EW 054 – How To Risk Everything To Buy A Business, Grow It and Make It A Great Place To Work – Winning with Mike McCormick, President of World Floor Coverings

Gordon Sheppard (00:02.574)
Sorry, haven't had anybody take a sip right when I was about to say hello. So hang on, hang in there. Just give me a sec. I'm just gonna go quiet for a second. Mike, welcome to the show.

Mike McCormick (00:13.122)
Sorry.

Mike McCormick (00:16.664)
Thank you for having me, Gord, happy to be here.

Gordon Sheppard (00:18.892)
Well, it's so good to have you here because we're gonna hear about sort of not fully a self-made story, but certainly a motivated story in the entrepreneur space where someone learned on the job and then took a chance to go out in a sense on their own with support, of course, along the way and make wonderful things happen. And I think that's really gonna set the audience up for what this good story is gonna be when we explore your win. But there's a lot of people that haven't met you. So if you had to describe

You know, describe yourself, introduce yourself. What would you say?

Mike McCormick (00:50.574)
So yeah, my name is Mike McCormick. I'm one of the partners here and president of World Floor Coverings. I'm 34 years old. I'm married with three beautiful boys, seven, six, and four. They keep me pretty busy. I've been in the flooring industry since I was 21. And yeah, four and a half years ago, almost five years ago, bought World Floor Coverings. It had been around for 20 years and I kind of knew the family a bit. So I was looking to take that next step in my career and made the transition.

with my business partner and yeah it's been a journey but more wins than losses and I've enjoyed the highs the lows and everything in between. so that's yeah.

Gordon Sheppard (01:33.102)
Well, congratulations. mean, we've got somebody, we're sitting here with somebody with, you know, 13, 14 years of experience when you add it all up, because you got started at that young age. You learned the craft before you jumped into the ownership role. Isn't that interesting? Taking over sort of a family business scenario has got its own can of worms in terms of it doesn't matter what it is. There's always something going on with that, but you knew that the business was well established enough and you saw something in it that you could then move into it. Plus there's that own piece in there of you moving into being the leader.

Mike McCormick (01:40.397)
Yeah.

Gordon Sheppard (02:00.429)
It's one thing to be a worker, it's another thing to be on top and in charge of things as you're kind of going forward. Well, congratulations. So good to hear you're at this moment in time. I know that I got an inter, I have to say thank you for Narissa for the introduction from, you know, the business Edmonton leader scenario. You've been a, you've won awards already and done that kind of thing. Which brings me to the sort of first question that I like to bring up in this interview is if you had to describe your biggest win in some of this work, and I'm sure there's many, but you know, if you had to describe one of them, what would that win be and how would you describe it?

Mike McCormick (02:31.086)
I would say probably my biggest win personally, professionally, aside from my family and stuff, was probably getting the confidence to take that next step from going from sales senior project manager and understanding that I did want more responsibility, I wanted a new challenge, life short.

I had great support around me that felt that I could do this. yeah, just taking that first step and that plunge and having that confidence in myself to take the next step in my career and then ultimately acquire World Floor Coverings. then further that, building a team of awesome people that are doing great things for clients and the community. It's cool to have the platform to be able to give back and really enjoy what we do while

providing a great service that we care deeply about. yeah.

Gordon Sheppard (03:26.059)
Incredible, so it's bigger than making a few bucks, right, already. Isn't that nice within your first five years and that's a wonderful thing. I just need to dig into this for a second, because there's a moment where there's a moment, confidence just doesn't appear in 24 hours. You're like, I'm gonna buy a company. Like that takes time to evolve. Describe if the win is having that moment, that confidence to kind of get in and actually make this acquisition. Tell me about when there wasn't confidence in a sense and how did that build up to actually know that you could pull this off?

Mike McCormick (03:54.008)
That's a good question. I mean, I would say my last couple years at my previous employer, I was thinking about it, feeling it, and...

Just ultimately, yeah, gaining experience, having the support of my family, friends, and clients around me that had confidence in me as well, just kind of pushed me over the edge to say, I'm going to do this. Because it was as difficult as it was. I was at a great company. was earning good money. So it wasn't necessarily about the money or the opportunity. was more so, I think there's a better way. And I'll regret it if I don't.

I want it. didn't know where I was. I didn't want to. And this is no offense to where I was, but it was just for me, it was, I wanted to challenge myself and I was ready for that next step. And this was it. And yeah, there was, there was no looking back after, after we put everything on the line and yeah, it's been, it's been fun.

Gordon Sheppard (04:53.037)
Well, and it's fun to meet people on the success side of things, because that's where we talk about these wins, but there's, you know, there's whatever, dozens of conversations in there. There's conversations with your partner and probably your folks or the people that you know that are supporting you and you're building it up and you're gaining that confidence. Plus you're in a knowledge acquiring zone. It's one thing to be a worker.

But you gotta figure out then what are all those moving parts to actually acquire a business, right? To actually get that thing to go and there's all kinds of things that we could dig into there. Great. So we know the win is in a sense acquiring the business and having the confidence in a sense to acquire the business and go from being an employee to getting into this position to be an owner. Pretty remarkable on the win side and now you're successful to the point where the business is bigger than just being.

selling floor stuff, you're actually getting out there in the community and making it bigger and having a great staff. So congratulations. I always like to jump into what I call the anatomy of a win, to examine the win for a second. So what is the strategy, the work plan, the people, the operations and results behind the win? Strategically, if we look at sort of vision, mission, values, goals, I can already hear that you said to them, values-wise or vision-wise, I will regret it if I don't. I need to challenge myself to go to the next level. Anything else around?

sort of the strategic highlights of what you wanted to do when you set out to make this acquisition.

Mike McCormick (06:08.45)
mean, it was kind of a...

live and learn and yeah, was foreign territory to me and I think having great people around me and leaning on great professionals to guide me through this as I kind of led the charge. These are people that I still surround myself with and put a lot of confidence in around supporting me in areas that I'm still learning certain areas and I know my strengths and my weaknesses and it's great to have people around me that compliment.

me and each other and be able to work collectively to achieve our goals together.

Gordon Sheppard (06:46.529)
Yeah, then so, and again, the strategy was get great people around you. You know what I mean? I need the next challenge. I'm gonna go to that next level. There's something about you and your value set, or you say you got the confidence. You have to be confident to pull the trigger. You gotta get a few dollars together to buy a business. Is that fair?

Mike McCormick (07:05.418)
Yeah, I had to remortgage my house. I had to put everything on the line to acquire the business. But my wife was right beside me saying, let's do it. We had our second kid on the way. So it was daunting at the time, for sure.

But I would say that I have never lacked a ton of confidence. Not to say that when I got in the industry at 21, I didn't know, you know, which, which way carpet goes if it's fluffy side up or down. But, you know, so, so every year you get more confident in your, your, your knowledge of the industry and your abilities and your reputation and stuff like that. And then, you know, ultimately you get to a point where sure, I could be happy here for a long time and, know, and earn an honest living and,

But I knew deep down I just wanted more for my family, for myself. And I just felt like I could bring people up. And that's been another great win. Hiring people and watching them grow under me, with me, has been super fulfilling. it probably brings me the most joy from being in the position I'm at, for sure.

Gordon Sheppard (08:15.917)
Well, congratulations again. So here we can really start to see kind of who you are, right? You're the kind of fella who can take a risk. You've got great people around you. So you've built great relationships around you to be able to do that. You've got good sort of advisor types in place to pull things off like this. It's not easy to do that. And the risk taking, you mortgage the house, you get going, but you've got strong support. You pulled it off and you actually made it happen. This is really interesting as we sort of.

you know, touch on that strategic highlights part. Anytime we have a strategy, we need a work plan. There's a timeline here. There's sort of a moment where, what was the first moment when this idea that you could acquire this business occurred? Like what year did that occur? And then how long did it take to kind of get to now? Like what's the total timeline to get to here?

Mike McCormick (08:57.08)
So been here for five years now. So I would say like.

six years ago, maybe like the last year of my last employer, was, it was, that was what was keeping me up at night. And I would come home and talk about it. And, you know, and at the end of the day, like if I don't do anything, I'm just going to keep talking about it. So, you know, I'm, I don't like to procrastinate, although I naturally do like, like everyone at different times for different things. But at the end of the day, like, you know, my wife was like, well then do something about it. And, know, so just kind of, yeah, it took

that plunge and kind of never looked back. that was, yeah, about six years ago thought came in my mind. And then five years ago, the timing and the opportunity of it, you where I was at, where the previous owners of World Floor Coverings were at looking to, to exit the timing and opportunity worked out. know, I remember every minute of that deal and everything. Like I could, I could give you a play by play of like exactly how it played out. Cause it was a, it was a pivotal moment in my life.

life and it was kind of a story of resilience because at the time actually the previous owners of World Floor Coverings had already had something kind of chalked up with another group. So I left my original meeting feeling just like kind of defeated like that would have been perfect. So I kind of stuck with it and continued to show interest and like you know knew that this was it and that at the end of the day the owner,

someone to recognize that and pulled out with the other guys and gave me the opportunity and I just kind of seized it and yeah.

Gordon Sheppard (10:40.247)
Boy, I know you're in the aw shucks Canadian moment here. There's something that you did in that meeting then, or the way that you connected with the previous owner, that they would choose, you know, go in a sense, change what they were gonna do to go with you. What was happening in those, you said that you remember minute by minute, but what's some of the highlights from those meetings that made that occur?

Mike McCormick (11:01.048)
So we had the one meeting just one on one and that was when at the end of it he mentioned that, know, I wish you would have reached out a couple months ago because I'm pretty far down the line with this other group.

And I was just like, I remember calling my wife in the parking lot, like almost like in tears because you know, the meeting went really well and I was super excited about the opportunity. you know, this is it. and it didn't really work out fast forward a couple of weeks. The, you know, I, I, I texted, texted him going like, Hey, I'm still here. Like, are these guys doing anything? What's the scoop? And he was like, don't do anything yet. You know, hang tight. so I still remember.

Saturday morning exactly where I was standing. So Friday evening I had sent him a text and it was a meme. I have it framed in my office and it was a meme and it was a guy going like this and still here. And that was Friday. So then him and his wife were at the lake that Friday night and they were talking and they had sent an email to the other group that was interested, you know, saying, hey, are you serious about this or not? And, you know, they kind of were

dragging their feet a bit. So they talked it over and I guess over a glass of wine, know, Kim, Darrell's wife said, know, we got to give, Mike wants this thing. he's, he's going to, it's going to be in good hands. He wants it more than anyone. Like let's give him a shot. I think this is the right play, you know, and the family kind of discussed that, the two kids. And then ultimately I got a text Saturday morning saying,

hey, can you meet me tomorrow with an offer to purchase? And I just remember like, like I know exactly where my feet were planted in my old house. I have this, the tech saved and framed in my office. And I just, I ran straight to the bank, grabbed a, grabbed a check cause I the banks were closed on Sundays and grabbed a bottle of scotch. And that was, that was it. And then a few days later it was done. So yeah, I think like sticking with it and knowing what I wanted,

Mike McCormick (13:10.84)
knowing, understanding the opportunity and the timing and I didn't really want to let it pass. So just being kind of persistent in that sense at the end of the day kind of I guess paid off and something I don't regret because how did I not you know stuck with it who knows where.

Gordon Sheppard (13:25.472)
Well, thank you for giving us some insight into what it takes. We don't take no for an answer. We show up with the memes and the scotch and the whatever it takes to kind of get it done. And there's something again about you where you were convincing enough for a family owned business that was in a position to sell. I mean, they could have sold it obviously to anybody, but there's something also about continuity of, I'm going to say values. there something about them that kind of aligned with you? Is that fair?

Mike McCormick (13:53.1)
Yeah, I had a decent relationship with the family over the years, being in the industry and stuff, but I think they were pretty excited and proud to hand it off to me and my partner. And we still stay in touch now that it's been five years and they see what we're doing, how we've grown, what our values are. And they're super proud and excited and happy that this was just such a great transition, transaction, and the legacy lives on. We didn't change the

or anything like that and they just love what we've done with the brand and that it's in good hands with good people and they, so we do stay in touch and it's funny, the owner's daughter who was very involved here, she is now building a house with one of our clients and we're doing the floors so it's kind of full circle.

Gordon Sheppard (14:42.952)
Isn't that great? how is, isn't that interesting when we think about how to make transactions work? If we've got those right pieces, it's not always about just dollars, right? We can hear continuity of values, continuity in this case of name, continuity of so many things that were established by those owners. And again, how nice to have that.

That's unusual, I think, after transactions take place, to have that relationship as an ongoing relationship where they're, in a sense, still around for a little bit of that continuity along the way. Strategy, work plan, there's always people involved in a win. We've heard quite a bit about you. And again, we've heard a little bit about your attitude. Like there's that first moment of like, okay, that's great, I'm gonna make an offer. no, it went sideways, but I'm gonna stick with it. How would you describe your own attitude through the process, if you had to describe it?

Mike McCormick (15:30.67)
Like a roller coaster, but you know because at the time too I was dealing with you know I was still employed at a previous door so so many things going through my head a lot of sleepless nights and uncertainty and this and that but at the end of the day You know like I mentioned the people closest to me Supporting me and understanding what I wanted and what was what would work and yeah, I mean

maybe a little lucky that I don't know, I don't love the word luck, you know, I just stuck with it and things happen for a reason.

Gordon Sheppard (16:06.636)
Absolutely, and I just mean to jump in too, because you keep mentioning these people that supporting you. So there's your wife in there somewhere. But how would you describe her attitude through the process?

Mike McCormick (16:12.173)
Yeah.

Mike McCormick (16:16.014)
She's always there for me. She's always been my sounding board, or my venting board, whatever. Good, bad, or ugly. yeah, she was super supportive and had faith and trusted me that I'd make the right decision. And she was celebrating with me when I got that text. And she's been by my side since. So yeah, she's amazing.

Gordon Sheppard (16:42.782)
Pretty lucky to have that sort of home support. And then there's other key people involved. You said a partner, tell me about your partner.

Mike McCormick (16:48.386)
Yeah, so Marcus.

Marcus and I were high school friends and he was playing pro hockey in Norway when I was about five years into my journey of my previous employer. And I made a Facebook post saying that I needed help because I was getting busy and you know, I was, it was kind of growing to more than a one man show. So he was looking to come back to Edmonton from Norway and with his wife and kind of settle down and get into the workforce. So I still, we still have the screenshots too, where he says, you know, I'm like, you're going to be working like,

for me or like under me and he's like well you got to start somewhere and then and so that was what would that be like ten years ago or so so yeah we're like best friends now or have been for the last ten or so years and he's the best man at my wedding one of my best men and yeah so so you know we had we were always gonna do something together when we had you know we wanted more

building families and wanted something for ourselves. So, you when the opportunity came up, it was like, hey, you coming with me? We're doing this. And he's like, yep, let's do it. yeah.

Gordon Sheppard (17:59.105)
Wonderful. So we hear you, there's your wife in there, there's your partner, and we hear some of that, what it takes and the trust relationship that you had built in all those different relationships, the connection that you made with the people that you bought the business from, which is pretty neat. Any other people that are key players in here that we need to mention along the way for making this happen?

Mike McCormick (18:18.094)
I'm a big podcast guy and like I listened to a lot of like, you know, self-made or entrepreneurs, influencers around that space of business and that like the Gary Vee's, the Ryan Sirhans, things like that. So a lot of that like self-belief, like you can do this one life to live, blah, blah, blah. was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. Yeah, I can do this. Like, so, so that helped. And then I'm super grateful also to have some wicked great friends around me too that, you know, I can, my siblings,

as well. My siblings were super supportive. My brother was beside me through the whole thing too. So yeah, both my brothers and my sister. She'll be mad if I don't mention her.

Gordon Sheppard (18:59.104)
Wow, how nice to, like, we're talking about a gang here. Like, this is really good. You guys have to get a whole.

Mike McCormick (19:03.214)
Yeah, my parents, you know, I talked to my parents about it and, know, it's nothing but support. You can do this. You know, there was no hesitation around it. So I think getting all that outside noise from the people closest to me, like, just gives you that extra pep in your step to that it's the right decision and to go for it and that, you know, I can do this. I am capable.

Gordon Sheppard (19:24.416)
Awesome, so now we've got strategy, work plan, people we've talked a little bit about. Anytime we make an acquisition successfully, there's an operational component to this. There's legal paperwork that needs to change hands. is offers, there's financing, those types of things. Any highlights from the operational component of making this acquisition a success?

Mike McCormick (19:45.262)
Like I mentioned, the legal team, the accounting team were instrumental in holding my hand through the process for sure. Doing my own research, but working closely with them and trusting them and we still work with them for that reason because they were there for us.

So yeah, they were instrumental in that. then, yeah, I mean, we acquired a team where there was accounting here. Our lead accountant here has been here for 20 years. And she's still here and an amazing asset to our team. the infrastructure was already sort of there. was kind of that small to medium business. So I knew there was something to grow on and build.

But but still trusted the team that was already operating here to continue to operate so kind of just filled in without being overwhelming or changing everything overnight so was really Important to me to you know communicate and connect with with those existing staff that where they had a lot of uncertainty about what's this new guy gonna be like do I need to find another job what's what's gonna change am I gonna be kept here what's he doing so honestly the people

We still have great people that have been here from the start of World Floor Coverings and yeah, they're awesome.

Gordon Sheppard (21:13.15)
It's incredible to think what a smart move it is to not only buy a business that is cash flowing, but to have a business where you've looked in and seen the people that are there and the systems that are there that you know you can make a smooth transition. I'm sure we could talk about how you've put your own kind of stamp on it since the acquisition. I know we're focused on the acquisition and what it took there to get it there, but that's really good to hear that a lot of operational components were in place. Plus you put that right acquiring team around you to get things done. So when we look at the soup mix to make a successful

acquisition, we're really learning, getting the playbook in a sense, for one of the best ways to kind of put this together. Strategy, work plan, people, operations. Finally, there's results. When we talk about results, we talk about quantitative results and qualitative results. So quantitatively, the business was acquired. You know what mean? That transaction took place. Quantitatively, the business is cash flowing, I'm going to say at a positive level. I don't mean to dig into your books, but I'm just saying it's cash flowing at a positive level, I'm assuming.

and then any other quantitative sort of highlights that you want to point out for this win.

Mike McCormick (22:18.496)
I mean, when we came here...

Five years ago, there was, I think, seven staff in the office. We're up to 22 or 20 in the office. And then we were at six or 7,000 square feet, maybe 5,000 square feet or so as a footprint. We've done two expansions in the last five years. So we're up to 15,000 feet of showroom, office, and warehouse. So we've increased our footprint, our revenue, our team size. And it's been, again, just kind

winging it and growing with the I feel like it's been organically like it hasn't I don't think it's affected our service levels too much because if we add more sales we'll add another warehouse guy, add another admin, get some more space so we're not crammed back there and stuff so it's it's flowed decently well not without its challenges and stuff but

Gordon Sheppard (23:18.412)
But this is really speaking to you, because this is one thing to acquire the business, and you could have gone status quo for five years, I think. But there's something about you that then wants to say, well, let's not grow once in terms of space. Let's grow twice. Let's triple the staff. What's going on? I mean, is it just that you know the market? You can make it happen? What's happening from that perspective?

Mike McCormick (23:40.59)
I don't know, mean...

We gained some interest from some good people from other places that wanted to be a part of what we do. We had some, kind of by the luck of the draw, attracted some other office staff that really fit the mold, had the same kind of core values and have grown with the company since then. So there's a lot of people that have been here right from the start. And then over the years we've added some great pieces that are key people here now and we want to continue to grow with them around.

them and and yeah so

Gordon Sheppard (24:19.222)
Well, and there's something about you as a leader. Like you're sort of at the tip of the arrow for pulling this band of merry people along with two expansions in five years. That's remarkable, congratulations. And then, yeah, anyway, so quantitative results, there's all kinds of good things going on. Qualitatively, how would you describe the qualitative results? Like you mentioned, you're proud of seeing people grow. That's a qualitative thing. And you can talk about maybe how it feels to have this kind of success. What are some of the qualitative highlights you like to point out?

Mike McCormick (24:41.955)
Yeah.

Mike McCormick (24:49.654)
Yeah, I mean going back to, you know, watching people grow.

in the company, earning more money and more responsibility, buying their first house, getting off the tools and getting into management with a more career focus and lifeline and goals around that, you know, brings me a lot of joy. you know, I think the biggest thing too is just watching people interact here, enjoying where they work, enjoying the people they work with. So it's really important to me that the culture is respectful and enjoyable.

and at the end of the day, we spend more time here than anywhere else. So there's a lot of great friendships through our shop. when people collaborate on jobs or ask each other questions and help clients together or cover for each other, to me, that's just the best. It's a team, it's a family.

It makes me proud for sure, you know, coming here and then hearing good feedback from clients or customers about their experience. It's just like, I don't know, it's special.

Gordon Sheppard (26:01.388)
That's really special. And could you have imagined, if I say six years ago, you're full time at your other job and you're thinking about it, could you have imagined where you are in 2026 and beyond at that point?

Mike McCormick (26:12.526)
No, think we've exceeded our expectations. Though I didn't think it was possible. I there was a way I thought a shop can be run and a way that people operate.

and balance that work life and environment. I knew what was possible and now it does feel like it's kinda coming together and I see it and feel it. So yeah, definitely proud and yeah, five years ago I don't know if I would have said, yeah, we'll be there for sure. I didn't know. So.

Gordon Sheppard (26:49.728)
Yeah, even going from 5,000 to 15,000 square feet, that's remarkable in and of itself. The people are there, there are relationships being formed, you're building this team, you're super proud of, you've got this vehicle to support the community that you've created as well. I mean, it's just so fun. think I almost wanna take this moment as a step off point to help you write your leadership book because there's so many leadership lessons that have come through in the conversation here that people can learn from, but you can hear also that you're very sincere.

Mike McCormick (27:02.594)
you

Gordon Sheppard (27:18.27)
about what you're doing, like how lucky that you can see why, you know, again, with your leadership in there, and I'm sure from everybody else as they contribute as well, it's pretty insignificant. Well, this is great. Anytime, we're just getting towards the end here of the interview, but if you had a chance to talk to a younger leader who's in their full-time job, and they're thinking about making the jump in a sense, what's sort of, what's a few sentences that you like to leave behind for leaders from your perspective that you would give as sort of advice?

Mike McCormick (27:48.43)
That's a good question. You didn't give me any time to think about it, but I don't know. mean, it has to be strategic because for everyone that, you know, takes that jump and has the confidence, you know, there's times where it doesn't work or, you know, you maybe haven't thought of everything. So I don't want to just say go for it, leave your job. But

I think it's important to weigh out the pros and cons, have good conversations with people around you, professionals around you, around what that looks like. But at the end of the day, understand that if you're not happy where you are or you think that there's more you can offer and do and you're not getting that where you are, then life's short, careers are short, it's important to be happy every day.

and finding an environment that you can be excited about going to work and proud of the work that you do is I think the most important thing. And enjoy the people around you. I think that's important. And I'm also like.

Gordon Sheppard (28:57.814)
Super.

Mike McCormick (28:59.424)
on that, like I really do enjoy talking to like the next generation, whether it's like young kids on my soccer team or still playing men's for some reason with really good young kids. or speaking at like, I go to career day every year and speak at schools and stuff, cause I just love, I would love to be able to, you know, help even one person.

find the role that works for them or step out of their comfort zone. And whether that's a change in scenery or starting your own thing or doing a partnership or just taking that next step that challenges you, excites you and gets you up in morning to get at it.

Gordon Sheppard (29:40.224)
How lucky to spend this time here with you today. It's infectious. I knew if I kept hanging around you, I'd end up going and buying a company here today or doing something like that or actually applying for work at your place. Cause it sounds like a wonderful place to work, but we've learned that why that is. We've heard about you, but also these wonderful people around you as well. And that's all come together as a great moment. And funny enough, I'd love to do an interview with you about another couple of years, because beyond your company, all this capacity building that you're doing and giving back, giving back at career day, giving back, you know, with your employees.

Out in the community. There's so much more going on I'm so glad you've been able to build this vehicle and be successful and I can't wait to hear in a couple years how much even further you're gonna go Mike Thank you so much for being on the show

Mike McCormick (30:22.178)
Thank you, Gord. It was fun. I enjoyed it. And yeah, I look forward to staying in touch. Come by for a coffee if you're in the area. Check out the shop. Meet the people. And yeah, we'll definitely do this again in a few years. I'd love to.