Success is often a relative term since it depends on the perception of each person.

Jason Vander Griendt is a successful entrepreneur, businessman, and CEO of Render 3D Quickly Inc. & J – CAD Inc., companies which provide professional and quality 3D rendering services & 3D CAD engineering services based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They also provide services internationally, serving clients in Canada, the United States, Europe, China, and many other countries.

He first had this idea after graduating from Fanshawe College. It started with a flier for his 3D CAD services and turned into an internationally acclaimed business. His companies now provide things such as 3D renderings, 3D architectural models for building projects, 3D printing & prototyping, virtual reality tours and much more. Last week we sat down for a discussion with him and asked some questions about life as a CEO. He was relaxed, down to earth, and gave some pretty interesting insights into his personal experiences. His answers below were very enlightening and will certainly inspire the new generation of entrepreneurs.

BusinessInterviews.com: Do you have any recent success stories that you’d like to share with our readers?

Jason Vander Griendt: A recent success I had would be planning a trip to visit over 20 countries in about a month to meet some of my employees. A lot of these countries I didn’t know anything about and didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know how it would go exactly but I did it anyway and came back alive and in one piece so to me that was successful because it was a big challenge. There were a few times where it could have gone very badly but I had to deal with each situation as it came and make the best decision to get out of it. I learned a lot on this trip both in who I am as a person and about the world out there outside of North America. It’s amazing what we take for granted here and how most of the world doesn’t live like we do in USA/Canada.
As far a business goes, one of my greatest successes related to opening my company would have to be the team we were able to put together. In my opinion, we were able to recruit the smartest, most amazing and talented group of people in the world to work for our company because we hire globally and let our employees work remotely. They are a big reason why we are able to enjoy this much growth and success so quickly. I take pride in the fact that I’ve built a multi-million dollar business without ever having an office or even meeting a single client or employee (until recently). Everything is entirely remote.
It really is a team effort, and everyone that works at our company has a unique talent, something special to offer. They bring this to the table with every project we work on, and it is apparent how much they love the work that they do. I strongly believe that a big part of it is because they can work wherever and whenever they want because they are remote workers. There is no such thing as 9-5 at Render3DQuickly Inc. or J – CAD Inc. We work when we feel like it, when we feel most productive.
Here’s a questions: How is it possible that everyone’s job takes exactly 40 hours per week to accomplish? This is nonsense and the reason I left the 9-5. I like to work when I feel productive and relax when I don’t. My workers like to do this too and for that reason we are all extremely productive.
I take great pride in the company that I have built and the team that we have working here at Render 3D Quickly. If it weren’t for our amazing crew then we wouldn’t be able to meet the demands of our clients, which keep growing exponentially every day. Now we have about 30 employee’s here who are all extremely skilled in this field. I am ecstatic to have them on board.

BusinessInterviews.com: What has been your biggest challenge as a business owner and how have you met that challenge?

Jason Vander Griendt: There are many challenges when it comes to owning your own business. At the beginning this career definitely had its ups and downs. A lot of times business will run perfectly and I feel on top of the world. The biggest challenge is learning how to be a good manager which means learning as much as you can about motivation and understanding that each person is motivated differently.
Some people are motivated by money, some are motivated by time off, and some are motivated by showing appreciation etc. It’s up to a manager to know to a degree what each person’s motivation is and use that to keep them happy and motivated to do their jobs. Most bosses I find shouldn’t be bosses. They are just put in that position because of seniority or other reasons but have no idea how to manage people and keep them happy. Many resort to fear as a motivation, making employees work out of fear of losing their jobs for example. This is a recipe for disaster!
Happy workers are the best workers! When it doesn’t feel like work then the work gets done in half the time and is better quality. I think being a remote boss really pushes me to be a good boss. I need to manage people via email only both employees and our 1,000’s of customers. This takes people skills and social dynamic knowledge I wasn’t born with. I’ve read 100’s of books on the topic and have a lot of practice now on how to manage people. I’m not saying I’m perfect at it but it is a very big challenge when running a multi-million dollar online business entirely remote. Due to our focus on this, we have had a lot of success.

BusinessInterviews.com: Do you consider yourself successful and by what means do you measure success?

Jason Vander Griendt: Success is often a relative term since it depends on the perception of each person. I view success as happiness and progress with the things that bring you joy in life, so I do consider myself a success because I am happy. Nothing can take away happiness when you have it. Part of it comes from owning a successful business and working with great people.
It gives me incredible joy knowing that my hard work is not only making customers happy but more so helping people (my employees) in developing countries and their families. It’s nice to know that because of me, they are living a much better life than they were only a few years ago. Some have told me that they were hungry and now they own multiple properties in only a few short years.
Since that has always been one of my goals, it feels gratifying and gives me a sense of success. I do, however, also measure success by how well my personal life is going. I can’t simply focus on my business alone because then I would neglect my personal relationships. I did this for a time and found my happiness go down. I thought if I just checked out of social interaction for a bit and only focused on business my business would explode and my happiness would also explode. WRONG! I learned that this is incredibly destructive to both the business and personal life.
I needed the balance of friends and relationships because these keep you balanced and happy and like I said a happy worker is a more productive worker. I learned that I need to work hard and play hard as well and feel like I deserve it when I’m playing because I do.
People have a misconception that if they sleep less and just focus on business and cut out relationships they will be successful! Again, define success. You have tons of money but you’re exhausted and no one is calling you. Not fun. Get your sleep, have fun with friends and work hard and your happiness level will be high. You will feel more successful even if you are not making the most money. More money will come quicker this way ironically as counter intuitive as it sounds.
Things like time with my friends and family is not something that I want to sacrifice. They are equally important if not more so than my business, so I make sure to give them adequate time as well. It also helps me to keep a positive mental state, when everything is good socially I feel like I can think clearly and work thoroughly.