If there is one thing that Jim Lowe does well, it is doing lots.
The lifetime Barrie native is a jack of all trades and has no desire to slow down whether it be for work or play. Lowe’s titles include president of HireFX, creative director at Assisting You Social, director of competition for Barrie Minor Lacrosse, and Old Diamond Jim everywhere else.
The 45-year-old man-about-town has spent approximately 20 years building recruitment tools for large employers and now dedicates his professional life to helping his strong passion of the small business owner.
“In 2014 I purchased the HireFX brand from my long-time employer with the idea that I wanted to do more locally,” said Lowe. “I am so passionate about our local community and I saw small businesses losing out on the war on talent to much bigger companies because they didn’t have access to the same tools. While I certainly got some traction there what I was hearing most was they were feeling invisible in the community. It matters to small businesses that they do a better job at hiring, but they are really wanting to get on the radar of customers here; that mattered to me and I wanted to help in every way I knew how.”
The love of the local entrepreneur’s vision for their company made Lowe want to help more and he didn’t have to look far to find someone as passionate as he is for supporting local.
“Around the same time I had purchased the HireFX brand, my sister Barbara had founded a company called Assisting You Social in Midland,” said Lowe. “She built a pretty unique model of managed social media marketing for small and local enterprises. I was sending a lot of business up to her and we got to a point where she had a really big workload in such a small time and in 2015 we entered into an agreement to bring the Assisting You Social brand to Barrie with me handling this area.”
Lowe admits that he viewed the AYS name as something he could offer as an extra to his clients, but soon realized that the strategy was larger than he anticipated and the local social media management company has grown staggeringly in a short time to where they opened an office at 178 Bayfield Street.
“It’s an amazing thing see happen and I’m very proud of what we’re doing for the small business community,” said Lowe. “While the traditional HireFX business is still the majority of our business, the growth has been through the roof on the social side and now the Barrie office has over 20 clients on contract that range from fitness models to restaurants to rehabilitation companies and home insurance agents; its been a lot of fun as there’s something different all the time, but its that very strong belief in our community and the entrepreneurs who make it happen that we love. Perhaps the most common thing that we hear after starting work with a new client is the relief that they feel. We're able to take the stress of worrying about their social media presence off of their shoulders so that they can focus on actually running their business."
The Lowe family knows all about small business in the region as their history here goes back almost 150 years. The father of four says he is very proud of his family’s history in Barrie and Simcoe County and notes that he thinks he knows where his love for the city’s heart and soul originated from.
“My maternal Great Great Grandfather, George Reedy, was one of Downtown Barrie's first merchants,” said Lowe. “He operated a variety of downtown shops in the late 1800's, including Coulter, Vair, and Reedy and George Reedy Dry Goods. As a matter of fact, one of his early business partners was James Vair, who went on to become Mayor of Barrie in the early 20th century.”
But away from the small business meetings and networking opportunities there is another Jim Lowe; Diamond Jim Lowe. While he shies away from the moniker of The Voice Of Barrie, Lowe is proud of the term Diamond Jim and how it has caught on since his full time start in what he calls the best sport in the world.
“I had always done announcing on and off as a DJ in university but it was about 10 years ago when the Barrie Lakeshores Junior A team reached out to me and asked if I would take over announcing duties for that team,” said Lowe. “Things took off from there and one of the big kickstarts for me was the creation of the Canadian Lacrosse League (CLax) where not only was I the voice of the Barrie Blizzard when they won the national championship here at the BMC, but also I worked for other teams as well. Probably the most fun was working for the Oshweken Demons down on the Six Nations because there are no better-informed lacrosse fans than the folks who live there.”
Lowe’s busy announcing schedule has seen him announce Junior C teams, Senior B teams, 3-on-3 professional hockey and various charity events. One organization that Lowe loves to be a part of and has been since its inception in 2015 is local family friendly professional wrestling promotion Barrie Wrestling. The mix of athletics and live theatre makes for an interesting night every month for Diamond Jim.
“That is probably the biggest leap from things that I was trained to do or had done,” said Lowe. “It is very much like live theatre, stand-up comedy and particularly like improv more than anything. You have to react off a live crowd or any little thing that goes wrong you’ve got to be ready. Unfortunately, there may some stereotypes about professional wrestlers, but believe me most of these guys and girls, besides being extremely talented athletically, are just natural entertainers and use the energy of a live crowd. We performed at this past Canada 150 weekend in Downtown Barrie and at one point we figure we had a crowd of about 500 plus people; that was a weekend we will never forget.”
Lowe says that sports is a huge part of his life and always has been for fun and a way to take his mind of business as a great escape. Having announced the sport ball hockey for Rogers TV, Lowe has also played for the Barrie Ball Hockey Club since it opening 24 years ago. Sports, business, networking and family are major parts of Lowe’s life and he relates that directly to the legacy his family built in the city. Lowe’s father, David Lowe, received the prestigious Ontario150 award last year as did his Aunt Lorraine for their contributions to the Barrie community. Lowe says that the pride he has for his family’s work in town and the example his father set for him is what drives him give back to the community whenever he can.
“Dad received the award for his work in the Metis /Indigenous community, while my Aunt Lorraine received it for her tireless contributions to the Women and Children's Shelter of Barrie,” said Lowe. “I am so very proud of my dad and his Award for Volunteerism for all he has done for the community; I truly feel like I have been inspired by his lifelong commitment to building the communities that he lives in and that’s why I am so heavily involved with the growth of minor sports and small businesses. I really love seeing people who work hard get to their goals.”
