Entrepreneur Profile: Jessie Niles, founder of Ready in Five Inc.

Staples is proud to support Canadian entrepreneurs with tools and resources to help them build their businesses and turn their dreams into reality. That’s why, together with Ownr (by RBC Ventures), Shopify and Moneris, we joined the Canada Starts initiative to support Canadian entrepreneurs by awarding grants to help them get their big idea off the ground. We caught up with Jessie Niles, founder of Ready in Five to find out how her business venture is going since being awarded a Canada Starts grant.

Tell us a bit about your business.

Ready in Five delivers experiences curated specifically for remote teams by a global team of elite athletes. They are designed to prepare and inspire people at any moment to perform at their best. Using principles in cognitive science, Ready in Five uses live 5-minute movement experiences led by high-performance athletes to help people show up for moments that matter.

How did you get started?

I started by testing the Ready in Five concept with schools and students learning online. The overwhelming positive feedback was an indication that I was onto something. Knowing this, I quickly reached out to my network to build a team of like-minded athletes to run a pilot program within corporate settings and conducted more than 50 pilot sessions across 12+ organizations.

How did COVID-19 shape your business idea?

The pandemic has caused a dramatic shift in businesses moving from physical offices to distributed workplaces. This new world of remote work has presented many challenges: ‘Zoom gloom’ (fatigue from boring online meetings); teams being less effective; employees lacking connection and social interaction; an increase in distractions and employees becoming increasingly isolated and lonely. Furthermore, we’re more sedentary than ever, sitting at our computers all day, and our mental strength and resilience are being tested. I started Ready in Five to solve these specific challenges.

Why did you decide to start a business during the pandemic?

2020 was going to be my final year with the Canadian Women’s National Volleyball Team. Unfortunately, during the summer of 2020, all our competitions were cancelled or postponed, ending my professional sports career. This left me with some time and space to get creative and act on my passion for social entrepreneurship.

What’s your greatest struggle as a business owner right now?

The first hurdle we are facing is finding a core group of early-stage customers who believe in our mission. When we can get to a breakeven point, we can hire dedicated talent to take care of essential business operations which will help us to grow and spread the power of Ready in Five.

What are your expectations for 2021 as an entrepreneur?

For me, entrepreneurship feels much like my time as a professional athlete. I expect there to be many ups and downs along the way, filled with many new relationships and lessons. I will approach this with the same dedication and perseverance that I did with my athletics.

Where do you think entrepreneurs should invest their time and money?

Investing your time in developing relationships is time very well spent. You never know where interesting opportunities to learn and collaborate might come up.

What keeps you inspired and working every day?

Our current work culture treats the body and mind as separate entities – I am passionate about redesigning how we work to leave people around the world happier, healthier, and inspired. I believe that Ready in Five will help create a global shift and make movement part of the agenda.

What tips do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs in 2021?

Something that helped me was to treat each phase like an experiment, which took the pressure off worrying that everything was perfect before getting out there and having conversations. Employing a growth mindset has been helpful for me to reframe and treat every hurdle as a chance to learn and improve.

How does Staples Canada help your business?

Staples Canada is my go-to for all office-related needs, including tech gear!

Learn more at www.getreadyinfive.com

Instagram: @getreadyin5

Facebook: @GetReadyinFive

Check out Small Business & Entrepreneurship on our Working and Learning Blog to learn more about how Staples Canada is supporting Canadian entrepreneurs.