With the second lockdown coming to an end, we are getting ready to reopen our business again. For us, it’s been the most frustrating thing about this pandemic. We kept our retail portion open for curbside pickup, but the second lockdown has been slower than the first because of the non-essential ban and our suppliers have slowed manufacturing. We’ve had to deal with slow production, slow delivery, and many out-of-stock items. Our customers are waiting weeks or months for their orders to arrive. Seriously, it has been a shit show for small businesses like us to navigate in this pandemic. Nonetheless, we understand that we all have to do our part to help in fighting COVID and support our essential workers and protect the most vulnerable.
In October 2019 My husband and I launched our first business together called Game Knight Leagues. We refer to it as our 4th child. Tristan started a company with some friends 11 years ago and it only lasted 4 years – Not because it wasn’t a viable business, but because partnering with friends isn’t always a good idea. We learned that lesson by diving in! There are partnerships with friends that actually work, but if you look at your favorite companies that started with a duo or multiple partners, 95% of the time it’s not a happy ending for someone. For the longest time I always wanted to own a business but never really knew where to start or how it would happen. I always knew it would happen, I just didn’t know the path to get there. I see 10 steps ahead. That’s how I see my life. I used to envy people that knew their direction in life and had everything figured out but I’m not that person and it’s okay. In life you really only need 2 people to believe in you. Yourself first and one other person to encourage you to push through. A lot of people in your life won’t have your vision, understand your goals, or even care. It’s not because they don’t like you or love you but they are living their own lives and trying to find their own path. Once you accept that you are not the center of other people’s lives then life is a bit easier. Sometimes you have to be your own best friend. I went to university because that’s what was expected of me. I did not enjoy the experience but I met my future husband, so I feel like everything happens for a reason. I went to college after that and ended up in the health industry and hated it. I love people, I would like to think that I have compassion and empathy but that field drained the life out of me. I had kids, stayed home for a while (I sucked at being a stay-at-home mother) went back into the workforce in another field and I was still miserable and I believe that’s when I gained 50 pounds of awesomeness.
Off-track, I’ve been enjoying writing this blog very much and it’s reigniting my passion. It’s actually therapeutic and gives me a weird sense of joy. Don’t get me wrong, when I released this into the world, anxiety hit me hard lol and I have been in my head a lot. Often I realize that other people are not my enemy – I’m being my own enemy. Get out of your head. It’s easy to give that advice but actually doing it is much harder… But with time, deep breathing and finding good therapeutic aids (for me it’s music) helps a lot. Find something that brings you peace. When I want to be focused or inspired I like to play this song. I call it my dream motivator song. I have songs for every theme in my life. Disclaimer If you’re not a fan of cursing then this video isn’t for you. The language fits his story and his background and it wouldn’t be authentic if it was clean. I don’t want to debate about the use of some words. This is my jam and I love it.
Back to my story…. I was working, doing sports, hanging out with friends and family but I was still miserable and I just couldn’t figure out why. I had a dinner date with some friends and one of them is a therapist and she recommended one of her colleagues. I wasn’t sure about it because I have tried some and never clicked with them (it’s a process to find someone that fits you). If I’m not feeling it, then I’m not feeling it and it’s not your fault or mine but we just don’t gel and that’s okay! Anyway, I gave it a try because she came highly recommended. I kept telling her that I hated my job and every day was a struggle to go there. The more we talked, I explained my goals and dreams and how I felt stuck even if everything seemed fine – I was just going through the motions but didn’t feel like I was really living. She said, “That’s because you are not meant to work for people. You want to work for yourself!” And she was right. I had no idea what field to start in or an idea of what I want to do, all I knew was that I wanted to be my own boss and build something. Then, she asked me about going back to school for business. The first thing I said was, “That’s impossible, I have work, my husband works full time and we have 3 kids. We can’t make it work for me to be in school full time” (Prime example of fear, how I’m in my head and trying to sabotage myself). She told me a story about a client who is a single mom and just finished her studies and said I could do it too. I was still not sure. My husband comes from a large family and we hang out with his cousins often – One couple, the wife was in school, the husband worked full time with his own company and they had kids. I reached out to the wife and we talked and I explained to her that I wanted to embark on the school journey and I wanted to know how their family survived. How was she juggling all that stuff? She was very realistic and encouraging. So I talked to my husband and he was supportive. All 3 kids were going to be in school full time (Our youngest just started kindergarten) so I was running out of excuses. I always know when I’m going in the right direction because I feel at peace in my heart. I still battle in my mind, but my heart is at peace. And that’s how I felt!
So I enrolled in Fanshaw college in the Business Management and Entrepreneurship program. So I went. And yes, there were people in my class that hadn’t even turned 18 yet. But there were also people that were my age and older. When you are surrounded by like-minded people, age doesn’t matter. I felt like I belonged. FEAR will cripple you. It’s okay to be afraid, but that’s when you have to find your courage! I knew I would regret it if I didn’t try. What’s the worst that could happen? If I flunked out, or it didn’t click, or I hated it once we got started – I’d be exactly where I was before – No worse off. So what did I have to lose? On our first day in accounting class, the teacher asked us why we were there. I gave my answer and the whole class laughed ( I will not share my final goals in life yet) but I wasn’t offended because that’s the reaction that people give me all the time. This time around, I enjoyed being in school, I loved my classmate, the teachers, and our business coordinator were awesome. She could relate to us and went above and beyond for us when we needed her. They were there to encourage you to achieve your goals and my classmates shared that same mindset and drive and ambition. It was fun. I learn by doing and college gave me a better experience in terms of my learning structure. Did I love the tests, the drive to the Woodstock campus, writing essays, doing accounting? Nope, not one bit. I even got in a car accident driving home from school one snowy winter night and I still struggle with anxiety from it. I complained the entire two years but I loved it. I loved it for the simple reason that I was doing something that I enjoyed, I was surrounded by a great group that became my family for two years. I’m truly the happiest when my plate is full. It’s never too late to start over. Do what makes you happy, it will save you a lot of anguish.
Ok, that was a lot of setups, but we’re finally here – Game Knight!!! In my first year, we had to make up a fake company and write a business plan to get practice writing one. I wasn’t feeling the ‘fake company’ business plan. I didn’t want to put effort into something I wasn’t going to use. I went home and talked to Tristan about it and we started to brainstorm ideas. My husband always wanted to own a wargaming hobby shop but it was always a “one day wouldn’t it be nice?” kind of dream. We have been playing and board games with friends on a regular basis for several years. We had board game parties and we would drink, eat and be social. So we brainstormed combining these two passions – Board games and a wargaming hobby shop – To create a place that people could call home, make friends, learn games and have fun. We wanted to bring the same feeling of the board game nights we hosted at our home to our community. I spent a month writing our business plan. We added Warhammer, Dungeon and Dragons, Warcry, painting lessons, and several other games to cater to everyone and once it was done and we looked at the numbers, it was surprisingly viable. We just needed a name… We decided to call it Game Knight because it was a play on words for our game nights at our house, and medievals knights that Tristan loves (anything medieval and fantasy is his jam). Strangely enough, when we were trying to register our name we found out that there was a company in Alberta with the same name so we added “Leagues” to it – A main feature was regular weekly leagues, so it made sense to make it a part of our brand. We fell in love with that name and our logo, so it was decided! You might find other people or companies that have similar ideas to yours when you start doing market research but that shouldn’t scare you – You can put your own spin on it, bring a different perspective. There may be competition, but competition drives innovation and makes you better. Then we found the perfect location – Things just snowballed from there!
School tried to prepare us to run a business but I don’t think anything could have prepared us for what it like in reality. It sounds romantic in theory but it’s a lot of work and most of the time is chasing people. You are a slave to other people’s time, schedule, and sometimes their ways of doing things. We were supposed to start work on renovation in May but it got delayed till the end of June and that was disappointing because we wanted to open in August. We started to look for contractors but everything was so expensive – if we hired them then we would’ve blown through our budget. We decided that we would do the renovations ourselves. I was on summer break so it a bit easier but Tristan had to work his day job and go work on the renovations after hours. He’d work till 2 am some nights! And we did that for 4 months straight. Non-stop. Luckily we had help – Our team consisted of us (Tristan and me), mom, dad, and our kids, and some friends would show up to lend a hand for a few hours. Let me tell you, we have the best parents. They showed up every weekend. They are literally like Jack and Rebecca from this is us. Kind, selfless humans who are always there for their kids. They are literally our best friends and counselors. I’m pretty sure they think we are crazy but they still support us unconditionally. I used to have a hard time accepting help from people. I’ve always been independent and self-reliant and never wanted to take advantage of people so it’s really hard for me to accept help but I have learned that it’s okay to accept help. Sometimes we need it. We have been lucky with Game Knight, our customers have become our friends and they want to see us succeed – they are always offering to help. We met Keehan that way. He has been a great help in building terrain and tables for our wargaming leagues and events. If you ask me what’s the best part of Game Knight is, I’d say the love we put into it and the summer we spend doing the work with our parents. I love building things. I love the excitement and passion when you’re building a dream. I never want to lose that dream in me but owning your own business can make you do that lol. Tristan freaks out at the beginning and I always freak out when we have already jumped and are about to hit the pavement and that’s why I love our partnership.
I said above that going into business with your friends isn’t always a good idea but your spouse can be tricky too. I remember our neighbor told us that her friend went into a business with her husband and that destroyed their relationship and I told her “We got this!” (we do). Like a new baby that comes into your life, your relationship is tested. We had to strip it to the core and rebuild it again. We are in new territory – we have different ideas but we have the same goals. The past year has been reconstructing ourselves as friends, parents, partners. If you have to embark on an adventure like this make sure that you have built a solid foundation. We managed to survive the renovation of Game Knight. In the ‘child’ metaphor, I call that the labor portion and so the next step was to give birth (our grand opening). We had a big booth at the London Comicon, then the following weekend we were launching Game Knight! I had a hernia surgery scheduled for a few months later, but I got a call the week before and they moved it up – So on top of school, Comicon, and our grand opening, I had surgery and couldn’t walk for a few days or do any heavy lifting! My brother-in-law and our good friend Alex stepped in and took over the Comicon event and Mom and dad took over with the kids. My teachers were great and pushed back my tests so I could heal. The birth of all our children has always been dramatic so Game Knight wasn’t any different. We made it to the opening and everything went smoothly… For 5 months … Then Rona came to town. So here we are! Game knight is 16 months old. It’s learning to walk with COVID lurking around still but we have survived and are very proud of it. We are about to reopen for the second time and hoping that we are done with lockdowns. My advice is to have a plan, but always be prepared to change that plan. Have faith, surround yourself with people that will support you, take time to relax, and tend to your mental health. It’s great to have goals and be ambitious but life isn’t a race – enjoy the process and have fun while you are building your dream. It’s okay to let people help you. If you are ever in London, Ontario, come check us out or follow us on Instagram and/or Facebook. We welcome everyone!
Here is my hot mess interview with my partner.