#SenecaProud

Pat Perdue (00:00):

Hey, I'm Pat Perdue and I'd like to welcome you to season five of the SenecaProud Podcast.

(00:05) So much change. And now we're post pandemic. Are we though? Kind of? Maybe? <laugh>? What's absolutely true is that the last few years have seen dramatic changes at Seneca College as well. The massive scope of the Au Large project, which has been underway for a few years now, has been transforming Seneca into a college that embraces the highest standards of equity, diversity, and inclusion, as well as sustainability and flexibility. And this entire initiative is to ensure Seneca College is ready for the demands of the future. And with the popularity of AI and other new technologies, the future is becoming the present really quickly. And Senecans are leading the way in this brave new world, which brings us to season five. In this season, like all of our seasons, we have some amazing guests who are putting their Seneca one skills to work and are making a real splash in their career and in the world.

(01:05) Our guests join the pod to talk about their careers today, their experiences at Seneca and their future in this brave new kind of post pandemic, Yeah, everything's normal now, <laugh> kind of world. So stick around, because the next episode of Seneca Proud starts now.

(01:24) And welcome to another episode of the SenecaProud Podcast. I'm Pat Perdue, and I want to thank you for joining us today.

(01:30) So I've got a question for you. Have you ever been pretty set on a plan for your life, <laugh>, and then something happens outside of your control? Or maybe someone whispers something in your ear, which causes you to fully reconsider those plans and then pivot to a different life direction? If that's ever been you, or maybe you're faced with that kind of decision right now, like maybe your long held plans don't make quite as much sense as they once did, and there's a surprising opportunity in front of you.

(02:03) What do you do?

(02:04) Do you walk through that door and take a risk?

(02:08) Or do you clinging to the original plan that doesn't make quite as much sense as it once might have? That is an exciting and intimidating choice to have to make. My advice to you, listen to this episode because you will relate. And the really cool thing about it is that we get to visit the person who made that quick change about 30 years after the decision was made and see how it worked out. Spoiler alert, it worked out way more than just fine. That surprising change of plan grew into a really successful business, and that person who originally planned on being a police officer is now a very successful entrepreneur who employs over 250 people. Okay, so let me tell you about our guest in today's show. Seneca Graduate and founder, CEO of Wincon Security, Winston Stewart.

(03:01) Winston Stewart has over 30 years experience in the security industry. While a student of Seneca College in their police foundations program, Winston recognized the rising need for security in the private sector and the opportunities in private policing, and launched Wincon Security in 1992 at the suggestion of his professor at Seneca College. Starting the way many startups do with a single client who believed in him and a single employee, Wincon Security is now a multimillion dollar organization, and as I mentioned, employing over 250 people with over 100 clients. The Wincon vision is to make security a worry-free experience, one that enables their clients to focus on what matters most their organization's growth and success. Winston has created a nurturing workplace culture driven by their employees insights and ideas where engagement and long-term client partnerships set them apart from their competition. And it all began at Seneca College.

(04:03) Winston is a proponent of equity and diversity and is committed to creating policies, strategic plans, and programs that contribute to our multicultural society. Winston and I caught up a few weeks ago to talk about his journey after Seneca College, and I'm thrilled to share this conversation with you now. We begin by talking about that moment in Seneca College when he pivoted from his plans in policing and moved toward his journey building one of Canada's top private security companies.

(04:34) Okay, here's my conversation with Seneca Alumnus and founder and CEO of Wincon Security, Winston Stewart.

Pat Perdue (04:43) 30 years successful entrepreneur. Can you take us back to those fateful moments when you made the decision to go into business for yourself and open Wincon Security?

 

Winston Stewart (04:54):

Take, take you back to the crazy, the crazy, the crazy part of my life that, yeah.

 

Pat Perdue (05:00):

Yep, yep.

 

Winston Stewart (05:01):

You know, it's, it's 30 years ago. Well, I guess it would probably be 31 years ago. You know, I, my whole visions was at that point was my vision was to be, a police officer, hence me ending up at Seneca College. Because back then, no disrespect to the other colleges, <laugh> in Ontario that had a security police program, everyone knew that, Hey, you wanna get into policing, you're going to Seneca College. So, you know, I ended up there up at the lovely King campus along with, you know, how many other students from across Canada with aims of, Hey, we're gonna become police officers. So, you know, during that time, I've always, I started in security working, you know, part-time security as a security guard, from the time I was actually 16 years old in my community local mall next to the, the high school that I went to up in Milliken Mills, which is up in Markham there. So I've always been kind of in the security field. I remember when I got into security, I was not even old enough to get a security license, so, you know, I got a temporary security license. I'm not even sure if that was legal

 

Pat Perdue (06:17):

<laugh>. Well, at least you didn't fake your I.D I was waiting for the story where I had to fake my I.D <laugh>.

 

Winston Stewart (06:23):

No, no. So, you know, so the company gave me this temporary license, but you know, I ended up at Seneca, again, because I wanted to go into policing. And unfortunately at that time, I guess the year prior, prior to that, there was a, a freeze on public civil service hiring, right? So no police officers, no nurses, just because we're in a recession. So that's actually how I ended up at Seneca. And during that two years, I still had a focus on joining a police force, is just, which one was I gonna go to? And kind of started playing the waiting game for two years. And during that time, I realized with, you know, kind of just speaking to some of the professors there and they started pointing me to, Hey, look at what's happening in the private sector. So a lot of us didn't want to look at that, you know, 'cause everybody was like, Hey, this is what I want to do.

(07:13) But no one really wanted to look at the private sector, but I think because I was already in the private sector doing security, it made it a little bit easier for me to say, well, I want to look at it. And we started looking at what was actually happening in Britain, right? Because Britain is really at the forefront for everything's security related. Oh, right, yeah. You quickly realize that live in a North America, what you think is new is old <laugh>, right? Because yeah, because the UK and Britain and all these countries, they already have the technology before it actually gets here, whether it's in camera technology or AI technology, this stuff has already been rolled out there, you know, probably the year before it's been rolled out here for us, right? So we saw that, at that time that the private industry in Britain was, security industry was blowing up.

(08:04) They were already having the challenges of, you know, the police and community police and already started to kind of shrink because it was the budgetary constraints and so on. So the, the private security industry and what that industry required was already starting to kind of blow up. Meanwhile, here in North America, in Canada, we're still seeing that, wow, you know, we're still relying on our community police forces to provide security for our local communities. Which people who are kind of paying attention, realize that we're not going to be able to keep this up 20 years from now, 30 years from now. And of course, you can see where we are now with different municipalities like Toronto, who's is looking at their police force budgets and realize, we don't have enough money, we can't keep doing this, right? We got to look at different ways of policing. So I started really veering off my thinking saying, well, geez, you know what? I look at where I was working at that time, I was looking at the company that we were servicing, and I'm like, I think I really have a good enough relationship with that property manager and and so on to say, geez, if I thought about starting my own company, is that something that was feasible? Would they even give me a shot or would they just laugh me out of the office

 

Pat Perdue (09:19):

<laugh>? And and when you were thinking of this, was it, was it, could I pull it off? Like, almost like, you know, something that you want but it's forbidden fruit? Or Yeah. Or was it something that you were like, okay, I'll settle for this because, you know, you were changing your vision from working, you know, for, for the actual police force,

 

Winston Stewart (09:35):

Pat, I didn't, I didn't think I had a shot. I, I just figure <laugh> because I think at that time I thought, well, this is a big company thing. I mean, for you to, you're going to get into security and you're going to have contracts. Only big companies do this stuff, right? And again, I was working for a big company, so, you know, the gall of this 21 year old kid to even think that you can even, you know, go that route was just, you're just dreaming. But I figured, hey, you know what, <laugh>, I won't know if I a unless I ask somebody's gotta, I gotta ask. Right. You know? So when I kind of figured, okay, let me just, you know, see if I can set up a meeting with that property manager and say, Hey, you know, present it, you know, and it was kind of one of these, Hey, you know what, if I was to get my stuff together, you know, I'm actually at Seneca, which they knew, right?

(10:26) And I said, I'm studying law enforcement and all that stuff. And to be honest with you, I don't think if I didn't have that, if I wasn't in that program, that conversation wouldn't have gone anywhere. Right? So as I'm talking to you right now, I'm actually realizing, wait a minute, that actually gave me some credibility because if I was not affiliated with Seneca College and with that program, the answer probably would've been no. Right? They probably wouldn't have taken on the risk. But the fact to know that for them, knowing that this is what I was studying for two years, and also now looking at the personal relationship, the fact that I, I've been working in that security department there for three years, right? Actually, what, four years maybe going on five years. And they saw that I was result driven. I mean, I worked there and even though I was just a part-time student working, I turned that whole thing on its head, right?

(11:19) They had a big, full-time guy that was working there. And it was just problems, problems, problems. I was able to come in and I could relate to the students who were coming in that were causing some of the problems. And I was able to put a lot of things in place. And these two things, I guess made it an easy decision. I still believe that property manager that gave me that opportunity really put her job on the line, right, <laugh>. Because if I was to come in place, yeah. If I was to come in place and it didn't work, well guess who's going to look bad, right?

 

Pat Perdue (11:48):

It's great when somebody believes in you is willing to take a risk for you and you can step up to that challenge and deliver. How great is that?

 

Winston Stewart (11:58):

Yeah, it's a, I said to a lot of people, I said that the two people that actually believed in me at that point, I would have to say was actually that property manager and my mom, who initially gave me the initial investment to even start this crazy thing up, <laugh>, right? You know, or I might have to say three. I mean the, the registrar who approved my license right back 21 years ago. I mean, you have to have a real belief that what you're doing, and giving this go ahead to this 21 year old kid, you're going to be doing the industry a favour and you're not going to do a dishonour to the industry by giving this kid this rite of passage <laugh> to go out there and say, Hey, I'm a full-fledged security company. Right? But I guess going back to how Seneca played a role, I mean, Seneca created a pathway, not only just for myself, because there's other students who I know didn't go into policing, but they actually went into other streams of the private industry, maybe not starting a security company, but they went into work for other security corporations.

(13:01) So there was a lot of streams that Seneca helped open for myself and a lot of my other colleagues at that time. But for me, definitely I can totally see and show how Seneca actually played a key role in me getting this start to where I am 30 years later, and a successful start and career at that.

 

Pat Perdue (13:23):

That's great. And there's a couple of things from your story that I want to highlight. One was, it felt like you were entrepreneurial from day one, you know, because you did take it upon yourself to go do security at the mall that you referenced and stuff like that. And, and it's not like, you know, it sounds like you knocked on that door and said, Hey, I can help you all with security. Is that, is that correct? And you were like 15 years old or however old you were? 15, 16.

 

Winston Stewart (13:49):

Yeah! You don't know that the funny thing Pat, is that you just asked me that question now and I'm like, man, I never thought that ever that I was entrepreneurial. But what I did know was that, you know, growing up with a single parent, I know that I've seen my mom was a hustler, you know, in the sense that if she needed to work three jobs, she was gonna work three jobs. And I grew up with that same mentality, right? I grew up with that mentality that I've never told this story before, but, you know, one of the first real jobs that I had was grocery cashier <laugh>. That was a, that was a grocery cashier. And the weird thing with that story is that that's actually how I got into security, right? Was from this big Canadian corporation that I was working for and one of their grocery store as a cashier, it was that store manager who said, Hey, you know, we have a security department as well. And that's how I actually started doing security, that I left from the cashier job and into the security.

 

Pat Perdue (14:45):

And you were, and you were probably what, 14, 15 working the cash, right?

 

Winston Stewart (14:49):

I was 15 years old, yes. I was 15 years old. Right. But I think to answer your question, I think I always had a belief that there's nothing that I can't do, right? And I, I mean, I still believe that now, right? So you're right. Like, you know, just the fact that I was in security, I mean, who would have the goal to approach an experienced property manager who has responsibilities, who has her job to do if you didn't believe that you could do it? Right? Like, I mean, I believe that I could do this job, I could start my own company and I could take over that contract, that $80,000 contract. Right? You know, I mean, I didn't know how big that contract was until I saw the paper and I'm like, oh my God,

 

Pat Perdue (15:34):

<laugh> <laugh>. My dad had a saying that, uh, that has always stuck with me. It's like the dog that chases the car and catches it. You know what I mean?

 

Winston Stewart (15:43):

Yes, yes. Yeah. You know, so I mean, I, yeah, I always have a belief that, you know, yes, I'm gonna have to compete with these mega companies who've been around for a hundred and and twenty years in some cases, but I knew that I could offer something different, you know, because I, I knew I'm a people person. I've always been a people person. I'm a relationship person. And I totally believe that I could have a way where I could sit down with an experienced property manager and understand what their pain points is, even though they're stuck using this big company because of the brand. I believe that I could totally sit down, understand what their pain points are, and I could come up with a plan and I could say, Hey, I can deliver on this plan. I can't offer you all these other things, but I can fix your problem. Right. You know? Yeah.

 

Pat Perdue (16:31):

One of the things there was, there was two things from your story that I wanted to touch on. One was the, you know, it feels like you were entrepreneurial, or, or at least you had that, you know, I'm gonna go for it mentality from early on. And at the same time, when you were telling that story, you mentioned that, you know, you, you had a way with the students at the mall, you know, you, it felt like, you know, you were able to create relationships or rapport with them. And my question to you is, does that inform, or did that experience inform your understanding of how effective security is done?

 

Winston Stewart (17:07):

Oh, geez. Pat, you asked the best questions.

(17:11) Over my 30 years and doing a ton of interviews. I mean, the questions that you're asking me, people have never asked those questions. So that, like, I, and I think I just touched on it briefly, but you know, you kind of talk about, like, I'm looking at police community policing right now, right? And the problems that we are having, you know, where you have these big police forces who totally don't understand how to deal with the challenges in certain communities. I mean, 30 years ago, you know, we were experiencing this because on many different scales. I was experiencing it in my environment and, you know, where you, you kind of had, the old security guys who were doing security in these really diverse communities, especially a community like Markham, because, you know, Markham was very diverse back then, still is, but it was very diverse back then, right?

(18:03) And you had these older guys with old mentalities coming in to these diverse communities and they had no clue how to interact, how to deal with these communities, right. And it caused a ton of problems. And you know, in a way, I always tell people, I said, I didn't really go out there and do much. Right? I think just the fact that I was there and I had a way of deescalated tension, right? Because I understood that a lot of these troublemakers that were coming in the mall, mean, they live in my community and half the half the time, they didn't want to come in there and cause problems when I was there, 'cause they know that was going to affect me, right? But, so it kind of took care of the problem in a way. But at the same time, I knew that you cannot accomplish things if you cannot get to the point where you can sit down and relate to people. Right? If you're there as the person who's just gonna come out and read the right act, play by the rules and all that stuff, well, you're not going to get very far. Right.

 

Pat Perdue (19:06):

That's not gonna have the outcome. You, you think it's gonna have <laugh>.

 

Winston Stewart (19:10):

No, exactly. So even from that whole situation going back 30 years ago, I still have people will come in and they're like, Winston, I don't understand. We have this problematic employee and we've been trying to deal with him for 3 years and this guy's just problematic. And I invite them and come in the boardroom, let's sit down and we have a conversation and they get up and it's like a total different person that's coming out of the office doors, right. You know, but even the same, the same situation with dealing with clients, right? I mean, it's still the same, I would probably say I still take the same way in dealing with people today, right? Whether clients, employees, my own employees, managers and so on. But yeah, I think looking back at how I've learned to kind of deal with things from 30 years ago, like it still holds true today.

 

Pat Perdue (19:54):

Nice. And the big challenge that organizations that grow from an individual growing your team, and now you have, you know, you have 250 employees, yet you have that unique brand of, of personal, personal touch security, for lack of a better phrase, where I can, I can imagine that this is probably your unique brand where you've got these other larger companies that have been in business for 120 years, they have their way and you have your way that that has worked for you. But as you grow, how did you manage to scale and maintain that personal touch? And it's not just you doing the security, it's, it's people that people that you know, are chained, you know, are are multiple levels removed from you.

 

Winston Stewart (20:45):

Right? Right. Well, good question. We consider ourself to be a, a boutique style provider, which, you know, we may not provide everything we're solutions oriented company, right? But we, we consider ourself a boutique company. We're a niche company. So we're basically, we're not here to service everybody, right? We're here to kind of service clients that's a, that are a good fit for us as we are a good fit, as we're a good fit for them. So what I've, I've basically kind of started from 30 years back understanding that in order for you to, you know, be successful, you have to really look at a partnership with the type of people you want to do business with, right? Not a company that's just going to say, Hey, we have a service, you're going to buy our service, we send you an invoice, you send us a check, right?

(21:39) We look at long-term partnership. So when our business development people goes out there, we're not selling security, right? We're not even selling, we're not even selling Wincon. Like I always tell my security, my business development people, I said, nobody cares about Wincon. Right? What clients care about is you understanding what their issues are, and be able to listen and come up with a plan to fix their problem, right? <laugh>, we want to be partners. And in some cases, Pat, to be honest with you, I've sat down across from a potential client and I can see that they're just used to dealing with people who, you know, are so, they're so hungry just to get that deal. And they treat these contractors like, well, you know, can you come in and do it cheaper than the next company? And I've said, you know, thanks, but no thanks. It's not a good fit for us, but I can probably put you on to a few companies that, right? Because I want that long-term relationship with you. I want you to be able to know that or feel as a client that, you know what? Our partner is Wincon. Wincon is our security provider, right? They're not just our security company, they're our security provider, they're our partners. So I've really tried to be very intentional with getting that message across to everyone in our company. And for me, we're at the stage now 30 years later where, you know, I'm trying to move away from people seeing Winston as Wincon because they need to start seeing Wincon as the company, as the brand, right? But it's really trying to get my people to understand that, listen, like we cannot move away from what our vision and our mission is, right?

(23:20) We are still here as a solutions provider. We're here for people, right? We want to make our employees, even the employees are out in the field. They need to have the same feeling that our, our clients are having, right? We care about people. Yes, we're going to invest in our solutions. We want to make sure that we're providing solutions that are backed up by integrity. We're gonna deal with people with integrity, we're gonna treat our employees with integrity. And anytime that I get a sense that we're treating one of these people, whether it's our employees or clients, our own internal folks, without that, then there's a problem. So I want to see that reflected in everything that we do. We want to be true to our brand. And true, being true to our brand means that we're not chasing after the, the mighty dollar out there, right? We're here to make a difference in this industry, in this community, and that's just the way we do business, right? You know, there's no other way and there will not be any other way that we do business without the fundamentals that we've kind of set and that we've practiced and we believe in.

 

Pat Perdue (24:32):

And I think you've just articulated in a, in a really clear way why you're in business 31 years later and clearly going strong and also unpacking what you were talking about, that whole sentence or that that few sentences that you said, basically that's a masterclass in running and scaling a business where employee experience and customer experience are pretty well indivisible as and as long as, as long as we approach them with the same level of, and I love that you used the word of integrity, the same level in of integrity and, respect and focus, then everything gets better. <laugh>.

 

Winston Stewart (25:15):

That's right. Definitely. Yeah. Definitely.

 

Pat Perdue (25:17):

Yep. So, you're talking a little bit about your clients. I'd love to know what your ideal client is? Is it, is it the larger institution? Is it a smaller organization? Describe to me what, you know, there's a lot, there's a, there's a wide variety of individuals that listen to this podcast. Who would be an ideal client for you?

 

Winston Stewart (25:37):

<laugh>. I think because we're in the security realm, so anybody could be a client for us, right? Our, but our ideal client, I mean, we deal with clients who, universities, you know, you know, investment group that runs shopping centers, you know, the condominium side of the industry. But I think, you know, our ideal client is, is a corporation that totally has a desired need for many forms of security, right? Whether it is the security on the physical side where you need your concierge or your physical security officers, but also, hey, we need the integration side where we have our cameras and our robotics and, and so on. So our ideal, our ideal client is someone who has a need for a full security solution provider that understands their requirement, that understands their financial restraints, and can work and design a plan that they can put in place to make that client reach their objectives.

(26:48) Right? You know, but also understanding, you know, how to continue to educate my job to, to come to that, that client and bring them up to speed as to what's happening coming down the pipe. I remember, you know, Pat, like years ago when we started talking about cybersecurity to, a lot of our clients <laugh>, they're like, a lot of clients are like, Oh, we don't have to worry about that. That's Star Trek thing, that's down the way. <laugh>, That's, that's 30 years down the line. Well, what are we dealing with today? Right? So our ideal client is one who's basically has a desire for, for a company who's gonna be able to provide a full, that full security design for them. And that's what we do.

 

Pat Perdue (27:33):

And how do you find, you know, you reference cybersecurity and how the future becomes the present a lot sooner than we think it does, especially these days. How do you find security is changing? You mentioned even robotics.

 

Winston Stewart (27:48):

Yeah, yeah. You know, I do find that, I kind of mentioned it too, that I find in Canada we're very slow, we're very slow to react both from the commercial side, but also from the governmental side, right? We're very slow on things. And I do find that security's changing. You know, gone are the days where, you know, in the past you say security and everybody thinks about, oh, the guy's standing at the door with a bunch of keys, right? Now, security is really looking at, you know, design, analytics, you know, license plate recognition cameras, biometrics, AI technology, drones, robotics, right? And anyone, you can look, any one of your big distribution centers, you know, the Amazons of the world, they all have some type of mixture of these applications protecting their site, right? So, and I always tell people, I said, I'm not worried about the competitors.

(28:45) I said, if you are just a company who is just offering, hey, we offer security guards. I said, well, you know what? You're going to be a dinosaur, because the client's needs have changed. Whether they want it or not, they've changed. I said, you just look out there every day now you are actually finding in a client, or whether it's in the media or wherever that has gotten hacked, right? And their, their business is totally disrupted and so on. Well, you know what, that's, that's a big security issue, right? If we're out there selling cameras to a corporation, we can't just go in and sell cameras, now we have to go in and say, look, you know, yes, we have this equipment, but here's also the cybersecurity part of what we're putting in place with this equipment. Here's how you are protected. Here's how your network is going to be protected from the equipment that we're putting up. Because now your insurance is now going to be asking questions. Okay, you have this equipment, but it's on your network. How is it? So it's changing in many, many folds, right? Like, we are actually looking right now at a few robotic companies in the States where, you know, they're coming out with robots that can help us to patrol some of our bigger facilities, especially after hours, because, hey, there's a big labour shortage ever since Covid that's happening in North America, right? While, you know, we can get these robots, they're, they're efficient. You invest in them once. They're here, they can do the job. They're, they can drive around these distribution centers looking for leaks and temperature changes and lighting and so on, right? So there's definitely a change, a big shift that's happening in the industry.

(30:21) And I don't think the general public is even aware of it. Like you have the technology happening at the airport, but a lot of people don't realize it, right? AI technology has been used in these airports for years now, and it's just becoming a natural and normal thing. So we're going to see how, you know, every building that you go into, whether it's your local shopping center that you're going to be having analytics that at play with these cameras and everything that's picking you up as a shopper, but you're, you're just not aware of it, right? So it is definitely a big change, and we have to make sure that we're part of that change.

 

Pat Perdue (30:56):

Got it. And you know, when I hear that you mentioned that you, your relationship with your clients is that you are a securities partner, and you really just did a great job of articulating what that really means. As the definition of providing security evolves, so does the nature of the relationship between Wincon and your clients, because obviously it's clear, but it's probably more clear to you than perhaps others in the industry, that you need to continuously evolve if you're going to maintain your promise of providing security to your clients.

 

Winston Stewart (31:32):

Yeah, and I, you know, I think that's a big part of, of what we're doing. Like when we talk about partnering with our clients, it's establish a trust, right? You can go in there and, and you can say, Hey, we offer this and we offer that. And the client's like, okay, that's great. But once you get to that spot where you establish trust with that client, the, the whole thing where you're trying to establish this partnership really comes to light with a client. And what trust means, and I always tell people here, I said, once you, once you understand trust, trust means that a client is going to rely on you, right? A client is going to understand that, hey, these guys are not gonna make me look bad, but they're here in my best interest. A client is going to understand. Trust means that, hey, I can say to you I have X amount in my budget for the next year, and you're not going to take advantage of that budget because you see, oh my gosh, there's a budget here, we gotta blow that, we gotta spend it, right?

(32:27) A client is going to know that, hey, I can roll out and say, look, I have this budget, but Wincon is only going to let me spend what I need to spend. Right. You know, so establishing that partnership, especially in our industry, because a lot of companies don't establish partnerships. They go in and they sell a service or a product, right? Once you establish that partnership, I treasure that and I get my people to understand that it's worth treasuring, because it's very hard to break that partnership. And that is why I can tell you that we have companies that we've been servicing for 30 years because we have that trust with them. And anybody that they've put us onto, it's because of that trust factor, right? They'll never refer us to someone else that they don't care about. They're always going to refer us to somebody that they care about because they understand that, you know, we've developed that partnership, we've developed that trust with them. And I wish, I always say one day when I get out there on a big stage, I'm gonna say, listen, if you can establish trust, if you can sell trust, you're goning to be successful. Because a lot of people don't realize that. And it, and it blows my mind that you hear these big guys get up there on stage and they're rah, rah, rah, and they're telling the successes of what you need to become a successful, you know, entrepreneur. But they never talk about trust. And I don't know why, but they should.

 

Pat Perdue (33:46):

Oh really? <laugh> <laugh>,

 

Winston Stewart (33:49):

Yes. <laugh>

 

Pat Perdue (33:51):

Feels like that's your Ted Talk.

 

Winston Stewart (33:53):

You got it.

 

Pat Perdue (33:54):

<laugh>. There's a lot of students who listen to this podcast, and I know what you're talking about is hugely inspirational for them, especially, you know, if they're thinking maybe they do wanna be entrepreneurial, but they're also saying, you know, why me? Or it feels like it's too big a challenge. Your story is so inspiring. Where do you see, you mentioned that you, you're in a process of separating figuratively, of course, Winston from Wincon. So what does the next, say three to five years, what does that timeframe hold for Winston?

 

Winston Stewart (34:29):

You know, I think it's really getting the company to a point where the company can run, not necessarily without me, but the company can actually function without me in the sense we build the brand. You know, I always say it's like Kentucky Fried Chicken, right? Colonel Sanders came up with this great recipe how many years ago, and it's been duplicated over and over for that company. I mean, I don't expect to see Colonel Sanders fry my chicken when I go into a KFC, but the recipe is still there, <laugh>, right? But I think, you know, being able to separate myself from the company and the brand, doesn't matter who, who we are partnered with, they said, geez, you know what? I can see the trust, I can see the partnership I can totally get with this. Right?

(35:11) That is my one plan. And, and I think as we grow, like we want to expand where we've totally restructured ourself over the last how many years, especially I, you know, before Covid we had this great plan, COVID came and says, oh yeah, we're going to just dash that to the side. But we've regrouped, we've expanded our office space, we've restructured, put, you know, put things in place, but we want to grow and we want to grow with intention. We just don't want to get big. So we, we've always had this thing where we're growing at a moderate size, size and speed, because we still want to stay true to who we are, right? To our clients. We still want to be able to be that boutique company who's going to spend the time on our clients, right? So we, we want to do that. And that's really the plan.

(35:55) Myself, you know, I'm still doing things in the security industry. I'm definitely on a few different boards association because I do believe that it takes people like myself to really invest back in our industry. I do love the security industry, it's been great to me, but I also see where we can actually improve. And, you know, some of the associations I'm part of; where stakeholders working with the government on how to improve the industry, looking at 10 years down the line, you know, 20 years down the line, with how to kind of work with the government to get regulations out there that's going to make the industry better. You know? So, you know, I'm a still a big community guy, Pat. You know, the next five years, I want to slow down a little bit, but at the same time, really still doing things that's going to be impactful in the industry and as well as my company.

 

Pat Perdue (36:46):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Well, I'm sure that the folks listening to this conversation have been truly inspired by your story and your focus and your success. So thank you very much for joining the Seneca Proud podcast. It's been a pleasure getting to know you and chat with you today.

 

Winston Stewart (37:04):

Hey, as all I can see about that, Pat is challenge accepted <laugh>

 

Pat Perdue (37:09):

<laugh>. Nice! I see what you did there. Awesome. Awesome. Thanks again, Winston

 

Winston Stewart (37:15):

<laugh>. Yeah. But thank you. Thanks. Yeah, thank you for hosting me man. I really love being a part of this. And, if we can get to do it again sometime down the line, anything for Seneca,

 

Pat Perdue (37:24):

Amazing. I would love that. Thanks again for joining the pod.

 

Winston Stewart (37:26):

Love it. Thank you. Have a great day. Bye bye. Bye-bye.

 

Pat Perdue (37:31):

And that was my conversation with Seneca graduate and CEO of Wincon Security, Winston Stewart.

(37:37) I'm really grateful to Winston for sharing his story with us, from wanting to go into policing, to pivoting and taking his knowledge and education and using it to become an entrepreneur. And in looking back, it seems like it was just a natural process unfolding as it should. But when you are living it, it's filled with risks and unknowns, but you just have to push through and I guess hope for some luck. But let's talk about luck. You might have heard the saying, luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparation. And in this case, Winston was clearly prepared for when the opportunities crossed his path. Challenge accepted, I guess. So my question, what does preparation for you mean? So that when the opportunities do cross your path, you can be ready for them like our guest was and make your own luck.

(38:29) Thank you again to Winston Stewart for joining the pod and especially thank You for listening. This podcast was edited by Courtney Rheaume. I'm Pat Perdue. Stay proud, Seneca.