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| Local Subway owner, Rob Harper |
“The most important thing you can do every day is to stay positive,” says Harper, 41, of St. Catharines. “Be realistic, but be positive. If something happens then work harder. But always stay positive. It can help your health; it can help your business and it can help your life in general.”
A recent string of robberies at one of the seven Subway restaurants Harper owns could have easily diminished his positive perspective, but it didn’t.
“We had three robberies within three weeks at the same store,” he explains. “It’s frustrating that something like this would happen when we are working so hard, but they eventually caught him. My first thought was about my employees. They are amazing, dedicated and pulled through this with such a positive attitude.”
Harper opened his first Subway in 1993, shortly after graduating from Brock University with a business degree and a major in accounting. At the time the only job availabilities in his field were in Toronto, but Harper didn’t want to move. His roommate mentioned an opportunity to open a Subway franchise, and after doing some research Harper wanted in.
“I went in and looked around and knew what I wanted to do right away,” he says. He laughs as he recalls his favourite food while at Brock. “All through university I ate a seafood and crab sub on honey wheat bread from the only Subway location in town at the time. I ate it all the time and I loved it. So loving the product and my business background merged and I never looked at anything else.”
Harper says it’s important to combine positivity with determination to be successful in the business world.
“You definitely have to take a risk and be committed,” he says. “You can’t expect success if you’re not fully committed. It takes a lot of hard work, and more importantly a lot of smart work.”
Networking is also a key element for success.
“You can learn a lot in school and receive a lot of background,” Harper says. “But the key is getting out there and meeting the right people. Listen to the advice of people who are already successful. Listen to their stories. That’s crucial and is the best way to succeed and learn about business.”
And Harper remains positive, no matter what his business or personal life has in store for him. Even cancer.
“ About four years ago I had a bad case of laryngitis. Eventually they discovered a polyp on my vocal chord and after a biopsy I was told I had throat cancer.”
Since Harper has never been a smoker, the cancer had to be treated “more aggressively with a higher dose of radiation and longer treatments.” He had 31 sessions in total.
“I’m all clear for now,” Harper says. “But you know what? Once you’ve had cancer you really look at life a different way when you survive. I have learned a lot.”
He believes a healthy lifestyle and positive thoughts can “overcome almost any cancer.”
“People have to pay attention to their health,” he says. “Positive thinking, along with a healthy nutritional diet will take you a long way.”
Harper embraced his “opportunity to change (his) life style for the better” and feels healthier than he ever has. “I’m more active and I eat way better. I treat my body with a lot more respect. So, for me, I see the positive of having to go through cancer and surviving.”
Harper recently took his active lifestyle to the ultimate level by running his first marathon.
“The whole running thing was a challenge. I never liked running. I was never good at it,” he says.
But after watching his friend training for an iron man triathlon he decided he was going to try it.
“I came back from a 40 km bike ride and I put on my running shoes and tried to run. I got maybe half a kilometre. It was something that just was not natural for me. But I didn’t give up and I started running on my own for a bit. Then last April I joined a running club and began training for a 10 km run.”
Harper did well at the race and decided to complete a marathon.
“I trained for the marathon and I was crazy addicted. I was running close to 100km a week. I think I did about 18 weeks of training for the marathon and then I did it. And you know what? 1% of the population can say they have done a marathon. So I became a marathon person. I’m very proud of that.”
Once again, Harper says it all comes down to positivity.
“There are going to be days where you get up and it’s freezing cold and you don’t want to go out there and run. But if you’re training you can not miss a day. You have to get out there, and life is no different,” he says. “You have to get out of bed in the morning and do the things you may not want to at the time. In running, you’ll get that runner’s high and in life you’ll get more drive to succeed.”
Harper has plans to compete in more marathons; and has even set the bar a little higher.
“I’d like to do an ultra marathon,” he says. “A regular marathon is 26 miles, but I’d like to do a 50 mile race. I also have aspirations of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. I’d love to get a campaign together and raise money for cancer. It would be fun and pretty motivating.”
Harper participates annually in the Relay for Life, an all night walk-a-thon raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society. He did the relay one time prior to being diagnosed with cancer himself, and now the race takes on new meaning.
“It’s pretty emotional,” he says. “I participate with all my family and there’s usually some tears shed when I do the survivors lap. But then we just walk all night and raise money for a good cause. It’s family time and I look forward to it every year.”
Harper thinks it is important to give back to the community and his restaurants regularly donate to a number of different causes.
“Through Subway we help a variety of causes. There are not any specific ones that we key on, but we do support the community whether it be for church groups or different fundraisers. We do a lot with Brock University as well. Rather than specifically focus on one cause we try to assist many of the groups that come to us for help.”
Harper’s belief in living a healthy and active lifestyle motivates him to create awareness about the dangers of childhood obesity.
“The way our lifestyles are now, people are grabbing food on the run. It must be very difficult for parents to get something healthy into their children’s hands,” he says. “And what is healthy? There’s a misconception of what actually is healthy, so I think we need to educate the parents on what we should be feeding the kids and provide alternatives to them.”
Statistics provided by the website for the Childhood Obesity Foundation, a registered Canadian charity dedicated to providing education about the “current epidemic of childhood obesity in Canada” say obesity rates among children and youth have tripled over the last 25 years. 1.6 million children in Canada are considered to be overweight or obese; and if a teenager is overweight there is an 80% chance of keeping that weight on as an adult.
“First and foremost the parents need to get educated. There are healthy choices, even when you have to grab something on the run. Childhood obesity is a problem,” Harper says. “That is an important cause to me, and it fits right in with what I do at Subway.”
He is in the development stages of putting together a fundraiser to create awareness about child hood obesity.
“I’d like to put together a little five or ten kilometre race as a fundraiser. That’s something I’m working on right now; maybe put it on as a Halloween race.”
Harper has a personal motto that inspires him.
“One of my favourite sayings is about the power of positive thinking, and it is ‘when you think you can; you’re right and when you think you can’t; you’re right.”
With thinking like this there is no limit in sight for Harper.
Published in Niagara Life Magazine -March/April 2011
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