New tourism company offers full fan experience
- EFN Staff | October 21, 2014
Nathan Kaye wants to help fulfill your sports fanatic fantasy....his new tourism company, settours.ca, offers amazing packages of pro sports tours that get you the full fan experience.
After struggling as a youth and running a bit afoul of the law, Nathan, a member of Sakimay First Nation, pulled himself together in his early twenties and pursued his destiny to be an entrepreneur. While in business school in Calgary he came up with an idea to mix football, basketball and pro hockey games in premium package deals so fans can get the best mixture of pro sports...and watch a game of their favourite team from a luxury suite. After a third and then first place in business plan competitions, Nathan entered his completed business plan and pitched in two of Saskatoon’s business planning competitions and was awarded first and third place respectively.
Using his business plan he successfully applied for a start-up loan from Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) as well as a start-up grant from the Saskatchewan Indian Equity Foundation (SIEF).
It was in 2012 Nathan started looking into what it would take to get his very own food truck. From working on the drilling rigs he was able to secure two bank loans and by the summer of 2013 he was on the road with Pizza Kingz N Chicken Wingz attending events such as Pow-wows, rodeos, and festivals throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan. After diving in head first and surviving his first year in the mobile food business he decided to give his idea from business school a try.
It was in the fall of 2013 he walked into BDC to get it started and it took almost a year to officially launch his website SETTOURS.CA. Just one more venture to keep this young entrepreneur on the go. We caught up with Nathan for a coffee and we drilled this emerging business man for his thoughts on the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial life.
How did you shrug off the troubles of your youth to focus on business?
In high school I knew I had an entrepreneurial and business creative mindset knowing I wanted to one day be my own boss. And I knew going to school for business was the first step in that direction. You have to be smart about how you deal with situations I didn’t let myself get caught up in that party lifestyle and carry that street mentality, I learned that was a destructive mindset to have.
What so far has been the biggest challenge in creating your business?
Besides staying persistent with the many obstacles to engage in this industry, I would have to say is being quite unfamiliar with the industry based on the fact that I started a business I had no experience in. It is a lot easier to start a business in an industry you are familiar with or in which you have worked years in.
What is the best thing about being self employed?
There are many things that make worthy of being self-employed, sense of accomplishment, setting your own schedule, being able to take care of business almost anywhere I go, the dreams of where you can take your business.
Who helped you along the way?
A big shout out and thanks going out to SIEF, Business Development Canada and Potash Corporation for making this opportunity possible. First off, BDC helped by putting me in contact with some experienced business plan writers Linda Prafke and Dana Kadilak-Brick from BMG Management Group where we successfully applied to get 75% of the cost for the business plan covered by SIEF. As a team we put the business plan together and I submitted applications for two of Saskatoon’s business planning competitions, Saskatoon Tribal Council’s Mino-Bimaadiziwin Youth Business Plan Competition and U of S Aboriginal Youth Idea Challenge (AYIC), both sponsored by Potash Corporation. I won 3rd and 1st respectively for a total of $8,500 to help with the start-up of my new venture. I then submitted the completed plan to both SIEF and BDC for financing, answered additional questions about the business, met their requirements and was blessed with the funding I needed to start my business. I was getting this all done while I was in full swing with Pizza Kingz N Chicken Wingz.
What makes settours.ca different from other sport tourism offerings?
Settours.ca offers at least two events per tour and gives clients the chance to live out their ultimate sports fantasy. We focus on giving clients that next level experience, an experience you wouldn’t normally have if it was just you and a couple buddy’s on a trip to see these professional games.
What’s the most popular food for Pizza Kingz N Chicken Wingz?
That is a tough one because there are times in the day when both our pizza and wings are difficult to keep up with. Whole pizzas are sold out even before they come out of the oven and our wings, well, we’ve had a number of people come back to us and use swear words to describe how good our wings are.
Besides money, what is one thing that entrepreneurs can’t go without?
Perseverance, for the never ending obstacles, your own personal doubts, fear, outside doubter’s, there is not much for encouragement in the beginning, but through all of that you have to have the tenacity to follow through the course of action to accomplish your dream.
Any tips for future entrepreneurs?
Communication is key; communicate in a timely and consistent manner. Also if you want to do something, you have to do it. Nobody else is going to want it for you and nobody else is going to do it for you. It is a mountain to climb but you get to the top one step at a time.