This is a first-person account of her experience in launching a successful enterprise.

Conventionally, Queen’s School of Business students are recruited by big name companies before they even have time to worry about finding alternatives.  The program’s reputation coupled with the unparalleled support system of the Business Career Centre renders it an exception for a graduate to take an alternate path.

I, for one, was no exception. I happily accepted an attractive offer from a top management consulting firm and was excited to pursue a young professional lifestyle in the city. A couple of years in to this course, however, I found myself searching for something more fulfilling. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for, but I decided to explore entrepreneurship.

I first caught the entrepreneur ‘bug’ at Queen’s in my fourth year when I started a ‘course cram’ exam tutorial boot-camp. I collected a fee from students looking to learn the first-year Statistics curriculum condensed into two days. In the summer after graduating, a classmate, Monica Walker, and I started ‘Break into Business’, a summer day camp that taught children about entrepreneurship by having them launch their own businesses .

As the summer and the business came to a close, it was time to start management consulting at Bain & Company. My cases were primarily in the U.S. financial services industry where I became aware of the online mortgage market and the void that existed for Canadian home-buyers. In October 2009, I left Bain & Company to start RateHub.ca.ca, a website that compares Canadian mortgage rates.

I brought on another Queen’s alum, Kerri-Lynn McAllister, and my brother, a Waterloo grad and Microsoft protégé, to execute the vision I had to fill that void.

No matter what your age, if you see a clear opportunity, you should take it. The Canadian mortgage market is currently worth $1.5 trillion and customers were under-served with respect to quality education and access to the best mortgage interest rates. Through RateHub.ca, we’ve been able to provide transparent home-financing information that empowers home-buyers to make smart financial decisions. Combined with a platform that compares the lowest mortgage rates in Canada, it includes a comprehensive mortgage education centre which makes the website a valuable resource for first-time home buyers and mortgage shoppers.

Founding and running a start-up has been an incredible learning experience. From developing a working business model and procuring funding to building partnerships with established companies, every step has given me the opportunity to grow my network and explore opportunities. RateHub.ca has grown substantially over the last few months and I am excited to see where it takes me.

At 26 years old, I was named one of the Globe & Mail’s hottest entrepreneurs under 30, I had the opportunity to present RateHub.ca on BNN’s “The Pitch” to a group of investors, and continue to be amazed at the level of media attention and recognition we have achieved.

That does not mean that the attention is a product of luck, however. Of course, a little bit of luck is always part of any business’s success, but I firmly believe this is only a small part of it. I have been fortunate to work with a high-performing team with the discipline and perseverance to execute our strategy.

As with any start-up, our two most important resources— time and money—are very limited. It has forced us to constantly prioritize and double-down on what we’re the best at. We have been able to form partnerships with Sympatico, Rogers and the Toronto Star, allowing us to leverage their distribution and reach customers that would have been impossible to do on our own.

At RateHub.ca, we work hard and have fun at the same time. It’s a great feeling seeing all your hard work come to fruition, a definite perk of entrepreneurship. We’re excited about the progress that RateHub.ca has made in the last year and are eager to continue growing the company.