Welcome back to “I’m a Millionaire! So Now What?” where I have two of the Self-Made Nation’s next generation. These two special guests, Jacqueline and Nicolas Marquis, joined me to share their unique story of buying an ice cream shop while still in high school.

 

A lemonade stand on steroids

“Between us, we had six years of ice cream experience,” Jacqueline related. “Nicolas was working at the Almonte Ice Cream Shop and I was working at a different establishment. And my dad proposed the idea by asking: ‘What if you had the chance to work for yourself?’ That's not something that we've ever even thought of at that age. He helped us figure out a PowerPoint, and we ran the numbers and looked at the opportunities and said, okay, let's take the risk. Why not?”

When they bought the place, Nicolas was 15 and Jacqueline was 17. Currently, Nicolas has one year left of high school and Jacqueline has finished her first year of university. The two are no strangers to hard work. Both have been working since they were 11 and had set aside a generous portion of their pay into a savings account for their college tuition. When the opportunity came up to purchase the ice cream shop, they decided to make the investment.

With support from their parents (who, as they were minors, handled their contractual obligations), Nicolas and Jacqueline divided the front and back-end work according to their individual strengths. And the rest is history!

 

On this episode you’ll find out how these two next-gen entrepreneurs:

• Managed during the pandemic through partnerships and building community

• Benefited from business lessons like the importance of being adaptable and improving their time management

• Utilized a young, lively, and passionate employee base of fellow students pursuing an education

• Innovated with new flavours and vegan/gluten-free ice creams, introduced slushies, doughnut ice cream sandwiches and Equator coffee shakes to target new audiences

From forming relationships to building a sense of community, these two have learned a lot. Looking back, they wouldn’t choose any other path. As Nicolas related: “I would have just jumped on things a little faster, like forming the partnerships we did right at the start.”

 

Jumping in headfirst

“We were new to this. None of our family members have ever owned a business. We were in school, and I just had this title, and I was like, ‘What do we do? Like, what am I supposed to do with this?’ So, I think we were hesitant at first to incorporate new products or to post things (on social media) or to just excel, because we were stuck in this place of: ‘what do we do actually?’ It did go smoothly once we got out of this rut of being new and scared, where we said, ‘let’s add products, let’s partner and things like that’.”

 

Fun, frank advice

“I would say don't be scared and just take the risk. I'm not going to lie, it took a little bit of convincing for them (our parents) to be like, ‘yes, we're taking your entire savings and we're putting it into something else.’” Jacqueline related. “But I took the risk. And I have no regrets about that.”

“And don’t sweat the small stuff either,” Nicolas added.

 

Have a listen!

Want to know more about Almonte Ice Cream Shop? Visit their Facebook or Instagram page for more or pop into the bright blue ice cream shop on Mill Street, Almonte.

 

If you have something to share with the Self-made Nation, do reach out and connect with me. I’d love to hear your story, whether you’re at the helm of a thriving business or startup, looking to exit, or simply want to recommend yourself or someone else as a guest.