Kevin and I dive into Hollie Tayal (aka Hollie, The Great)'s world this week.
Warning: This episode gets emotional. Hollie is such an accomplished young entrepreneur and just having her in the same room as us is humbling. Listen to her words of wisdom!
This is also the last of the four episodes that contain the codeword to the Code Word Contest to win a $250 gift basket from us plus a float date from Ogo Float in Penticton.
Hollie's Bio:
Born in Dublin, Ireland and moved to Canada in 1989. Lived in Toronto briefly then my family settled in the North Pole, aka Thunder Bay. I have a younger sister, Hannah Banana. Growing up, we had everything we needed but I always wanted more. My dad told me “get a job” and man, once I started making money, I was hooked. As a teenager, I babysat, cleaned houses, poured coffee, slung pies (pizza pies), whatever I could.
During my first month of university, I drove out to the Okanagan to visit some friends. It was warm and sunny here in October and snowing back in Thunder Bay. I didn’t go home. I did what I needed to do to stay in the Okanagan. It was love at first sight. I dropped out of university, sorry mom.
After a failed attempt at franchising a pizza restaurant (too much work), my partner and I were presented an opportunity to open a duct cleaning franchise. I hated the idea and fought it for months.
Finally we opened the franchise and relocated to the South Okanagan. I wasn’t really involved with the company right away but warmed up to it.
Almost 14 years later, I own 2 franchise locations (South Okanagan & the Kootenays). I enjoy my life in the South Okanagan. You can usually find me on a patio, at the beach, at a winery or just outside somewhere.