After overcoming various struggles in his life, Shane Bogema persevered, becoming a successful business owner and dedicating himself to helping others in the community.
Bogema, who has spent his whole life in Brantford, was bounced from school to school while dealing with personal traumas and various health issues.
“I had to deal with a lot of issues growing up as a child…I was put in a lot of different schools. Because I changed schools so many times, it was hard for me to form bonds with other kids and to make friends. It was tough,” explained Bogema. “Also, I didn’t really have my mom around. She had suffered from cancer and had other health issues so money was very tight…and we really couldn’t afford to buy a lot of things.”
Despite not having an opportunity to participate regularly in organized sports, Bogema was introduced to fishing at a very early age, which was one of the few bright spots when he was growing up.
“My mom got me fishing at a young age, and I became obsessed with it ever since then. At some point, she stopped taking me, but there was a neighbor in a complex where I lived [on] Dunston Street who was a little older than me and liked fishing too,” said Bogema. “He took me under his wing [and] I looked up to him as a big brother. He would always bring me on his fishing trips.”
The struggles early on forced Bogema to continually reassess his life. He worked hard and decided that going into business for himself was an option.
“Early on in my life, I promised myself that I would never end up the way I grew up. I always knew that I wanted more, but I still had to go through a lot. When I was 20, I worked in a factory in Brantford making flower pots. I worked there for close to six years and then ended up leaving,“ recalled Bogema. “After a year of trying to make sense of things, a friend asked me if I wanted to do driveway sealing. He wanted me to help him go door-to-door and sell the service. I continued with him for around a year, and then after that, I decided to go out on my own. I got two trucks [and] I got four guys together, going door-to-door, basically asking people if they wanted their driveways sealed.”
Bogema continued to hustle; looking for new business in cities including Woodstock, Kitchener, and Cambridge. He would then expand his services to chimney, foundation, and general brickwork or repairs. He then discovered a new service he could offer.
“I did a small walkway for a lady [and] she was pleased with our work…she then asked if we did roofing. I didn’t know the first thing about that, but I had a friend who had some roofing experience. We ended up calling some suppliers and figuring out a price for her,” he said. “We ended up doing her roof for her and she was very happy with the work we did. I didn’t know how the roof was supposed to look like, as it was my first roofing job but I put my trust in my team member with the roofing experience, and the results were good.”
After that Bogema started investing more time and money into building his business, which focused on roofing; a company that would be known as ‘The Roofing Company.’
“Instead of going door-to-door, trying to convince people to buy our roofing services, we just went door-to-door, sticking flyers and business cards in doors…we then started putting ads on Kijiji and Facebook. People would call us and we’d give them a quote…we got a lot of jobs in the beginning because I didn’t know how to price jobs correctly. And looking back, I lost a lot of money because of that,” explained Bogema.
While Bogema started to get a hang of the business, he stood behind his work.
“During the first few years, it was trial and error by paying attention to each job and learning from each one. If there were any issues with the work done…I would always answer the phone and I would always rectify the problem,” he said.
As Bogema’s company grew, especially because of the positive reviews from happy customers, he made it a mission to continually help others in the community.
“With all the things I had to deal with when I was growing up like bullying and having health issues…I’ve always tried to help someone who was vulnerable… If I saw somebody’s story online or I heard somebody in a tough situation, I would think to myself that could easily be me…so if giving a little bit of money is going to help somebody today, it might give them some hope. My whole life motto is hope,” noted Bogema. “Also, for the last seven years, we have done a free roof for a family or person in the community. This year, we gave a few good-sized repairs to people for free and did some quarter roofs. And I have a person that I’m working with where I will be replacing his roof for him…I would love to be able to give 3 free roofs away a year if I could. And at the end of the day, my end goal isn’t how many crews I have or how many people are working for me, or how much money I make, it’s how many people I can help.”
And because of Bogema’s unselfish nature, the community helped him during his time of need in 2021, when he found himself in a life-threatening situation.
“When I was sick with COVID, there were thousands of people who reached out to my family and my brother to help us on GoFundMe. The money received helped my family and myself [after] I woke up [from my coma] for a good few months with my bills,” Bogema said. “We didn’t have to stress so much about not being able to walk for some time or go to work immediately. It was amazing when the community came together to help me…so many people I didn’t know from the community were there, reaching out to my family. I think that gave me another reason to help people even more.”
