She's an Ironman that Acquired 2 Businesses Simultaneously

Welcome to another CEO Wisdom pod. We have Jessica Collin with us today. She's a regenerative business builder up in Canada. She's owner and CEO at Dynamic Rescue System Inc. and Raven RSM up in British Columbia, to be precise. Fellow Ironman, right, Jess? So I'm just honored to have you on the podcast. Tell us a bit more about what you're up to.

Well, thank you. Uh, what a privilege to be on and great to meet you. I'm excited for the conversation.

What are you building? Tell us a bit more about yourself.

What am I building? Well, I'm, I'm looking to build a lot. I would say that, uh, I'm an entrepreneur through acquisition, which means that I did a full business search. I found both of these companies and fell in love with the rescue medical and safety space. I always wanted to move to BC. So I had the privilege of being able to do that as a part of this. And I mean, you know this in talking to CEOs, part of the beautiful part of this is the lifestyle design that you get to have. So one of the key things that I'm building is looking at these businesses and realizing that we are not treating businesses as business as usual, which is like a very mechanical system pushing people to the limit. It's actually looking like businesses very similar to nature and treating treating them like living systems. That means looking after the people and looking at different and living systems way of looking at business, which ends up being more profitable. But who would have known?

To sum it up, right, like one business, Raven RSM, it's, well, both businesses are about rescue and medical training, right, to some degree. So that's, That's what you're into, that's your business.

Yes. Well, so yeah, the— with this industry, we would essentially, to boil it down, we do consulting, we do training, we do equipment sales, we do standby rescue. Uh, we train the people who are rescuing people. So we work with firefighters, we work with first responders to make sure that they have all of their skills that are sharp so that when they need to make a rescue Everything is set.

And how does that work? Like, is there public training and you're like a private training company? Do people have options between both? Like, uh, is the government paying you? Like, how does that work?

Uh, no, the government isn't paying us this. There's lots of regulations specifically in the province that I operate in. We work all across Canada, but I would say BC specifically has a lot of regulations around WorkSafe, and it's great. They really care about making their workers safe. But these companies come along and make sure that they have the skills. Now, as you know, anytime you learn something, you don't just learn it once. It's this continual relearning. So they would need to continue to recertify. So our company would come alongside, and there's, there's lots of different options that companies have. We're really grateful for the customers who choose us, because we care about, um, excellence in everything that we do.

So, um, the company, right, you target rescuing private companies, right? Is that your ICP?

So we would work with everyone from oil and gas to mining to industry to municipal. So as an example, we help train firefighters so that they have skills like swift water rescue or rope rescue. Very similarly, there's lots of people who are out on industrial sites or, you know, hanging hydro lines that need to know how to do these rescues. We'll also do things as wide-ranging as like wilderness medicine. So if you are out on your snowmobile and you work for an energy company and you're 1,000 miles away from the nearest hospital and someone breaks their arm, how do you create a splint out of a coat? So we go through exercises like that. Essentially everything we do is empowering people to be safer, right?

And firefighters, aren't they paid by the government? Which is why I'm asking, like, uh, ultimately if like taxpayers are paying for this.

Well, I mean, municipalities would— they would get a training budget, absolutely. So then they would use that training budget to support, um, yes.

Okay, perfect. Just so I wrap my mind around this. Okay, so Raven— what's the difference between Raven and Dynamic Rescue Systems?

Well, historically they were competitors before, uh, they joined forces, so they're sort of like the best possible sister company situation. Um, I sometimes joke, if I were to really distill it down and maybe oversimplify, Dynamics is fire and Raven's water. So Raven is an international expert when it comes to swift water ice rescue. They do a lot of the wilderness-based types of things. A lot of their instructors are former river guides. Now, some of them are fire chiefs and firefighters, but it was started by a river guide. Dynamic, as an alternative, was started by 3 fire chiefs, and they have almost 200 firefighters that are working for them as consultants.

And you acquired these companies? How— what's happened there? Like, why is I'm still trying to make sense out of all this. You acquired those?

Yes, absolutely. So it's something that I mentioned at the beginning called entrepreneurship through acquisition. So that's where, you know, someone who wants to be an entrepreneur but doesn't want to start their own thing will go and they'll buy an already established business and carry on the legacy. And the reason why that's important is in Canada we have, you know, almost 90% of businesses are looking to transition. And there's not enough people in Canada to transition these businesses to. So you do need entrepreneurs like me who are willing to step into pre-existing businesses and grow them into their next chapter. So that was what I was doing when I found these businesses.

Why did you acquire two at the same time?

A little bit of, uh, serendipity, a little bit of luck. I found this industry and fell in love with it. I think that it's one of the coolest industries out there. And it's work that makes me passionate. I wake up every single day with a fire in my belly. And I, you know, it's almost like I founded these companies, even if I didn't. I have that level of passion for it. So when I was doing an industry analysis, these two companies kept coming to the top as, you know, the key winners in the category for me, and an alignment for my values and the culture that I would want to build. So I approached them both, and the chances of them both being for sale at the same time is very limited, but they were. So I went for it. It was one of those swing for the fences, and here we are.

That's so unique. I love it. And who are you before that? You were an Ironman. You worked for Home Hardware for 10 years. Who are you before that?

Well, before that, I was working in corporate, and a lot of people wonder, like, how do you transition from being in a corporate environment to running two businesses as an acquisition entrepreneur? Entrepreneur. But what was really interesting is I would work within this space. I was very much what I call an intrapreneur, where you can work in a large organization and you still are building things. And I was very grateful that even though I was in a large organization, I always had leaders that allowed me to build and grow as, as I wished. So I had those skill sets and I was working at a high level directly with the CEO across the organization. So it allowed me to learn a lot. And then also coupled with that, and you've mentioned it, I competed as a professional triathlete. So bringing that level of, uh, competition and drive and all of the great things of why I love having athletes on my teams— that delayed gratification, that willing to put in the work— that combination of skill sets sort of brought me to this chapter of my life.

Such an interesting story, very unique. How do you— yeah, how do people interact with you? Like, one, at work, right? Is it like a male-dominated space? And who are your friends? When they look at you, you must be like an alien, someone that acquired two companies in one go, that competed at the highest levels. Like, how do humans interact with you?

Well, that's really kind of you to say, but I think one of the things that I like about your tagline is that, you know, like, you study study one outlier a day. You know, I've, I've looked at improving like 1% every single day, that continuous improvement, and that always development. So I would say actually, when I look at my group of friends and my peers, they're all way more interesting than I am and have done way— oh yeah, I've done—

how so? Tell me, tell me how. Give me a specific example.

Well, I mean, I would say even as an example, like my husband is he was just at the, the CrossFit Games. He's a high-level coach to the top professional CrossFitters in the world.

And I'm not surprised by that.

One of my— two— one of my best friends has been to the double Olympics for triathlon. It's really hard to say you're cool to be a professional triathlete when someone's like at the Olympics. I've had another friend who, you know, acquired a business and in the first two weeks grew it by 7 or 8 times by a contract that he landed. You're always— so I guess what I'm saying is the reason is, yes, I've done some cool things and I'm really proud of it, and that is my path, but I surround myself with people who are just way better than me, and that's how you keep lifting yourself up. One of my best friends is a professional triathlete, and it's just— I mean, she's faster than me. It's just the way that it is, right?

Have you always been that way?

I think so. I think I've always wanted to get better. I think I've— the most important thing for me is being really positive, and I think you have to be relentlessly positive as, as an entrepreneur. The other thing too is I just believe that pressure is a privilege, and so in order to do that, you become the people that you spend time with. So the more— that has been, I think, the greatest indicator of my success is the people that I surround myself with. They sort of set the basement of what the expectations are. And if you always have people who are way above you, you're never going to settle.

How could you keep your sanity at Home Hardware for 10 years then is the obvious question I had for you. I couldn't even last 3 days in a corporate environment.

Haha. Well, and I think that goes back to what I said of just having a leader that lets me build. So I built a team and a department from scratch in the middle of a pandemic, and I was given the resources and the budget, so I got to to build and grow. And then I was working directly with the CEO on some of the biggest problems within the business. So it was really an amazing training ground and learning on someone else's dollar, to be completely honest. I got to travel, I got to see a bunch of things across the company. And there's this amazing book that I recommend when people are like, how do you survive in corporate? Because I think corporate's always has a bad rap. It's called This Might Get Me Fired. And it's talking about how to build and be an intrapreneur within a much larger organization. I think it goes back to that attitude. You can do anything anywhere and you just need to bring the right attitude. And so I look back very fondly at my time at Home Hardware and in corporate because it was an amazing time for me to learn all of the skills that I'm using now in my businesses.

Right. Tell me about the history of Home Hardware and how did they compete with Rona in Quebec or with Home Depot, for example?

They have such a cool story. So, uh, in 1964, there was a bunch of big box companies that were coming into the, the space, and in order to compete against them, there was 122 dealers that assembled, and they basically said, we're going to create this almost cooperative model where we're going to pool our resources and be able to fight and compete against much larger, um, companies. Which in the end they did and very successfully. This, like, they are now over a $6 billion company, but you never would imagine that because they're on all these small little independently owned stores across the company or country. And what I like too is some of the learning of that business model and understanding like why local. You can be big, but if people feel like they have that turnkey bespoke local service, they will choose you every single time. That's a lesson I'm taking into my business is that I don't want to— like, I'm using AI to automate some processes in the backend, but you call my phone at our business and you get a real live person every single time. And I think that that is that trade-off of— we also have regional folks that really focus on their regions. That's where the magic is, is where when people really understand and feel that human connection.

And your business, is it a lifestyle business or does it scale? Can it scale? Do you want it to scale?

Um, yes, yes, and yes, it absolutely scales. And for me, I want to— it's, it's a, it's a service business. It's not necessarily a lifestyle business. Um, there are so many levers that I can pull in my business to grow, which is what drew me to the industry beyond just the fact that I get to wake up every single day and do good in the world. Um, the other thing that I really love about it too is that you can replicate this model. And right now, operationally, we are getting clarity on exactly what is that, because I've only been in the business for a year or less when you look at both of them. So we're really focusing on operational excellence before that next stage of growth. I do want to scale and grow. I think every business does, but for me, Quality is so important. If you're in the safety and rescue industry, a mistake literally is life or death. So, we are building that on the most quality platform that we can before we grow.

I love that. I want to talk about your Ironman days. Why did you get obsessed with that sport? And what did you transfer into your entrepreneurial life?

Oh, that's a great question. I love pushing myself. I love trying to see what my limits are, and that's really what, you know, drove me to that. I realized that it was a way to also build community. So you asked about what my friends think. Well, a lot of my friends are out there training for an Ironman with me, right? So we got to catch up and build relationships over 6-hour-long rides. And, um, so that— I would say some of the key things that I took from— well, to answer your question of why I became obsessed with it, it's just that continuous self-improvement. And it's that opportunity of testing yourself and pushing yourself to be better every single day. And then also being able to compete at the highest level is an amazing opportunity to improve. How I take that into my entrepreneurship journey— for me, like I said, there's this delayed gratification. I never let— I understand that a bad day, if you're feeling off in a training session, that's not going to mean you're not going to win your race. You just keep showing up every single day, even if it doesn't feel great. And all of those compound and add up to a really great outcome. So I think that that— and also just, I don't know, the ability to sit with discomfort and understand that it's, it's okay to be uncomfortable. A lot of what I spend time as an entrepreneur or CEO is being uncomfortable. It's not a comfortable role to have. And I think it's something that's widely talked about. But you need to sit with like this dissonance of, sometimes like unmade decisions or things that you are moving forward with incorrect information. When you're racing an Ironman, you can have your game plan, but inevitably that day's a very long day and things are going to go off the rails or fall apart. So you need to be quickly problem solving in the moment in high-pressure situations. Well, guess what? That's exactly what I do as an entrepreneur and CEO, right?

And I guess, you know, it's just natural to keep on going when you feel pain. Pain is just like a data point, right? Most people, they just quit naturally. Like when stuff gets hard, like they just think of quitting, right? Or not most humans, but some humans still, right, that you see that are constantly not advancing in life, breaking that relationship because it gets hard, not having kids because it gets hard, not trying this new job, not starting their own business, right? I think humans are excuse machines and they, as soon as it gets hard, they find a way out. Well, when you're in an Ironman, I mean, quitting is like— there's social pressure, and it's like, I put in all that training, I want that medal on my wall, right? Like, the incentives are stacked not to actually quit.

No, exactly. And I think the other thing, even if their incentives are stacked to quit, just having a narrative in your mind that you're a person who doesn't quit. Like, for me, when I started a race, like, there was one One of my last Ironmans as a pro, I had incredible sciatic back pain. It was almost unbearable, and I did the entire bike ride in— like, it was one of my slowest rides, and I, I was begging myself not to quit. But I have this narrative, I'm a person that doesn't quit. So when you don't give yourself that out and you can push past, you know, unimaginable pain and overcome insurmountable things Again, you just prove to yourself over and over, I'm a person that doesn't quit. So again, when things get hard in your business, yeah, you're— it's just all a part of it. And one of my favorite quotes is, you know, the only thing difference between an ordeal and an adventure is your attitude. So I find so often people view things as like so tough or so, you know, difficult when you're running a business or doing an Ironman. It's just an adventure. Like, this is just all part of it. If everything goes smoothly, life is boring.

Yes, I'm asking ChatGPT how much pedal strokes is, uh, 180 kilometers. I'm trying to calculate your pain here. Uh, that's about 30,000 times you felt a jolt of pain in your back. That's like the definition— that's the definition of torture there. Um, but there is something called dopamine, right, and endorphins, which kick in like around the process. But yeah, it's Tracy. In my case, it's been like my gut sometimes at early races. I didn't have like a nutrition strategy right, and that really fucks you up mentally because when your stomach hurts, your stomach convinces your brain that it's the end of the world, right? And it's like, oh, everything is gray, nothing's well, I can't keep anything upright. And if you can't keep energy up, like nothing is happening well. But yeah, it's just like, keep on going. And just like a company, just like a startup, you, you fix the airplane while it's going down the mountain, right? And eventually miracles happen. The sun always shows up, right? Like in the greatest of desperation. And that's the beauty of that sport. And like you said, you can calculate scientifically improvements and you come back like so much stronger, right? And anyone can just take a pair of shoes and go out. I'm an ultra runner mostly, right? I don't do Ironmans nowadays, but it's so simple, right? Just take your shoes and get out and start walking, right? Like, if you're in such pain, and eventually, oh, you feel comfort, you feel boots of confidence, you can start running, right? And before long, you can climb hills and do crazy shit. Like, that's, that's how I view it.

Exactly. It's about consistency. It's not about these hero efforts. And I think that, you know, there's such incredible work out there that shows that just being brave enough to show up and do the work, you understand that that adds up to huge things over time.

It's momentum. And again, it's the same laws in startups, right? You want speed, you want to do things. Uh, in your case, like, you want to do them diligently, of course, but, uh, you want to do them early, you want to gain traction, you gain data, and then you start improving. That's, that's the beauty of launching a company, right? And it's very similar to ultra running. In your case, I Must admit, yes, it's a fascinating, like, field, right? Saving lives, uh, it's very gratifying and it's adrenaline as well. Do you throw yourself out there in the field sometimes to test your own training?

Absolutely. I think that every CEO— if you, you can't run a company you don't understand. So I've been in currents and eddies and my swift water courses. I've done— gone on rafting trips. I have been on a, like, suspended over a canyon in a harness and sent across. I've been on rope courses. Like, I've been climbing through confined spaces. Like, you have to be able to understand also what your customer is experiencing too. So when I hear people talk about our training, I'm like, yes, I've done it. And yes, you are prepared for the real world because you have not only really great curriculum that's been tested internationally, but you have people who probably saved a life earlier that day or yesterday who are teaching you this skill set. So it's pretty, it's pretty incredible.

Yeah, the business of life-saving is pretty fascinating, right? So the victim, most of the time they're distressed, right? Some of them can actively try to drown you because they're, they're in panic modes. Like, what's the, what's the nitty-gritty? Like, what's the— there's no no, like, common situation, right? But most of the time it's about finding them. I guess that's step one, right? And then once you found them, I guess, uh, it's about taking them out of danger, calming them down, right? Can you describe a typical rescue situation which you've been directly or indirectly part of?

Well, I always say I am not the leader of the technical. I'm just in the background in the business, and I, I— it's my business to understand how this works, but, um, I am not a first responder. I will say it's very interesting though, and in some of our courses we actually have needed to save lives. And so as a student, you might be on course and learning about all the steps, and then suddenly someone comes along and there's a real-life incident that you need to approach. Um, you're 100% right that people can try to drown you, which is why you need to— they— we teach you all sorts of different ways to be able to navigate that with a person. You also need to control the situation, and we work with search and rescue groups who do this all the time as well. Water is one of the most dangerous situations. It's so easy to drown. And like where I live, British Columbia, there's just so many rivers and lakes and oceans. And, you know, foot entrapment is an example of like one of the key things that causes death. So you— we just teach how to navigate all of these things how to set up a basic command and control, how to handle someone who is, you know, about to drown. And the other thing too is just managing, you know, the— if they have friends on shore, being able to navigate that whole situation. Another interesting thing that I've learned since working in this space is one of the huge causes of people getting in emergency situations is actually pets. As an example, like your dog runs out onto the ice. I don't know, because you'd say I'd be— I'd think clearly. I'm sorry, I have a golden retriever, he's out on the ice. I'm suddenly thinking in my reptilian brain, I want to rescue my precious dog, right? So people do some really wild things to be able to save animals when actually animals are, are, are— they are okay to self-rescue. So, um, and if not, you want the professionals doing it, not necessarily you.

I mean, that's crazy. And foot entrapment, didn't think about that one. It's like you're in rapids and your foot gets stuck in between two rocks. I didn't even fathom that this was a possibility. That's a terrible death.

When a lot of people are making— one of the things I— and just using BC, this is all over the world, but like when you're in a beautiful place like British Columbia, I, I spend a lot of time exploring outside. And you really need to understand, like, if you're— if you are in water, fully respect that, you know, it's beautiful, it's a spectacular way to spend your time, and it's very dangerous. So getting, you know, basic swift water training of how to navigate that when things are, you know, a simple canoe trip but can go very, very wrong if you don't understand the risks. And making people feel empowered to be able to safely go out, it's really important. Especially when so much— I mean, a big part of what I do is wanting to make people spend more time outside and, and be able to have the confidence to be able to do that.

What are your priorities this year as the CEO of these two companies?

Well, um, I will say my priorities have shifted slightly bit as the year went on because I'm actually, uh, 9 months pregnant with my first baby, so One of the key things that, priorities for me was making sure that the team was really, really clear on our direction and the effects that we are going to be having as a company. We've been doing a lot of work with the Regenerative Business Resource to set up the teams to be self-developing and self-resourcing. So as I'm looking to, you know, probably be less in the office day-to-day for the foreseeable future, setting up the teams. And it's been really, really empowering over the last 9 months to set up our teams to be able to make decisions. They have these principles and guides to be able to be empowered to do that. And I think at the end of the day, that's what your people want. They want purpose, they want empowerment, they want to be able to move things forward. And I have some really smart, intelligent, wise people in my companies that are able to make great decisions. So I would say setting up the team and also developing the team because as we grow, I'm positioning the companies for the growth that we're about to have. We're bringing on new people to make sure that everything is shored up, bringing in new technology. I'm working with an AI business coach, all of these different things to get that competitive edge. So when you flip that switch, we're just ready to go to the moon.

What, uh, what does a day in your pregnancy life look like?

Well, um, as an example, I get up, uh, probably 5:30. I meditate every morning because I think managing my state is super important. I always do a workout, um, so this morning it was a strength workout and a hike. Um, I still running this late in my pregnancy, so I feel very fortunate for that. And then, you know, prep for the day. And I love being in the office. My teams are amazing. So head to the office. And then it is like you talk to any entrepreneur to tell you what goes on in our day is really tough. I've met with my coach. I met with my CFO today. I met with a mentor who came in from San Francisco. And I worked on probably 3 hours of business strategy. Which has been a really great outcome of being pregnant, actually moving myself from the business and working on the business constantly. So, and then, you know, the never-ending making sure that you are responding to the needs of the business that cross your desk.

I love it. So unconventional. Jessica, thanks for being on. Where can people find out more about you?

Well, I would say that I, I guess I am on Instagram as Jessica Cullen. I don't share as much about myself these days. I think like what I'm doing in the businesses is way more fun. So you can find us online is at ravenrsm.com or dynamicrescue.com, um, and then on LinkedIn as well.

Was Jessica and Charles