Eugene Whiskeyjack
5008 7th Ave, Saddle Lake, AB
My road to success was a road fraught with failures and struggles, yet a little lady luck played a part as well. Resilience and inner strength saved me. My inner strength and resilience I can say was grown organically within my spirit because of the hardships of my youth. When I say hardships, I can say I have lived a part of my life in small wood log shack with mud straw used as insulation, hauling water from the frozen lake for consumption or melting snow over the wood burning steel stove which also was our source of heat. I can remember as a 6 year old, most of the summer was about survival, that meant helping my grandfather and uncle prepping and stocking wood for the cold unforgiving winters of Saskatchewan. I eventually moved to my aunty and uncles’ home in Saddle Lake, AB, as a 7 year old. My aunt and uncle eventually became my parents.
At the age of 18, my mother gave my first harsh lesson in life, I was kicked out because I had to learn to make a living on my own. At that point , I was in grade 11 and needed to finish school. Because education was important to me, I placed myself in Blue Quills which was a residential school, where I was able to complete my high school. Life took both unfortunate and wonderful detours before I eventually put myself back in College and graduated with a 2 year diploma in Management Studies.
I would be remiss not to mention that after high school, I had applied to work as a dishwasher and a car washer, both to which I was rejected. I applied for these positions because I thought I was not worthy of any other station. Whatever self esteem I had was squashed at that point. It wasn’t until later in life I had an epiphany as to why I didn’t get hired, and that was my high school diploma made me too educated for those jobs. Although my self esteem took a hit my resilience kept me going. My education allowed me to first get a job with the TD Bank as a Teller Supervisor. This job then led to me working with the Alberta Indian Investment Corporation (AIIC) in 1996, first as a Loans Manager and eventually the Senior Loans Manager. The AIIC is Commercial Lender specializing in loans to First Nation Entrepreneurs. It was through this experience that I was first introduced to the Gas Station industry.
In 1996, I formulated a plan to one day own my own Gas Station in Saddle Lake, AB, thus, of course I made this my long term goal. In 1996, I had no savings, no equity and no real assets. The goal was to raise approximately $250,000 to $300,000, which would get me a lower end gas Station, but sufficient to get me in the game. I formulated the idea that real estate investing would be the key. The idea was to save enough to buy a home, watch real estate value increase and sell when sufficient equity was in place. The equity would then be used to flip homes until such time I had enough to build my store. Of course this was easier said then done.
Between 1996 and 1998, I had saved enough for a 5% down payment on a home, thus in 1998 I purchased my first home.
By the year 2000, I had then had sufficient equity in my home, so I sold my home and used the net gains to purchased two properties with the minimal down payment needed. One was my residence, the second would be my first real estate investment used for the purpose of flipping the property. Initially, I hired home renovation contractors for the purpose of learning their skills. Surprisingly, most were willing to teach me to do basic plumbing, electrical, painting, flooring, tiling, drywalling, taping, trimming, etc.. Once I learned these skills, I was able to save a tremendous amount of money. This however also meant a lot of sacrifice. While renovating properties, I would literally be working on the property until 3am and getting up at 7am to get ready for my day job and drive the kid to school. I did this for about 8 years.
In 2008, after flipping about 13 properties, I had a saved the required $350,000. At this time, my goal was so close I could taste it. Unfortunately, one of life’s cruel twits would stop me cold. The real estate at that point was booming, homes were being sold like hot cakes. At that point, I formulated the Idea to buy my forever home and buy one more property to flit. The flipped property sale would be used for buying inventory for the store. I then made 3 purchases. The first was for $50k building on skids which made it attractive for the fact I could move it to Saddle Lake, my home reserve. The building was 1,296 square ft, which was perfect for the small start up I had planned. The idea was to renovate the repurpose it into a convenience store. I had just finalized the purchase of the two properties when the real estate market crashed. Without getting into too much details, my total equity of $200,000 I had placed as down payments on the properties had vanished in a matter of months, I couldn’t sell because nobody was buying, just spectators watching this fiasco unfold. The property I had purchased which was to be used as a flip, was heavily dilapidated, and needed every penny of the $100,000 I had left to renovate the building. By the time I had finished renovating the property, the property assessed value was less than what I owed to the bank. Complete disaster. At this point, all my hard work seemed to have vanished in a matter of months.
Here is where life’s luck took hold. During my time with the AIIC, I got to know some people that invested in turning over convenience stores that would have gone bankrupt without their intervention. During this period, I had reached out to them and asked them if they would be interested in managing my store once it opened, they agreed. One day this investor walked into my office to ask how my plans were coming along for the store. I relayed my hard luck story about losing everything. This investor went away and came back to see me about a week later. He then relayed to me that he would lend me the money to get the store open. This investor agreed to lend me the money on a simple hand shake, no formal signed agreements, just mutual trust and respect. As a teaching tool, I always tell young people to have integrity, you can be the poorest person in the world and have more value in you than a rich person with no integrity. As poor as I was at that point, It was my integrity that got me my first loan.
In 2009, I was able to successfully open my store. Through the investor, I was able to move the building I had purchased previously to Saddle Lake, purchase a lot, and buy a tank and two used pumps and repurpose the building. Now although I worked for the AIIC, which specialized in loans to First Nation Entrepreneurs, I did not qualify for a loan for the fact I did not manage the business 100% of the time.
In 2011, I approach the Community Futures in St. Paul for the first time. I found them wonderfully flexible in their policies and were willing to work with me. At that point, I didn’t qualify for a bank loan as I didn’t have 3 years of financial statements. The purpose of my first loan was to pay out my investor. Because of Community Futures, I was able to successfully fulfill my obligation and keep my integrity. Since 2011, I have gone back for numerous reasons, one in particular was to buy a house for my managers. Unfortunately, because theft was so rampant on reserve, especially unguarded businesses, I had to make sure my managers lived on the lot. This of course turned into one of my best investments because theft thereafter was minimal.
I learned early that one must nurture a business, keep investing back into it in order for the business to flourish . I have witnesses owners of gas bars drain their business of equity because of their refusal to invest in maintenance or savings.
In order to get where I am, personal sacrifices need and have been made. I thank my wife for believing in me and allowing me to do what needed to be done. We sold our beautiful 3,000 sq ft home high in the hills in Kamloops, BC that had the most beautiful views and sunsets. We sold our duplex and two other lots in West Kelowna, all part of the grand scheme of building the store in Saddle Lake and buying and renovating the store on her reserve in Saik’uz First Nation in Northern BC. We now rent a small 2 bedroom apartment in West Kelowna and for the longest time I drove a 2009 beat up Nissan Murano that almost reached ½ million kms. We understood in order to secure our long term future, certain sacrifices had to be made now. At no point did we ever feel we were too proud to live in a small apartment or drive an old beat up vehicle, our upbring was our saving grace. Having a store in Saddle Lake also means driving the 28 hour round trip once every two weeks to meet with management and check up on the store. Somehow, driving the round trip never feels like a chore, it’s always a pleasure knowing at the end of the trip, I get to visit my pride and joy.
My last loan was in 2024. I always envisioned building a new professional gas station on my reserve that not only matches the stores in the surrounding towns but even surpasses them. This is why I sought out a unique design, my store is a net zero structure built by mass timber. Building the new store has beautified the core area of Saddle Lake, because of this I believe there is a sense of pride within the community. With the Assistance of Community Futures again and their willingness to lend me the maximum allowed, I have been able to fulfill that vision. The Staff, especially Jody have been excellent to work with. The atmosphere is always welcoming and all staff have been nothing but kind and wonderful. The process of getting a loan has been painless, Jody is excellent at guiding you through the whole process and explains every step in complete detail. As a client, you are in excellent hands.
The store however is not yet complete. It is planned in the near future to add a canopy, install asphalt and complete landscaping to make the business that much more attractive. I do see another visit to community futures in the future.
