Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jeremy Shaki, co-founder and CEO of Lighthouse Labs, located in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Lighthouse Labs is a tech skills training organization focused on helping fill the tech talent gap with ambitious adults who may not yet have the skills but have a growth mindset and a strong work ethic. We provide them with plenty of 1-on-1 support from industry professionals at all hours through our bootcamp-style curriculum and job-focused career services. With a +90% job rate, we provide the best option for people to jump into technology and build a phenomenal career.

Tell us about yourself

As a Poli Sci graduate who built a marketing career before starting a technology training company, I first and foremost care about having the freedom to know that I can make changes as my life progresses. Too many people pick a path at 18 and feel stuck in it. Yet, we know that this generation is more interested in mobility and freedom to make different choices throughout their life.

I am one of those people, and I hope to always be able to work on something that excites me. Working to allow people to have that freedom - the one I have pursued personally - is extremely motivating, and the kind of people you meet in our programs are some of the most inspiring people I have ever known. It’s easy to be motivated to help people who are on that path.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

The current state of Lighthouse Labs is definitely my largest accomplishment. This involved navigating the pandemic and getting us from a place that was an in-person school to an online education company. Lighthouse Labs has grown significantly during this time, but our learning results and job rates have been maintained. Most importantly, we dealt with a period of extreme mental health challenges for all of our employees by constantly being engaged, attentive, and offering new levels of support.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner is balancing your personal needs with the needs of the business - and knowing that when those two things conflict, a good owner and CEO should always choose what’s good for the business.

I think the perception is that you can do what you want when you own your business, but any good owner knows it’s actually the opposite. The most important thing you show day in and day out is that you are never acting in self-interest and always acting in the interest of your customers, your employees, and the business's overall health first. Doing that for nine years takes a discipline that can be very difficult to maintain.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Take a second to think about what will happen if you are neither wildly successful nor a quick failure. Are you ready to be in the business you choose to be in for ten years? Because most good business owners I know aren’t running billion-dollar businesses but rather businesses that can have great years and down years. Liking what you do is critical, and if you don’t, then you need to either be very deliberate and clear about your plan to build this to the point of exit or not do it at all.
  2. Relentlessly challenge yourself to get better. Nobody will have a larger impact on your business than you, and asking everyone else to improve while not putting in the work to be better yourself is going to hurt your business.
  3. Being good to your people isn’t a side of the desk portion of your job, it’s 90% of it. Don’t treat it as anything other than your main function.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

You are never too old to start a company or change careers. When the moment is right, jump in, but don’t feel you have to do it at a young age or your time is up. Most of the successful startups and business owners I know started their companies in their early 30s and beyond. Most of the career changers we train are over the age of 25. Change is always possible.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.lighthouselabs.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lighthouselabsvancouver
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lighthouselabs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lighthouse_labs
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/lighthouse-labs/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Turn your craft into recurring revenue with Subkit. Start your subscription offering in minutes and supercharge it with growth levers. Get early access here.