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411 is all about inspiring business growth and development. We love hearing stories from entrepreneurs, whether they are success stories or otherwise.

This 4-week blog series is an extension of our Canadian Entrepreneur Stories Facebook Page. We’ve interviewed four of our clients to see what it’s like to run their businesses, what advice they have, and how we’ve helped them along the way.

This week we talked to Vanessa Tham, co-founder of Home and Beyond, an essential service for any homeowner. Home and Beyond offers a wide variety of services, including:

• Lawn Cutting and Trimming
• Lawn Aeration
• Fertilizer Spreading
• Deck and Patio Cleaning
• Shrub and Hedge Trimming
• Weeding and Garden Planning
• Window Washing
• Eavestrough Cleaning
• Indoor and Outdoor House Cleaning

Vanessa and her business partner, Ryan, are always willing to help make your home a cleaner, safer, and more enjoyable place to live.

Read their #CanadianEntrepreneurs story below.

1. How did you get into your field and how did you start your own business?

Tham: Throughout high school I worked as a receptionist and my business partner, Ryan, grew up on a wheat farm, so we both knew that we had the necessary skills to start our own landscaping business. We decided to start Home and Beyond in the spring of 2016. We were motivated by the opportunity to be our own bosses and to run a company on our own terms.  We also wanted to start our own business, because we wanted to gain practical skills that we could use in the future.

With the help of the Richmond Hill Small Business Program, we were able to receive government funding and advice.  We’ve been participating in weekly meetings, which have helped teach us essential budgeting, marketing, and prioritizing skills.  Since we are students, we sent in our business plan in late March of 2016. When we got accepted to the program at the end of April, we had finished our exams, so we invested all of our time into our business.  We began advertising by setting up posters, printing out brochures, and registering for various licenses and accounts.

2. Why did you choose to run a seasonal business?

Tham: We chose to run a seasonal business because we’re both full time university students. I’m studying Electrical Engineering and Ryan’s studying Geology. Even though I took two summer school courses while running our small business, being a student entrepreneur was beneficial because it was flexible and allowed me to take days off to prioritize my school work.  We knew running a seasonal business would help us learn about different aspects of the market we were being introduced to, and it would allow us the ability to focus on school when the season was over.

3. Have you always had the entrepreneurial spirit in you?

Tham: Yes, when I was younger, I loved saving my money, planning, and eventually investing in whatever toy was popular at the time.  I’ve always loved organizing things and when the idea of starting our own business emerged, it became a new thing for me to plan. Ryan also developed entrepreneurial aspects at a young age because he watched his father successfully run his own seasonal contracting business.

4. How has your business developed since it began?

Tham: Since our business began, we’ve developed many skills which have helped us market and expand our business. It has grown immensely since we first started.  We’ve been able to learn essential networking skills and created positive relationships with customers which led to numerous recommendations. We’ve seen a lot of growth through word-of-mouth marketing.

Since our business began we went from having a handful of clients to having multiple jobs a day. We also have several customers who have signed contracts for bi-weekly lawn cuts.   Knowing that so many customers value our hard work is extremely rewarding.

5. What’s your best tip for entrepreneurs starting out?

Tham: Our best tip is to use your online resources. We found that advertising on mailboxes wasn’t helpful.  Nowadays many people spend most of their day on the Internet, so advertising on different websites allows you to reach a wide range of customers. The best part is that the customers can discover and learn about your company in the comfort of their own home – or on the go.

6. What has been the most rewarding part about running your own business?

Tham: The most rewarding part about running our own business is encouraging and motivating people to become entrepreneurs.  As an entrepreneur, you gain a new perspective on the business world and sharing this perspective with others is extremely rewarding.  During this season we’ve already inspired a couple of close friends to start their own business.

7. What has been your biggest struggle as an entrepreneur and how have you overcome it?

Tham: The biggest struggle as an entrepreneur has been learning time management skills and how to juggle different business priorities.  In the beginning, I was trying to book all the appointments, answer calls and drive to the locations, but we realized that this wasn’t working for us.  Ryan suggested that it would be best to take one day to organize the jobs for the rest of the week and to prioritize evenings for returning calls. Now our work days are smoother and more efficient.

8. If you could go back, would you do anything differently?

Tham: Since we are in the lawn care business, the weather plays a huge factor on our work schedule.   July has been a dry month, so the grass has been really dry and work has slowed down.  If we had planned for a dry summer, we could’ve strictly cut grass in the cooler months and focused on sodding and landscaping in the drier months. If we could’ve done something differently we would’ve developed a plan so that the changes in weather didn’t impact our work.

9. Where do you see your business in 5 years?

In five years, we’ll be done school and will be able to grow from a summer business into a full time venture. Our plan is to expand our business into snow removal and continue to book more clients for lawn cutting contracts in the future. We also hope to hire employees that will have a positive impact on our business.

10. How has 411 helped your business grow?

411 has been extremely helpful in the success of our business. They’ve offered us packages that have minimized our costs and capitalized our sales.  The staff at 411 are extremely easy to contact.  When we signed up for the ads with the company, they provided us with a free logo which was helpful since we hadn’t designed one yet.  411 also allows us to add an abundance of information to our profile, such as a website, location, services, and contact info.  For other sites, adding this much information is expensive, but 411 makes advertising cost efficient.

You can follow Home and Beyond on Facebook and Twitter for helpful lawn care tips or visit their website.  

Thanks again, Vanessa, for taking the time to share your #CanadianEntrepreneurs Story with the 411 community.

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