From rags to riches: how a Thunder Bay woman turned an idea into a multimillion-dollar business ... in a matter of months.

• Author: Louiseize, Kelly
• Position: Jules Carlysle, learn-IT.ca

Having slept three hours for the third night in a row, owner of learn-IT.ca, Jules Carlysle ,walks into her home office sipping her green tea and begins checking e-mails and prioritizing her day.

Usually Carlysle hits the pillow closer to 2 a.m., but she is too pumped these days. Having just opened in January of this year, she is steering the fledgling company into broader waters.

"Right now I am working on a deal with an American company--a big one," she says trying to contain the excitement in her voice.

"They want to become exclusive distributors of my product."

Carlysle sells information and technology courses. She started by providing a CISCO program with a CCNA certification, a conflict management course, and a server course in a boot camp-like style.

"It is intense and short, rather than long and drawn out."

Since then she has included 11 more courses, most of which are in the technology field. She is the first to admit she knows little about the IT world. Her eyes glaze over when techies begin speaking in tongues. But her strengths lie in hiring experts in the field, organizing and co-ordinating business programs. In fact, her idea has become so popular she has "built a whole distributorship program with tools and support systems."

Currently, there are learn-IT.ca distributorships in Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Winnipeg, Peterborough and Minneapolis, each expected to bring in approximately $500,000 per year.

About 30 contracted trainers from across the world are employed with the company.

"They are incredibly skilled," she says. "What makes them different is that they didn't just go to school and learn all the curriculum inside and out. They are not just certified trainers, they are experts in their field first."

For instance, Lionel Shawl, the individual who works on learn-IT.ca server application, is the same person Microsoft phones when they are attempting to roll out new products, Carlysle says. He also installed General Motors Corp.'s network. Another trainer is from Europe and travels to provide instruction in CISCO.

"Right now I am sending him to Singapore and Bangladesh to do more CISCO training."

Carlysle's plan is to gather approximately 50 trainers to support the partnership that is developing between learn-IT.ca and the undisclosed American company.

"(The American company) has 1,000 franchisees," Carlysle explains, "They are a computer services company--a big one that does training support and hardware. I have a...