About Collin Grant

 

Collin is an entrepreneur, public speaker and business coach whose original brick-and-mortar store, Fyfe’s Friendly Pharmacy, defied all odds to become a multi-million dollar enterprise in a town of just 4,300 people. With five direct competitors and nearby big-box stores grabbing market share, Grant’s business thrived for over thirty years despite heavy government regulation, fierce price competition, and declining industry margins.

His secret? He engendered extreme customer loyalty despite having the highest prices using a process called The Asset CEO Advantage Plan. In 2015, Grant sold Fyfe’s Friendly Pharmacy to a pharmacy conglomerate, who chose to run it “traditionally,” eliminating his systems and cutting costs. Within three years, the pharmacy closed for good, and today, six years later, Grant’s old customers and staff still lament his exit from the business.  

Collin Grant contributes to multiple trade magazines and has written three industry-specific books. Collin, the winner of numerous business awards, has been called “The far-sighted businessman” by the Edmonton Journal. His no-nonsense approach to helping business owners future-proof their company and make it run by the numbers is rooted in his own “in-the-trenches” experience using strategies he shares with fellow small-medium storefront businesses, veterinary practices, and independent pharmacy companies throughout America.

Collin is an avid hiker, nature photographer, and grandad who divides his time between a mountain home in the Rockies, a cabin on the lake and an adventure RV he and his wife Lorraine use for regular backcountry adventures.

 

 IN COLLIN’S OWN WORDS …

 

Our business won the Barb Tarbox Award which was the result of a pretty radical business decision at the time in our industry. We decided to stop selling tobacco products and to position ourselves as a true health provider breaking the tradition that pharmacies should sell tobacco products. We created a culture around the position as a healthy living store. It was a hard decision because cigarettes were such a big seller with one of the largest profit margins and they also brought in a lot of foot traffic to the store. But this was about building our business on purpose and trusting the Asset CEO System to help us leverage this message in the market to work as an even bigger attractor. It worked. We were recognized and awarded the Barb Tarbox award, which became a very powerful message to the public and gave us a lot of free advertising and national exposure. This picture was taken when we received the award with my daughter Ayn, who is now a registered nurse.

 

A day spent with other business owners doing some sport fishing. I caught and released this nice sail fish… another adrenaline rush.

 

Hiking in the Canadian Rockies after Lorraine’s recovery from cancer. So lucky to have her as my business partner, best mother on the planet and soul mate.

 
 
 

Skiing the Canadian Rockies trying to keep up to my young athletic daughter who still takes me down the double blacks to challenge the old guy (what have we created). 

 

Meet the two lead dogs of my mushing team Diva and Crackers. They have a big job to do (similar to the Miracle Employee). I’ve learned so much from them on how to lead: you can’t be pushy or have a bully type attitude because others will resent you and this attitude doesn’t work with teams. They save their energy for what’s ahead. They get down to business when called upon. They want to please the musher and have the weight of the other team members on their shoulders at all times to make the right decisions on the trail. They are the top dogs in our kennels and have a great way to win you over and gain your respect and the respect of all the dogs in the kennel.

 

Mushing with my team dogs who are raring to go. I love this picture because the lead dog wants to get going and knows what is about to a happen. He’s doing what he is bred to do and loves doing the most. So many great lessons in managing a business.

 

My team was in front of our store on a cool fall day. Government regulations were attacking the pharmacy industry, radically reducing our ability to get paid. The transition was traumatic and left a deep scar on the industry, but we thrived thanks to our Asset CEO Advantage plan. In 2015, we were tapped on the shoulder to be bought by a pharmacy conglomerate for multiple seven figures.

The lesson I am so grateful for is that we never took anything for granted and were able to use the Asset CEO Advantage to change ahead of the times.

 

On a camping trip with our kids on our anniversary weekend years ago. 

 

Lorraine and I are having fun outside one of our businesses.

 

A team meeting with key leaders of Fyfe’s Friendly Pharmacy. This was a surprise offsite weekend meeting in the mountains, with spouses. We had good times and made great memories. You learn so much about each other when you do these things offsite. I learned about their aspirations and what they want from their work. Marge worked with us for over 33 years and the trust built over these years is very special. My kids, now adults, to this day have to give her a big hug every time they see her.

 

Another adventure holiday. Lorraine and I equalizing for three minutes together before we merge from the back wall of a drift dive (Lorraine’s first drift dive) off Maui Crater. She was very gutsy to do this dive with me and I was proud of her for doing such an extreme dive.

 

This is a photo I used to help build trust and familiarity in our advertising for years. We would always get comments on it when we ran it and used it to have a ton of fun with our customers.

 

 

With Lorraine and our kids when they were younger on our favorite hike - Mount Robson, highest peak in Canadian Rockies. So many great memories here with our kids over the years and now we are doing this hike with their spouses. Hope the tradition continues beyond our years.