Tycho Koren understands that he doesn’t have all the answers, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t dead set on trying to find them.
In 2020, the Queen’s Commerce student came onto the Student Works scene guns ablazing, and earned the title of #3 Rookie Operator of the year. In a recent conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow podcast, Tycho told the story of how he went from feeling aimless, to becoming the successful operator he is today.
Here are a few of the key lessons he learned along the way:
Find your Passion, and Work for it
As a young man living with ADHD, Tycho had trouble focusing on school, scheduling his time, and finding the challenge in entry level jobs.
However, it wasn’t until he began working for a pool company that the idea that he didn’t want to work for other people’s visions cemented itself in his mind.
“We would drive around in this van, service pools, balance the pH, that sort of thing. I realized that we were actually doing all of the work and we were making 15, 16 bucks an hour. Clients would sometimes ask, ‘Do we pay you? What’s going on here?’ Sometimes the bill, 400, 500 dollars for something we would do in an afternoon felt like something we could 100 per cent do ourselves,” he explained.
It wasn’t long before Tycho found Student Works and began putting his vision front and centre, eventually learning that he loved working for himself.
“Being able to work for myself and working hard for something I’m passionate about has just changed my life completely and shown me what I’m capable of,” he told Chris.
Eliminate “Try” from your Vocabulary
To Tycho, the word “try” only signifies that you’re not sure if you can achieve what you’re setting out to do.
“I set my goal last year to be 400,000 dollars in revenue. If I just told [my partner] that and went ahead and tried my absolute hardest to make it happen, I probably wouldn’t because I don’t know what would be actually required of me, on a weekly basis, to realize that goal,” he said.
So instead of arbitrarily sticking to that number, he broke it down, determining how much work he’d need to secure each week to meet his goal, and how many doors he’d need to knock on to secure that work.
“It’s not a question of ‘let me try and do this’ … it’s a matter of ‘I know what’s required of me to do this, let me see if I can get there,’ either I do or I don’t right? There’s no try in that equation,” he explained further.
Stay Accountable
One key strategy for success from Tycho’s playbook: Accountability meetings.
“I meet with [my team] on a weekly basis. We set goals for each other and then we hold each other accountable as the week progresses. So if I say I’m going to do 20k in sales this week, I’m going to continue with my inputs, I’m going to get to that 400,000 dollar goal. If I don’t do that, they press me on why, [asking] what systems didn’t I have in place, and what can we change to make sure that I hit those goals next week?” he detailed.
With that sort of commitment to growth, we’ve got a hunch that it’s just the beginning for Tycho Koren.
Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!
