LeClair Organics Featured in The Peak’s Article “18 Exceptional Pandemic Pivoters”
I am glad to be featured in the recent article “18 Exceptional Pandemic Pivoters” by The Peak amongst the many other great business leaders and entrepreneurs. It was great to see our local Saskatoon founded company represent the Saskatchewan entrepreneurship on the list. LeClair Organics was created out of need to diversify. The diversification towards new lines of business and revenue due to non optimal pandemic conditions. You can see the feature of all 18 entrepreneurs and business leaders including myself(Jeremy LeClair) from the link here.
My five tips for business during the pandemic include “Strengthen and Leverage Core Competencies”, “Utilize Survival Mode and Bootstrapping”, “Diversify Various Forms of Capital”, “Get Used to Feeling Uncomfortable, and “Problem is Opportunity in Business” which the full writeup can be seen within the full article.
Regarding “problem is opportunity”, for myself the problem of the pandemic created the need for an new revenue opportunity. It essentially forced me to be on top of my game to innovate something new. Would I have created LeClair Organics or some other form of new product if it was not for the added pressure? It honestly would be hard to say when I would get started. I knew that I would develop my own brand beyond consulting other brands with LeClair Media somewhere down the line amongst many ideas. Perhaps this was the extra push needed to get started way earlier than expected. If you are not uncomfortable most likely you are not expanding beyond the comfort zone and new opportunities that come with it(also relevant to “get used to feeling uncomfortable”). As well in the article I touch more specifically in the upcycle opportunity from the coffee berry waste problem. I also think that the due to the fact I was not able to find any other species of coffee such as our Liberica in Canada, this was also a problem seeking to be solved.
I also recommend you to review the other exciting people on the list and their business advice during a pandemic. The fellow 18 entrepreneurs listed in the article are as follows:
- Lola Kassim, GM, Uber Eats Canada, Toronto
- Anshul Ruparell, Co-Founder & CEO, Properly, Toronto
- Phil Wigmore, VP, Swift Medical, Toronto
- Dr. Gavin Armstrong, Founder and President, Lucky Iron Fish, Guelph
- Amanda Dias, CEO, Fettch Technologies, Toronto
- Rachel Zimmer, General Manager, Entrepreneur First, Toronto
- Andrew Ostro, Co-Founder & CEO, PolicyMe Toronto
- Melissa Chee, President & CEO, ventureLAB, Markham
- Matthew Price, GM, Uber Canada, Toronto
- Rodney Lover, atWork, London
- Kerri-Lynn McAllister, Founder and CEO, Pawzy, Toronto
- Vinod Varma, Founder and CEO, Creator.Co, Vancouver
- Roslyn McLarty, Co-Founder, The Gist, Toronto
- Neer Sharma, CEO, Sprout Wellness, Toronto
- Michael Hartley, Founder and CEO, Minetell, Toronto
- Myself Jeremy LeClair, Founder, LeClair Organics & LeClair Media, Saskatoon
- Rhiannon Rosalind, CEO, Economic Club of Canada, Toronto
- Amy Welsman, Founder, MyPaume, Toronto