From Hospitality to Entrepreneurship: Mike’s Bold Journey

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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Canada's Entrepreneur. Where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen
[00:05] SPEAKER_02: across Canada and deliver the news, trends, knowledge and opinions from entrepreneurs and business
[00:13] SPEAKER_02: influences across the country. So Mike or Cruxie, I don't know what to call you, I just
[00:21] SPEAKER_02: for ever, just so we divulge everything, it's kind of fun every so often, somebody comes on from
[00:29] SPEAKER_02: from my past and Mike is an entrepreneur who happened to go to school with my high school with my
[00:39] SPEAKER_02: son and it's been interesting to see that particular gang of guys grow up and quite a few entrepreneurs
[00:48] SPEAKER_02: in there might be in one of them. So Mike, welcome to Canada's Entrepreneur. It's great to have you on.
[00:58] SPEAKER_02: And before I get into a long story about some of the things you guys got up to,
[01:05] SPEAKER_02: why don't you get a bit deeper into your entrepreneurial journey? Give us a two to four minute
[01:13] SPEAKER_02: summary of who Mike is, why is an entrepreneur? What area, what the business is in, some of those
[01:25] SPEAKER_00: things that people might find interesting? Well, thank you again for my monitor to be part of this
[01:31] SPEAKER_00: today and flatter to be honest. Yeah, so to give me a little rundown on Mike Crux and
[01:37] SPEAKER_00: kind of my experience in life, I did spend a lot of time in your pool backyard by the way.
[01:44] SPEAKER_00: That little roof was a lot of fun. That we escaped to your place quite often,
[01:53] SPEAKER_00: nicer one. Yeah, so you know what, I've spent my really over 30 plus years now in the hospitality
[02:01] SPEAKER_00: business. I think I had always had been a dream to be an actor and I had gone off to school to be
[02:08] SPEAKER_00: an actor and I just don't know if I had the ego for it. Not much of a self-promoter.
[02:18] SPEAKER_00: And like most people searching for acting, life tend to end up in the hospitality industry because
[02:25] SPEAKER_00: it suits the hours. And you know, my claim to fame in acting is that I paid my bills
[02:30] SPEAKER_00: probably for about six months touring as a touring performer doing sketch comedy, which was great.
[02:36] SPEAKER_00: But then you end up meeting the love of your life and dreams change and you've followed
[02:42] SPEAKER_00: different paths. And I ended up leaving Toronto and coming back home to Burlington in the Hamilton
[02:47] SPEAKER_00: area and settling down and I'd always kind of done quite well in the hospitality industry and I'd
[02:53] SPEAKER_00: always kind of been promoted to upper management or general management in the roles I've had.
[02:58] SPEAKER_00: We worked for many years for Burlington Institution, called Emma's Backport,
[03:03] SPEAKER_00: that's kind of where I cut my teeth in the industry and worked with two entrepreneurs that I look
[03:08] SPEAKER_00: as mentors. And from there I went on to run the Hamilton Convention Center, downtown, and again,
[03:16] SPEAKER_00: upper management role. And that propelled me to other opportunities. And my most recent one was to
[03:23] SPEAKER_00: open up a very large facility in Caledonia with several restaurants in a banquet facility. And
[03:30] SPEAKER_00: it was great. But I had always wanted to own my own business. And I really didn't know if it was
[03:37] SPEAKER_00: going to be the restaurant business. But my first actual endeavor to leave the business was to
[03:43] SPEAKER_00: open up a dog daycare business. And it's still running today, even though I don't run it. My wife
[03:50] SPEAKER_00: took it on five years ago now and it's a home-based business, but it's incredibly successful. And
[03:56] SPEAKER_00: you know, it's my wife fully runs it. But that was my first endeavor into doing my own thing.
[04:03] SPEAKER_00: Being my own boss, I think for me, always having a notch on the belt, a life experience,
[04:10] SPEAKER_00: it's always been important for me. And it was got to a point in my life where I just didn't want to
[04:15] SPEAKER_00: work for anybody anymore. I wanted to be my own boss, some self-driven one that comes to work,
[04:20] SPEAKER_00: procrastinated home, don't get me wrong. But at work I am very self-driven. And the dog daycare
[04:25] SPEAKER_00: business I ran for a short period of time. But then an opportunity came up to purchase a restaurant
[04:33] SPEAKER_00: venue. Just down the street from where I live. And although I wasn't super eager about getting
[04:39] SPEAKER_00: back into the hospitality business because it is difficult, it was close to home. It was an
[04:44] SPEAKER_00: opportunity to improve my community pub, community restaurant that was existing before, but
[04:51] SPEAKER_00: was not a desirable place to go. And the food program just wasn't there. And so
[04:56] SPEAKER_00: we took the leap. And three years ago, we opened up almost to the three years ago last week.
[05:04] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we've opened up to great success. I think after 30 some odd years of being in this business,
[05:12] SPEAKER_00: especially on a management level, you kind of got, you should have what it takes to do something
[05:17] SPEAKER_00: like this. And although it's a small restaurant, it's exceeding expectations. And
[05:26] SPEAKER_01: it's been very rewarding to be fully honest with you at the point of the best decisions
[05:29] SPEAKER_02: I've ever made. Actually, yeah, I can only say, you know, that being somewhat of a regular there,
[05:38] SPEAKER_02: that Crooksies is a pretty darn good place for those that don't know it. It's done beach pool of
[05:44] SPEAKER_02: just sort of Hamilton-Bellington area, basically. So,
[05:52] SPEAKER_02: you think entrepreneurs are wired differently. I mean, why do you know, you know, you're
[05:59] SPEAKER_02: a recent entrepreneur really. In a way, because most of the time you work for others
[06:08] SPEAKER_02: in the same business, but that's a different thing when you're working for people.
[06:13] SPEAKER_02: You know, let me just step on something. I'm just curious.
[06:19] SPEAKER_00: I think I'd always kind of had that in me. You know, obviously, finances is one thing,
[06:25] SPEAKER_00: taking that leap, having that the willingness to be in debt and to go through that is difficult
[06:33] SPEAKER_00: for a lot of people. And I know I know I know a lot of people that, you know, their workers,
[06:38] SPEAKER_00: their work, and they go home and turn it off. And I've just never been in a position where I can
[06:43] SPEAKER_00: do that. Running a convention center, running all your restaurants, you know, it's always on the
[06:49] SPEAKER_00: back of your mind. It's always there. You're always kind of on call. You know, you're entrusting people
[06:54] SPEAKER_00: to do your role or to do a good job as you're going to do when you're not there. And even though I'm
[07:00] SPEAKER_00: getting a paycheck from somebody else, it was really very much I felt like an entrepreneur. I felt
[07:05] SPEAKER_00: like I was an entrepreneur. And so when the opportunity really came up to kind of dive in and do
[07:13] SPEAKER_00: my own thing, and yeah, it was with this dog daycare business that was a little bit of a leap of
[07:17] SPEAKER_00: faith. But and then into this restaurant, I really, I think, was at a point of like, I'm already
[07:23] SPEAKER_00: doing this. Why don't I just do it for myself? And when I think about some, you know, even close
[07:28] SPEAKER_00: friends of mine or even family, I think a lot of people are really just, when it comes to work,
[07:33] SPEAKER_00: it is just work. And I find that I'm only really good at my job when I have a passion for it.
[07:40] SPEAKER_00: And when I, when I care about it, and I, I really am one of those old school attitudes of, you know,
[07:47] SPEAKER_00: get, get fulfillment from what you spend most of your day doing. And if you don't get any
[07:52] SPEAKER_00: fulfillment from it, then it can be a sad life. It can be sad. And you know, if you're not going to
[07:57] SPEAKER_00: work with maybe it's a little stress on the mind or maybe a little bit of what am I going to get
[08:02] SPEAKER_00: done today or how much do I have to do today? You know, that can be frustrating in anybody's life.
[08:09] SPEAKER_00: But when you're doing it for yourself, it's, it's, it's freeing to be completely honest with.
[08:14] SPEAKER_02: I really find it freeing. So what, I mean, that freedom thing, what's best about being an entrepreneur
[08:20] SPEAKER_00: versus being an employee? Well, again, the, the, the use of being that creative, being able to kind
[08:31] SPEAKER_00: of make that, make that final decision. The one that can, you know, be a little bit different,
[08:38] SPEAKER_00: you know, when you're working for someone else and I relate back to hospitality or, or like anything
[08:42] SPEAKER_00: in sales, where this whole, or of this, you know, treat, treat the customer so well. And if they're
[08:49] SPEAKER_00: upset, you've got to, you've got to react this way. And you, and you have to make sure that you
[08:54] SPEAKER_00: don't get in trouble because of somebody else's actions and, and all these politics that get involved.
[09:00] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, the freeing side of it for me is even, you know, I have a staff of 15 now.
[09:05] SPEAKER_00: And so maybe that's restricting me a little bit more than when I first opened up with way less staff.
[09:11] SPEAKER_00: And I worked a lot more at the restaurant. But it's freeing for me because I can make the decisions.
[09:15] SPEAKER_00: I can break some rules that maybe a hospitality or sales, you know, rules like that.
[09:22] SPEAKER_00: Customers always write rule. Well, that's not a, we don't live in that world. The customer most of the time
[09:27] SPEAKER_00: isn't right. And I have that freedom, whether it's right or wrong, I have a freedom to maybe
[09:32] SPEAKER_00: break those rules step outside of the box and not have somebody above or above them come down on me
[09:39] SPEAKER_00: for for a decision I've made because there is nobody above.
[09:44] SPEAKER_02: So, you know, let's move on to some different things that challenge us. You know, what's the greatest
[09:50] SPEAKER_02: challenge you faced in the business today? The event was overcome.
[09:56] SPEAKER_00: For me, you know, we have our rules. I was always, I was always operations.
[10:03] SPEAKER_00: And I'd always had support. Specifically on the bookkeeping side of things,
[10:07] SPEAKER_00: there'd always been support. There'd always been someone I could go to. And when you open up your own
[10:12] SPEAKER_00: business, yeah, I could, I could have a check mark on about 85% of the list. But then there was these
[10:18] SPEAKER_00: weak sides to it and bookkeeping, you know, pay roll specifically managing those items that I'd
[10:26] SPEAKER_00: always had a support system for. Even HR, you know, one of the reasons I think I was very successful
[10:34] SPEAKER_00: in the hospitality industry is because I wasn't in front of a computer. I'm not necessarily great
[10:39] SPEAKER_00: with computers. I wasn't a great student. So budgeting the time to even sit down and do a lot of
[10:46] SPEAKER_00: this was very difficult for me. And when you're opening up and your budget's next to nothing,
[10:51] SPEAKER_00: you know, your budget zero or minus, minus thousands, the idea of bringing someone on board to help
[10:58] SPEAKER_00: you out can be daunting because it's not cheap. But I learned within the first few months,
[11:06] SPEAKER_00: there's just not, I can't do it on my own. It's better to have someone separated from the business
[11:10] SPEAKER_00: that has experience in your, in your business to understand why you make the financial decisions
[11:15] SPEAKER_00: that you do. And that was something that was a challenge right off the hump that I was naive to.
[11:21] SPEAKER_00: I really was. I really thought we'll just get through and we'll learn as we go. And I bought a
[11:26] SPEAKER_00: software system that manages the business, but nothing outside, no, those little incidentals,
[11:32] SPEAKER_00: you know, when you have to remove a staff member, who's your, who's your HR link? Who's somebody that
[11:37] SPEAKER_00: you use, right? So I really have to have three or four months, I got into hybrids, someone helped me
[11:44] SPEAKER_00: with my HR packages, all my health and safety programs, my training packages, and then got rid
[11:50] SPEAKER_00: into the quick book side of things and into payroll and really getting into my inventory. It's just
[11:56] SPEAKER_00: the paperwork side of things was a weakness for me. And that was a challenge that if I really didn't
[12:01] SPEAKER_00: invest in it, it would have, it would have spiraled from there. It would have been a terrible
[12:06] SPEAKER_00: domino effect of trying to catch up while losing focus on what I was doing and frustrating me too,
[12:11] SPEAKER_00: because you know, when you have your talents, and that's that's what you have, but you really have
[12:18] SPEAKER_00: to make sure what you're not talented at is covered by somebody and somebody you trust. So that
[12:22] SPEAKER_00: for me was a big, a big challenge for me that I overcame earlier on. And because I did, because I
[12:29] SPEAKER_00: step back, because I trusted someone else to kind of take on these things, and I expose myself,
[12:34] SPEAKER_00: and what my weaknesses are, and that was a challenge as well, to just admit that you're not going to
[12:41] SPEAKER_00: be able to do every angle of the job. That was a big challenge for me, because you know, you have so much
[12:47] SPEAKER_00: confidence in doing what you're doing, but when the shortcomings are there, they really, they,
[12:52] SPEAKER_00: you get exposed. And so yeah, I guess getting someone on board that's going to help me out, and that
[12:57] SPEAKER_00: somebody I can say, hey, I'm busy, but I need this done or I need this bill paid or I need something
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: for a staff member for their, their inquiries or whatever they need for their life,
[13:09] SPEAKER_00: regarding pay or or proof of employment or things like that. It's really nice to have somebody
[13:14] SPEAKER_00: that you can fall back on. I would advise anybody, anybody getting into this business is to make sure
[13:19] SPEAKER_00: that you've got a financial, a good financial plan, and someone that's going to maintain your
[13:24] SPEAKER_00: weeklies, someone that's going to keep you in check, right? And ask the higher questions. And the
[13:30] SPEAKER_00: ones that too that are going to challenge you, and say, why do you do it this way? This is what,
[13:34] SPEAKER_00: another way you could do it. And so finding that person is not easy, but once you do, then you
[13:40] SPEAKER_00: feel like you found a partner almost who is really just a consultant. So, you know, you talked a bit
[13:46] SPEAKER_02: of, you know, when you were at Amos, about having, you know, two, I think they were the owners there
[13:54] SPEAKER_02: that having them is kind of mentors. And with that kind of feeling in mind, what's the best
[14:04] SPEAKER_02: piece of advice that you've received in your career that, you know, that stays in your back pocket,
[14:14] SPEAKER_00: that's always there kind of thing. I won't reference the gentleman from Amos Backpourge,
[14:24] SPEAKER_00: but I would reference his gentleman named Peter McKanti that started in Carman's.
[14:29] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I worked with him and then his son took over the business. And Peter was very good at
[14:35] SPEAKER_00: training and very good at kind of explaining why he was successful. And his big, for me, was,
[14:43] SPEAKER_00: and it's very true, might get a little job specific here, but be there for your deliveries,
[14:49] SPEAKER_00: be there for your busy times, be there to see your customers, don't let the staff tip too much.
[14:55] SPEAKER_00: Don't let the staff do too much. Keep your eye on the prize, keep your eye, I could say,
[15:00] SPEAKER_00: we used to talk in the hospitality business, or especially for conventions, you know, and you're
[15:05] SPEAKER_00: doing, you know, thousands of meals over the course of a couple of days. Well, those deliveries of
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: thousands of dollars of food, make sure you're weighing, make sure you're on it. Don't just assume
[15:15] SPEAKER_00: people aren't there to rip off. And, you know, when they get a sense that you're maybe not keeping
[15:21] SPEAKER_00: your eye on the target, that they might start to take advantage. And so really his whole thing for
[15:27] SPEAKER_00: me was, and I really learned a lot from him from that side of things, was just to be there when the
[15:32] SPEAKER_00: big purchases are being made, and when the major customers are in the building, be there, be present.
[15:40] SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean, it doesn't mean you need to spend 12 hours, 15 hours a day on site. You know,
[15:45] SPEAKER_00: your key points, you know, for instance, now I'm privileged enough, you know, I said it going in
[15:51] SPEAKER_00: 18 months, up 70 hour weeks. And after that, I will ground it staff that I can trust. And that's
[15:59] SPEAKER_00: what's happened. But it doesn't mean I'm not there for the 15 or 20 or 30 minutes even in the evening
[16:05] SPEAKER_00: when I see my busiest times and I walk around and I greet my guests. And then I do all my own
[16:12] SPEAKER_00: ordering. I make sure that I'm on the, I do my own inventories just to know and let the staff know
[16:18] SPEAKER_00: that you keeping an eye on things, you know, and good people do bad things when they think no one's
[16:25] SPEAKER_00: watching. And so, you know, you can trust, you can trust and you can trust and you can trust. But
[16:30] SPEAKER_00: if they don't think you're watching, you know, that things can happen, right? So I would say that
[16:36] SPEAKER_00: would be my biggest, my biggest thing I received from Peter McKenny was just about being there.
[16:42] SPEAKER_00: Don't, don't, don't just relax. Interesting. You know,
[16:48] SPEAKER_02: what advice would you give an entrepreneur in, you know, in our Hamilton Burlington area,
[16:56] SPEAKER_02: you know, thinking about starting a business now, is there something you could pass on to them?
[17:03] SPEAKER_00: You know, and one of the things I probably, it's definitely no, if you're going to have a brick
[17:09] SPEAKER_00: and mortar business, you know, you know, you're, know your bylaws, know, know where you're allowed,
[17:15] SPEAKER_00: what you're allowed to do. Get a hold of your, of your city councilor and get to know them. Let them
[17:21] SPEAKER_00: know that this is something you're looking to do. It's always nice to have a voice in the,
[17:26] SPEAKER_00: voice in city hall that maybe doesn't know you, but knows of you. And I would definitely say,
[17:32] SPEAKER_00: create your connections early or before you even open. It doesn't matter what the business is,
[17:39] SPEAKER_00: but if you run into by-lie issues, if you run into permitting issues, if you run into, you know,
[17:45] SPEAKER_00: neighbors that aren't necessarily the best, to have somebody, maybe not a city councilor, but like,
[17:51] SPEAKER_00: you know, our guy here in Ward 5, Matt Francis, I can text him, he'll text back in a half an hour,
[17:58] SPEAKER_00: if I have a small issue, I've been going through it right now. I say it's, I call it extortion,
[18:04] SPEAKER_00: the city calls it permits. I don't know, there's two different ways to look at it. But, you know,
[18:08] SPEAKER_00: that there's a little bit of nitpicking going on right now in regards to a sign I have on my fence
[18:13] SPEAKER_00: and that they want, they want me to pay $250 dollars a year to post a sign that says the name of my
[18:19] SPEAKER_00: restaurant in front of my restaurant. And I'm disagreeing with it and I don't like it, but it is
[18:24] SPEAKER_00: what it is and I will end up paying, but it's nice to have a guy, the inside city hall that
[18:29] SPEAKER_00: at least can tell me I have to pay it or, hey, maybe I can do something for you. So definitely
[18:35] SPEAKER_00: establish, you know, and then the other side too is, is, is look for your, look for your business
[18:41] SPEAKER_00: associations inside the area that you are, you know, almost every early time probably has 10,
[18:46] SPEAKER_00: Hamilton probably has 20, little business associations, people that can give you a little bit of advice,
[18:51] SPEAKER_00: you know, yeah, you sure you have to pay up some membership fees, but it's also just like anything,
[18:57] SPEAKER_00: it's like networking, it is just that. Right, you're just getting in front of people and if it has to
[19:02] SPEAKER_00: pay, you have to pay an annual fee to get in front of people that maybe we'll never come see you,
[19:07] SPEAKER_00: but they'll definitely probably say something to somebody else, oh, hey, I heard you go down to Hamilton
[19:11] SPEAKER_00: Beach. There's a little restaurant I heard about, maybe you try that out, you know, all that
[19:15] SPEAKER_00: little networking really, really works. And, you know, so I definitely would say before you get
[19:21] SPEAKER_00: in anything, build some, build some local connections that are easy to get a hold of. There's a
[19:25] SPEAKER_00: lot of people just like Google, like, that you can just get a name and number or an email and just
[19:30] SPEAKER_00: send something out and this is what I'm going to do. What are your thoughts? Do you have any advice
[19:34] SPEAKER_00: for me? Be open to do advice, that's another one. I wasn't and I wish I'd been a little bit more
[19:40] SPEAKER_02: open to advice. Yeah. So let's let's let's let's be good. That's some interesting stuff that
[19:47] SPEAKER_02: looks really, really excellent in terms of stuff you were saying. This is have a little bit of a
[19:56] SPEAKER_02: fine thing now to close it off. The morning or a night person, I guess you got to be a night person.
[20:04] SPEAKER_00: I'm definitely a night person and I have been my entire life. I've had two jobs where I was at
[20:12] SPEAKER_00: not in hospitality and I had to get up at six five or six in the morning and do my
[20:20] SPEAKER_00: cubes and the domino effect of that was not great on my life because I am a night person and I
[20:25] SPEAKER_00: can't imagine going to bed before midnight. It's just something I've never done.
[20:30] SPEAKER_02: If you had to pick one word to describe yourself, what would it be and why would you choose that word?
[20:38] SPEAKER_00: Okay. I actually have this answer without thinking too much and it would be the word eclectic.
[20:46] SPEAKER_00: I think I surprise a lot of people with what I'm interested in and where my passions lie and
[20:52] SPEAKER_00: for someone that's not a great student, I sure do love history and I sure do love science and
[20:57] SPEAKER_00: learning about it. I have many, many interests all over the map and that word eclectic is the
[21:04] SPEAKER_00: connection to my dad after he retired from his job. He started a business called eclectic endeavors
[21:12] SPEAKER_00: as a consultant and my dad was quite the wordsmith and unfortunately lost him over a decade ago now but
[21:20] SPEAKER_00: those are that that was almost something I took away after he passed away and said, you know what?
[21:25] SPEAKER_00: I think I like the idea of being an eclectic person and having lots of different interests and
[21:30] SPEAKER_00: so it's something right there I would describe myself as eclectic. Cool. What's keeping it up at night?
[21:40] SPEAKER_02: The pop and the shine probably something to pop right now.
[21:46] SPEAKER_00: You know what? I'll be completely honest. What keeps me up right now is
[21:55] SPEAKER_00: we are a small place and sometimes I have one staff member working and we are not open late but
[22:04] SPEAKER_00: what kind of keeps me a little worried or pinned to the business so to speak is that if I'm not there
[22:09] SPEAKER_00: and I've got to let's be honest, the female staff member working by themselves, that's a stress for me.
[22:14] SPEAKER_00: The staff have told me to stop but I do request a text message when they get in their car and
[22:21] SPEAKER_00: a text message when they get home but they really are pushing me to stop doing that.
[22:26] SPEAKER_00: You know I come from I say I have four moms, I have my mother and three older sisters and so when
[22:33] SPEAKER_00: it comes down to it that's a stress for me and it used to be are the staff going to show?
[22:40] SPEAKER_00: Are they going to do what I train them to do? That kind of stuff is fading away now because
[22:46] SPEAKER_00: they've instilled that trust and so I got to be honest it's been really refreshing this summer
[22:52] SPEAKER_00: specifically to be a lot more relaxed and enjoy what we're doing.
[22:59] SPEAKER_00: I get to go golfing tomorrow, I get to go golfing in the middle of the day tomorrow and I'm
[23:03] SPEAKER_02: worried about it. I'm not worried about it. It's going to be amazing. We'll have to grab a game when I
[23:07] SPEAKER_02: get back. I like it. Thank you for coming on. It's been great seeing you. Great hearing your story.
[23:15] SPEAKER_02: I think it's going to be really interesting. Thanks for coming. The Canada is on the
[23:19] SPEAKER_00: for now. Absolutely. It was my great pleasure and thank you for inviting me to do this.
[23:24] SPEAKER_02: Okay. It's a thing and I enjoy it. Wow. That was some really interesting stuff on
[23:31] SPEAKER_02: building a business locally and some of the things you need to do and you know it's nice to hear
[23:39] SPEAKER_02: the discipline that goes on. Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter on our website
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[23:51] SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening to Canada's Entrepreneur. Will you meet the Entrepreneurs that drive
[23:56] SPEAKER_02: Canada's economy? See you later.