we're hoping to keep that going.

SPEAKER_03 26:33

So that's fantastic. And from what I understand, there's still an event that happens at your dad's place or the farm, it might be called.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

Yeah, so there's two big events a year. One is a is a chair is a fundraiser, uh, first week in May at Angus Glen, which um there's still tickets available if you want to get them.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

Good to know.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Jen Jennifer Ashley uh children's charity, genash.org.

SPEAKER_03 26:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Um the um the other one is uh is not a fundraiser, it's a free event. It's it's the highlight for my dad of I think his year. Um we invite all the families that Jennifer Ashley has helped over the many years. Um there'll be about a thousand people show up at his property in Uxbridge. Um there's bouncy castles and clowns and face painting and petting zoos and uh snow ice cream, ice cream and popcorn and snow cone machines and uh corn on the cob and big barbecue. And they're and it's pretty much all uh volunteer, like the people that have been doing the corn on the cob, there's like six of them come with like feed a thousand people and they it's their concession. They donate it, they do it, they supply it. Um, people that barbecue, they've got the bar if the people that are barbecuing at that day, like they've been doing it for 25 years, and you can't take the job away from them because that's their job. They're not they're not giving it up. So and so there's like all the kids that have been helped. So you'll see kids in wheelchairs, kids that uh with braces, kids that can't walk, kids that are, you know, in, but then you'll see healthy kids that, you know, whether it's the uh the donors and the supporters come as well with their kids. So just a mix of this big inclusion of everybody. And there's there's probably it's very multiracial. There's you know, people from all all walks of society. And the the charity um helps um there's a means threshold, so it's like people that make uh it was up till recently it was under $85,000 a year household income.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Just we're able to bump that up a little bit because we have the m more money to give away. But in in the GTA, or if you live in Ontario and have a sicker one or two sick kids in the hospital and are making less than $85,000 a year, like and you probably can't work. Um, so so yeah, so it's a really interesting day. And it's um I think it's like five hours, and uh it's just you know, he up until recently he had a he had a special shuttle uh bus that he would drive all the kids. They would park in the parking lot and drive them back down to the property. And there's oh there's fishing too. He's got ponds, so they're fishing and they can uh so there's all kinds of activities and games going on and uh incredible. So it's a mix of kids that are healthy and kids that are that don't they just don't know, and it's just they're all together. You just it's just uh so I brought our granddaughters and um they had a blast. And uh so it's it's uh if you if you happen to bump into my dad, he he will try to ask you for money for Jennifer Ashley, but more important more more likely he'll try to tell you you have to come to the picnic, then you'll find out what Jennifer Ashley is about. That's what he'll tell you.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

Yes, okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

That's his big that's his he's got a card actually that says Jennifer Ashley children's charity. That's his card he carries around with him. So good. And he's not scared to give it out.

SPEAKER_03 29:26

No. Yeah, so well you don't know until you ask, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:29

Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

Okay, that's fantastic. Yeah, okay. That's quite a legacy you've built, both you and your father. How um so through all of these, all of the pivots within business and starting this foundation, what have you learned about yourself personally?

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Um I don't know if anybody's ever asked me that. I think um I think uh I just I I think I really enjoy um seeing other people thrive and do well. I think I enjoy um you know, when I was leading the business, um I'd love to see people that would come and and you know work their way up from the stores and end up becoming a buyer or you know, uh uh some even went on to, you know, fight become A VPs or VPs. And I really enjoyed just being able to see people progress and see people do really well and and and be able to be a little part of that. Um I always enjoy leading a team, so I think that was really just being able to to be in that environment. Um you know, it was different when I was entrepreneur as a small team, but as you know, it got into the corporate world of a bigger team, I really did enjoy that that leadership stuff. And I think that's where that's where I think I have um the most to offer. So I think that's where just being able to do that and um and help other people do well and see them, see them, you know, move ahead in their lives and reach their own personal goals. Right. Um yeah, kind of leads me to what I'm doing now.

SPEAKER_03 31:04

So Yeah, which is what I was gonna ask. Yeah. So talk to us about one life coaching.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Yeah. So when I left the corporate world in 2021, um I didn't know for sure what I was gonna do. I I thought I wanted I just knew I wanted to help people. I didn't know what that would what form that would take. Um I thought I wanted to be a coach, but I mean, I also during my my um my years, I coached hockey and baseball. So a lot of people that know me, my nickname was actually coach, but it was for that reason. It was because I coached hockey and baseball. So um when I told people that, well, they already are a coach, and I said, Well, I am, but it's not that kind of coach. So, but I didn't really know what that meant. So then I ended up uh I did I think six or seven consulting projects, which was really business focused. I really enjoyed those. Um several were retail, a couple were not retail. Uh family business one, one was a um a community, um uh a First Nations community that uh development corporation. So I had some varied opportunities. Um and then I just as that kind of came to a close, I was I was presented with a short-term opportunity to um be an interim athletic director at my alma mater in br in uh caring port, Saskatchewan for eight months. And then coming back from that about a year ago, I just um I started working with my dad, helping him with his fan with his some of the stuff he's still involved with and with the property and other things. But uh I felt like I really wanted to get back to just helping people, and those people to me are are um men that are like I was in business and trying, you know, trying to figure out um how to do it all. Like it's there's so many pressures if you're in business, whether you're a yes, whether you're an entrepreneur or whether you're a corporate executive, to um, you know, if you've got a family and kids, like how do I do that? How do I be present in all those different phases of my life? How am I present at home? But I'm also gonna be working 70 hours a week sometimes. Am I gonna be traveling? I'm gonna be on, you know, I'm gonna be away on business. I'm gonna miss my kids' games. Am I gonna be present for my wife? Is my marriage gonna sacrifice? A lot of people sacrifice things like that as you know, during the corporate. So I just looked at all the things I'd been through and um knowing that I'd come through a lot of that stuff, and I just thought I had a I had a unique opportunity to help men who were also going through what I've been through in my past. And so the idea behind one life is that um I ended up landing on that is because you know, I figure we only have one life, let's do it well. And that I think one life for me is I should be the same person at home as I am in the community, as that I as I am with my kids, with my family, with my grandkids in my case. Um I don't want to be this work guy at work and this home guy at home, and then, you know, and with my buddies, I'm totally something totally different. So the idea is that I call it, I call it an integrated life. So it's um everything I do in my life is aligned. And um in my case, that's you know, now today it's my it's my it's my marriage, it's my um extended family, like my dad and others. And I'm working with my a lot of us are dealing with aging parents as well. That's a huge stressor for a lot of people. Um, so how do I how do I spend time with them? Um and then um physically, um, you know, I went through a physical transformation, I lost like 40 pounds and managed to keep that off over the last 10 years and uh go to the gym every day and do those kind of things. So how do how do I keep myself healthy? Um not just physically, but mentally, socially, um, uh, emotionally. Um and then from my side, there's also a faith component that I, you know, I have a strong Christian faith. So how do I how do I balance that? Am I involved there? So it's just trying to figure all those things at once. So I've just I've basically just said, I'm just gonna be there to help and and um and uh you know I'm working with several people right now and I'm open to working with some more, and I think that's where I'm gonna spend the next, you know, as long as God gives me the uh strength and the uh and the health, I'll just keep doing that for the next several years and see where see where it leads.

SPEAKER_03 35:04

So that's great.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:06

That's really good. Well, good luck with your business. That sounds like a uh real going concern. And I there's definitely a need. I mean, the amount of you know, everybody looks as you climb the corporate ladder, it looks all nice and rosy. Yeah, but the reality is is that you're always on the road, right? When you can't figure out what hotel you're in at any one time, I remember that for years. Um, you're always meeting new people, you're always on. And then when you're home, you're trying to be fully present, like trying to find the balance and somewhere in there make sure that you still have a relationship and that you're still healthy and happy and all of that. Uh it it's daunting. Yeah. So it's great that you can help other men based on all of your experience, you're being through so much that that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

Yeah, I think it's um, as you said, and you experience that you were in those positions. So it's um can be very lonely. Like if you're in in a senior position, if you're an owner of a business, um, if you're an executive. Uh so I think it's a lot of cases, like the men I work with, it's just being able to um have someone they can talk to and just be open about stuff going on in their life because they can't necessarily share that with anybody else. So it's just being uh that confidant and and and holding them accountable too for some things that they, you know, sometimes it's pretty simple, like what is it you want? And how you what are you gonna do about it? Like, you know, so like what are you gonna do? And and then are you gonna actually do it? Are you just gonna talk about it? Right. So it's just kind of and they need someone sometimes just uh because there's so many things going on in their lives that it's like to remind them what's important, right? So I think that's where and I'm not a therapist, I'm not uh you know counselor, so it's more about just doing life with other people. And I think it's important that um whatever wherever you're at that you have those um relationships too right in your life to people that can speak into your life and and tell you the truth.

SPEAKER_03 36:59

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So my last question for you is based on everything that you've experienced through work, personal, the foundation, what would be your words of wisdom for the audience?

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Um I guess I'm thinking about two things. I'm gonna be 65 years old. So one is I I I've I think about a lot is it's never too late. So um, I actually bumped into somebody that uh I go I I know at the gym who's about my age and he's you know he's there every morning and he's he's CEO of a big company, and uh you would know the name of the company if I told you. And I said, uh um, did you buy another company? He goes, Yeah, we just bought a company, and I said, uh, oh, what was he? Oh, it was a small company. He goes, the man we bought it from was 95. And I go, 95. He goes, yeah, he started the company when he was 65. And I go, Oh, I'm good. I got a lot of time on my hand. So he started the company with 65 and he sold it. He just sold it at 95 years old. Wow, that's impressive. So it's never too late if you have something you want to do, and uh, whether you're 30, 40, 50, 60 like me, is um, you know, you you're kind of reinventing yourself right now and doing this. And so I think that don't don't be discouraged thinking I'm and the other side, you know, don't think you're too young either. So it's not like I'm some people might think I'm too young, I'm too old. Well, you're never gonna be just right. So, you know, they say the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today, right? So I think that's that's the other, that's the one thing. And the other one would just be um um, I I always hear my dad's words in my ears, it's all about the people. So just uh build those relationships, uh, don't burn bridges. Just you never know, you know, who's gonna be your boss one day or who's gonna be, you know, so tell our store managers, you don't know if that 18-year-old kid's gonna be a brain surgeon one day and he's gonna wake, you're gonna go in for surgery and he's gonna be your doctor. So you don't know who you're talking to. So just treat people well. Correct. Um, you know, put other people ahead of yourself and just try to help see help, you know, try to make it about them, not about you.

SPEAKER_03 38:54

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:55

Great life advice as well. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for being here today. It's been amazing learning about your story. I've watched from a distance with National Sports, and I've heard a lot about you and your father and anyone that I've run into, when you mention your name, your dad's name, or national sports, it's always the same thing. They're incredible, salts of the earth, real, genuine people. Um, so it is a pleasure to finally, after all these years, meet you in person. So thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_00 39:27

Thank you very much for having me. It's been fun.

SPEAKER_03 39:29

Thank you. Thank you for joining me today. It was an absolute pleasure talking to Steven. He serves as a reminder that the best leaders don't just build businesses, they build people. I mean, imagine having two chaplains on staff and extending loans to team members in need. It would be unthinkable in today's corporate culture, and yet, for Steven, it was just the right thing to do. If this story resonated with you, please share it with someone you care about. And be sure to subscribe so you can continue to hear more pivotal stories involving one question, one turning point, one powerful story. I'll see you next week with another guest on the Leslie Hawkins podcast.