By Lisa Richards

Finding Her Passion:

Leah Andrew and Andrea Lown wanted to have their (tiered) cake and eat it too. While planning their own weddings they were curious how they could create their perfect day without breaking the bank.

Since they both have backgrounds in marketing, initially Leah and Andrea planned on working together as marketing consultants but after a few successful projects together and a mutual interest in creating dream weddings at a reasonable cost, the two came together and founded SmartBride Boutique, a comprehensive classifieds site targeting brides-to-be around the world.

Their Story:

While planning their own weddings, both ladies noticed that as soon as they mentioned the word ‘wedding’ to vendors like caterers or florists, the price automatically doubled. That planted the seed making Andrea think about how to get more out of a wedding budget.

When she returned from her three-month honeymoon to Southeast Asia in 2007, she wasn’t ready to go back to a corporate job. “I started knocking the idea of SmartBride Boutique around. In February 2008, I surveyed more than 500 Canadian women about the idea of buying and selling pre-owned wedding dresses. Everyone LOVED the concept which was reason enough for me to push SmartBride Boutique from idea to reality.”

From their previous work together, Leah knew that their personalities and complementary skill sets would be the beginning of a successful joint venture. “My love for small business made this a no-brainer when we talked about formalizing our partnership. Andrea was working on launching SmartBride Boutique and her passion for perfection was obvious, and her enthusiasm about the concept was infectious.”

“As a duo,” notes Andrea, “Leah and I are very balanced in expertise and temperament. She provides nothing short of exceptional service and attention to detail to her clients. I knew she would bring the same work ethic and genuine approach to the business.”

Making it Happen:

“A lot of our growth comes from word of mouth,” the ladies pointed out. “We are always out meeting new people and touting the benefits of SmartBride Boutique. This means not only more people listing their dresses for sale, and more brides-to-be looking for their dream dress, but new partnerships, bartering for services and PR.

“For example, we just partnered with Windfall. They host three bridal warehouse sales and seven appointment days each year. Now you can view hundreds of dresses available at Windfall warehouse sale online at our site, helping Windfall to drive more brides to their sample wedding dress sales and giving the brides the opportunity to have a sneak preview of the inventory before showing up the day of.”

Their Mission Statement:

SmartBride Boutique’s mission is to provide a boutique atmosphere where past and present brides can connect to buy and sell wedding related items via a simple and easy online user experience.

Together the ladies of SmartBride Boutique have created a wedding resource where brides of all income levels can have the wedding of their dreams within their budget through online classifieds and other wedding related services.

The Challenge:

For Andrea and Leah, the biggest challenge of running a small business is that there is never enough time in the day. To-do lists tend to grow faster than you can check things off of it.

“The challenge actually lies in adjusting our expectations of ourselves,” say the partners. “In 2010, we’re working on maintaining a healthier work/life balance and praising ourselves for the incredible amounts of work we do complete, even if it’s not everything.”

Hopes for the future:

The original SmartBrides themselves have a series of goals for their business and themselves. “A cool office space, you know, the kind with big windows and an exposed brick wall. And new Dutch-style commuter bikes to help us get to said cool office would be great.”

They look forward to continue building a great company with passionate people in an amazing work environment. Ultimately, they can’t wait to enjoy a vacation home in France!

Their advice to you:

Leah encourages young professionals to look at every job and task ahead as an opportunity. “You just never know when those experiences and skills are going to come in handy. For example, as a product manager at AOL, Andrea was tasked to produce five music videos having no experience or background. Her knowledge of the video editing process was invaluable when we produced our own series of “Obsessed with the Dress” videos.

Andrea advises to choose a path based on what you’re passionate about. “Whatever it is you do, you better be excited and willing to share it with everyone who comes within three metres of you. Whether you’re waiting in line at the grocery store or attending a networking event.”

Now that gives new meaning to ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’. Actually, more like something green – the money you’ll be saving!

Visit http://www.smartbrideboutique.com/ to make the most of your budget to create the perfect wedding and to check out the “Obsessed with the Dress” video series, log on to www.smartbrideboutique.com/owtd

By Lisa Richards

Finding her Passion:

The fitness bug didn’t bite Sammie Kennedy until the beginning of 2005 when she made a New Year’s Resolution to get into shape. “Before then I hadn’t so much as played on a sports team or even picked up a weight. The first few times I went to the gym, I had to be shown around and taught how to use all the machines.”

After reading a few fitness books, hiring a personal trainer and developing healthy eating habits, Sammie went from having an average body to competing in the FAME Fitness Modelling competition and founding a national women’s fitness company.

Her Story:

Inspired by the difference a personal trainer made to her own regime, Sammie hoped to lead other women on the path to achieving their health and fitness goals by becoming a certified personal trainer. Within six weeks she had a full client roster and a few months later, she was ranked as one of the top personal trainers across both Canada and the USA at GoodLife Fitness.

“At this point I knew that fitness was much more than a hobby for me, it was a passion. I left my full-time career as an x-ray technologist to open my own personal training company. When I started SkyHigh Fitness, it didn’t take long before I had a full schedule. In an effort to accommodate all of my clients I started offering group fitness training sessions in a boot camp setting. The first one sold out within 24 hours and the second did within 48. I knew I had something and that was the birth of Booty Camp Fitness!”

Making it Happen:

In the two years since Booty Camp started, the company has more than 90 camps across Canada with over 16,000 women having participated in the program.

Thanks to Booty Camp’s unique profit-sharing model, recruits (as they refer to their participants) aren’t the only ones benefitting. “As a personal trainer, I learned how hard it is to make decent money in the fitness industry. Some gyms max out at $50/hr, even if you’re a top trainer. With Booty Camp, I can compensate our Elite Drill Instructors like the superstars they are. Most make an average of $127/hr working just four hours per week.”

Her Mission Statement:

“Fun. Friendly. Fitness. When I started out at the gym it was so intimidating and male-dominated. Working out seemed like it would be more of a chore than something I was excited to do, so my goal was to make fitness accessible and enjoyable to women and create an experience where they could challenge themselves in a non-competitive environment.”

The Challenge:

“Seeing people taking my idea and trying to make it their own is both a personal and professional challenge, Booty Camp is my baby!” says Sammie. “But that’s competition and you have to expect it. I see every obstacle as an opportunity to be creative and grow.

Hopes for the future:

For Sammie, reaching tens of thousands of women isn’t enough and she looks forward to positively impacting the lives of more ladies. “To know that I’ve had an impact on the health and wellness of thousands of women across the country is an incredible feeling. Hearing their stories about what they’ve accomplished inspires and motivates me to keep going everyday. My goal is to reach 1,000,000 women through Booty Camp Fitness. I’d also love to expand the business to the States.”

Her advice to you:

“Always be open to new ideas and opportunities,” advises Sammie. “If you asked me if I ever saw myself as an entrepreneur, no less in the fitness industry, I would have definitely said you were wrong, but here I am and loving it!”

To find out more about Sammie and get your tush whipped into shape by the ladies of Booty Camp Fitness, visit www.BootCampFitness.com

By Aurea Crotty

Finding her Passion:

Growing up in Aurora, Ontario, Jackie Mirkopoulos always knew she had a passion for health and wellness.  Beginning her journey at York University Jackie completed a five year Honours degree in Kinesiology. Jackie says she knew her very first day of University that she was one day going to run her own health and wellness centre.

 She had found her passion and wanted to share her expertise with others. As she puts it, “another thing that has always motivated me to start my own business was to be able to share my passion about a healthy lifestyle with a large number of people in a very direct, hands on, one-on-one, personal way”.

Her Story:

After completing her degree Jackie wanted to take her passion and knowledge to the next level, she enrolled in the Sutherland-Chan Massage Therapy Teaching School and Clinic, receiving her RMT designation.

 ”After spending 6 years of post secondary schooling, I was ready to take all the knowledge and the skills I had learned and apply it to the working world”.

Being very clear on her dream of owning her own clinic, Jackie decided to dive right in and start her own registered message therapy business. “I knew it was going to be hard to become established at another clinic, build clientele and then one day have to move on and leave them behind. I wasted no time and started, by word of mouth, working out of my house and offering house call services for massage”- her client base grew quicker than she could imagine.

Making it Happen:

As luck would have it, Jackie’s father had some office space become available, “it was perfect… It was four walls, and a cement floor. The perfect empty canvas for what I had always dreamed about since my first day in university”.

Off to the drawing board, Jackie worked tirelessly brining her vision to life, after many building permits, lots of construction and help from her mom decorating; Hands On You Therapeutic Clinic was born.

Jackie’s vision to build a community that embraces health as a means to achieving a balanced lifestyle now had a home.

Her Mission Statement:

“To empower clients as partners in their optimal health and well-being by providing education and implementation of strategies for health promotion, injury prevention and restoration of health, through a variety of complementary or alternative approaches”

The Challenge:

Jackie admits that she is a therapist first and a business person second, “My biggest learning curve has definitely been the business side of things, accounting, marketing, managing, basically all the things that I overlooked when I was studying kinesiology cause I thought…when am I ever going to use this stuff”…well what a wake up call!

That said, she is up for the challenge, working hard and learning to be a strong business woman, Jackie plans to achieve her goals one day at a time.

Hopes for the future: 

Jackie’s hope for her business “is that it becomes not only a successful clinic but a place in its community that people know, trust, and believe in. I want to ensure the services we offer never plateau, and are always fresh and new. We are not just another clinic…we’re a one of a kind place, with one of a kind service!”

 Her advice to you:

“Go for it, do it now. Don’t be scared to ask for help and use resources around you. The only thing stopping you is yourself”.

“Don’t think that you need to start big. It can be very small and work its way up naturally to something on a bigger scale. I would like to share my favourite quote from Michael Jordan:

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

There is nothing wrong with trying something, especially if it’s something that you are passionate about. The thing is, when you are passionate about something… that’s when your chances of success are greatest. But don’t be afraid to fall down on the way, as long as you get back up.”

To find out more about Jackie and her clinic Hand on You Therapeutic Clinic you can visit her website: http://www.handsonyou.ca/