As the 2024 Summer Olympics open today, two Weed Man franchise owners will have a particularly personal perspective on the event. Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing, a dynamic Olympic curling duo and married couple, took over Laing’s family-run Weed Man franchise in Barrie, Ontario, this past April and plan to infuse their business with the same dedication and excellence that propelled them to international sporting success.
One of Canada’s most successful female curlers ever, Jones is an Olympic champion, two-time world champion, and six-time national champion. In 2014, Jones led her team to the Olympic Winter Games, not only winning gold, but becoming the first women’s curling team to go undefeated in Olympic competition. Jones made her second Olympic appearance at Beijing 2022 where at age 47 she became Canada’s oldest ever female Winter Olympian.
Laing is a three-time Canadian and world champion who has been playing with the same team since the 2014-15 season. They won their first national title together in 2016, going on to win the world title.
While Jones and Laing competed together in the 2023 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships, this year the two are ready for a new team challenge: taking over the family franchise. “At the end of the day we’re just a part of a different team. This is a team that delivers customer service in the lawn care industry, whereas before it was a team that delivered shot making on the curling ice,” comments Laing. “It’s the same, you know. You plan, you execute, you debrief, and you replan, and you execute, and you debrief. And all the way along it’s not a straight line up, but it’s all about getting better at what you do being more efficient.”
Jones agrees. “We have such a strong relationship, strong friendship, and so much respect for each other that it just seemed natural for us to go into business together and try to use that strength that we have in our relationship to try to be successful in business.” She adds, “…it’s a way that we can continue our curling partnership, like a partnership where we’re working together after curling is over. So it’s been really, really fun and great for us. And it’s a way to keep that competitive fire, I think, alive in us and figure out how we can grow the business.”
Laing’s father, George, and his mother bought the first Weed Man franchise in Collingwood in 1982.
Laing, whose parents purchased the first Weed Man franchise in Collingwood in 1982, has deep roots in the business. “I don’t remember life without the green and yellow truck in the driveway,” he recalls. For her part, Jones looks forward to her new role. “This is just a well established business. Brent had been in the business. It meant a lot to us to be able to keep it in the family because his parents had worked so hard to make it so successful and we love it, we love working together.”
Currently, the duo is focused on empowering their team, enhancing customer service, and implementing forward-thinking strategies to stay ahead in the industry. “We just want to get marginally 1% better everywhere, whether that’s the customer service, or how we empower our technician team, or how we empower the office staff, or the training that we do. I think we’re only as good as the training we provide for our people, says Laing.
Jones comments, “We don’t just accept an answer, we want to know why. And so I think we’re always asking the employees, ‘Why do we do that?’.. It’s just about learning and educating, and then just trying to surround ourselves with the best possible people. And that’s what you do in sport.” She add, “But we’re also always forward thinking. And I think our sport background is what we are going to need three or four years from now, or five years from now to keep up…. We’re preparing for what’s next, not just for today.”
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