Welcome Mark & Andrea

As I mentioned in my last Blog, the start of 2013 will bring some changes to our ownership team here at Holland Home Leisure.  Brad Sweet our business partner for the past 7 years will be moving on, while Mark & Andrea VanZoost will be joining our team.

We are excited at the potential as we look forward, and add youth and enthusiasm to our ownership team.  Both Mark and Andrea have a passion for backyard living, live by our concept of Vacation at Home, and have been customers of the Company for years.  Andrea has owned and operated her own business for a number of years, and has truly remarkable people skills, and will be missed in her prior profession.  Mark comes to us from the world of finance and has been a recognized performer in his peer group.  Mark has spent his entire career with the same institution, having spent time on Bay Street, but returning to his roots here in the valley seven years ago.  They were both seeking a new challenge in their career paths, and we feel that they will be a great fit here at Holland Home Leisure. 

As many of you know one of my favorite business books is “Who Moved my Cheese” by Spencer Johnson.  While it is true that change can provide challenges, I believe that change also provides opportunity.  As with all change this will provide us with some challenges, but there will also be a lot of new opportunities.  I am sure that in the next year our “cheese” will be moved often.  While I have always enjoyed moving other people’s cheese, I am not so fond of having my own cheese moved.  Mark & Andrea will bring new ideas into our business, and some of these ideas will be out of my own comfort zone, but I am looking forward to these challenges and opportunities as we build toward the future.

As we look forward to the future, Debby and I would like to welcome Mark & Andrea to the Holland Home leisure team.  We look forward to a great future together as we all help our friends and neighbours get the most out of their backyard leisure activities.  We invite you to stop by during the next few months to wish Brad well, and also to meet our new partners, Mark and Andrea.  Thank you all for your business, and for your continued support.

Mike

Saying Goodbye

As 2012 comes to a close, Holland Home Leisure will be experiencing some changes in our ownership team.  Our Business Partner Brad Sweet has decided to “Move On” and we will be welcoming Mark & Andrea Van Zoost as our new Business Partners.

It is hard to believe that it was 7 years ago that Brad decided that he wanted to make a career change and we welcomed him as our Business Partner.   Brad came to us with a marketing background, so he naturally led our marketing team.  Brad was the visionary behind our “Backyard Escapes” magazine, which we first produced for our 30^th anniversary in 2010.  The “Backyard Escapes” magazine is now being published by 20 dealers across the country, with a circulation of over 300,000 copies, making it the most widely distributed magazine in the Backyard Leisure Industry in Canada. 

Internally Brad led both our Hot Tub Division, and our Above Ground Pool Division.  Brad continued to push our belief in expanding the knowledge of our staff members in these divisions, helping to develop training days and seminars devoted to improving the overall sales experience, for our customers.  Brad was also instrumental in the planning and building stages of our new location here in New Minas.

Brad has been our voice at the table, at the local chapter of the “Pool & Hot Tub Council of Canada”.  Brad has served as Vice President of the Atlantic Chapter, and has been instrumental in developing industry training seminars, which have been hugely successful.  Brad was also an active participant in the growth of the LeisureScapes’ Group, Canada’s leading group of pool and backyard living professionals.   He understood the importance of “peer networking” and that the sharing of knowledge with your peers, helped strengthen the industry, plus also our own company.

Brad will be staying active in the company until the end of February to help make sure the transition will go as smoothly as possible.  We would like to say a huge “Thank You” for the past 7 years, and we will miss your involvement in the company.  We would like to wish you, Patricia and the Kids all the best as you look forward to the next stages of life.

Mike and Debby vandenHof