By BOB Awards

Best Boss: Taryn Svenson

Sep 7, 2016 | 6:36 PM

The standout about Taryn Svenson is the sparkle in her eye while she’s talking about her experiences meeting hundreds of people and how her career has taken her throughout the province. 

Taryn and her husband own and operate Sunny Days Care Home in Prince Albert, a 24 hour personal care residence for seniors. Sunny Days provides personal care and support to 12 residents. Residents have access to long term 24 hour (awake at night) staff, three home cooked meals daily, weekly laundry, medication management and individualized care plans.  Taryn speaks very highly of her staff at Sunny Days as she evaluates who she hires to care for her residents very closely. More than half of Taryn’s staff have been with her since she took over this facility in 2009. Taryn’s goal when she took on Sunny Days was to create a home-like environment for her residents with familiar, trusted surroundings to make every resident comfortable in their new home.

When asked about where her knack for helping people comes from, she smiles and says that she immediately thinks of her mom. She talks about how when she was looking for another sales representative for her previous company in publishing, she encouraged her mom to begin a new career at age 50. Taryn feels that her inclination to help people originally came from her mom, and she says that helping people is the basis of being a great salesperson, a great boss and an amazing individual.

Taryn’s desire to help people is evident in her choice of careers.  Her first significant career was as a Sales Representative for large transportation company. Taryn had her misgivings when first approached about going into a sales position at the young age of 18, but dove in with support and encouragement from the person she describes as her “Best Boss”, Dawson Thompson. Dawson signed her up for a Dale Carnegie speaking course to improve her confidence. Taryn describes her sales experiences as “being yourself, being honest with people and showing them their best options”.  Her career in transportation took her from the Regina area to Calgary, where she recalls entertaining clients at football and hockey games. 

Her entrepreneurial spirit brought her to Prince Albert in 1996 when approached by her sister and brother-in-law to aid in the launch of a new business – an alternate phone book to the directory, called Get It Pages.

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Taryn and her family eventually sold their business to a phonebook publisher in 2008, and Taryn and her husband Mike stayed on with the new corporation to aid in the transition. They decided to embarque on a new venture and purchased an existing care home in Prince Albert in 2009, then spent considerable time refurbishing and renovating the home to become Sunny Days Care Home. Her focus was to make the care home feel as natural and welcoming as possible for her residents, changing all the colors and eliminating the institutional atmosphere.  All of the previous residents stayed on with them, and several of her previous employees have joined her at the care home. After a couple of years in the care home business they decided to purchase two additional assisted living senior facilities. Over the next few years, Taryn converted these homes and regulated them under Saskatchewan Minister of Health, Community Care Branch to 24 Hour Senior Personal Care Homes. She sold two of the smaller homes a few years later.

Over this four year period of transitioning personal care homes, Taryn was also managing not only her 11 employees at Sunny Days Care Home but was full time managing an additional staff of 8 reps as the Senior Manager of Sales in Saskatchewan for the Yellow Pages Group. Her Sunny Days Care Home Facebook page has many comments from her former and current staff, attesting to the fact that Taryn is a well-respected and very fair boss. One employee sums it up as “There is no one better honestly. During the time I worked for you at Sunny Days Care Home it was great! I miss that place, such a nice home and great residents it makes me sad when I drive past. Thanks for being the amazing person you are, out of all the places I worked you are the only boss who actually showed her employees that you appreciate the work they put in. I always knew I could talk to you and you made it a fun place to work!! You deserve this times a million Xoxo”.

Taryn is very happy with the progress the care home has made and is currently beginning another entrepreneurial adventure, Reach Out Digital Media.  Her business will focus on helping small to medium businesses in Prince Albert to have a digital presence and to be able to reach out to the customers around them. During her 20 year career in Prince Albert, she has met many people who looked to her as a trusted second opinion when it comes to their marketing needs. The benefit will be having local and trusted guidance and support in the digital world with someone that lives right here in Prince Albert. Taryn Svenson can be reached at Sunny Days Care Home 231-21st St. Prince Albert where she continues to provide leadership to the caring team at the home. Call 306-961-2949.

Website

Phone: 306-961-2949

Address:
231 21st Street East
Prince Albert, SK S6V 1L9