Name: Terry Beech

City: Vancouver

Age: 31

Occupation:  Co-founder and CEO of HiretheWorld.com

As the youngest elected official ever in Canada (he was a city councillor for Nanaimo, B.C. when he was 18) Beech went on to co-create HiretheWorld.  The online company is a marketplace for graphic design attracting designers from 132 countries.

I knew I was on my way when… I started running into happy customers. I’d be driving downtown and see a restaurant storefront that was entirely designed on my site. I flew to Heathrow in London and I had my HiretheWorld shirt on. A lady ran up to me and told me that her company logo had been done on my site.

A large majority of our business is word of mouth.  We want to grow, grow, and grow.  We want to expand internationally and I’m excited about all the other entrepreneurial opportunities out there.

Action Plan

• Have an intense focus on value creation. Think about how you can make a person’s life better rather than make another dollar. If you provide value to the consumer then the money will come.

• Surround yourself with amazing people who love what they do. Being an entrepreneur is hard enough and you don’t need to waste your time and energy with employees who are just adequate. If you want to be a rock star surround yourself with rock stars and your odds of success will exponentially increase.

• Do not develop a fear about what other people think of you because it will prevent you from taking risks. I never regret the risk that went badly but I regret the risks I didn’t take because I was playing it safe.