Spa Utopia - Levi Giesbrecht

Levi Gisbrecht didn't graduate high school or recieve a degree in college. Levi made it clear that if you have a partner you have to make sure that you can comporate affectively together. Also, Levi believed in his idea and stuck to it. He had passion, he didnt want to just keep on working for his fathers business, he wanted to make his own business and he went out and did just that. After listening to his speech I have learned these three main ponts are esstential in a sucessful business. -Make a good partner choice, it needs to be someone you can get work done with -Be passsionate and love what you do

-Find a way to be the best and stand out from your competitiors

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart..so what?
Martha Steward helped revolutionize the way typical house hold things were done with her creativity. People never ever thought to do such everyday things so differently but Martha Stewart did. Everything from gardening to setting up dinner tables and decorating the house Martha did in her own way and eventually she became a huge success because of her determination and her urge to always make things perfect, but at the same time, with the cost of her success came happiness she started to loss connection with her family and eventually that lead to a divorce. Later in life Martha Stewart also served jail time. So main lesson learnt her, don't let work consume you and your personal life. A balance is necessary or else you will be consumed by what you do.

Canadas Top 100

Company Logos:

Company 1 - B.C Hyrdo:
a) Some things that make this place a great place to work are...
- helps employess prepare for retirement with a generous contributions to a defined benefit pension plan, and a phased-in retirement work option
-manages a technologist-in-training program for candidates in the engineering, operations and electrical systems maintenance and repair fields
-host in-house apprenticeship programs for graduates from a wide variety of technical fields
-offer maternity leave top-up benefits to employees who are new mothers (to 85% of salary for 17 weeks)

c) BC Hydro generates and distributes electricity to residents in B.C. The Provinicial Crown corportation is one of Canada's largest public utilities, operating 30 hydroelectric facilities (which produce 80 percent of the province's electricity), two gas-fired thermal plants and one combustion fuel turbine station. In addition to its primary offices in Vancouver and Burnaby, BC Hydro has offices and facilities located in communities across the province.

Company 2 - Agrium:
a) Some things that make this place a great place to work are:
- operates a well-established succession management program that focuses on developing management talent from within
- supports employees taking courses at outside institutions with generous tuition subsidies, covering 100% of course fees (to $3000 each year)
- gives employees 3 weeks of vacation to start, increasing it to four weeks after just two years with the company
- manages a popular engineer-in-training program designed to expose young engineering employees to a wide variety of engineering disciplines
-provides fully-paid health coverage for retired employees (with no age limit)
-offers subsidized memberships to an onsite fitness facility to employees and their families
-is located adjacent to Fish Creek Provincial Park, where employees can take a break from a busy day and spend a little time with nature

c) Agrium Inc. is a leading North American wholesale producer and marketer of nitrogen, phosphate, potash and sulphur-based fertilizers. Founded as Cominco Fertilizers Ltd. in 1931, Agrium Inc. manages retail and wholesale business units across North America. Their retail operations supply fertilizer, crop protection products, seed and ssociated merchandise to customer through more than 900 retail centres, distribution centres and terminals in the United States, Canada, Chile and Argentina. The company also produces and markets fertilizers internatioinally through production facilities in North America, South America, Europe and the Middle East. In addition, Agrium recently established a new research and technology unit, responsible for developing environmentally-friendly, controlled-release fertilizer and associated products for the agricultural horticulture, and consumer lawn and garden markets.

Company 3 - B.C.L.C (British Columbia Lottery Corporation):
a) things that make this place a great place to work are:
- offers employees generous financial benefits, including defined benefit pension plan contributions and year-end bonuses
-has a flexible health benefits plan that includes fully-paid health coverage for retired employees (with no age limit)
-provides parental leave top-up benefits to new mothers (to 85% of salary for 17 weeks) and new fathers (to 85% of salary for 12 weeks)
-offers parental leave top-up benefits to employees who are adoptive parents (to 85% of salary for 17 weeks)
-supports ongoing employee career development, with full tuition subsidies for job-related courses at outside development, with full tuition subsidies for job-related courses at outside institutions (with no annual maximum)
-promotes employee wellness with free memberships to an onsite fitness facility, secure bicycle parking, and healthy cafeteria menu options

c) BCLC is responsible for managing and regulating lotteries, casions, community gaming and e-gaming activites within the province. Established in 1985, the BCLC began as a lottery regulation company and today has evolved into a diverse gaming entertainment management company. The corporation works on behalf of the Government of British Columbia and today works with a variety of private-sector business partners, including 4,000 lottery ticket retailers, 15 casinos, 13 bingo halls, 14 community gaming centres and 2 racetrack casinos.

Ovrville Redenbacher

Orville Clarence Redenbacher was an American businessman most often associated with the brand of popcorn that bears his name. Redenbacher was born in Brazil, Indiana, and grew up on his family's farm where he sometimes sold popcorn in wesley town from a roadside stand. As he grew up he eventually graduated from Brazil High School in 1924 and was in the top 5% of his class. He attended Purdue University, joining the agriculture-oriented Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and the Purdue All-American Marching Band. He graduated with a degree in agronomy in 1928 and spent most of his life in the agriculture industry, serving as a Vigo County Farm Burea extension agent in Terre Haute, Indiana, and at Princeton Farms in Princeton, Indiana. In childhood, he joined the 4-H club, and developed an obsession with developing the perfect popcorn. He earned a small fortune in fertilizer, but in his spare time, he indulged in his obsession. In 1951, he and partner Charlie Bowman bought the George F. Chester and Son seed corn plant near Valparaiso, Indiana. Naming the company "Chester Hybrids" they tried tens of thousands of hybrid strains of popcorn before achieving sucess. Redenbacher and Bowman initially named the hybrid "RedBow" but were advised by an advertising agency to use the name Orville Redenbacher to market the corn. They adopted the advice, launching their gourmet opopping corn in 1970, and Orville was suddenly everywhere.

Famous Entrepreneurs

Estee Lauder: was the American co-founder with her husband Joseph Lauder, of Estee Lauder Companies, a pioneering cosmetics company. She was born Josephine Esther Mentzer in Corona, Queens, New York, the duaghter of a Hungarian mother and aCzechosolvak father. She was the only woman on TIME magazine's 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century. She was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S Business Hall of Fame in 1998.

The Fishers: Founded december 1969, first opened in San Fransico, the next store was opened in 1970 in San Hose. Have started five wentures, Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athletica and Piper line. 3,465 stores joined RED campain in 2006. Had strengths such as high fashionably clothing at reasonable prices.

Tina Seelig

The two points that I choose to discuss in this blog are:
1. The Harder you work the luckier you get
2. Don't Burn your bridges

The reason I choose these two points is because I really took these two in the most out of all the points and I believe they are extremely important in not only business but also in life. First off, the harder you work the luckier you get is a statement that I couldnt agree with more because people who are considered lucky are lucky for a reason just as Tina Seelig said in her speech "the lucky people are lucky because they made themselves lucky". Lucky people are people who put themselves in the position to be lucky such as getting themselves into the position where they are most likely to get an oppurnity and also they are ready more for oppurtunities than unlucky people even when they don't expect them. Secondly, don't burn your bridges is another really important point that Tina brought up. This point is so important because the more connections you have the better and also if you burn your bridges with someone eventually there will be some point where you could have ether used their help in something or even needed a favour and they won't be there for you therefore making as much connections as you can and not ruining any of those connections is extremely important.

Ray Kroc. Mc'D's

Ray Albert Kroc was an american business man who took over (at the time) small scale Mcdonald's Corporation franchise in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. He dedicated his life to his work and made the company into a huge success. Ray Kroc completely revolutionized fast food as we know it today. Ray Kroc cut down service times to a mere minimum and people were amazed by how fast they could sit down and have a full meal. Although Ray Kroc was a very successful man and turned Mcdonald's into the biggest food industry success story in history there were also many mistakes Ray Kroc made in his life and many don't view his life as "good". Ray Kroc had married twice and was not very truthful to his wives ether. He never made time for his kids and wife because he was always completely consumed in work and therefore couldn't be two places at the same time. After divorcing his first marraige he soon tried to marry a already married woman but was rejected and although this deeply hurt him it was not long before he purposed to another woman named Jane Green even though he confessed that his heart was still with the woman who had rejected him.