Born: June 19, 1985
Residence: Toronto, Ontario
Graduate: Port Perry High School - 2004
University of Western Ontario 2008
(Ivey School of Business)
Current Position: Service Manager
Like most young lads growing up in a small town like Port Perry, Jason Cottrell enjoyed the outdoors, playing hockey and spending time at the family cottage in Temagami fishing and canoeing.
But at a very young age, he also took a keen interest in computers and by the time he was 12 years old, this self-proclaimed “Star Wars geek” had designed his first website. In fact, the site became the fourth largest Star Wars site on the internet before he closed it down due to escalating costs to keep it online.
It was this early interest in computers and the internet that propelled him into designing a website for his father, a local dentist. The site was launched with the name www.iluvmydentist.com. This was followed by his first true client, Brian Callery of Port Perry, owner of “The Callery Group” - a local financial planning firm.
Today, a little more than 10 years after his first commercial venture, Jason operates his own company, “Myplanet Internet Solutions” servicing 125 clients with a team of six full-time employees.
In addition to this tremendous responsibility, he also works with a global management consulting firm, travelling across North America tackling operational and strategic challenges.
So how did this busy young entrepreneur manage to balance his love of sports, education, business and hanging out with friends while achieving high standings in both high school and university?
Like most successful people, Jason is extremely organized and focused on the task ahead of him. He recognized that education was of paramount importance and to this end graduated from Port Perry High School with a 95 percent average.
This was followed by winning the Laureate of the Millennium Excellence Award and becoming a finalist as the Student Entrepreneur of the Year at the University of Western Ontario.
Then in 2008 he was awarded first place for the Wes Nicol Entrepreneurial Award at the Richard Ivey School of Business.
But it hasn’t all been schooling for Jason. When asked how he manages to balance everything his eyes sparkle and he flashes a big, wide smile.
“Seriously, I have been trying hard to maintain things that keep me relaxed and enjoying life. I play squash and work out two or three times a week, golf during the summer, enjoy trips to the cottage with friends and I love to travel,” he admits.
And when he’s not meeting up with friends and fellow entrepreneurs in Toronto where he lives, he finds time to spend with his girlfriend, Jessica or return to Port Perry to visit with his family.
When confronted with his workload and balance in his life, Jason just says, “what’s balance?”
“I’m very persistent in trying to squeeze everything I possibly can into my schedule. Right now, personal enjoyment often has business involved in some way, shape or form.
He says he gains a lot of satisfaction from building and creating, and watching something grow. “I love the challenge of setting a growth plan, finding opportunities, and setting my team towards that. I feel I’m a builder,” he says.
As if all this isn’t enough, Jason has an aspiration to somehow help his community in the coming years.
“ Once I can return to a normal workload, I’d love to get back to volunteering in the community - to find something close to me, based on my life experiences, and to be able to make a difference by starting a charity. It could be the most bland but necessary need, but if I thought I could tackle it and solve it, I think that would be very meaningful.”
In the meantime, this ambitious young man eyes the future with lofty aspirations and expectations. He plans to continue building his top-notch team at Myplanet, specializing in web application development (custom programming) and online marketing.
To that end, to become more efficient and professional, Jason recently moved his business from a corner of his apartment into leased office space at Yonge and Eglinton. With a staff of six full-time developers - each an expert in the work they do - he eyes the future with confidence.
Jason says he strives to hire people who have shown a background for personal development and initiative to ensure the highest calibre of client service and innovation. And he ensures that all team members have a business acumen - so they not only understand the needs of their clients, but also have the ability to develop solutions.
“Our goal is to be a player among government and private enterprise in 2009 and start to gain international exposure for our work in 2010. We have very innovative projects and technologies coming down the pipeline and its very exciting to be a part of,” Jason explains.
Despite his youth and success, he still has plans to return to the Ivey School of Business to complete his MBA. “The question is, will it take place in two, 10 or 20 years?” he says with a smile.
“Personally, I’m an entrepreneur at heart. I’m very focused on growing Myplanet right now, but hope that down the line I have the chance to work with other business ventures, different industries, getting to know new people.”
“We’ll see how that goes.”
J. Peter Hvidsten
Focus on Scugog
Personalities
