In the business world, the term win-win is used so often that it has become threadbare and rendered nearly meaningless.
But how else would you describe an entrepreneur who runs three businesses and has spun success from supporting more than 50 charities, Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, and hundred of musicians across the country?
How about a win-win-winner? That seems the right term for Barry Stecyk, the Vernon-based founder and owner of HevyD’s Old Fashioned Kettle Korn, the healthy snack food voted best kettle popcorn in North America.
Back in 2005, when HevyD was just starting out, Stecyk cut a deal with a local radio station and Walmart to sell HevyD’s popcorn in their parking lot, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to charities of his choosing. This helped the radio station, brought more customers to Walmart, raised money for charity and created exposure for HevyD’s popcorn. Win-win-win.
One Sunday, Stecyk was heading down to do the Walmart promotion. On the radio he heard the story of five Canadian soldiers who had died in Afghanistan. Stecyk immediately felt compelled to do something on their behalf. That something turned out to be the Party in the Park, a musical benefit for Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Of course, Stecyk had never organized an event like this before, but in no time he was able to get 15 musical acts to donate their talent and time to the cause. Win-win-win.
While at the Party in the Park, Stecyk thought, “Wow, these guys are really good. How come nobody knows about them?” He came up with the idea to promote musicians on the bags of HevyD’s popcorn, have the artists give away free music downloads to the public, and help bring more exposure to HevyD’s. Win-win-win.
Do you see a pattern?
Stecyk certainly did. And this kind of cross-promotion helped launch his second business, as a promoter for recording artists. It also set the template for how he would build both businesses: by helping others, he would help himself.
Two years ago he approached The Province newspaper about an idea to get more exposure for independent artists. Thus was born The Province Playlist, where every Tuesday a featured artist (and several other independent artists) is profiled in the newspaper, with free music given away to Province readers. To date, the promotion has shone the light on 104 featured artists, including Bryan Adams, Jan Arden and Sarah McLachlan, as well as thousands of independent artists. The result: in the tens of thousands of free music for Province readers.
“In our business model, everyone has to win,” says Stecyk, 48. “The artist has to win through promotion with a limited amount of free downloads. Our whole concept of The Province Playlist is for the artist to get tremendous exposure.”
The program has been so successful that it has been adopted across the entire Postmedia chain of 11 daily newspapers across the country.
“We pride ourselves on doing the right thing,” Stecyk says. “We’ve never turned away a charity. They always say if you do good, it will come back to you. And that’s certainly happened.”
Lately Stecyk’s Karma investment has begun to pay huge dividends.
“The Pattison Group has picked up our popcorn and are now exclusive distributors of it,” Stecyk says. “We’ve just signed export contracts for Japan, China and the US. And we’ve entered into white-label deals with major private grocery chains.
“A lot of the opportunities just kind of found me. It’s just one of those things. You look at deals that are presented to you and you have to know if they’re good or bad.
“Mostly, I just listen. I don’t claim to know much about anything. I find people who are experts in their field and let them run with it. You just determine whether they’re legit or not, and go with it.”
Stecyk’s do-good philosophy has helped grow his popcorn-and-music businesses to 24 employees. That, and recognizing what his true gift is.
“I’m basically a marketing guy,” he explains. “Our marketing was always light years ahead of our company, but now the company is catching up with the marketing.
“We’re extremely aggressive. When we say we’re going to do something, we do it. We like what we do. We like to work.”
Stecyk says that he’ll put in more than 100 hours during the typical week.
“The music business is non-stop. We’re now one of the largest music promoters in Canada.”
Stecyk has never been a stranger to long hours, even in his previous career as a health-care worker, then nurse, at Riverview Hospital.
“I worked at Riverview for 11 years,” he says. “I started out as a health-care worker and went to school full-time to train as a nurse, at the same time putting in a lot of 16-hour days.”
In fact, Stecyk got into nursing because of his third business in Vernon, a care home started in 1968 by his family for special needs adults. The care home employs 35.
So, the next time someone presents you with a win-win deal, think of Barry Stecyk and see how you can add a couple of more winners to it.