About Ken
PERSONAL
Well I was born and grew up right here in Winnipeg. I dropped out of high school and was married very early, bought my first home at 17. By age 21 my “wife” had decided she had made a bad decision and left me and our 2 children. Fortunately my Mum, Dad and Aunt were able to give me huge amounts of help. After a few years I met and subsequently married Kris. Kris and I have had 2 more children and have been married over 30 years.
BUSINESS
in my teens i had a few jobs, elevator operator (yes a guy that stands and operates the elevator-ya i know i’m really old ok), car wash attendant, ornamental iron worker, production welder and my first business: handyman (fail).
Then while still in my teens i got a job as a new home salesman for Engineered Homes a highly respected national home builder. Then a stint in general real estate. Although i had enjoyed new home sales I didn’t like general real estate and ended up selling home insulation. After good success in sales I was offered a dealership with the company which I accepted and ran successfully until i decided to go totally independent and opened Taylor Insulation. The insulation business at that time was fueled by the old chip (Canadian Home Insulation Program) and when it ended so did the business!
I took a few different jobs while i looked for a new business.
It was then I discovered one hour photofinishing! I purchased (well leased) equipment and opened my first location in Tuxedo Shopping Park Centre in 1985. over the years the business had a few different names but the longest standing was photopro. photopro lasted for 22 years with stores in Tuxedo, Fort Richmond, Charleswood and St Vital plus a picture framing shop in Fort Richmond. photopro was considered by many to be to be the absolute best quality photofinishing available. I was very proud of the quality we were famous for and how technically advanced our equipment and services were. The advent of digital photography brought about the need for huge re-investments for equipment and drastically reduced need for the service as people stopped printing their photos.