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Why Social Media is a Waste of Time for Local Businesses

Here’s What To Do Instead

The Small Business Social Media Mistake That’s Costing You Thousands

There’s a big mistake I see local businesses make with their marketing.

I see owners spinning their wheels trying to get traction on social media, but not seeing any results.

If you’re like most local business owners, it’s hard to get away from social media.

After all, there’s…

  • Peer pressure
  • Social pressure
  • And the hope that maybe the next post will be the one that goes viral…

But for most small businesses it’s not working.

With all that time spent posting on social media, local business owners are missing the opportunities that exist on their website and Google listing.

Hands down, if you’re a local business owner, optimizing your Google listing is the #1 best thing you can do to bring in more customers.

Just how powerful can your Google listing be?

A local service business that we worked with on their Google listing saw their business increase by 33% in a 6 month period!

They own a local cleaning business and became so busy they increased their cleaning crews from 2, and then, later, to 3 crews, to keep up with demand.

This was just from focusing on their Google listing instead of social media.

 

Business owner check phone

Short Time Investment to get New Customers from your Google Listing

Your Google listing is so powerful because it’s the last stop where customers go when they want to buy.

Yet some business owners avoid using Google listings because it seems complicated.

But it doesn’t have to be.

I’ve seen local businesses start getting results from their Google listing in as little as 15 minutes per week.

(Compared to 3-4 hours per week posting on social media, where they got less results!)

In some cases they closed their social media accounts because they no longer needed them!

By spending 15 minutes per week in your Google listing you will bring more customers into your business if you follow a simple plan with the right steps.

 

Simple Plan to Get Up and Running With Your Google Listing

In only 4 weeks and with minimal time spent, you could have your Google listing set up and attracting new customers straight to you.

Here’s what you need to do…

Week 1 – You’re going to tune up your listing.

Week 2 – You’ll make small improvements and post “updates” to your listing.

Week 3 – You’re going to add a product to your listing and another post.

Week 4 – You’ll add another product and you’ll add an offer.

By going through these steps in 15 minutes per week you can start to get customers that wouldn’t have come through social media.

Ultimate_Google_Listing_Guide_header_image-1024x437

Update These 4 Things To Get Your Business Found By Customers

There are 4 main areas that you need to update in your Google listing so your website will rank higher in Google, and get found by new customers.

  1. Update the Categories Your Business Is In

    Find the categories that apply to your business and add 6-10 of them.

    For example, if you offer house cleaning services, make sure you’re also listed as a commercial cleaning service if you service commercial buildings.

     

  2. Update Your Products — Add at Least 4 to Your Listing

    But Barb I offer a service. I don’t have products.”

    That’s okay. You can add products that you’re capable of installing or reselling.

    For example, if you’re a plumber and you can replace someone’s water heater, you could add that as a product.

    Why do we do this?

    Products and services both help your listing rank.

    Adding products onto your listing will help customers find you on Google.

  1. Add An Offer

    An offer attracts customers to your product or service.

    But, an offer is only visible on a mobile phone.

    An example of an offer for a house cleaner could be 10% off your first service.

    And for a plumber it can be as simple as a complimentary check on your furnace.

     

  2. Post to Your Listing on a Weekly Basis

    Adding posts to your listing is very important for new customers to find your business.

    Why?

    Your listing is keyword sensitive.

    This means new customers searching for your product or service will find your business easier.

Updating these 4 areas on your Google listing will help new customers find you faster when they’re looking for a local business.

Attract Your Customers Through Posts

When you create posts on your listing, Google will use keywords to connect customers to your product or service.

Not sure what to post?

Start with anything you’ve already been posting onto your social media, because customers want to know about celebrations you’re having, or about gift certificates for an upcoming holiday.

Anything you’ve posted on social media can get better results on your Google listing to actually help new customers find your local business.

Is it really that easy?

Yes, it is.

One Important Thing To Keep In Mind

When you log into your listing account, you’re going to see about 75 different criteria that Google uses to rank local businesses.

Knowing the correct criteria to choose is very important because it will affect how your website moves up on Google.

The higher your business ranks, the easier customers can find you.

Each business is unique and you need to have a plan that is specific to your business.

I recommend consulting with an expert (like me! 👋) on this to ensure you don’t accidentally configure something the wrong way.

Next Steps To Get Started

To help you get started, you can book a free call with me so that we can check your Google listing together.

We’ll go through which of the 75 criteria are most important to your unique business.

By the end, you’ll know exactly what you need to do to optimize your listing to start getting customers through the door.

And if you want your Google listing optimized hands-free, we can help you with that too. 🙂

Book your free call now at https://abovethefold.live/listing.

 

Ep. 127 Globe Theatre

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

In our latest episode, I go on a personal journey into the heart of Regina’s performing arts scene, celebrating our city’s creative soul and beloved holiday customs nestled within the walls of the Globe Theatre. I find myself laughing out loud as Kenilee shares her memory of dashing to a convenience store in full Wicked Witch regalia—makeup and all—because there wasn’t time to freshen up between shows.

As our conversation unfolds, we delve into the Globe Theatre’s unyielding commitment to not just staging standout productions but also creating lasting memories for you, their cherished audience. Heather & Kenilee relive tales of overcoming quirky hurdles, like squeezing construction supplies through tight elevator doors, which just goes to show their team’s resourcefulness and never-say-die spirit.

This episode highlights how the Globe Theatre passionately upholds outstanding professional theatre, community connections, and the pivotal role of arts education. Even amidst the financial headwinds blowing against arts institutions, there’s an excitement surrounding the Globe’s resurgence in its modernized home, fueling dreams of inspiring audiences for at least another sixty years.

We also shine a spotlight on the theatre’s collaborative efforts, sharing their space and joining forces for an incredible series of midday concerts. With autumn here, they’re buzzing with activity to set the stage for our first audience since 2020, eager to return to our iconic in-the-round performance space.

Peering into what awaits, the much-anticipated premiere of a purpose-built cultural jewel. The Globe Theatre’s spirit of community, imagination, and staunch support rings loud and clear—it’s a pledge from them to us, underscoring everything they do. Tune in for a glimpse into our world at the Globe, where every one of us plays a pivotal role in weaving the rich tapestry of Regina’s vibrant arts tapestry.

Transcript

Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone ring, and the website ping?

Welcome to the Secret Life.

In today’s episode, we’re talking about one of the best kept secrets in the, in this online world, in any community, it’s network of small businesses, businesses that rely on foot traffic, phone calls, and website bookings.

But no more secrets!

From those skinned knee lessons that’ll make you wince, to the TMZ style tell alls, these everyday people are doing extraordinary things.

I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google Girl, and founder of the Get Found 24 7 program for small businesses. I’ve been helping businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses to multi location stores, you can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers.

Today we’re going behind the scenes to learn a little bit more about a community icon. The Globe Theatre is an important part of the community fabric in Regina, and our guests today, Heather Ervin, the Director of Development, and Kenilee Kehler, the Direction of, the Director of Production, will share their stories with us.

So welcome to you both. Heather, why don’t you kick us off, and tell us a little bit about yourself. and the 24 25 season with the Globe Theatre.

Well, thanks so much, Barb, and thanks for having Kenilee and myself here today to talk about the Globe Theatre one of our favourite things in the world.

Absolutely.

I so I’m a Regina kid. I grew up here doing theatre classes, actually. Kenilee and I and our director of our first show did a production together back in our teens. And we Wow.

Okay, now what production was it and what roles did you each play?

We were in a production of The Wizard of Oz with Class Act and do it with Class Theatre.

And each class did sort of a scene from it. So it wasn’t like a traditional production in that way, but yeah, it was a lot of fun. I was the Cowardly Lion. Okay,

and Kenilee, what was your role?

I was the Wicked Witch and had a lot of fun as a kid walking down Broad Street to 7 Eleven in my full green paint because I didn’t have a shower in between shows.

Oh, that’s awesome.

Okay, do you each remember a long time ago? No? Raaah!

There we go! Okay, you know that’s coming back to haunt you. That’s awesome. Okay, I completely interrupted you, Heather. 24, 25 seconds. That’s okay.

Okay. Yeah, so we are really excited to be returning to the round. So, because we are a theatre, we’re returning to the round after our A man’s amazing construction project.

We’re returning to the round in three acts. So very theatrically. So our first act that happens this fall with the production of Peter Pan Peter Pan. It’s bad. It’s a version by Bad Hat Theater. And they really focus on the retelling traditional stories in a new way. So it feels fresh and familiar all at the same time.

And Jennifer and the team have assembled this incredible group of Regina artists. to really celebrate this story, led by Director Judy. And Kelly can talk maybe in a minute about, a little bit more about the team that’s put together for that show, because it is, it’s incredible. It’s a celebration of Regina, of Regina artistry, and of the Beloved family tradition of bringing everyone, you know, and love together to the globe for Christmas.

So we’re really excited to be back in for act one. So everything that’s in the Corkadel place, our building, the Corkadel place, everything inside that we need to run a show in the main stage on our Rawlinson main stage in the round, the beloved. The round that the people of Regina love will be ready for our audiences on November 27th where we preview and then we open on November 29th.

So the lobbies, the bars, so that you can bring your drink into your new wider seat with a cup holder, all of those things will be ready. Our tech team and our production crew are working incredibly hard behind the scenes also to make sure that the theatre magic is happening and that’ll be ready for the stage.

So we’re really excited for act one in the fall fall, winter for Peter Pan.

Excellent. You know, it’s interesting to look at any type of experiential type of offering in the community. The expectations that we as visitors or guests have, have increased astronomically, right? And whether I’m going to Globe or I’m going to Cineplex, you know, it’s these big wide cushy chairs with cup holders and, and the surround sound.

And so that must challenge the organization a little bit too, because you need to continue to meet those expectations to keep your chairs full.

Oh, 100%. It’s also you know, not just the experience when you’re there, because I firmly believe, and I’m sure Kenilee would agree, that we offer an incredible experience when you’re in our building.

Our patron services team with our director of patron services and sales, Jamie Oakley, they’re in the middle of training and hiring new people. They are so in tune to what our audiences need and how they interact with the space. That’s incredible. But. You know, we’re in this stage in life and marketing to speak to what you do here to bar.

But, you know, they use the term event is sizing everything. So it’s not enough just to come and see an incredible production. You want it to be an experience. So it’s that experiential marketing that event is sizing in that sense. Some of the work that we have to do as we’re moving back into the building.

Now, we’re very fortunate that the building itself is a draw after four years. So that in and of itself is an event, is an experience. And we have all these accessibility and experience improvements to the space. So like I mentioned, we’ve got cupholders in the seats. The seats are wider. There’s more leg room for everybody.

I mean, it doesn’t

feel like being on an airplane anymore.

It does not. Maybe except for that you’re like lifted to new heights from the, what you see on the stage, but, but the, you know, there’s that also the sightlines have been improved. So everybody has a great view of the stage. I’m going to ask Kenilee can talk a bit about the, the technical improvements as well, because they’re really special.

I, I can just say it’s going to sound so much better, but Kenilee can get into why and all of the, the exciting improvements in our state of the art facility.

Okay, well, that sounds awesome. Kenilee, let’s hand it over to you. Tell us a little bit about some of these improvements that we can expect.

Yes, well, it’s, it’s so exciting to be on this precipice and working with this new building because we are getting all of the state of the art equipment that will be with us for the next year. 20 or 30 years. So we’re going you know, starting my, my first love was lighting or that was my kind of first in foray into theater.

And so our lighting rig is a full led rig. So it’s much more energy efficient. We have more lighting. Fixtures that are, that allow our designers so much more potential, all the fixtures, all the lighting that we have are all color changing. So every single one of them can change colors to be whatever you want them to be.

It just allows so much more creativity for all of our designers. And then sound. Similarly, we’ve been working with some world class acousticians, which is a word I didn’t know until we were building this theater to make sure that every single seat has that absolute optimal experience and that they are getting the same sound.

That every seat was getting we’re again all new equipment that will take us into the upcoming decades and keep us at the forefront of Canadian theater. Like there are so few theaters that will have the level of technology that we will be having with our lights and sound our craft room. You know, and we come from a theater.

I remember before the pandemic. Before the remnant the renovations, you know, our elevator couldn’t fit a four by eight sheet of plywood and our carpentry shop was on the third floor. So we all had to carry up four by eight sheets of plywood up three, you know, two flights of stairs, or we had several motorcycles in shows.

If people might remember all shook up and having to carry that up the grand staircase because it didn’t fit in the elevator. So things like that, just making it from. our staff experience also so much more magical. It’s just, it’s so exciting to be involved in this project. Go

ahead, Heather.

Oh, sorry, Barb.

I just was going to say, do you mind sharing you mentioned trap room and, and I, and I said catwalk maybe earlier or just thought it, do you mind sharing what those, are just for the audience. They might not know. And they’re so excited. And I know our team is pretty thrilled about them.

Yeah. So a catwalk is steel and, and a system above the theater so that you can actually walk around the ceiling.

So things like hanging lights, hanging you know, Sound things potential rigging things of, you know set pieces coming up and down can all be done up in the air instead of previously we had to do everything with scaffolds and extension ladders. And it was it was time consuming. It wasn’t as safe as you know, you.

Ladders are safe if you treat them safely, but, you know, being up on a catwalk that has bars that you can’t fall out of is so much safer and it just allows us so much more opportunities with our tech, with our lights, with our sound, with our raking. And then the trap room is, it’s a really fantastic system from a company out of Manitoba that has all of our stage is broken up into four foot by four foot sections that can be removed.

And then there’s essentially it’s a whole 17 foot down. So if we need a staircase that goes to a basement, we can do that. If we need somebody to appear from, you know, the depths of the So the underworld we can and so it’s just, it opens up again. So much of these creative elements from that, our team, like if you can dream it, we can do it.

And that’s, that’s exactly what I was thinking about. Cause from an artistic standpoint, all of a sudden, anything that you can imagine has possibility that you can bring to life. And even as you talk about the, you know, four by eight sheets of plywood and the motorcycles that you would get up, I mean, those were things that you could figure out a way to make happen before, but I guarantee there was also things that you just could not realistically do without taking the roof off the building and dropping them in.

And, of course, that’s not a possibility. So, you know, the, all of the changes are going to just be. Open the doors to, you know, what is possible. And when you, when you start to think about acoustics, you know, I think back to one of the last opportunities I had to be in the building. And I can’t remember what show it was for.

Like, I mean, the acoustics were. We’re good. But, you know, maybe not great, and there’s those times where you couldn’t quite hear what happened and I would presume that, you know, kind of all of that has changed now and you don’t appreciate it until you’re in the space, and you go, wow, like, blown away, right?

And I always feel tech’s goal as a, as a person that’s just been ingrained in backstage theater my whole life is my goal is that you don’t notice it. You just feel it. You feel the magic. You feel it, but you’re not saying, oh, that sound was really amazing. It’s like, oh, my God, I just felt every note or I did all of that.

I felt every emotion of that actor or just, you know, You know, but you don’t know, you don’t necessarily know why we’re that supportive, but we’re, we’re just hidden under the surface there. And again, it just allows us to do that so much more.

Our, our artistic director, Jennifer always says, when we talk about these renovations and, and Kenilee gets to share all the, the amazing tech improvements and, and you know, the catwalk and things like that.

And Jennifer always says that. Now we have to, we get to spend less time trying to figure out how to do it and more time making art as a whole, so all of the teams together and, and ultimately that’s, that’s our goal at the theater. So our mission is, is threefold with a focus on excellent professional theater and on community and on education.

So it’s really exciting for us that our new Building this place, we have all 4 floors in a basement and we’ll be able to live up to all elements of that especially as you know, I mentioned earlier, act 1 act 2 will be happening in the spring in March and April and that’s what the rest of the public spaces and the private spaces will all be complete.

So the Bocas theater school. Will be complete. That’s in our basement. We now have permanent home for our theater school. The youth have a place to hang their bags as simple as that might sound, but a lounge that they can take over a place where parents can hang out. It’s really exciting for us.

And then our community theater will also be finished and that’s A real jewel in downtown. It’s a, it’s a jewel in this project for us. It is a full professionally outfitted community theater black box space. So black box means no fixed seating. It means you can move the seats around to be any configuration.

There doesn’t have to be seats. And then the idea behind that community theater is yes, we’ll be doing some programming in there, but it really is an asset for our community, for our independent artists. For the artistic community for cultural groups to be able to have a space that’s affordable that has all the bells and whistles that Kelly was talking about that AV equipment our lighting equipment, that’s all going to be fitted in that space as well.

So a professionally outfitted space downtown Regina. It’s going to be so exciting. I get, I kind of get emotional when we talk about that space because I think that it is a real embodiment of the mission of our organization. And our Jennifer, Artistic Director, also says, you know, the goal is that the building will be filled 363.

So we say, Oh, good. We get two days off. But The, the idea behind this, The space also is that, you know, we were starting this year Jennifer and Kelly have been working with the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the RSO. We’re going to have lunchtime free concerts in our space in the new year, which is very exciting.

And that’s just the start. That’s sort of the tip of the iceberg of these community programming events and the capabilities we have in this, this beautiful new space. So with four floors at at our theatre school we have so many opportunities for community engagement, events, eventizing, experiential events, those sorts of things.

So we’re really looking forward to it. So that’s Act Two. And then Act Three. Three, we come in in the fall where over the summer, the rest of the exterior work will be done and we get to have a grand reopening party in celebration of the globe’s 60th anniversary. So the 25th. Yeah.

That is something.

Yeah, the 25 26 season celebrates our 60th, so it’s a really exciting time for the organization with the, with the renovations coming to a close to be able to announce that 60th season and to use the building next year all of McCorquodale Place, our our community theater, our main stage, the Lisa Mitch Mulder Trap Room, the catwalk, everything.

All to celebrate 60 years of theater making in our province. So,

and I can just imagine how busy that’s keeping you right now. It might be a year away, but I mean, that’s probably where a huge amount of your energy is going. I’m just, you know, trying to plan a 16th anniversary because that’s absolutely huge.

How many community theaters do you think make it to that 60 year mark?

Well, yeah, I’m sorry. You can say if you have a thought.

No, I just think it’s it’s such a great achievement and I was around when the 50th season happened and we had a royal visit and that like felt like this absolutely massive achievement and couldn’t imagine still, you know, 10 years later, still doing this amazing work and especially with the pandemic and that lot of.

A lot of arts institutions are really struggling and we we’re just really excited to thrive in our new venue and, and be around for another 60 years.

No, I really liked what you said, Heather, about the partnership with RSO, because I think one of the things that we so often see in community based organizations, because resources can be thin you know, every organization is just trying to survive.

And so you get, and this isn’t a negative or a criticism, but you get very focused on, like, what do I have to do just to ensure that my organization survives? So I love hearing about these partnerships. Can you talk a little bit more about that partnership? Or do you, do you know more about it yet?

About the, sorry, the RSO? The partnership

with RSO. Yeah. Do you know more about that partnership?

Well, I mean, the partnership is to share space and resources, and it’s kicking off with three lunchtime concerts in in the new year. And then the hope is that that can continue to find collaborative programming over the next few years as well.

So we can’t make any promises or announcements. But I, I would say that, you know community engagement and partnerships is, is a major part of the work that we do at the Globe Theatre. It’s, you know, it’s actually, it’s built into my title, too, now. So we’ve, we’ve really, in the way that we describe the work we do, it’s really important to us.

So I, I can’t give you any more information on it at this time, other than we have dates on our website and you should come and see the concerts for free. But we won’t be doing those sort of until that sort of act two time in the new year as we, you know, we really have to focus in the fall on getting our our space prepared for audiences for the first show back in our space since 2020 and our big return to the round, so.

So

that was one of the things I was thinking in the back of my mind. When did All of the, the plans for renovation actually start. It was the plans or the public, I guess the public launch of the plans. When did that start?

We started well, the demolition of the bill, so, like, started in 2020, they were doing.

reno’s all of that in the spring of 2020 and the demolition started in earnest in 20 November of 2020. But I I’ve been with the globe since 2009 and the plans for the reno’s have been in flux. It’s been a couple of months since I think my first or second year in terms of right, because it takes to do all of the, to do all the design work and the consultations to do the fund raising.

Is just the most massive endeavor, and we really owe a lot to the previous. Staff that really started this, this journey and, and and our current staff that have taken it through to this finish line, because it’s been a, again, it’s a 15 year process.

Exactly. That’s what I was just saying. If we use 2010 as a benchmark, it’s a 15 year process to your grand reopening next year for 16 years.

Right?

We, yeah, we’re definitely we get to stand on the shoulders of some amazing thought leaders and folks who, who had a vision. Kelly mentioned the staff and I’d also like to say the board and there were a lot of committees and folks who volunteered countless hours in you know, Laying out the project, sourcing the project finding initial funding and then getting to the public stage and then the demolition in 2020 and then follow that follow the public stage of the capital campaign.

And you know, we, it’s no secret that the pandemic was a major blow to the, the renovation and to our budget, you know, we, the, the folks before, before me, you. Had done such an excellent job with both grants and fundraising and community stewardship. And, you know, we had raised everything we needed for the project, plus, you know, a nice contingency and, but we just couldn’t, couldn’t anticipate the, the devastating effect that the pandemic would have on the construction costs.

You know, supply chain issues, labor increases, all that. Plus, you know, we didn’t know we’d have to replace the roof. That was a brand new, exciting adventure for us. And and everything was done to try to save as much of the building as possible. But, you know, we, it was described to us when we were on site the other day, that, you know, they went to take a sample of it.

And instead of a chunk of concrete, it came out sand and dust. So, obviously, we can’t put all of these new Technologies and amazing theater into a roof that won’t hold. So you know, an additional roof, plus all of those, those have have impacted the campaign for sure. And so we are experiencing and like, a full transparency there, there is a bit of a shortfall on the fundraising side.

So there’s still lots of opportunities to support the globe through this, this iconic renovation and this once in a lifetime generational project you know, Kenilee mentioned before that. You know, there’s been some closing of doors and artistic institutions across the country. The pandemic particularly hit performing arts organizations, the hardest and the recovery has been longer and harder.

And so all of, all of that to say we are at a time and in a place where we get to open the doors to a purpose built cultural institution. And that’s such a gift. And it’s also, you know, we don’t have any national corporations attached to this project. All of the fundraising, all of the money. We have federal funding.

We have provincial funding. We have municipal funding. But the rest of it has come from local Saskatchewan business organizations. Owners and individuals. It’s all Southern Saskatchewan money that’s going into this building and into this project into McCorkadale Place. And people are saying we choose community.

We choose creativity. We choose the globe. So it’s a really exciting time to be at the institution and to be working towards this, this beautiful goal. But there’s, there still is a ways to go. And so For, I just say that for the, for the community, there’s opportunities in small ways and big ways to have an impact on this project.

Absolutely. You know, I can just imagine one of your team meetings because the, the energy in a team meeting would be contagious and yet you need that energy to, to carry you through probably the next year in 18 months. And, and even once it’s open, I mean, if you’ve got a shortfall, you’re still trying to cover that shortfall.

So. You’ve got some work ahead of you, but amazing accomplishments, lady. Kudos to both of you, but to your entire organization and past teams and, and boards as well for this vision. Because you’ve really created something that in Saskatchewan, in Regina, isn’t something you would typically see in a community our size.

So it’s going to be very exciting to see it come to fruition. Just before we wrap up today Heather, can you give us one more plug for each of the acts that are upcoming and then Kenilee, maybe you want to share social channels and website with us. So that anyone who is listening can make sure that they have an opportunity to get involved.

Heather,

take it away. Yes,

absolutely. So, our season, our season this year is a four show season. As we return to the round at the Globe Theatre at McCorquodale Place, we start the season with Peter Pan, Bad Hats Peter Pan which is gonna be absolutely incredible, a real intergenerational opportunity for you to bring the grandkids, the parents, your friends to the theatre to experience this nostalgic childhood story.

Our second production of the year is an amazing show from Francis Konkin called Women of the Fur Trade. This production features three women who were sort of tired and bored of not being involved and sitting out of of the history. So they’re going to retell history in their own words using a lot of pop culture references And talking about that hot nerd Louis Riel and the Red River Resistance And we’re pretty excited to have Frances’s voice on our stage right here in the homeland of the Métis Nation, especially at this exciting time in, in their history.

The next show in the season is Steel Magnolias, which many people will remember from the movie, but it was a play first. And now we’re doing it here on our stage. It’s Robert Harleem’s. production features six sort of misfit women finding their own community in the place that they choose to spend time with the people that lift them up and can help them sort of weather anything in, in their lives.

And then the last production of the season is pretty exciting. It’s the first all Canadian professional production of Bring it on the musical which is pretty exciting for all of us. And for, for those musical theater nerds, you know, it has some pretty big, heavy hitters, Thomas Kitt, Lin Manuel Miranda associated with it.

So we are really excited to bring that to life right here in Saskatchewan, which is a huge cheerleading province. And to, to see that. The dramatic tension of street dance and cheer and you know, women empowerment take our stage. And, you know, our stage might not be big, wide, as we’re, we’re in the round, but it’s definitely tall, which makes for some exciting opportunities when you think about cheer.

So especially with that new catwalk. So we’re really excited for, for that sort of slate of shows. As we as we move back into our space and invite people to come back to the route.

Awesome. That is fantastic. I cannot wait to have an opportunity to be in that space. Kenalee tell us how folks can find you and then we will wrap up for today.

Yeah come visit our website, globetheaterlive. com there you can get all information on our shows potential opportunities for donorship if that’s where you know, your, your interest has led you you can get tickets there. There you can get them online or you can also call our box office 306 525 6400.

And Karen and Ann will be able to help you out, get your single tickets or season subscriptions for those four shows that Heather is was mentioning we are also all over social media and I always find it funny that I’m the one that talks about social media because I’m a bit of a. Social media let out.

I’ve got, you know, Facebook strong about it, but we’re on Facebook. We’re on Instagram, where I think we’re on Snapchat. I think we have a Reddit now. Or we were talking about that. We’ve got things everywhere. I think Heather might be shaking her head at me because maybe I’m not. But we are everywhere.

Globe Theatre Live. Come check us out. Make sure you don’t go to Globe Theatre in London and buy tickets. We’ve had that happen a few times. GlobeTheatreLive. com

Excellent. Well that sounds very good.

And for all of our listeners out there, if you want to do a great Google search, just do Globe Theatre Regina and you will pull up all of the information that you need to find.

Thank you. Thank you both for being with me here today. This was a fantastic conversation. I hope everyone who tunes in takes the opportunity to see the new space, participate and possibly become a seasoned subscriber either this year or next for the 60th anniversary. I know that’s something that would be very meaningful to Globe Theatre.

Now on that note, if you want to be a guest on the show you can contact me at Barb@AboveTheFold.Live or reach out to our Facebook and Instagram accounts at AboveTheFold. Let me try that again. Reach out on our Facebook and Instagram accounts at AboveTheFoldCA.

I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google Girl, and local business cheerleader.

Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret.

Bye for now.

 

 

Connect with the Globe Theatre

Ep. 126 Lore Ruschiensky from the Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

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New podcast episode featuring Lore Ruschiensky from the Cecilian Chamber Series who gave us the inside scoop on their exciting 24-25 season!

🎶 We talked about all the amazing performances that are planned, and the season’s events. The season kicks off on September 22, so mark your calendars! Lore shared some behind-the-scenes insights and what we can expect from the upcoming season. Trust me, it’s going to be “amazing.”

If you’re interested in attending any of the concerts, you can head over to their website to grab your tickets. Here’s the link: https://www.cecilianchamberseries.ca/2024-25Season

Whether you’re a long-time fan of the Cecilian Chamber Series or you’re just discovering them now, this episode is a must-listen. You’ll get all the details on the upcoming season and be inspired by the passion and dedication behind the music. And don’t forget to snatch up your tickets for the upcoming season – it’s going to be a season to remember! 🎵

Transcript

Barb McGrath: [00:00:00] Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone ring, and the website ping?

Welcome! I’m your host, Barb McGrath, GoogleGirl and local business marketer. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses to multi location stores, you can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers.

Today, we’re going behind the scenes to learn a little bit more about what it takes to create an entire season of music. Lore Ruschiensky, the executive director from the Cecilian Chamber Series, joins us.

Welcome Lore.

Lore Ruschiensky: Thank you for having me, Barb.

Barb McGrath: Absolutely. Tell us a little bit about yourself and the Cecilian Chamber Series.

Lore Ruschiensky: Well, I am both the artistic and executive director currently of the Cecilian Chamber Series, a job that I absolutely love. It’s a great passion. We present a season of six world stage chamber music concerts in Regina. [00:01:00] And since it’s reopening, the concerts take place in beautiful Darke Hall.

Barb McGrath: Excellent.

So how long have you been in Darke Hall

Lore Ruschiensky: For the last two years? We’ll be getting our third season now. And as anyone who’s been there knows, it’s a beautiful place to be. If you haven’t been there, you need to get there.

Barb McGrath: Excellent. Okay. So tell us a little bit about this 24-25 season. Who can we expect to see on the stage?

And, and what is what is chamber music compared to classical music compared to something that a symphony might put on?

Lore Ruschiensky: Well, chamber music is a as a form of classical music, and that means that it’s that it, you know, it’s a very general term as a As differentiated from popular music, necessarily it can still be popular, but it’s not, it’s something that’s been around for a long time.

So, you can have classical chamber music and classical symphonic music. The difference is that chamber music is meant for a small [00:02:00] ensemble. Anything actually from a solo, complete solo, to a duo, a trio a quartet, a quintet. Octet, that kind of thing. They are without conductor. Where a symphony has a conductor, a chamber ensemble does not have a conductor.

Chamber music has some of the most beautiful music ever written because it was music that was written by composers for their own enjoyment in many cases. So chamber music, the name came from early on, it was played by By musicians in chambers, like often very often the homes of the aristocracy and the palaces, but it was music that they was their own personal thing.

It was not necessarily so much for public consumption, but they’re absolutely gLoreous pieces that are written. By composers because it was what they felt they could be commissioned, of course, to write symphony orchestras. They are symphony concert symphony symphonic pieces. Sorry.

[00:03:00] Because that helps pay the bills.

And so could chamber music, but this was stuff very, very often. That is was meant just for their own personal enjoyment.

Barb McGrath: Lore, give us a little bit of your own personal history, because as I listen to you talk about the music there’s definitely knowledge there that I think the average person probably doesn’t have.

So, so how did you develop that knowledge and that love for chamber music?

Lore Ruschiensky: Well, it’s a bit of a long story, but not really. I began as began taking piano lessons as a child and immediately fell in love with the whole music experience. I felt very privileged to have the opportunity to learn to play an instrument and the, and the relationships with teachers and with other with other musicians, students in schools, playing in the school band, all of those kinds of things.

So that was always a huge motivator for me. I knew from the very beginning that music was what I was going to do in my life, but I’m absolutely [00:04:00] no performer at all. And, but that doesn’t take away the passion for the music. I taught piano for over 40 years very happily privately in my home, had a beautiful studio with two grand pianos and I did a lot of work with the registered music teacher association, which is a national organization, which began in Saskatchewan.

Not so long story. I won’t go into it, but it began in Saskatchewan. And so over many years of working with them and traveling across the country to conventions, teachers all over the place, I was. Assigned the task of chairing a national convention, and so I got to head up a convention that had a lot of great chamber music things in it, and as well as obviously solo piano, which.

In the end led to the Cecilian Chamber Series from the concerts that had come from there. I never had a lot of opportunities to go to concerts as a young person. I grew up in small town Saskatchewan and, and, and then, you know, later on when you have small children and [00:05:00] thing, there isn’t time or resources necessarily, but somehow whenever I did have a chance, they were very, very meaningful.

And so as time became available and life circumstances allowed it, I found myself. Really drawn to chamber music. There’s a lot of wonderful chamber music festivals in the summer times In things like audubon perry sound and place various places in the united states in vancouver and I would be drawn to those and go to an Very large number of cultures in a very short time.

So that was where, so it kind of all came together. A situation arose and here we are.

Barb McGrath: So one of the things that I’ve seen in your marketing is you use a tagline that says, bringing the world stage to Regina. Presume that means that most of your performers are not from Regina. Where do they come from?

Lore Ruschiensky: Well, absolutely. They’re not from Regina and that doesn’t mean it’s bad to be from Regina, [00:06:00] but just like we all like to go, we like to travel, we like to experience different food, different culture, all those things. So true music is the same way. There Regina and Saskatchewan have a very strong history of music, of classical music and music education.

And, and, and so what we are able to do is we’re bringing in the world stage. So. These artists that we bring in are ones who are playing at a very high level all around the world. It really doesn’t matter where they’re from, but they come, we have some who are originally from Saskatchewan, who have gone on to do other things.

The interpretation of music from, through various cultures is very different. For example, Mozart, if you go to, if you go to Salzburg, where Mozart spent a lot of his time, And you hear Mozart played, it sounds quite different than what we tend to, by the way that we hear it performed here, especially in the Royal Conservatory kind of way, there’s a freshness, they own it, right?

And so it’s like, it’s like dance or any other cultural things. And that is what [00:07:00] we want to share with Regina. Not that either is good, bad or other, it’s just different. And. It also allows the many, many wonderful students in our, this part of the province to experience what great musicians can do, what, what sites they can rise to.

Barb McGrath: Yes. And I think to put a plug in for local musicians, there was in fact a lady on the stage last year who was from Regina. If I recall correctly, she was a pianist. She stepped in at the last minute.

Lore Ruschiensky: Did, she did. Yes. So real life happens in music too. Things go wrong. People get sick. We’ve had a few instances where we’ve had to delay concerts or whatever.

Anyway, in the particular instance you’re talking about, Andrew Wan, the concert master from the Montreal Symphony Orchestra was coming to play a concert and being involved in an artist’s dinner, a fundraiser following. And less than 24 hours before, or maybe, maybe 24 hours before, we had a call to see that the pianist, Shara Rashad Amalan, a [00:08:00] wonderful Canadian pianist, was sick.

The agent gave us the, the choice. She said, you can, we can either cancel the concert or I can you can have a replacement. And I, and I said, well, who have you got? And she said, Megan Malatz. And I didn’t even wait to hear the next one. I said, yes, have her come. Interestingly, Megan Malatz was a young pianist when we had the convention that I mentioned that happened in actually in 2011 at the university of Regina, she was the Saskatchewan representative for the national piano competition that was taking place at that time.

Barb McGrath: Yes.

Lore Ruschiensky: And she was also the winner.

Barb McGrath: Excellent. Wow. And then

Lore Ruschiensky: went on, she went on and, and studied in Montreal and has been doing a lot of playing and is doing a lot of playing around the world herself, in particular with her cello playing partner Cameron Crosman. And they are doing wonderful things.

So the, yes, that’s a situation where, I mean, here’s someone from [00:09:00] Saskatchewan who has really risen to, she, she did an absolutely incredible job in very, very short notice. That’s what professional musicians do.

Barb McGrath: Can do exactly. And what a good example of bringing that world stage to Regina. Yes, she may have originally been from Saskatchewan, but she’s also grown and moved on and done her things.

But probably was also very willing to. And I think it’s important for us to come back at a moment’s notice because it’s

Lore Ruschiensky: home. Absolutely. Absolutely. And you know, musicians want to play. They are thrilled about their playing. They have, I, it has been an incredible privilege to get to know so many of these great artists and their agents and, you know, other artistic directors around North America in particular.

And I have found that. Without fail, great people are just plain great. They are professional in every way. They have the most amazing ability to be completely present. [00:10:00]

Barb McGrath: Oh wow.

Lore Ruschiensky: On the stage, off the stage.

Barb McGrath: Everywhere they are. Yes. Excellent. Alright, let’s talk a little bit about this 24 25 season. And in fact, you kick off this Sunday, September 22nd.

So if I’m correct subscriptions are available until Sunday. So anyone who is interested will need to get their season subscription before Sunday or flex packs and tickets of course would be available for the rest of the season. You have some exciting things happening at the concert this Sunday.

So tell us a little bit about it.

Lore Ruschiensky: Well, yes, we’re starting off. The really exciting part of course is there’s a cookie reception to start So come and join to have a snack and meet with other music lovers as we get back It’s always exciting to get back into a new season, whatever you do That’s about 2 15 on Sunday at Darke Hall and 3 o’clock The music begins with the Viano Quartet who were the 2019 winners of the Banff International String Quartet competition they [00:11:00] are based in the states in the eastern United States.

And so, of course, they, like all of us, got caught in that unfortunate situation that happened around the world right after they had won the competition. As a way to deal with that situation, the 4 of them moved into a house together. So that they could practice and and it shows I have heard them a few times since And and their their concert is is entitled memoirs So the music is the personal memoirs of the of the composers who who wrote the music they include haydn smetana and dvorak to name a few so that starts off our first season as you mentioned subscriptions are available and the exciting thing about subscriptions this year I just had a conversation with someone this morning who said When I told her, she was like, Oh my goodness, full subscription includes our amazing season ending concert with Canadian pianist, Angela Hewitt.

Ou can buy a three pack, but that does not include Angela. So your very best deal to [00:12:00] ensure that you have your favorite seat is to buy the whole subscription. But I guarantee, and I guarantee that every concert in between will also be fabulous. Our second concert is Chang Square Duo, Canada’s sibling duo, who have been risen to amazing things.

I could go on forever. I won’t. Cinta Quartet, who is a saxophone quartet. Dope. We always have lots of string things in chamber music, but this saxophone quartet plays string quartet music amazingly. And I venture to say there’s a lot of saxophone players in this town. In schools lots and lots of kids want to play saxophone and here’s a chance for people to hear it played here The various saxophones played incredibly.

Well, we have A saturday evening concert in february. So most of our concerts are sunday afternoon Saturday evening february the 8th right in time for valentine’s day. The concert is entitled scandalous romantics It features None other than an accordion and a clarinet. I will mention briefly that they are doing along [00:13:00] with that, they’re doing an educational residency.

They’re doing a music mentorship program for students who are considering going into the arts and who wants to know what this is all about, including sessions for their parents and another string quartet, the Dali quartet with Latin American music in March. And then in April, of course, Angela Hewitt. With the Goldberg Variations, her 50th anniversary tour.

The really exciting thing is Angela Hewitt chose the Fazioli piano on the stage at Darke Hall.

Barb McGrath: Lore I noticed on your website you have something called the Cecilian Experience, Experience Promise. Tell me a little bit about that, because for someone who maybe doesn’t know what chamber music is or doesn’t recognize some of these names that we’re talking about this morning, like Angela Hewitt, who is extremely well known and is Canadian.

This experience promise this, this makes me think that maybe I can try it [00:14:00] without that full commitment. So what does that mean

Lore Ruschiensky: if you have never attended a concert before and you and you are have some Qualms about chamber music. What is this? You know, how will the experience be for me? How will I feel in that environment?

Come and try it out. If you don’t like it, you can get your money back it is it’s a chance for you to see does it fit?

Barb McGrath: Yes. Having attended a couple of concerts, I find them remarkably relaxing. The, and I, and I don’t even know how I would necessarily describe it. But, but your mind stops thinking about anything else.

Of course your phone is on silent and there is no big screen in front of you. And your body just stops. And, and the music fills you. And that’s been my personal experience, but, but that same sensation of the [00:15:00] music filling you, it’s almost like, it’s almost like you’re filling up with water. So, you know, I really encourage anyone who is listening today to just try it.

Try it once. Maybe you’ll be a subscriber. Maybe you’ll be a subscriber and be there on a regular basis. Okay, so, Lore tell us a little bit about how folks find you. What’s your website? What are your social channels?

Lore Ruschiensky: The website is Cecilianchamberseries. ca. All that www stuff at the beginning, of course and so that is, is, you should be able to find that online.

Our tickets are sold through Darke Hall. So, they take care of a lot of that administrative stuff for us, which makes life easy and get, they have all the answers you need. for having me. So you can ask, you can get there from our website or you can go right on to Darke Hall. They have the tickets as well.

We have a Facebook page. We have [00:16:00] Instagram. Check us out. Remember Cecilian is C E C I L I A N, not like Sicily in Italy. And the name is because we began in at St. Cecilia church the very first year. And St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music.

Barb McGrath: I think you did tell me that once, but I had forgotten that.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Lore Ruschiensky: Yeah.

Barb McGrath: Lore, is there anything else that you’d like to share with everyone this morning?

Lore Ruschiensky: I just want to say I thought you gave a beautiful description of what it’s like to be at a concert played by professional world stage artists. I find that always any concert can be inspiring and enjoyable, but where it totally transports you from where your day to day life, it changes you.

They are so in control of the music and they take us on a journey with them and we don’t need to do any work. Yeah. Find your seat and you’re going to go on a ride. It’s the music really does transport you.

Barb McGrath: The music transports you and the [00:17:00] musicians, they take you on a journey, but they’re also there to entertain.

So they don’t just stand up there, play, and then walk away. They engage with the audience, they tell some stories in some cases they’re sharing what may have happened in getting to the concert, or, you know, being in Regina, sometimes there’s some stories around that, especially around COVID and things like that, absolutely.

Okay. All right. Well, with that, it sounds like a good Google search would just be Cecilian Chamber Series, and you will find both the website, and I’ll see you next week. As well as links to get to Darke Hall. So you can purchase those tickets. Last chance, Lore, is there anything that we haven’t shared today that you’d like to talk about?

Lore Ruschiensky: Come and give it a try. We’d love to see you. A couple of hours spent in beautiful Darke Hall with amazing music enhances everyone’s life.

Barb McGrath: Absolutely. That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Lore. It was a pleasure having you join me today to talk [00:18:00] about The Cecilian Chamber Series and the 24 25 season.

On that note, if you want to sell your story, then you need to tell your story, and there’s no better place to start than being a guest. If you would like to be a guest, email me at Barb@abovethefold.live, or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page @AbovetheFoldCA.

I’m your host, Barb McGrath, GoogleGirl, and founder of the Get Found for Local program.

Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret.

Bye for now.

Connect with Lore @ Cecilian Chamber Series

The Big Mistake Local Businesses are Making

Maximize Your Local Business’s Online Potential: The Overlooked Power of Google Listings

Local businesses are constantly searching for the magic bullet to amplify their marketing efforts and drive customers through their doors. In the digital age, the first instinct is often to focus heavily on social media. However, many local businesses are making a critical mistake that’s costing them valuable engagement and sales – neglecting their website and Google listings. Today, we’ll explore why this oversight can be detrimental and how businesses can harness the power of online tools to see real results.

The Pitfall of Relying Solely on Social Media

It’s easy to get caught up in the social media whirlwind — the pressure to maintain an active presence, the hope of creating viral content, and the desire to keep up with competitors. Yet, despite their efforts, local businesses frequently find they’re spinning their wheels on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok without seeing any tangible returns. One of our clients, a local service business, experienced a significant shift by changing its focus. They saw a 33% increase in business within six months and expanded their house cleaning crews – all by paying attention to their website and Google listing instead of social media.

The Untapped Potential of Your Google Listing

A Google listing is perhaps one of the most potent tools at a local business’s disposal. Why? When customers are making those final purchasing decisions, they’re not browsing through Instagram or Facebook – they’re checking out Google listings. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the concept of managing your Google listing or believe it to be complex, rest assured it’s much simpler than it seems.

Imagine spending only 15 minutes per week optimizing your Google listing. We’ve witnessed businesses transform almost overnight, with customers walking in the door as a direct result. This modest investment of time starkly contrasts with the hours dedicated to crafting social media content that often goes unnoticed.

4 Key Updates to Supercharge Your Google Listing

You can start harnessing the power of your Google local listing today by making four critical updates:

  1. Categories: Evaluate the categories your business is listed under and add six to ten relevant options. If you offer multiple services like housecleaning and commercial cleaning, make sure they’re all included.
  2. Products and Services: Even if you don’t sell physical products, updating this section is crucial. Services are treated equally in terms of helping your Google listing rank, so list your most prominent services for better visibility.
  3. Offers: A nifty feature that is visible only on mobile devices. Create an enticing offer, such as a discount or complimentary service, to encourage customers to engage with your business.
  4. Weekly Posts: Utilize the update feature on your Google listing. Incorporate relevant keywords to your community’s searches; this can significantly boost your visibility to prospective customers.

Frequently, simply repurposing your existing social media content for your Google listing can achieve better results, as customers are actively searching for this information when they’re ready to engage with businesses.

Beyond the Basics: The Full Spectrum of Google’s Ranking Criteria

When delving into your listing, keep in mind that Google uses approximately 75 different criteria to rank local businesses. Understanding and optimizing these criteria can be game-changing for your business. However, knowing which ones are most critical to your specific needs is essential.

Your Personalized Plan for Success

If this feels overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be a solo journey. Go ahead and book a free call here: abovethefold.live/listing where we can chat and strategize for your business’s unique needs. We’ll help identify which of the 75 criteria are most pertinent and set you up with a tailor-made plan.

For those who prefer to remain hands-off, we’ve got you covered, too. Our team can manage the optimization process, making it a hassle-free experience that yields real results.

Your Next Steps

Don’t let your local business fall into the trap of relying solely on social media. Instead, take control of your Google local listing and give your business the attention it deserves from customers who are ready to buy. Whether you’re diving in yourself or seeking expert assistance, the path to enhanced online visibility and growth is just a few clicks away. Book your free call now, and let’s elevate your local business above the fold.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Today, you’ll learn the biggest mistake that most local businesses make with their marketing, which often causes them to spin their wheels on social media without seeing any results. You’ll also learn how to avoid making that mistake and what to do instead. Let’s dive in. So the big mistake I see local businesses make is they pour all their time and effort into their social media and they forget about everything that’s happening on their website and in their Google local listing.

[00:00:30] Social media has become that thing that we feel we have to do. There’s social pressure, there’s peer pressure from other businesses. Everyone else is doing it. Maybe it’s the next post that will go viral. It’s the next video that’s going to bring customers through your door and it’s not working by putting all your time and effort into social media and forgetting about your listing and forgetting about your website.

[00:00:56] You’re missing out on the opportunity to attract customers to [00:01:00] your business today. One of the clients that we worked with a local service business saw their business change by 33% in a six month time period. They went from having two house cleaning crews to three simply by focusing on their Google listing and their website instead of social media.

[00:01:20] Your Google listing is one of the easiest tools that you can use as a local business. Your Google listing is such a powerful tool because it’s the last stop that a customer makes before they’re ready to make a purchase. So when they have credit card in hand, they are heading over to your Google listing.

[00:01:38] Let’s just talk about ignoring Google, ignoring the power of Google, ignoring the ease of Google, because for a lot of local business owners, it just feels complicated. And it’s not, or it doesn’t have to be. I’ve seen so many local businesses see results that they weren’t getting from social media. In as little as [00:02:00] 15 minutes a week, they can see customers walking through their door, where they’ve spent hours, two hours, three hours a week on social media, and all they’ve heard is crickets.

[00:02:11] I’ve seen local businesses go from trying to post on social media on a daily basis to closing their social channels. because they spent the time on their Google listing and their website. They no longer even needed their social media channels. Honest to God, if you spend 15 minutes a week in your listing, you are going to bring in more customers into your business.

[00:02:30] Honest to God, like 15 minutes. Because in that first week, you’re going to tune it up. In the second week, you’re going to make some small improvements and you’re going to post to your listing. In the third week, you’re going to add a product to your listing and another post. In the fourth week, you’ll add another product.

[00:02:50] You’ll add an offer. So each week I encourage everyone to spend 15 minutes in your listing and it’s going to make a difference in your business. So there’s four [00:03:00] things that I want you to go and update in your Google listing today. The first one is the categories. that you have your business in. If you’re a housecleaning service, I want you to make sure that you’re listed as a housecleaning service, but you can also be listed as a commercial cleaning service if you do offices and businesses.

[00:03:19] So, go and find the categories that apply to your business and add six to ten categories. for your business today. The second thing that I want you to look at is products. Add at least four products to your listing. But Barb, I don’t sell products. I’m a service. That’s okay. Products and services help your Google listing rank equally.

[00:03:46] So if you are service based, then focus on the services that you provide. So update your products or update your services. This is one of the most important things that we’re seeing in terms of Google [00:04:00] ranking right now. So that’s your second change. The third one that you’re going to add is something called an offer.

[00:04:07] And an offer is only visible on mobile. To add an offer to your listing, add an update. An example of an offer. would be a free item with purchase. So on your first product purchase or service booking, you can offer a complimentary item to go with it. A house cleaner might be a 10 percent discount off your first service.

[00:04:31] And for a plumber, it might be as simple as a complimentary check on your furnace come winter time. Number four, the last one, posting to your listing on a weekly basis. If you go into your Google listing, you’re going to see a little button that says, Add update. I want you to add an update to your listing on a weekly basis.

[00:04:51] Why? Because it is keyword sensitive. All of those searches that people are doing in your community, the [00:05:00] keywords in your posts are going to help attract new customers to your business. Wondering what to post on your listing? Here’s a couple of examples of what you can share to your listing today. Start with what you’ve already posted on social and share that into your listing because those same customers They want to know about the celebration you’re having in your store They want to know about the gift certificates that are available for the upcoming holidays They want to know about the products you’re carrying and the brands that are already available through your plumbing shop So anything that you’re posting on social You can do better with it on your Google listing.

[00:05:36] But Barb, is it really that easy? Yes, it is. But there’s one other thing to keep in mind. When you log into your listing, you’re going to see that there’s about 75 different criteria that Google is using to rank local businesses. Knowing the correct criteria is very important and that will impact how quickly your listing moves up as well.

[00:05:58] To help you get started, book a free [00:06:00] call so we can go through your Google listing with you. Point out which of the 75 criteria are going to be most important to your business and your takeaway will be knowing exactly what you need to do to optimize your Google listing. You can book that at abovethefold. live / listing. On the call, we’re going to talk about exactly what you need to do with your listing. There is no mold that applies to every single business. Each business is unique and we’re going to help you build a plan that is specific to your business. And if you want it to be totally hands free, We can help you with that as well.

[00:06:40] Go to abovethefold. live / listing and book your free call with me right now. See you soon.

 

Ep. 125 Kay Peacey from Slick Business

Kay Peacey ActiveCampaign Training

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

🎙️NEW PODCAST EPISODE ALERT!🎙️

In Ep. 125 of the Secret Life podcast, I am joined by special guest Kay Peacey from Slick Business.

This episode is packed with incredible insights and valuable takeaways that you won’t want to miss!

Here are 3 key takeaways from this episode:

1️⃣ Importance of Automation: Kay shares their expertise on streamlining processes and finding solutions to frequent annoyances or time-wasting tasks. Learn how automation can liberate time and enhance your business efficiency.

2️⃣ Building Relationships through Email: Discover the significance of nurturing customer relationships through email, even when physical presence may not be possible. Kay offers actionable tips on building a long-term connection with your audience.

3️⃣ Tracking Customer Behavior: Gain valuable insights into the importance of tracking and understanding customer behavior. Kay discusses the need for businesses to be able to adapt and fix any issues that may arise in their automation systems.

Don’t miss this insightful and thought-provoking conversation with Kay Peacey from Slick Business.

Tune in to the Secret Life podcast now!

You will find Kay on major social platforms, including LinkedIn and Facebook. Make sure to check out her free flagship training called “Accelerated ActiveCampaign” on their website slickbusiness.co.

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Are you ready to make the website ping and the till ding? In this episode, we’re talking about one of the best kept secrets in this online world, small business owners who are doing amazing things from those skinny lessons that will make you wins to the tell all exposes TMZ style. These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business. Welcome to The Secret Life podcast. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and local business marketer, cheerleader and champion. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses to multilocation stores. You can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doer and today we’re talking about one of those ways that you can do just that. We’re going behind the scenes with Kay Peacey, the owner of Slick Business now slick, you’re probably thinking what kind of business is this? We’ll wait until you find out. Welcome Kay, tell us a little bit about yourself and select Business.

Kay 1:13
Hi, Barb. Thank you so much for having me on. As you can hear I am British. Yes, you are. Get that out of your systems now. Um, so I apologize for the way I pronounce all the things is completely different. And I hope that I can make myself understood well enough. So yes, my name is Kay Peacey. I am from the very far southwest corner of England, in a little county called Cornwall that is mostly see around the edges and lots of beaches. And I’ve lived here my whole life. I did get out of the county for a while but I came back because I love it so much.

Barb 1:49
Water around you like Right, exactly. Sam lock deadlock location in this world. Oh, yes.

Kay 2:00
Yeah, like I can see the see out of my window. It’s all good. So and the business I run is called slick business. And I’m just going to tell you briefly how my business was named. When I started doing consulting. I realized I’m skipping ahead here but when I started consulting, one of my very early clients said to me, when you are done with me, my business is going to be as slick as bleep. Yep. At which point we named the business that was it your business? The mission? Slick everything up.

Barb 2:26
You know what I totally get it because isn’t that what we all want in our businesses is we want to be slick, right? We want things to operate, slickly. So yeah, it makes perfect sense when you put it that way. Brilliant on your clients part.

Kay 2:41
I know she did me a real favor there. And in the early days of my business, I was more of a generalist. So I would do things like Facebook ads, I would work on pretty much any tech platform that someone was in and just help them slick things up. So it was very process driven looking at their systems thinking how can we make this better and slicker and easier for that? Right? Anyway, during that period of time, I was working the whole time with Active Campaign, okay, which is an email service provider and marketing automation platform, is one of the global leaders in that area of tech. And what happened for me is I just fell for Active Campaign hook line and sinker. And I do mean is it is a love match. Yeah, it definitely pushes all my good buttons somehow, in my life, I’m just a middle aged normal mum, from Cornwall, you know, I have, I have no business experience. I didn’t know marketing or anything like this. But somehow, this particular piece of tech just hit the spot for me and my brain and my skill set. So what I do now is that I teach people how to use Active Campaign to slick up their business

Barb 3:56
Exactly more efficiently, more effectively. Isn’t it funny, I like what you say about it just clicked in your brain, because that’s how Google is for me. Right? I don’t talk about Bing. I don’t talk about Yahoo. I talk about Google. And sure me here all the same in some way. But there’s just something about it that clicks for my brain.

Kay 4:20
So Oh, I hear you. Yeah, I am resonating really hard right now. Sometimes people will ask me, you know, can you do a comparison between MailChimp and active campaign or MailChimp or ConvertKit? Some of the other contenders are telling me what’s the difference between active campaign and keep? I’m like, You need to probably ask someone else to do that direct comparison. I can tell you the brilliant things about active campaign. But I’m so deeply embedded in that platform. So that’s kind of my superpower, but it’s also got this little Achilles heel weakness that I don’t actually work with any of the other platforms I did to start off with but it was that click was very clear to me. I felt it right from the beginning. You Yes, I found my home.

Barb 5:02
You know when it’s so funny that the language you’re using, so for our audience key, and I have met within her membership, which is called Active Campaign Academy, but we’ve never had a personal conversation before. She’s never been in my programs. So if you hear commonality in our language, I always talk about small businesses having a superpower and being able to identify that and that’s not common language. That’s not something that everybody says. And so there you are seeing in a sentence. Yeah, I promise I did not pay her to say that.

Kay 5:35
No, there was no preamble here was straighten. Exactly.

Barb 5:39
So Kay, I think what what tweaked my interest in having this discussion today is I saw a post that you shared on your Facebook page or or Facebook group, and you actually had some health concerns somewhere before you started your business. And and yeah, tell us a little bit about that. That path? What happened? And where did you fall in love with Active Campaign and get married here?

Kay 6:08
I’m really glad you’ve asked this, actually. Because it’s it’s a story that seems to resonate with a lot of people. And I’ve only just started actually sharing what I call the disAbility part of my story. So I grew up here in rural Cornwall, I was good at mathematics and good at teaching people how to do stuff. Those were my strengths early on. So I trained to be a maths teacher. And I went into schools and it turned out teenagers and me really, really not okay, oh my God, it was awful. I didn’t like them. They hated me. And they tortured me. So we that did not last and I came out of schools, I came home to Cornwall with my tail between my legs, feeling utterly defeated by the world and got into adult education by some real serendipity and serendipity is a theme that runs through all of the things I’ve done. The two themes is teaching and serendipity being in the right place at the right time. So I ended up teaching for the Open University Teaching with the really early days of elearning. We’re still on dial up modems is like

Barb 7:16
Let’s call it what we what it is. Okay. Like you and I both remember the birth of Google, right?

Kay 7:25
Yeah, I remember those first Hotmail email addresses coming out like Oh, boy.

Barb 7:32
And there was no spam then like no spam at all.

Kay 7:36
Right? No, yeah. different worlds.

Kay 7:45
Yeah, my worst one recently was traveling for a holiday, which was it was a long haul, it was the first time I’d ever flown long haul. And I got caught out on the flight because we had no water because it had all been taken away from us. And we couldn’t get any water off the cabin crew and I couldn’t take my pain meds without water. Hmm, oh, that was bad. Anyway, we could have much longer conversation about managing, managing chronic pain and disability and restrictions in one’s life. I think I’m super interested in how it impacts in business. Yeah, as well, because it really does. It’s does it limits what you can do? It limits your stamina. It’s literally like how long can you sit at a desk? Yeah, exactly. And can you go to a conference? Can you travel to go to this amazing thing that’s happening and meet and schmooze and network? These people? Yeah. The answer for me at the moment is no, that’s really tough. Exactly. If I do it for business, it has a huge knock on on my family life and my sense of self and mental well being. So there’s a really interesting balance between managing a long term health condition and periods of disability to the level of wheelchair using and then making it happen and making something really significantly successful happen. And that’s where that post came from that you saw. It was. Yeah, it was such a big moment for me, because it was when I landed onto the customer advisory board for Active Campaign as one of the founding members and their first appointment onto that board. So to be recognized as a world leading authority, yes, in my niche by the company who make that software and given a position of respect and authority. Yeah, that meant the world to me. Oh, absolutely.

Barb 9:34
And it meant the world to all of us in your membership. Because like, tap, tap, tap, we’ve literally got active campaigns shoulder now. And so whatever it is, you know, it’s not like, you know, you can’t necessarily solve all of the problems, but when you hear the same concerns over and over and over again, like the reliability for a while, right like You’ve got an immediate voice on what’s happening.

Kay 10:03
Exactly, and that that response is responsibility. And it is a huge privilege that I am very happy to be trusted Yes, by so many users of Active Campaign to hear and hold their experiences. So part of my set of values, we, you know, we do the growth, cheerleading, I noticed you would use the word cheerleading earlier on as well. That’s one of our founding and one of our core values is we’re growth cheerleaders, but we’re also Auntie K, which, which, which came originally from that same client who named my business, she was like, I’m okay, I’ve got 20k on my side. Yeah, that is a privilege and responsibility to hear someone’s troubles and difficulties. And not only celebrate their successes, but also hold them safe when they’re having a hard time and then carry that message to people who can make a difference for them. At the very top level of Active Campaign,

Barb 11:00
Yeah, exactly. So let’s talk about a little bit about how or why your business is different. So obviously, Active Campaign clicked for you versus, you know, on MailChimp or a keep. But, you know, like, let’s talk about what Active Campaign campaign can do from a, from a growth standpoint, the automation like, like, why why your business to support other businesses in growing? Let’s answer that question first.

Kay 11:32
Okay, so when people hear the name Active Campaign, it doesn’t always mean much to them. And I’ll say, Well, okay, but you know, MailChimp, or, you know, you get emails into your inbox from businesses, there’s some tech that drives that, and that’s what active campaign is doing. That’s like a very surface understanding of it. What’s interesting to me with mail with MailChimp. You really mess me up now. Okay, what’s interesting to me with Active Campaign is that, in my view, emailing people is not its primary function. Its primary function, and it’s absolutely ninja superpower is unlimited automation. And what that means is that you can instruct Active Campaign to effectively be a clone of you, in pretty much any scenario that you can pin down to a process. Yep, if you can define the steps, and lay out a little recipe of what should happen. Active Campaign can do it for you, while you’re asleep, or at the beach, or having hip surgery. It does it for you. And here’s the real genius, but it can also come and tap you on the shoulder when you need to apply the human touch because the human touch will never stop being valuable. It will always be your most highest value component. So it’s the one you want to reserve for when it is most impactful. Yes. Because we have limited resources, especially if we’re managing chronic pain and families and trying to go on holiday.

Barb 13:08
Yes. And just and manage a small business, like I have, right, I have never met a more hard working group of people than small business owners, right? There’s no government, there’s no union unions are really big in Canada, there is your business. And when you walk out the door, you either need to pause your business have a team that can keep things moving, or have processes automated. And so when you’re in the hospital, I might still be getting an email from you. Because you’ve set up those automations you’ve scheduled those emails, you’ve pre written them. And that is hugely powerful. I think we underestimate as business owners how important it is to just keep saying, Hi, I’m here if you need support with x, and it doesn’t matter if you sell deck boards, or help with Active Campaign or help with Google, whatever it is you do to support others. You need to keep reminding people hey, I’m still here. Hey, we’re still here, right?

Kay 14:13
Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it campaign. It gives you so many different ways that you can do that. So yes, it can send a newsletter email, or whatever intervals you want, you can schedule it, you can send it and they look pretty and great and wonderful. And you can also spy on everything anyone does. It’s like a bill at the Netherlands. You are supposed to tell people that bird we can see everything. I’ve lost my thread now. Right? You can use that to email. Yeah, you can send an automated series. So when this happens, send this series of emails at this spacing. You can have different parts within that. So if this happens, then send them this way. If the other thing happens, go that way and do something different. You can do all of that. But you can also do these incredibly hybrid thing. things, these are super powerful, where you give it most of the information and save that as like a template. There’s a particular thing I’m thinking of called a saved response in there. And you can choose as a human exactly when send that and edit it for exactly the person that you’re messaging. So someone messages you on Facebook or something and ask the question, if they’re already in your Active Campaign, you can then contact them directly in there. And you can do like a semi automated process. It’s really structured. Yeah. What that does is it allows you to scale yourself up.

Barb 15:32
Absolutely. Right there. Yep. Yeah, yep. Okay, so what I was what I was going to interject there, when you lost your train of thought we were talking about seeing what people do. Just this morning, of course, you’re emailing me to ask a question. And, and Kay had unsubscribed from my emails. So she didn’t get the email to tell her what we were going to talk about on the podcast. But had I not knowing that you unsubscribed I would have assumed you got the message. Then when you were asking me I would have been like, Well, why is she asking me I sent her the email. But because I could go in, see that you unsubscribe? It looks like maybe you went looking to see if you could find something because you did go back and find an older email where I talked about planning a vacation. But then I see that you were gonna describe that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I mean, I can see case history. And key had already taught me that there’s something I need to fix in my Active Campaign related to understanding which customers are opening and clicking. And here I am looking at hers this morning going, Yeah, I really gotta get that fixed, because it’s still not working right.

Kay 16:46
You know, the one thing you can guarantee about humans, if you leave a hole somewhere, they will fall into it, we are so skilled at finding the holes, misinterpreting things, not reading information properly. You know, like you were saying earlier about awareness, and you have to keep getting in front of people. Something happened to me last week, which really reinforced for me the need to put key information in pretty much every single email you sent. So far, you’ll know from your member emails that we send out for the Active Campaign Academy, in every single email, it tells you your login email address, and it gives you all the links of where to go. And it reminds you what you have in the academy who your nominee is, everything is there in every single email, which is really easy to do with Active Campaign. So what happened to me last week was that unfortunately, had to go to a family funeral. And I’d had various messages telling me about the funeral. And we I’d read them multiple times, because we were driving a very long way to get there with my brother and my husband. And when we got there, I realized eventually it 10 minutes before it was due to start that we were at the wrong crematorium. No, oh, no, I know, this was it was awful. So service full full I am, I’m gutted that we were not able to be at the ceremony because I made a mistake. When I was reading information, the information was in one of the messages that I’d received one message. But that really important thing, which is, by the way, this one is not at the usual place, we go for every family cram we’ve ever been. Right, it’s in a different place. And because that wasn’t put front and center in big capital letters to get my attention. My human squeegee brain was busy looking at the date and the time, and I completely missed the location. We were in the wrong town.

Barb 18:39
Yeah, like, oh, this wasn’t a five minute drive across town.

Kay 18:44
This was oh, no, this was we missed that we missed the event, we were able to go to the week afterwards. And I’m grateful for that. But we missed. We missed that. So human, I’m talking about humans, and how we actually engage with emails. Because whether it’s a message that someone sent you or whether it’s an email, the way we read things and scan, read and pick out important pieces of information or not yet is down to the way the message is composed. And that’s something I’m really leaning into now with the way our emails are designed. This is something every business can take away from listening to this. It doesn’t matter what email platform you’re using. The people on the other end of your emails are still humans, they are still fallible squeegee things. They make mistakes. They don’t read stuff properly. Yeah. So make sure your most important information. The one key takeaway from every email is in that very first sentence. Put it at the top. Yes. Okay. And then repeat critical, necessary information that you want them to see and understand if you’re running a webinar. Put the date in every single email where you talk, but ignore it just right, yeah. And you say it’s on Tuesday, the 12th of March. At this time in this city. Yeah. Yeah. You got to speak Keven.

Barb 20:01
So one of the things that I’ve recently come to appreciate with email as well, I’m going to say that more and more people are preferring the shorter emails to the great big long ones. Because we’re all bombarded with so much information, that when we open an email, we pick what we believe are the salient points, and we move on. And so whether you make your salient points, bullets, or bold, or red, whatever it is, but you’ve got to get your message across. So quickly, here’s why this matters to you. Here’s the action you need to take, if any, and here’s how to do it. Right, like, just so simple. When I look at when I look at my own email stats, I’m always very pleased with my open rates, my click through rates could always be higher. But I think every business would say that we always want our click through rates to be higher, because that means people are going to check things out. But the reality is, we all get so much email so much social media, like I think we’re just we’re feeling exhausted from the amount of information that that people can now get to us. Right? Yeah, and I don’t know how old your kids are, my kids are both in their teens, almost 15 and 16. And, you know, I watched them, and they’ll be on their phone, and they’re responding to a snap, and I’ll say something, then I’ll give them hacking, they’ll say, you know, you’re not paying attention, they’ll actually repeat my words back word for word, because their brains have grown and developed, being able to do this multitasking thing. It’s like they have two ears, or, you know, they’re using both sides of their brain at the same time. And it’s like, oh, wow, how did you just do that, but they they carry on a conversation, they typed to someone, there’s no more of this hold on for a second, I’m typing, right? Like they do. So it’s, it’s amazing. But there are there are many days like I just feel exhausted from the amount of information that is being thrown at me. And I’m like, turning on the TV Be quiet, putting my cone of silence on.

Kay 22:19
And and we’re seeing this explode in the inbox as well with AI. Which is fascinating in so many ways. But I think one thing I’m not seeing talked about much is just the sheer volume of cold emails that are landing has massively increased. I don’t have a statistic on it. But I know from my inbox, how many more I’m getting. And you can see their AI generated, and they’ve been you’ve been scraped from LinkedIn somewhere, they’ve got your email address. And there’s just so many more of them. And because of that, I think to be indisputably, obviously, human, in your emails is vital. If you’re not doing that, stop doing it. Now, yeah, stop putting pictures in there and leave a typo and be quirky, be your human self more than ever. And the other really important thing to do is to make sure that your sender information is crystal clear on who you are and why you’re in the inbox. So you’ve got to be you’ve got to be the person who turns up on the doorstep and they know exactly who you are, and that they invited you round.

Barb 23:26
Yes, yes, exactly. I agree wholeheartedly. I don’t know what active campaign is doing with AI? Definitely, I’ve seen an increase like you talked about because my email address for LinkedIn is different than my business email address. So I can tell what’s right. And yeah, like they’re just some there’s, there’s so little fit. But you know, one of the things that I have been diligent with myself about is, and I, I just happened to catch this really quick tutorial video one time on organizing your inbox. And tastic never bought anything, watched his quick training video, stole all of the ideas. So I won’t say the person’s name, because they won’t appreciate that and reorganize my inbox. So now there’s that here’s the important stuff. Here’s the stuff I want to read when I get there. So it’s all labeled, read it, skip the inbox. And then here’s anything that’s personal that I need to deal with. So I have these categories. Things like my receipt from your membership, they never show up in my inbox, they automatically get piled into receipts so I can deal with them. When I do my bookkeeping, I never have to look at it or touch it until that moment in time. That honest to goodness that has saved me. Oh my goodness, maybe 10 hours a week where I don’t have to play with email because now it’s all just organizing itself. And I can go back to the business of running a business. Yeah, yeah. And that’s what AI is supposed to do for us. AI is supposed to make our lives easier, not more overwhelming, right?

Kay 25:15
Yeah, I think I think AI has a lot of potential to help with clearing up inboxes. So on the recipient end of things on the writer end of things where we’re creating emails, and it is an act of creation, you can get creative you can own that doesn’t just because it’s business doesn’t mean that it’s not human and creative and an act of artistry, exactly, you can lean into that you can have fun. Anyway, I digress. But in the creation of emails, most of the stuff I’m seeing at the moment in email creation is around generative text where you feed it a prompt, much as you would with chat bit GPT. And it’s going to check out some things that you I’m not yet seeing a great application of it in, in the land of bulk emailing, but I’m sure it will come, I’m sure it will come where I would love to see it, featuring more highly is an enabling people who are not so experienced with automation, to narrate what they want to happen, yes, to tell the story. When someone does this, I want this to happen. And if they do this, instead, I want this thing to happen. Oh, but if they click that link, send them to that page. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could dictate that and have an AI build it? Of course, that would put me out of work to a degree. But that would be great, right? Because some of that some of the a lot of the time in the Active Campaign Academy right now is about that mechanic. I asked people say, tell me the story of what you want to happen. I will help you with how to make Active Campaign do that. And I will show you exactly how to build that. Exactly what that Yeah. And we’re really good at that. I can totally do that. If AI were able to do that, instead of having me do it. Great. Because then we have more time to talk about strategy. Yes. And more time to talk about being creative with emails, and really digging into human behavior and what drives action at the inbox. What do they read? Which bits of information are they seeing and valuing? Right? Yes. So I don’t see it as a restriction on what we do I see it as a growth opportunity in time.

Barb 27:21
Yes. You know, one of the challenges and I think this probably applies to any automation doesn’t matter if it’s email or what it is. When you look at the language that we need to use to automate a process, so how I might narrate my want for automation, versus how somebody from the UK might do it can be different. Or even if you look at Active Campaign, and they’ve got an or will you think and does this, but in fact, you need or, and now, every time you are so right.

Kay 27:59
And that’s one of my favorite things that I’m doing as part of my role on the customer advisory board, is having an opportunity to work much more closely with the team’s Active Campaign, who are making the decisions on what words are used in what places, because I have been with so many active campaign users over the past six, seven years, literally 1000s of Active Campaign users have crossed my path one way or another. And there are consistent patterns to where they get stuck, whether they’re a native English speaker in, in the UK, or Canada or Australia, New Zealand, all the places that are speaking, or whether they’re speaking English as a second language, and then working with Active Campaign in their native language. The language problems are incredibly consistent. And it’s a real treat to be able to go and have those conversations and impact that. And we’ve actually done that recently, with some new lists, status options came out. Yes. And yeah, you know, my little fingers were in that pie. And that feels really good, because it means that the language that’s being used is going to get better. Yes, for users. Exactly. Happy days.

Barb 29:07
Okay, so we’re, we’re nearing the end of our time. So if you could encapsulate for our listeners, from a small business standpoint, what advice might you provide to them? If they were looking at an email service provider, and wanted to start to introduce automation into their business that like for a lot of small business owners, that’s a big, right, an online business owner is a different beast than then a small business owner sometimes. So what advice would you share with them?

Kay 29:45
Okay, so there’s kind of two sides that one of them is sending emails and one of them is automating stuff, and I think of them separately. Yep. So can you both if we got time? Yes. Okay. So for sending a emails I would say at a minimum, send an email once per week to the people who have given you permission to email them and just include two paragraphs of chit chat. Sure, street corner chit chat, something you would say to a neighbor or a friend about what’s going on in your world. That’s how you start. And once you start sending, it gets easier, yes, but you have to start sending you have to get over yourself. The people at the other end of the inbox are not monsters. They’re just humans like you and they’d like a bit of chit chat. So just start sending.

Barb 30:29
Okay, yes, I’m gonna. I’m gonna chime in with one thing there. Okay. And I agree with Kay wholeheartedly. When I first started started sending my weekly email, I was like, I don’t know what to say, I don’t know what to say, hey, I have 27 conceptual ideas drafted out and it’s the middle of July. So the rest of my year is done, except 25 of those will never get used, because I’ll come up with other stuff. So once you start just writing down ideas, it’s like, oh, and I can say that. Oh, yeah, it goes on and on. So it gets easier.

Kay 31:03
So it’s also kind of addictive. And it’s really, really good fun. You don’t you don’t realize how many ridiculous things happen in your life until you start. exactly tell the world. And then you find that people like you and find you funny like, whoa, wait a minute, this is great. And then I get to tell my teenager that people find me funny.

Barb 31:25
My teenager just thinks I’m so cool, because I have more followers on Instagram than his friends.

Kay 31:31
Yeah, we managed to convince some of my kids school friends that I actually make a living from making custom gifts of myself pulling stupid faces. That was, that was a peak moment. Anyway, so right sending emails can be a really a lot enlightening and enlarging life experience as well as enriching is the word I was looking for there. Okay. And then when we come to automation, automation is about process, but don’t let that put you off. Find something that is a pain point that happens frequently and annoys you. And a pain point can be either I hate doing it. It makes me grimace and pull it off. Or it could be it just sucks. And it’s a time suck. Yeah, those are the ones you want to look for time sucks and pain points. When you find one of those, make sure it’s a nice simple one to start with. Like, for example, someone fills out a form on your website. And you just or maybe you’re not even at that point, maybe someone just messaging you and saying can I have that lovely PDF that you do about such and such. And you have to do it manually. That is a repeatable definable process, to have someone be able to request something, deliver it, and then maybe even follow up with them and tell them what you sell. Right? So give them an so if you automate that it looks like give them a way to ask for it. then deliver it, then tell them about what you sell. Yep, three, three main things to hit. And immediately if you’ve removed a repeating pain and time drain from your daily life, that is the starting point. Because that then liberates you to then think, Okay, what should I automate next?

Barb 33:16
Exactly. And if we think about that, in terms of a small business, and I, let’s take a second deck shop, just because that’s top of mind for one reason this morning, let’s take a deck shop. So I somebody hits a website, and one of the most common questions they get is do you guys do estimates for free? Yes, we do. Okay, what information do you need, we need this, this and this. Alright, let’s automate that process. We need your name, your email, your phone, we need some specs, blah, blah, blah, fill out this form, attach your pictures, we’ll get back to in two days with the information. Great information gets sent off, I get a confirmation email to say we’ve got it. Here’s what to expect next. Now a phone call happens. Now we’re building the relationship. Just because I’m not face to face with Kay across the world, I can still build that relationship. And we’re starting a process through email. So now I start to build now here to me is what the key is, for a lot of small businesses, we do that first end of the process. And if we’re doing anything at the back end, we’re forgetting about dating. And we’re asking people to get married by that second, third and fourth email. Oh, yeah. Right. It’s like we’ve just met but let’s let’s go all in here.

Kay 34:37
Like we can either.

Barb 34:38
Relationship, nothing. Yes, exactly. And I think that’s where so many small business owners, just forget that, hey, there’s a ton of value in building that relationship. Talk about what you do, but not every email is about selling, selling, selling, selling. Yes, right.

Kay 35:00
I will say though, from my point of view, I’m the other way round, okay? Cuz I am give give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give gives more for a really long time. Yeah. I’m actually having to learn to sell.

Barb 35:17
Ah, right scale back a little bit that

Kay 35:20
I Yeah, because I’ve given away a lot got to the point where people didn’t need to buy from me. I literally had a wake up call. This wasn’t recent, this wake up call came two years ago. I’m just a slow learner. I’m a slow learner. And something’s not an active campaign that I’m all. Yep. Oh, I’m going to carry on. Yeah. So my wake up call was that I’d had an inquiry, which was automated naturally, they filled out a form and they got some questions. They got a nice confirmation email. And they were they made an appointment we got as far as they’d made a Calendly appointment using my lovely automated system. And then they cancelled the appointment. And I was like, wait, what, why? And it turned out, she said they’d cancel the appointment, because they’d got everything they needed from my free training.

Barb 36:22
Oh, oh. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yep. Yeah. Oh, I haven’t had that one yet.

Kay 36:24
Oh, yeah. That free training still up there. By the way. It’s my best lead magnet. Now. I’ve just learned to articulate better what it is that we do. That goes way beyond that. That free training, which is called accelerated Active Campaign. Should anyone wish to learn how to use Active Campaign for free? That’s the starting point.

Barb 36:45
Exactly. Well, you know what, let’s, let’s do that. So how do folks find you online? And how would they sign up for your free course?

Kay 36:53
Marvelous. So you can find me on the major social platforms. I’m not on threads yet. But you know, that only just started. LinkedIn is one of my major Hangouts. So you can find me by name on LinkedIn. I also have a really big Facebook group called automate your business with Active Campaign. And that’s our free open community. We welcome all Active Campaign users or just people who are emailing or automating. And that’s a really nice place to hang out. And then our website is at slick business.co. So that’s dot co, on the not.com not.co.uk. Slick business.co. And there you can find a link on the top menu to accelerated Active Campaign, and that is our flagship free training, which tells you the stuff you really have to know like, you have to know this stuff. Don’t not do that course and use Active Campaign. Yeah. Because Active Campaign people, the people who work there do that training, because it is the fastest way to get up to speed on what Active Campaign does and how it does it. Yeah, okay. Yeah. And then there also is the Active Campaign Academy, which is my subscription based membership, which gets you access to me personally, very humanly, to nurture you and cheerlead you and show you exactly how to get the Wizzy, wonderful automation stuff done, including the strategy, all about strategy, not just the technical.

Barb 38:18
Exactly. And as I have shared with Kay before, working with Kay is a little bit like an insurance policy. I don’t always need her, but when I do, she is always there. There’s an online community, there’s live sessions I can hop into. And depending on, you know how big the problem is, sometimes it’s like, ask a question, get an answer. Oh, didn’t know Active Campaign could do that. Go do it. So what I have found through the membership, and I said this to you before, is it just made my brain that much bigger? There was the little things I knew Active Campaign could do. But working with you has just like, opened my eyes to Oh, my God, I can do all of this. Oh, now I get it.

Kay 39:06
Yeah. It’s so exciting. And it’s such a privilege to do that. And Bob, thank you for all your lovely things you say because you will be featuring in our emails. A cat heroes of the Active Campaign Academy who get a lot out of it. It’s a real treat for me to work with small business owners small to medium business, people from all over the world in all of their wild and crazy niches. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing. We’re all communicating. We’re all interested in human behavior, because that’s how we connect with people and persuade them that what we have is a solution to their problem. Here’s how to buy it. And you know, I’m fun and I make fun gifts so

Barb 39:47
Exactly. Nothing else buy from Kay for gifts.

Kay 39:51
If nothing else, you’ll get some funny stories about how I bet holding the decking.

Barb 39:57
Speaking of decks are in your decade. Thanks Actually, all right, we had better wrap up here today. So, Kay, thank you for joining me, it was an absolute pleasure to finally have a chance to have this conversation. Certainly, we talked about it in email and things for a little while. So I’m glad that we were finally able to make it happen. And ironically, we’re both heading into holidays. Then the next week after recording this session, so yeah, I hope you have a wonderful holiday and I know I’m certainly looking forward to mine. On that note, if you would like to sell your story, then you need to tell your story and there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life podcast. If you would like to be a guest. You can email me at barb at above the fold dot live, or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at above the fold. Ca and you can even find us on threads now. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Kay @ Slick Business

Ep. 124 Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Marc Toews

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

A truck driver by day and a creator by night, Marc Toews has a vision for the un-real. 🙂

Marc’s business, Gateway Web AR, creates augmented reality experiences like Scotty, the T. rex, Star Wars starfighters and bobble heads for local businesses. Tune in for a dash of inspiration, an ounce of creativity and a large helping of out-of-the-box, hard-to-imagine reality.

Transcript

Barb 0:02
Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone ring and the tail ding in this episode are talking about one of the best kept secrets in any community. Its network of local businesses, businesses that rely on foot traffic, phone calls and website bookings. Those same businesses that support your kids sports teams, donate to fundraising efforts, and create amazing 2d to 3d objects from a printed object. Just using your cell phone camera, from the skinny lessons that will make you wins to the TMZ style tells these everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and local business cheerleader. I’ve been helping businesses thrive for over 20 years, from online businesses to multilocation stores, you can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers. Today, we’re going behind the scene going behind the scenes with Mark Taves from Gateway web, AR. He’s the founder and he’s the inspiration behind this company. So welcome, Mark, tell us a little bit about yourself and Gateway Web AR.

Marc 1:24
Hi, Barb. Thanks for having me today.

Barb 1:26
Absolutely.

Marc 1:27
Well, a little bit about me. I’m actually a truck driver. I’ve been doing this for about 20 years. And I believe that the industry is going towards self driving trucks at some point. So I will be out of a job. You know, Tesla’s can drive themselves, I think trucks will start doing that eventually, too. And as technology goes faster, we know about artificial intelligence, right? I mean, just the stuff that’s been exploding in the news, I really think this transition is going to happen much faster than people expect. So thanks to YouTube, my downtime, I’ve been able to spend learning, teaching myself all about the fascinating world of augmented reality. Okay. And so basically what that is, a lot of people have heard about virtual reality. They’re not quite sure about augmented reality.

Barb 2:19
Exactly. And right now, of course, we hear so much about artificial intelligence. So let’s make that gap. Like what, what, what actually is augmented reality?

Marc 2:30
Yeah, so and with artificial intelligence, people are talking AI and VR and AR, and they are kind of different. But yeah, so augmented reality, is basically taking video game style type graphics, right? In a 3d world, like now you can play video games in a 3d world and stuff like that, well, we can take those objects and put them into the real world, which is really interesting.

Barb 2:58
So tell me a little bit about how you do that, or what kind of objects you can bring into the real world that are augmented?

Marc 3:06
Sure. Well, the first big project that I was able to do was for the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. They have a dinosaur. It’s the world’s largest dinosaur called Scotty. And you had an opportunity to play with

Barb 3:20
Swimming pool. Yep, yep.

Marc 3:23
And so I was able to create him in augmented reality. So basically, building a 3d model. And the power that we have in our cell phones now allows us to be able to put these objects in the real world, the camera can figure out where the ground is configure it, where walls are all sorts of stuff like that. And so it can position a 3d model rotated around as you walk around, it can figure out you know, where in space things are. And so, yeah, that was my first real big project that I was able to do. And they were quite, quite excited about it.

Barb 4:03
Now, yeah, okay, so how do you go from driving truck by day to augmented reality by night? Like there’s, there’s a really wide gap there is this I’m driving in my truck. I’m coming up with ideas like how did how did you make that transition? At this point,

Marc 4:25
Yeah, yeah, I’m doing both at the same time. I’m, I’m a very creative person. I’ve always been that way. I started off with Lego as a kid, right, and building anything. I’ve taught myself a lot of different things, including all renovate home renovations and stuff like that. I’ve had lots of different jobs, and I just love learning things, any chance that I can learn something? I do. So with trucking, there’s a finite of time that I’m allowed to drive and then I have to have certain hours off right for rest. During that time. My brains got to be doing something. Yeah. And so while I drive, I’ve actually been able to thank God for the internet. I’ve been able to learn how to do all of this AR stuff, this augmented reality stuff. I’ve learned web website programming, I’ve learned 3d modelling. So while I drive, I can listen to podcasts or listen to videos on how to do this. And then when I stop, I’m just ready to go for like two hours, I’m on my computer, oh, I got this to build this to build. And, and for me, it’s just super exciting because I can take something that isn’t there, make it look like it’s there. And you can actually interact with it like you can. You can press buttons and do different things inside of something that doesn’t exist.

Barb 5:44
Exactly. Okay. So I can totally relate to that. Because if I was driving for any period of time, learning something, by the time I stopped, I would literally be bursting Trump like wanting to try something. Right. So I can completely relate to that analogy. So do you take a laptop when you drive like because you’re not just doing day trips? Like you’ve got some long trips into the state some long haul, do you not?

Marc 6:11
Yeah, I drive from basically Regina to Alberta, and then straight down south to Los Angeles every week.

Barb 6:20
Do you ever stay down there? Or do you like basically get there drop off or load up and on your way back?

Marc 6:26
It’s basically kind of, yeah, just get the job done kind of thing. Although there are times when I have a day and a half or two days, sometimes if there’s a late load or if I request I can stay at different places. So I’ve been to San Diego, I went to the museums. I try and stop off in little places as I go along. So because I’m an I’m a huge explorer, I love to learn new things. And I like to experience new things. Yeah, I

Barb 6:51
Bet and you have a sleeper cap in your truck, right. So you just when you’re ready to go for a rescue.

Marc 6:56
It’s it’s fully decked out I’ve got a microwave with an air fryer in it, I’ve got my TV, I’ve got my laptop, I actually just recently bought a 3d scanner that I have to work on. So that I will be able to take any object that a customer might have from like a small objects, like the size of a shoe to the size of a vehicle. And I can use that scanner, it will allow me to create a 3d virtual model of that. There’s a lot of work that has to get done into it. Yes, but yeah, so the technology that I have is yeah, my cell phone with an insane amount of data plan that I do.

Barb 7:41
So you essentially have your living room on wheels. Off you go drive during the day, stop at night and start creating like that. Is that right? Yes. Living the dream there. Yep.

Marc 7:55
Yeah. Well, and unfortunately, I absolutely love driving. I’ve always since I got my licence, I’ve been a driver. And so that’s not work to me. Okay, even then, downtown LA traffic. You know, the biggest thing to have when you’re driving is patience. And I’ve got tonnes of it. So there’s that part. So that’s not work. And when I get to learn new things, that’s not work either. That’s just exceedingly Yeah. So for me, my days are generally I get about eight hours of sleep seven to eight hours of sleep a day. And the rest of the time is just having fun.

Barb 8:31
Yeah, exactly. loving what you do. Okay, so we Scotty the biggest, I’ll say model that you’ve ever built created.

Marc 8:41
Okay, so, Scotty is 12 feet tall, 14 and a half feet long cape, the largest structure that I’ve created. If you’re a Star Wars fan, I I’ve built a star destroyer game, the big triangle ship from Star Wars, right?

Barb 9:03
In a circle like that? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Marc 9:05
So the Star Destroyer is according to the Star Wars thing. It’s a 1.6 kilometres long, it’s a mile long. I actually, I built it. And in AR You do have to walk an entire mile mile in order to see end to end.

Barb 9:25
Oh, wow. Okay, so like, how, how do you actually build something that is like, you can’t just get a picture of it. Like how do you actually do that?

Marc 9:38
That’s a complicated question. But I can tell you that when you look at an a real life objects is it’s made out of atoms, and those and molecules, right? Those molecules connect and they build a solid object, right? And the same thing in the digital world. There are things called vertices which are Basically points in three dimensional space. And then there are lines that connect those vertices. And so when you connect a whole bunch of them, you make a bunch of them, you are basically telling the computer to draw a line between this point and this point. Okay? And then if you have four points, you can tell the computer, okay? Draw a line, a route to these points, plus fill all of this in so that you can’t see through it. Now it’s a solid, it’s a plane. Okay? Right. And then from there, you do the same thing. And now it becomes a cube. Ah, okay. Add more of these little vertices. And now, and everything has to do with math. So there’s a, an X, Y, and Zed coordinate for each of these vertices. Right? And then those all get connected with lines and planes.

Barb 10:56
Oh, man, okay. Yeah. Do you have to build all of that? Or do you start with, like a picture or something like that? Are you manually building the model? Before you put it in?

Marc 11:07
Yes. Oh, wow. There’s, there’s lots of models that people build, and you can buy. And as far as the size goes, Really, what you’re doing is just like a photograph, where you can’t really tell the scale of certain things. Right? The same idea. These are just mathematical points in space, and X Y, Zed coordinate, right? So if you want to have something bigger, you just put those points further apart. You want it to be a smaller model, you put them closer together. Okay? So with Scotty Scotty can be shrunk down into like a little mini figure, or he can be brought up to Godzilla sighs Well, and

Barb 11:53
that’s the first time I did Scotty in my backyard. You know, I was struggling to get him to work. Because he was he was like, way bigger than my camera. So I had to scale him down to create the video and take the picture. And my kids, I had told you this story, my daughter’s 15. My son is 14. So my son is very busy being cool. So a dinosaur in his backyard. It’s just like, whatever, mom. Seriously, we have a dinosaur in our backyard. And that’s like a whatever. But my daughter, she was like, Oh my God, that’s so cool. Right? So I’m like, okay, at least she can be honest. Right? But but here is his dinosaur. And literally, it was to scale. Because our dogs were standing beside it, we have these two little lap dogs. And so the dogs are these little tiny spots. And this, you know, Scotty was this huge thing. And I was like, This is amazing. Right? Um, what’s your favourite model that you’ve built?

Marc 12:55
I would have to say I’m a huge LEGO fan. And so I built a Lego Spaceman from the 1980s. Yeah, I have. I have him with my gateway logo on there. And I put him in all sorts of different places. He’s six feet tall. Yeah, he comes with me all over the place.

Barb 13:16
Yeah, exactly. And why not? Like talk about a great way to promote your business and on all of these different places. When you post them on social media? Do you tag the business where you had him? Yes. Yep. Perfect. Yep. Yeah, for sure. Exactly. Because that’s a you know, people see this stuff. And they just like, oh my god, like, this is so cool. Okay, so let’s put some business application into it. So Scotty is lots of fun. The Lego guys lots of fun. How are businesses using the technology?

Marc 13:44
Well, um, okay, so with Scotty the museum had a November they have died November event, okay. And so they’re able to present a real life sized dinosaur, which allows kids to take pictures and videos with this giant dinosaur that if you looked at the cost of actually building a replica, that size, I mean, you’re looking at a lot of material, you’re looking at the craftsmanship, all that stuff. It’s, it’s crazy expensive. It is. So this is a very affordable way to have a life size model available for people to interact with. Yeah, yeah. When you look at the other part of the augmented reality, which uses a tracking system, where we talked about using a 2d image to be able to convert that into 3d, like my business cards, right. As a business, you can have a 3d model. Let’s say it’s for a decking company, right. So if you hand somebody your business card, yeah, okay. Traditionally, they’ll look at your business card, they’ve got your information, they stick the card in the pocket, right? Yes. Okay. And now they go to the next company, and they’re looking at prices. stuff, right? But one of the mark, the keys of marketing is to be able to be memorable.

Barb 15:05
Yes, exactly. You have to differentiate yourself. Exactly.

Marc 15:09
And not just differentiate yourself in your services, but in that very first impression. And so with using augmented reality, I could take a business card, and somebody can have a QR code on there. That thanks to COVID, that’s one benefit of COVID is that we all know what to do with QR codes. Yes, they can take scan that QR code. And they can look at that business card with their camera on their phone. And they can see a 3d deck on top of that business card. And the 3d object actually tracks with the object or with the business card. I mean, yes. So as you rotate the business card, you’ll be able to see all aspects of this deck. So it showcases what you’re able to do. And you can have all sorts of different products that can do that, if it’s a unique artistic product or something like that, right. But the thing is what you’re doing that first connection with your customer with a potential customer is a memorable one. Not only are they going to remember you from anybody else that gave them a business card, but they’re also going to look at it and say to their neighbour or their friend, Hey, check this out. This is so cool. And then they’re going to show them Right, exactly.

Barb 16:28
So I have to tell you a funny story. Of course, you built those two QR codes for me one for Instagram, one for Facebook. And so I’ve started to use them a little bit, but because they exist on my phone, it’s actually hardest for me to test. So last week, I was interviewing summer students. And one of the things that’s really important in my business is I need my people to be pretty darn comfortable with technology, I can’t, can’t be teaching you tech and getting you to get the job done. So as part of the interview process, because we’re in person, I had both of the QR codes available. And I just kind of said to them, Hey, let me show you a sample of something, you know that another local business did. And I would show them the two QR codes. And I watched to see whether they were you know, comfortable figuring out, you know how to use them. And for most of them, they were using Instagram because nobody knows their Facebook password off the top of their hand anymore. So they would, you know, scan Instagram, and out of the students that I interviewed, probably a third of them were like, oh, cool scan, you know, got it to work right away. And I was getting the other two thirds weren’t as comfortable with technology, they still got the whole scan, click the link, and then you know, the one lady, she’s like, Oh, it’s not working. I’m like, yep, just keep it over the business card. And, you know, but as soon as I saw the two thirds, I was like, Okay, I need the tech confident folks. So you know, and that was like that was actually my introductory moment that icebreaker in the interview was that competency check. And I was like, Oh, this is just, it was it was amazing to watch. But I thought this is brilliant, because it’s newer technology. And you know, I know if I show it to a lot of my friends and colleagues, I know they’ll fumble, but that’s okay, I’m not interviewing them. So they turned into a great little test. And just for the audience’s sake, Mark created a business card QR code for me, and then it pops up to my doppelganger. So if you’re listening to this episode, you can head over to our social channels. And you’ll find that doppelganger just on my social channel and probably showing up in a few other places. So Mark, let’s talk a little bit about the variety of models that you’ve created. So we know about Star Wars. We know what the dinosaur we know what the Lego Man, what else have you created? I know there’s an aeroplane in there. Well,

Marc 19:01
Yep. Okay, so my first endeavour into getting businesses to join on with this augmented reality concept is to start working with museums. Right. And so the Royal Saskatchewan Museum is one I’m working with the Royal when it can’t remember exact royal Aviation Museum be changed their their name. Anyways, it’s an aircraft Museum in Manitoba. And so they have a one of a kind aircraft, that there’s only one of it and there are no other it’s a replication because there, it’s just gone. Right doesn’t exist anymore. And so I was able to build it in a car for them as a life size model and shrink it down for them, so that they’ll be able to give those out to customers or to kids, right on a little card. And they can interact with them,

Barb 19:56
right? Yep. Very cool. What about Well, okay, so my doppelganger What about animated versions of people and things like your Lego guy, like, you know, being able to move and walk around anybody else done that. So you’ve done the Lego, I’ve done the doppelganger, anything else like that there’s,

Marc 20:18
there’s a bunch of different animations and things that can be done. And I’m working work currently working with different businesses, you’ve seen some of the videos that I’ve posted. It’s a little more difficult, because it’s such a new concept. So what I’m finding is the most traction is happening when I actually go and show somebody got right. But basically, the, what you could do with it is turn any business card into a model there, right, and it can be interactive. So I’m working with the company. The I guess I should back up just a little bit, because augmented reality includes things like Instagram filters, and Snapchat faces. So those faces that you see where you’re wearing a mask, or you’ve got like, different eyelashes, or you’re a zombie, right, those kind of things. Those are all part of augmented reality. And so I’m creating those as well, which I’m currently developing a game for one of the local restaurants here, where there’s food objects that are falling down, and you have to move around and try and catch them with your mouth. Okay, yeah. And when you get a certain amount of them, then there’s a coupon that shows up. Got it? You pick a picture of that coupon, and now you’ve got like, a free entree or something.

Barb 21:38
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that’s so super cool. And when you and I last talked, you were planning an event for this summer? Is that still happening? And how are plans coming?

Marc 21:48
Plans are still good. Okay. Originally, I was looking for sponsors. But I think what I’m going to do, because there isn’t enough engagement yet, in the whole augmented reality thing. It’s coming along pretty good. So basically, July 4 to 17th. In Wascana. Park, there will be life sized Cartoon Dinosaurs. And so kids to grandparents are going to be able to walk around with kind of park and check out these dinosaurs using their cell phone. Okay. Yeah.

Barb 22:21
So how, like, how will you build some momentum behind that? Like, how will people even know that it’s happening?

Marc 22:33
Yeah, that’s yeah, that’s a whole marketing thing. And I’m putting on different hats constantly. Learning all the marketing stuff, right now, I’m kind of focusing on Facebook and Instagram, to be able to show people what that is, right. And that’s kind of my main avenue right now. There’s other opportunities like with yourself, where you’re, you’re able to tell businesses what I can do. When it came to Scotty, being able to be presented CBC Radio was interviewing me asking me stuff, right? So I’m gonna let the media know as well that this is what’s going to happen. And I’m hoping that maybe I can do a video or something like that, get on the news or something and kind of show people because I think once they see it, you see me actually looking at it and everything in a camera there, then they’ll get the idea.

Barb 23:27
Exactly. I think as much as it’s technology, it’s still such a visual platform like people actually need to see it to understand like, how can Scotty have been in your backyard? Like, what do you mean? So when I post this, I will make sure that I include, you know, some of that footage that we had. Awesome. Okay, so Mark, how do businesses get a hold of you? If they would like to explore what this opportunity might look like?

Marc 23:55
Well, the best way to do it is just through my website, my website is super simple. It’s kind of designed just like I’m not doing online sales and stuff like that of this yet, right. So it’s just my contact information there. There is a model that you can see, if you’re fortunate enough to have one of my business cards. There’s information on there, plus a QR code that allows you to try a bunch of stuff, different things on on my card. And there’s also the model of Scotty to be for people to be able to try it in their backyards. I don’t recommend it in the kitchen.

Barb 24:33
And I tried to put him in the swimming pool you and I had that conversation and I couldn’t get him to go with the swimming pool. When I post this episode, I’ll post your QR code as well so people can scan right off the back of the card and the Lego guy come to life so perfect. All right. Well, we’re pretty much at a time for episode today. Thank you for joining me and even explaining to me a little bit better how some of this technology works because as much as I want like technology when it comes to, you know all the points and things like that, that was entirely new to me. So I do appreciate that. On that note, if you want to sell your story then you need to tell your story and there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life show. If you’d like to be a guest, email me at barb at above the fool dot live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at above the fold. Ca. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local programme. Remember, you are charged for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Marc @ Gateway Web AR

Ep. 123 Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Sherry Pratt Health Coach

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Accomplished corporate career to health coach? Yup!
Sherry Pratt is a certified coach and trained intuitive eating counselor. She left an accomplished and successful 25 year career as an IT professional and corporate executive to start her own health coaching business. Her passion is helping women in midlife end chronic dieting by taking a non-diet approach to health.
When she’s not helping women reach their health goals, you can find her parenting her 2 teenage sons, behind the wheel of a tractor helping her husband out on their grain farm, tending her rather large vegetable garden, staying active playing pickleball and curling within her local community or relaxing with a glass of wine and a good book.
Tune in to learn more about Sherry and her approach to health; it is absolutely refreshing!

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone rang and the website ping. In this episode, we’re talking about one of the best kept secrets in any community. Its network of local business owners, businesses or business owners that rely on foot traffic, phone calls and website bookings. Those same businesses that support your kids sports teams, donate to fundraising efforts, and provide amazing advice to women who are ready to ditch dieting, and get on with feeling great about who they are. But no more secrets from the skinny lessons that will make you wins to the tell. TMZ style tells. These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their businesses. Welcome to The Secret Life of Local. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and local business cheerleader. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years from online businesses to multilocation stores, you can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers. Today, we’re sharing the secrets and going behind the scenes with a health coach who supports women in their journey towards feeling better and being healthy. And here’s a little insider secret, the word diet. It’s a swear word in her books. Sherry Pratt is the owner and founder of Sherry Pratt Health Coaching. So welcome sherry. Let, let’s let you tell your story.

Sherry 1:34
Awesome. Thank you so much of our Yeah, so solopreneur ship is actually a second career for me.

Barb 1:42
Ah, yes. Thing health oriented before as well.

Sherry 1:47
No, not at all. Actually, I, my degree is a computer science degree I so I previously spent 25 years in the corporate world working as an IT professional and executive, you know, in that sort of software development application space.

Barb 2:01
Oh, wow. Okay, so that’s a huge switch. So So start there, how the heck do you make that switch?

Sherry 2:07
Yeah. So I mean, I certainly enjoyed that career. And it was very fulfilling, but after you know, sort of that 25 issues getting close to 25 years, I started to like, just reflect and I was also, you know, heading towards my mid 40s At that point, and I wouldn’t call it a midlife crisis. But I definitely started to think like, what else do I want from life? What would you know? How can I pursue some of my other interests and passions? And so I’d always always been, health had always been important to me. fitness and wellness and nutrition, personal passions that I’d done a lot of reading on my own about Yes. And as I was sort of exploring, you know, where do I take my career, I came upon health coaching, I had never heard of this thing before. But all of a sudden, it seemed like a great way to marry my personal interest and passion. I’d never considered trying to make a living doing that, right. But along came health coaching. And so it gave me this opportunity to really impact the well being directly of others. And that was appealing to me.

Barb 3:08
Oh, absolutely. Yes. So what did you have to do to become a health coach? How did you actually move from this corporate nine to five gig into solopreneur? Ship?

Sherry 3:18
Yeah, it was, it was a process and a journey. So again, I was a project manager as part of my career, among other things, so definitely planned it all out started to sort of architect my exit. It took me a couple of years, I spent a year I took a year long training course and coaching, it was very intense. I’m very highly credentialed. Okay, loved every second of it. And that really kind of gave I started initially, I took the course and I thought, well, even if I just learned something personally, and apply it to my own life, but I eventually loved it so much. I was like, No, I’m going to take this and I’m going to do something with it.

Barb 3:53
Got it. Okay. So I Are you married or have a partner or do you have children?

Sherry 3:59
Absolutely. I do. I have I have a farmer for husband. Okay, partner. And I have two boys

Barb 4:06
And two boys. Okay, so tell me what that conversation when you say, hey, hubby, dear. I’m gonna leave my corporate job as a project manager and become a solopreneur. Tell me about that conversation.

Sherry 4:17
Yeah, well, fortunately, he was super supportive. You know, very much so in the like, do what kind of what makes you happy kind of thing. So while he actually trained as an electrical engineer, and he spent he had a 20 year career as an electrical engineer, but farming has always been in his background. He’s always helped on his family farm. And so he stepped down from his corporate job, if you will. Not that it was corporate, but you know, like his job to run the farm. Okay. And, you know, he’s very much like, we have to do what makes us happy. So he’s like, Go Go for it, like try it. So it was really nice.

Barb 4:55
You know, I always enjoy it when I hear that story, because it’s not always that way. spouses and partners are not always 100% on board, when they hear that their other half is, you know, gonna get into some sort of business that, hey, maybe I’m gonna make gobs of money, but maybe we’re gonna starve. Right? Yeah. Yeah, the response?

Sherry 5:15
No. And, you know, fortunately, we, you know, we weren’t in a position where we were gonna start, you know, so I, again, I planned ahead, right, like I did myself a little mistake and whatnot. So yeah,

Barb 5:27
Exactly. Okay, so tell me what it looks like when you’re working with a potential client when you’re working with a client? How do you help them? How would you help someone like me? Because I’m your target market?

Sherry 5:40
Yeah, absolutely. So I think what I would, you know, step back just a little bit and just want to talk a little bit about, like, sort of what diet culture is. Yes. It’s, I think that sort of helps to ground the conversation. Sure. So you know, diet culture is this system of beliefs and behaviours that really rewards even worships thinness, right. And it equates thin, with healthy, adequate, thin with good, right, so very to health and moral virtue, right. And where you know, your body size, your appearance, they really Trump, your mental, your social and your general well being. Yes. And this is like, the air we breathe. It’s the water we swim in. Right? It’s pervasive.

Barb 6:25
Do you think it’s just as a woman as it is for women?

Sherry 6:30
Sadly, I think it’s getting to be more so but not I would say nowhere near for sure. Yep. But you know, and so to sort of translate that a little into like, because that’s sort of a big and broad description. It’s a real world examples. It’s like the the reason why brides always feel this need to lose weight before their weddings. Yes. Why new moms always feel pressured to get their bodies back. You know why it’s no longer sufficient to just look good. We have to like, look good naked. Like, really? Exactly. It’s, it’s why men no belly is a thing. Like, it’s just crazy like that. They’ve done such a fantastic job on the advertising and marketing side, right? Yep. Yeah, it shows up in less obvious ways in our lives, too, though, like, why we feel the need to justify our food to others our food choices all the time, right? You’re at a restaurant, and you decide you’re going to have the fries. But you have to say like, oh, I worked out today, or, or I’ve been so good. Or you know,

Barb 7:30
Exactly, even to yourself, the fact that we feel like we have to justify it to ourselves. Nevermind, if there’s someone at the table that you’re justifying it to? Why would we need to say to herself, I want fries today? Why does that matter?

Sherry 7:44
Right? Or it’s been a long day, and I deserve cookies. Like no, you don’t? You don’t have to earn your food.

Barb 7:50
Well, isn’t that the truth? You don’t have to earn your food. And I agree growing up as a teenager that was 100%. How I equated, no, I won’t, I will put it in my teens in my teens, I absolutely focused on, you know, oh, I want to lose weight. I wanted this, I wanted that. But it wasn’t until I got into my 20s that it was like, Okay, I went to the gym. So now I can have this. You know what I am whatever I want. I’m an adult. I don’t have any, you know, at that point in time, I didn’t have any special diet or food requirements. And so you can have whatever you want. But I agree, especially women, we’re focused on usually the wrong things. We’re focused on appearance, versus how do I feel? Yeah, so So talk to me a little bit Sherry about as a woman, you know, if I look at a picture, so I’ve got two pictures in front of me, one woman is thin, and one woman might be not as thin, we tend to look at the thin person and think she’s healthy. I want to look like that. In fact, this one could be a triathlete. She could be an Olympic weightlifter. Why what what is baked into us that we look at the thin person and automatically say healthy.

Sherry 9:11
Yeah, and I think that is it. I don’t think it’s not baked into our DNA, but it’s baked into our culture, right? It’s an all the messages around us. It’s in the social media and, and the marketing and it comes out in our movies and our TV shows, like when you actually start to step back and look at this stuff. You realise how often people are portrayed as young as thin as usually light skinned, like, you know, fair features. And I made this comment to my family the other day, because we were I think we were watching some TV show or something. And this this idea of an older person came up with a girl that’s what it was the woman so these two friends in the movie, they were friends. They were apparently High School. They had been in high school together like in the same grade, right? Okay. She looked like she was maybe 40. Like, natural hair colour still beautiful, very, you know, blemish free, probably even younger. He had grey hair. He, I mean, he looked like he was probably in his 50s or 60s. And I was like, um, how did they go to high school together? Yeah, there’s a discrepancy here, because we won’t put elderly you know, women with grey hair in a TV show.

Barb 10:25
Right? Well, and if we do, then we depict them as being 60 or 70 years or older. Now, I heard this around the Golden Girls show. Like, I want to say they were like, 50 when they did the show, and yet you look at it now, and you realise they’re being depicted as being 80. But that’s how we used to envision 50. Yeah. And so yeah, I remember being a teenager, and I hear it from my own kids now. Like, 50 is old. 60 is ancient 70. Are you sure you’ll live till that long bomb? I mean, it’s like, serious, you guys. And so even they have this mindset, where to them? Their teachers who are you know, 3040 they’re old. Right? Like, wow, you guys have a lot of waking up to do and we did as teenagers too. Yeah. When I think back to being a teenager, low fat, no fat, right? All of those trends were kind of the same thing. No, of course, in time, we’ve learned how bad that actually was for us. But we have current day trends. We have keto we have. Oh, my God, I don’t even know them all. But But do you talk to me about that, like when you get on the phone with somebody is that the first thing you’re talking about is I’m on the keto diet. I’m on this. I tried that it didn’t work. What do you hear from folks?

Sherry 11:48
Absolutely. And so the real irony here is that when I first started my coaching business, I was sort of exploring, like, Who do I want to work with? How do I want to coach and I started it in the middle of the pandemic. So meeting face to face and sort of working in my community wasn’t necessarily an option. So I ended up signing on with a company like a startup out of the out of Amsterdam of all places. And they offer they basically offered keto coaching, keto diet, coach, oh, all the time. You know, at the time initially, I mean, I always sort of wanted a balanced relationship with with food and dieting, I’d always taken sort of a balanced approach. But I was still of the mindset that well, diets might work or, you know, like, eating healthy does include dieting to some extent. And so I actually started down the path of being a keto diet coach. And, and that was really the, the turning point for me that got me from got me to like, diets is a swear word, as you said, right. Because I saw, I will say I sort of was I was squarely on Team diet when I first started, right? Like, it’s important to pay attention to what you eat. Yes. But as I saw in my clients, and even in myself, moreso in myself, the more you lose weight, the less happier you get. Yes, you know, so losing weight, all it brought on was a preoccupation with food, a concern about regaining weight. And just this, like, all your mental energy tied up in like, white knuckling it through, right? Yes, yeah. And I saw this. I mean, I felt it in myself many times as I went through that cycle. But I started to see it in my clients. And that’s when it finally clicked for me. Like, this doesn’t work. This isn’t good for anybody. Right? This has never really been good for my mental health. And that’s when I had to step back. And I’m like, You know what, this, I can’t do this anymore. And I don’t feel right, talking to clients about this anymore.

Barb 13:45
Yeah. Oh, good. You know, and I’ve heard some stories, especially on the keto diet, I know that for some people, it has really worked, it helped them make the changes that they needed. In many cases, quite quickly. I’ve also heard the horror stories from people and you know, just the digestive upset that sometimes comes with the diet when you first change and, and some of those types of things. What’s interesting to me is, you know, we have the keto diet, and we had the Atkins diet, and we had something else. And I shared with you before we get started today, that that I eat gluten free. I’m celiac, the food I eat is gluten free. The phrase that people will use is I’m on a gluten free diet or I’m on an on a gluten free diet. Which if you say that in a restaurant if you say that, you know around family who doesn’t understand Oh, when are you going to end this diet? I guess when I’m dead because celiacs not gonna go away. So I guess there is an endpoint, but that wasn’t really you know, the focus here. Yeah, not about losing weight. Yeah, and I think that’s where I myself I can’t speak for everyone. I am starting to see a change women are start I want to talk about being healthy, being fit, being strong. We’re starting to see more of it depicted on television in magazines. Now, maybe it’s because I look for it, maybe it’s not actually there. I don’t know. What do you think? What’s your opinion?

Sherry 15:16
That’s it. It’s a good point, there are days when I actually do get excited about things changing, and I see it happening. And then there are days when I just shake my head and want to cry again, about like how far we haven’t come or how much we stepped back. Right. I definitely think the information you surround yourself with is important and has an impact. So yes, it’s often I feel like I’ll see us take one step forward, and then I’ll see us take two steps back, right. Like, recently, they, the US, and I suspect Canada will follow along quickly released a bunch of guidelines around obesity for for children, right, like and so, and this was something that, you know, two steps back in my opinion, right, like, was it not recognising that so much of one of the biggest issues around sort of weight issues is the stigma of just the non acceptance we have around larger bodies.

Barb 16:11
Yeah, and, and society is built for a certain size of body. Yes, your airline seat, your restaurant seat. It’s no different. This is totally an aside. It’s no different than the height of a toilet. It’s guilt for a man. Not a woman tight, right. Yeah. Okay. Do I think that means we need adjustable toilets? No, I don’t but but it was built with a man’s height and frame to be considered. On Instagram, I follow an influencer, who is very health and fitness oriented. That is her business. I follow her because she’s also got some really strong marketing messages. And I enjoy them. So someone asked her the other day, probably in her DMs. Why this was all she talked about health fitness, working out weightlifting, right. Why this was what she talked about. So she she shared a post, and it was probably, you know, all 10 carousel slides long. And the last one, and I like I read through, and I kept looking for this last one. And finally it came and she’s like, because I enjoy it. Right? And it it? Because she didn’t say it first, like that would have been my first answer. Because I like it. Right? Yeah, it would have been as complicated as my answer got. But to her credit, you know, she explained all sorts of things about it’s good for you, and blah, blah, blah. And then at the end, she said this, and I thought the fact that she had to say she actually enjoys it, she actually right. Um, and I, you know, I kind of reflected on that. Because when I used to be really active in CrossFit, people would ask me all the time, like, why do you do that? Because I like it, because it’s fun. I enjoy it. Like, why else would I? Why else would I put myself through something like that? Right? Yeah,

Sherry 17:59
It’s so awesome that you have that perspective in relationship to exercise, because so many of us don’t, right, like so many, you know, exercise gets lumped in with diet, right as a way to control the size and shape of our body. And you know, a lot of the work I do really is, is getting people to see that and getting them to come back to what you’re talking about. Find things that you enjoy, find things that make you feel good, let’s start eating in a way that makes us feel good.

Barb 18:28
Yes. And you know, honestly, cheery, I feel quite fortunate, because whether it was the choices that my parents made for me early on, or maybe it’s just who I was, there’s a lot of types of activities that I just always liked, I swam, I played baseball, I did all of these things. And the, when I look at the times in my own life that have been the most difficult, it’s when I can’t find something to do that I like and I’m like, do I mean physically, like, specifically, you know, gym oriented. So the times that I haven’t been able to find an activity or, you know, a team, something to be a part of that was bigger than just myself. Like, I was miserable, absolutely miserable. So I mean, it’s, it’s very important to me, and I shared this with you earlier, too. I remember that almost to the day, you know, I took the My Fitness Pal app off my phone, and I took something else off so I didn’t have to worry about macros. And I was like, Ah, there was a huge sigh

Barb 19:36
Of relief. And you know, there’s been a couple of times I’m preparing for a surgery right now, where like, I do need to pay attention to what I’m eating and what I’m doing. And just the mere thought of putting some type of app yes on my phone to track like I have resisted it at all cost because So back down that rabbit hole.

Sherry 20:01
Yeah, it’s so nice. Once you have that freedom, right you recognise, you can look back and I went on my own journey, I look back. And I’m like, so shocked at how restrictive I was like how and how normal that felt, right. Like, I brought all sorts of foods back into my diet. And sometimes I get it. It’s interesting, because sometimes, like, I still get a raised eyebrow for my husband, because like my family, sort of, it was just how I ate for such a long time. Yep. And every once in a while now they’ll look at me and be like, you’re gonna eat that mom. And I’m like, You bet. I’m gonna eat this.

Barb 20:33
Oh my god, it’s so funny that you tell that story. I was working with a health coach one time and we were we were specifically counting macros because I was doing some training for triathlon at the time, and very active in CrossFit. So it was it was really about finding the balance, and, and all of these sorts of things. Anyway, we sit down for supper one night, right after I started working with them, and my son, who at the time, maybe was five, like 10 years ago. Yeah, he was probably around five. He looked at my plate, and he’s like, Mom, you’re gonna eat all that. Right? And I just thought, wow, like the fact that, like, a child of that age has that kind of cognition. It tells you wear that coat the brainwashing, like weird screenwash. And that’s a great word. So, yes. So tell me about clients working with you. What can they expect? What does that journey look like working with you?

Sherry 21:31
Yeah, absolutely. So I primarily work with women sort of in that midlife range, right, like so mid 40s to mid 60s kind of time, who, you know, are have been professional, highly ethical and professional dieters, right? Or like yo, yo dieters, right? Yeah. And they’re really ready to step out of that diet cycle. Like they, they’re weary of it, they’re recognising that it’s just not working anymore. But often they’re afraid of doing so. Right. Like it brings up fear, you know, cuz back to your point of brainwashing it’s it’s kind of like admitting defeat, right? Yes.

Barb 22:03
Yes, exactly.

Sherry 22:06
Or, you know, the other fear is that it’s going to result in some some form of weight gain, right? Because we’ve always once we stopped the diets, the weight comes back on, right? So yes. So they want to step out of the cycle. They’re tired of it, but they’re not sure how, and they’re not sure what it means. So we go through a process to kind of work through that.

Barb 22:22
And they’re probably nervous. If I get off that diet. wagon, what’s going to happen? Right, yeah, there’s that fear that goes along with it too.

Sherry 22:31
Exactly. And especially again, sort of as we’ve hit mid life, because our bodies start changing. So a big piece of the work that we have to do is to recognise that we need to start working with our bodies, our bodies are so much smarter than us. And really, you know, we control very little at the end of the day, in terms of, I mean, of course, how we move what we eat this stuff matters. But it’s not all that matters. And, you know, biology Trumps willpower all the time. Yes,

Barb 22:59
Exactly. I agree wholeheartedly. Okay, so somebody decides that they’re ready to take the plunge. And so Sherry helped me out on this journey. Tell me what that looks like. How long do we work together? What do we do? How do you help me? shift my mindset so that I have a healthier perspective on moving and eating? Yeah, absolutely.

Sherry 23:22
So we usually dig into you know, always say like, having genuine health really starts with the foundation of having a healthy relationship to food. So we start by sort of examining, acknowledging sort of the influence diet culture has had on us all the stuff we’ve been talking about getting people to sort of recognise where they’re at, and giving them the courage to step out with some a science based information on why this stuff doesn’t work. But more often, it’s just their own lived experience. Yes. You know, it’s really just like, hey, what, what have I truly seen in my own and felt in my own life? Once we have that courage to kind of really start to put like, delete those dieting apps, throw away the scale, you immediately feel this weight lifted off your shoulders, and then we can start moving forward with Okay, let’s dismantle all those beliefs we have around food around good food and bad food. Because when we’re constantly labelling and applying judgement to food, we subconsciously apply those same labels to ourselves.

Barb 24:18
Very true. Yeah, really good point.

Sherry 24:21
Yeah. So and then, you know, food sometimes shows up as coping mechanisms, right? It’s become our go to for stress or emotional regulation, when we’re tired when we’re bored. You know, all those things, even for celebration, right? So we start to recognise what other coping mechanisms we have lean on other tools, but it’s really once we let go of the health equals diet plus exercise view of the world. You start to see other possibilities open up. Yes, absolutely. Um, another big piece of the puzzle, obviously, is, again, the sort of biology component that I mentioned. It’s really important for us to Just sort of start to acknowledge that, you know, we have to set like stop blaming, blaming our body for not conforming to diet, culture ideals, right? And understand how how genetics and biology really influence how we look, because we can’t you know, food and weight are inextricably linked. Yeah. And you can’t make peace with food, you can’t step on that diet cycle, you know, when you’re still at war with your body and the way you look. So that body confidence body image is a big piece of the work that we do. And that’s where the mindset shifts have to occur as well.

Barb 25:30
Yeah. And there’s a big piece in there that says, How do you start listening to your body? Bodies knows that Food is fuel. At the end of the day, your your body doesn’t necessarily care how many calories go in. Its fuel, my car needs gas, I need to get someplace. And I think that’s a really big acceptance piece. Yes. Okay. Did I have an apple today? Or did I have this? What did my body need or want?

Sherry 26:04
Yeah, so true. And that’s, so a lot of the work that I do is based on the principles of intuitive eating, Mm hmm. Trained to Intuitive Eating counsellor. And that’s, you know, the foundation of intuitive eating is really being able to listen to what how your how food responds in your body. And ultimately, we want to be responding based on feeling good, right? It’s not about that foods or bad foods are not about how much to eat, when to eat. It’s really about what’s my body telling me so often, we have to get in tune with that. And anybody who spent years or decades dieting is really good at ignoring their body. Oh,

Barb 26:39
You have to ignore your body to diet. You have to that’s Yeah, yeah. Bottom line.

Sherry 26:45
Yeah. So and that can be a process like getting back in touch with that, right. You know, so, you know, good analogies, like paying attention to when you have to go to the bathroom. Like, we’re pretty good at that. Although, some people in some jobs have learned to, you know, ignore that.

Barb 27:01
Or that because I’m busy. Yep.

Sherry 27:03
Right. But it’s like that, right. It’s like really learning to respond to what your, your body’s telling you. So that’s a big piece. Absolutely. of what we do. Yeah. And, you know, and then ultimately, at the end, it’s helping women to redefine what health means to them. Yeah. Right. So what what is important to you in your life, that health is so much more, you know, I sometimes like to say this, like, boiling health down to diet and exercise is like boiling marriage down to sex and love. We know that there’s more than two components necessary for a long lasting, happy marriage. It’s the same that’s true of your health. It’s not just physical, it’s, it’s emotional. It’s the people that you connect with. It’s feeling supported. It’s, you know, having social connections. It’s it is I mean, there’s aspects of how you move and what you eat, but it’s also like meaning and purpose and, and what do you do for a living? Like, there’s so many components of health? Yeah. And so really starting to connect the dots to get people to feel like this. This is what health means for me. And this is what, how I want to live my life so that I can be healthy.

Barb 28:07
Exactly. Be healthy, feel good, and be happy, not look good. I mean, if, if you’re happy with your appearance, you tend to feel good, but we often derive how we feel from how we want to look, when I get here, I will feel this way, you have no idea how you’re gonna feel when you get there, because you’ve never been there before. Or it’s been so long since you’ve been there that you can’t remember what that felt like.

Sherry 28:34
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So true.

Barb 28:37
And I think, you know, socially, there’s, there’s a crazy expectation in place that says, Well, this is what we see on TV. This is what we see in a magazine. Or this is what you look like when you graduated from high school. So you should look the same. No, I’ve had children and I’m no I shouldn’t and I don’t want to.

Sherry 28:56
Yes, it’s the No, I don’t want to that we have to get to like that’s the mindset shift. Right? So often, we believe we still should, you know, I love telling my kids yeah, I have this belly and you gave it to me that I’m good with it. Like, I have two beautiful boys. And I’m happy about that. Right? And I’m happy that I have a belly as a result.

Barb 29:14
Yes. I love looking at pictures with the kids because my kids will often comment on oh my god, like look at how much grey hair you have. Now, mom and I’m like, You gave me every one of them. Yes.

Sherry 29:25
I earned I earned every one of the Exactly,

Barb 29:28
Exactly. And they all kind of you know, they don’t get it and they they won’t until their parents and I’m okay with that. There’s there’s a huge gap I want to say especially for women, when it comes to self acceptance. This is who I am and you know, you either take me as I am or you don’t. And when you I would say and this is became very personally for me 40 Was I don’t care anymore what you think I’m going to do what I want And as long as it’s good for me, my family, right? Socially, society don’t care. And then there’s 45. And you just go, did whatever and you and and you can literally to tune the messages out. I know it’s not the same for everyone. But for me, those were my two milestones rose like, yeah, I, I don’t care at all what you think. And there’s so much power that comes from that feeling, being able to tune it out and disregard it with without it, you know, sometimes you say you disregard it, but sometimes there’s a residual and it continues to go in your head. Yes, yeah, absolutely. Did you say something? Oh, sorry, I don’t listen to that, right and genuinely to me.

Sherry 30:52
Oh, I just want to acknowledge that in you, BB. Because that is such a powerful way to, you know, to see yourself to live in your body. And it’s unfortunately, it’s not easy for everyone to get there. Mm hmm. Exactly, no. And so that’s where it’s really important for people to, you know, belong to a support community reach out and get some professional support, or, or whatever it takes for you to get there. Because that’s where I would love for everyone to be right. Like, that’s where we want every woman in this world to be.

Barb 31:17
Exactly. Yes. Sherry, I’m going to ask you one last question. And then we have to wrap up because we’ve gone over time, like I so often do. Our teenage girls, how do we help them get to a point that in 1020 and 30 years, they’re not having a conversation with their health coach? How do we build that in them that they can start to feel good about who they are?

Sherry 31:40
It’s such an awesome question, Barb, and I wish I had a really great answer. I don’t feel like I do other than, like, just awareness, right? The more we talk about this stuff, the more we start to educate ourselves, our children, the more we start to stop commenting on people’s bodies and their weight. You know, like one of the biggest compliments you can pay somebody in our society is Oh, you look fantastic. Have you lost weight, or you’ve lost weight? It looks so good. We stop commenting on how people look physically start commenting on their energy, their sense of humour, the you know, the way that they work, the detail oriented, how detail oriented, they like, whatever, there’s a million ways you can compliment somebody that don’t involve appearance.

Barb 32:25
Yes, exactly. And I think our brains again, especially as women, our brains go to that place where you look good. If you’re thin. Not you look good. If, right? Yes. And actually, you’ll remember at the very beginning of our conversation, when we were talking, I said, you know, are you okay? If I capture some video, because you look healthy. I can’t see the rest of your body. I have no idea what the rest of your body looks like. But your appearance, you You’re glowing, you’re rosy, you’re happy. You’re healthy. Right? And that’s what we need to be focused on, I think. Yes. Anyway, absolutely. We should wrap it up. Just before we do though, please tell our listeners how they can find you online, your social channels and your website. How will they find you?

Sherry 33:10
Absolutely. Yeah, so probably the simplest thing is just to go to my webpage, which is, you know, Sherry pratt.ca. You can also find me on Facebook, I got a business page for a pet health coaching, and on Instagram at Sherry Pratt underscore health coach. And if you go to my website, I’ve also got a free guide that you can get that you can grab around emotional eating. So it’s called halt emotional eating. It’s a fantastic tool, if you sort of struggle with that stress eating that emotional eating that is so typical when we’ve been in that diet cycle.

Barb 33:41
Yes, exactly. Awesome. All right. Well, thank you so much, Harry, for joining me and having a long conversation today, about health, about dieting, and about you know, being empowered to just step back from all of it, and delete those apps. So, on that note, if you want to sell your story, then you need to tell your story and there’s no better place to start than a secret life show. If you want to be a guest you can email me at barb at above the fold dot live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at above the fold. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google Girl and founder of the Get found for Local program. Remember, you were charged for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Sherry @ Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Ep. 122 Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical, Regina

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Today’s guest was born to be an entrepreneur.👶

Aaron Straus’ first business was raising meat rabbits at the age of 7 on his family farm near Strasbourg, SK and by the age of 11, using money earned from his paper route he got into the purebred Katahdin sheep business.

He went on to study Agriculture at the U of S and purchased his first section of farmland. Following his convocation in 2003, he returned home to farm full time running a commercial cattle / meat sheep / and grain operation.🚜

Following the passing of his parents and the ensueing labour shortage on the farm he made the decision to leave farming and moved to Regina. In 2011 he purchased City Collateral from his retiring Uncle & Aunt and continued to operate the business until 2022.

In 2017, he decided to diversify and open Cache Tactical Supply. Outside of business, Aaron has a broad range of interests including blacksmithing & knifemaking, hunting, fishing, woodworking and photography. Aaron and Stephanie live on an acreage near Regina and enjoy the getaway from the hustle of city life.

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Are you ready to make the door swing the phone ring and the tail ding? In this episode, we’re talking about one of the best kept secrets in any community. Its network of local businesses, businesses that rely on foot traffic, phone calls and website bookings. Those same businesses that support your kids sport teams, donate to fundraising fundraising efforts, and help you be prepared to find adventure and enjoy the outdoors. But no more secrets and the skinny lessons that will make you wince to the TMZ style tells these everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses to multilocation stores, you can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to viewers. Today, we’re sharing the secrets with a local business owner who helps you be prepared to be in the outdoors and enjoy it when you get there. Aaron Strauss is the owner and inspiration behind Cache Tactical. Welcome, Aaron, tell us a little bit about yourself and what keeps you going to be prepared and those outdoors.

Aaron 1:27
Thank you for having me. Well, like you said, I’m the owner of Cache Tactical Supply here in Regina. Cache Tactical was opened in 2017. But I actually started coming up with the idea for it a couple of years before that. I have been a business owner in Regina since 2011. And I enjoy the challenge of of building a business I I had found in my previous position that I had kind of hit a ceiling that short of moving to another city and opening another location. I really had to hit the limits of of what I can do with it. So I looked at diversifying and looking at the Regina market, I really seen a need for the outdoor adventure there was there’s big box options, but there’s there’s not the the one stop shop for outdoor adventure. And so that’s what we tried to grow and build when we first opened cash tactical back in 2017.

Barb 2:32
So in your previous position, were you in retail as well and outdoors or was there a store okay.

Aaron 2:39
I had actually had made a contact to with somebody for selling medical supplies. And so I was sourcing medical supplies for first responder groups and then selling them through the other location. And it was just getting to the point that it was taking up too much space in my warehouse, taking up too much of my staff staffs time for the other store that we needed to move it out and make it a dedicated business. So that’s when we decided to launch cash tactical as a standalone business. We’ve got our first building in 2017. And then with the idea that we were going to focus on the law enforcement, first responder market with medical supplies and uniforms. We’ve just grown from there.

Barb 3:38
And that’s still a part of your business today. But there’s actually quite a bit more to it isn’t there?

Aaron 3:44
Yeah, in addition to the to the uniform supply, the boots, all that type of things for law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, those groups. We do also have a full counting section of all fishing section, hiking backpacks, hunting section, including firearms, and we basically expanded to be the the one stop shop for the outdoor adventure seeker in Regina.

Barb 4:17
Yep. And if I recall correctly, you guys moved into a new building. I two years ago, 18 months ago.

Aaron 4:24
It was actually may 1 of 2020. So we’re we’re coming up on on one.

Barb 4:31
Yeah. Wait, did you say 2022?

Aaron 4:35
One year, so last year was very busy because we was the full transitional year going going from the old place to the new place and renovations on the new building. It was a very hectic year.

Barb 4:52
No kidding. How many square feet do you have now?

Aaron 4:55
We now have 17,000 square feet. That is fluids a training center that where we do, pal and our pal courses for firearms licenses. We also do stop the bleed courses in there for which is a short course for emergency traumatic bleeding issues. Then we’ve got our large sale floor, there’s there’s over 10,000 square feet of sale floor in the building, plus our warehouse.

Barb 5:29
Oh, leave. Okay. Yeah, so you’ve got a huge, huge building. So I would think, given that you are in partially in business to serve that first responder market, like you guys must be feel really safe in your building, law enforcement coming and going all day first responders coming and going throughout the day, that must be like, somewhat nice and secure.

Aaron 5:50
Yeah, it’s it’s really nice when your customers are almost like a built in security system.

Barb 5:56
But you know, there’s also something to be said for that relationship that you would have with many of the law enforcement as well. Right. Like, becomes a personal relationship, too.

Aaron 6:08
Yeah, absolutely. And, and I know in the past, when you have people coming in, they’re looking for that particular, hard to get item that you just can’t find, and nowhere else in southern Saskatchewan carries it and then all of a sudden, they find out that cash tactical does and then all their friends are coming in to get the same items. So we do see that quite regularly, that we build relationships in that regard.

Barb 6:39
Perfect. Okay, so let’s leave the law enforcement aside for a second. And let’s really dig into how you serve the community. And I’ll say the general public. So I mean, you guys have everything under the sun when it comes to outdoor adventure. Let’s talk a little bit about that. And how do you know like, what to bring in store what’s gonna sell? What does that process look like for you?

Aaron 7:01
Well, a lot of it. It’s conversations with our customers like I, I spend a fair bit of time even though I may not be on the front counter or the front till I make sure that when people are coming in that they’re seeing myself as the owner has the ability to have conversations with me. And that’s how I kind of feel out what demand there is for certain products. And you start to see that there’s enough people asking for a particular item, then in my process of going out to buying shows and all that sort of stuff, then I start seeking out that I basically follow what the customer demands. And a good example of that is Airsoft, we we really became the only bricks and mortar airsoft store in Saskatchewan, because the local airsoft support community came in and supported us. And even though that wasn’t on the original business plan, we clearly pivoted and we’ve, we’ve had to pivot multiple times due to issues beyond our control a lot of it doing dealing with legislation. And so so we are constantly willing to pivot and try new avenues to make sure that even though we may be a niche store, that we can serve six or seven different niches and be successful as a whole.

Barb 8:38
So, you know, I have to ask this question. So if I was to Google Airsoft, or some of the outdoor gear, is that one of the ways that you find that you’re attracting customers? Or again, is it word of mouth? What happens that way?

Aaron 8:56
Well, Googling airsoft in Saskatchewan will take you to cash practical, we are really the the only place that comes up for airsoft store in Saskatchewan. And, you know, it drives a lot of traffic to us. We’ve, I’ve been monitoring our our Google statistics, and they are moving every month. So that’s a that’s a good thing.

Barb 9:28
It’s a moving target. I will absolutely agree with that.

Aaron 9:33
Well, sometimes you got trouble to keep up with what everything means because there’s a change, a change in how they report things. And well now what does this mean? And unless you’re, unless you’re on top of it every single days, times a year, you’re at a loss to figure out what it means but basically, as long as you’re turning upwards, that’s that’s a good thing for me.

Barb 9:55
Exactly. So you started back in two Sep 2017 With Cache Tactical, you know, just retail has been through the wringer if you look at these last six years, including COVID. So, like, I’ve tried to envision that thinking, when you sat back and said, hey, you know what, I want to move into a 17,000 square foot footprint. And oh, yeah, we’re just nicely coming out of COVID. Like, what? What the heck are you drinking that night?

Aaron 10:23
Well see the interest interesting thing for my industry is a COVID really drove people to seek the outdoors and to seek the adventure and do it locally. And so it basically was a good way to drive new traffic to us, because people weren’t going on these elaborate vacations to Italy because they couldn’t fly. But, but they sure could head out to one of the provincial parks or or the national park wherever and enjoy the outdoors, they could go hunting, they could go fishing because there’s, you know, not much better way to socially distance during a pandemic. And so it really drove a lot of traffic our way and actually was a big help in being able to get us into this bigger buildings so that we can serve Regina better.

Barb 11:24
Yep. And let’s dig into some of those details like what do you actually offer because the outdoors is everything from airsoft to I don’t know dog leashes? Like tell us about your your offering. What does that look like Aaron?

Aaron 11:39
Well, we have camping section that would cover tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, cooking stoves, all that type of product, basically anything that you need to gear up to go out for a weekend to the park. We’ve also got to believe it or not coffee.

Barb 12:05
That’s a requirement if I’m going camping.

Aaron 12:07
Yeah, the coffee is found right in our camping section. But the unique thing about the coffee that we carry is they’re from veteran owned companies and portions of proceeds go back to veterans charities. So we carry both black rifle coffee and arrowhead coffee, both which are roasted and brewed in Canada, both supporting veterans, which goes back to the whole principle of of what our customer base is and who we want to support as a beginner.

Barb 12:37
Yep, yeah, exactly.

Aaron 12:40
Moving towards the back of our store, we’ve got a whole fishing section. You know, rods, reels, Luers everything summer fishing, winter fishing. We’ve got the whole selection here. We’ve got all your your hunting accessories, we’ve got including the firearms and ammunition scopes, all that type of thing. Safety gear is a good part of the store. So we’ve got all your basic medical supplies but also things that you can’t get anywhere else in in Regina like tourniquets, and you know, bloodstock gauze and you know sort of specialty items that are really good for the different groups of customers that we have and we can’t get anywhere else. We we also have a large apparel section, our our flagship apparel line is 511 tactical, and whether you’ve heard of them or not. They have the contract for that federal government law enforcement in the United States for pants. A lot of law enforcement in Canada were Pants made by 511 tactical and we are the southern Saskatchewan dealer for them. But they have the uniform and professional side of their line. But they have a full consumer line through with logo wear shirts and and shoes and backpacks you know the whole the whole line and we carry that all

Barb 14:27
How many items do you have in store do you know?

Aaron 14:31
I am I know on my website I’m over 6000 skews in the store is probably going to be a little bit more than that. And it gets it keeps us I’ve got basically one person that the full thing that she does is is data entry on on products coming in because we’ve got so much product coming through the door.

Barb 15:03
Yeah, exactly. So none of that is able to be also automated. So it’s not like you can scan something and it recognizes that you just got, you know, 105 11 shirts kind of thing.

Aaron 15:13
Well, the second time it comes in, it can be automated. The first time it comes in, all all of those need to be built manually item descriptions in the system. And once once all of that is built, then it’s simple. The next time the same product comes in, it’s just scan the barcode, and it’s into the system.

Barb 15:36
So okay, so that’s interesting, because that means that you’ve got somebody working, whether it’s full time or part time, and that many new items coming into the store that, you know, she, besides the scanning, she still has to keep that up to date.

Aaron 15:50
Well, and that’s the thing with a building the size of ours, we’re working to fill it. So I’m adding new product lines all the time. I know, yesterday, I was dealing with two new companies. And they’re, they’re big companies that would that’s focused on law enforcement products. And so that’s two new dealer apps that were getting in we were adding, you know, we’re adding new companies every month that we carry to expand our product line and, and make sure that we are fulfilling the needs of our customer base.

Barb 16:31
Yeah. So Aaron, what keeps you going? Because 6000 products on your website? How many ever more in store? Like that’s, I don’t know, like when I when I think about it, just from my own perspective, it starts to feel a little bit overwhelming if I ever had to deal with 6000 of anything. So what keeps you going on either the good days or the hard days?

Aaron 16:55
Well, I enjoy a challenge. Yeah. So if it was just, you know, that routine, same thing over, you know, replenishment only. Personally, I would find that boring. And I like to grow and develop ideas. And, you know, like I am, I am planning on adding a full custom shop doors or store. So so that’s another area that I’m working on developing right now. So that that will allow you to get your 511 shirt from me, and then get your logo embroidered on it all in a one stop shop. Okay, and part of our customer shop is going to be include laser engraving and, and custom tailoring and that type of thing. We may even get into custom manufacturing of products. The idea is I’m always looking for the the next thing that the the company is doing my my ideas, I always, I’m always looking at the next thing, and then I get my staff to take care of the current thing. And then that’s how, so once once the staff can handle the current thing, and then we move on to the next thing. And Bill.

Barb 18:16
Yeah. So how do your staff respond to that when there’s constant change? And, you know, new things they need to keep track of? How are they responding to that?

Aaron 18:27
They’re a good crew. I, I’m, I’m sure there’s there’s probably some thought of Oh, no, here’s another thing from Aaron. But you know, they’re, they’re a good crew, and they can keep up with, with my demands that I put on them, you know, and and the nice thing about it is that I’ve got longevity in my employees, like I’ve, I don’t have a lot of turnover, and that really helps giving given the stability to these ideas. So so there’s that it’s almost like an institutional knowledge that that stuff can just keep on going. And then as you move on to new items, yes.

Barb 19:08
Well, and that that corporate knowledge or that corporate history, that in invaluable, because when you can, can work with somebody on a long term basis, even the contribution that they’re able to give back. So here’s Aaron with his newest idea. And here’s the employee saying, Okay, wait a second, you know, here’s why I think it might work. Here’s why I think it might not, because when it’s somebody brand new, they’re not going to be comfortable saying I do crazy. We’re a long term employee is going to be much more comfortable saying something like that, right. Yeah. You know, I have a gal who I’ve been working with for a couple of years now and she has a term for all of my ideas. Your employees may have a similar term and they’ve just never shared it with you. But she talks about BB isms. And so Oh, that’s another BB isn’t? And it’s like, oh, and you know, it’s totally said in jest, but it’s it’s how I say things or how I present things. And you know, it’s not something she can go and Google, it’s Oh, okay, that’s a barbarism. I had no idea that you had that term. Oh, yes. You shared it a few times. Okay, so tell me about the future. What is the future? You’ve talked about the customer shop? Does the customer shop means more square footage? Where do you see retail going? Because, as you already talked about, you’ve got some big bucks competitors. And you’ve got some tough online competitors. So what keeps the local customer coming to you in the future?

Aaron 20:44
Well, one of the big things is a lot of the product we we carry, being able to put it in your hands, is the is a major selling point. And now we do have a full online store, we we are growing that side of the business, too, we ship products all over Canada and into the territories. The so we’re definitely working on our expand our reach outside of the physical walls of the building. But at the at the same point, there’s something that online commerce doesn’t give it takes away. It’s kind of like the old argument of are you going to read a physical book, are you going to read a Kindle and the Kindle, take something away from from the experience. And you know, it’s the same thing in the store, you can go and shop for a backpack, anywhere online, but you can’t put it on. While you’re sitting at the computer, you can’t get the advice of while you may, you might not need doc for your purpose, because we’re here with a wealth of knowledge that we know how these get used on an average person. And then they’ll say, Well, you what you’re telling me you’re using whatever product for you might be better off going with this product instead. And you get that, that customer service and that knowledge there that you would never ever get from an E commerce. So yes, ecommerce is growing, and it’s going to continue to grow probably exponentially for a number of years. But you I don’t think you’ll ever get rid of that actual retail experience, because there’s benefits to it that eat EComm to not compete with

Barb 22:45
Exactly. And I think there’s another side to that challenge is we’ve got some demographics now who they’re not concerned about, you know, seeing it, touching it, feeling it, they’ll order it online, if they don’t like it, they’ll send it back. So they’re willing to take that additional time, where there’s still a solid group, who they do they want to touch it, they want to feel it, they want to talk to somebody about it. And just last Thursday, I was shopping for an item, I spent six hours driving to all of the different locations where I thought I might find that particular item. And there wasn’t a single location in Regina that had an unboxed item that I could touch and feel and test. And so in the end, I had to order it online. It’ll come in a couple of weeks, I’ll test it and decide before my you know, exchange period is up whether or not I keep it. And I think that’s one of the challenges for both us as the general public. But for as business owners, how much do I bring in store so that people can touch and feel versus how much is on my website? Because if I’m coming in, and I’m going to try on some 511 I want to try it in my size. I don’t want to guess that, okay, this is a large and medium would fit me or vice versa. So that’s one of the challenges and how do you think you’ll you’ll manage something like that?

Aaron 24:19
Well, you know, it’s the whole online side of things like you’re saying that you ordered this and then you’ll decide whether you like it. The problem is you decide you didn’t like it. Now you’ve paid for shipping to come to you and you are going to pay for shipping to go back. And now you’ve got sunk money there. So that’s that’s why I think that that retail is far from dead. You know, there is going to be always that growth on EECOM and anyone in my space needs to be in EECOM however, I don’t Think that retail is dead and, or will die in my lifetime?

Barb 25:04
No, I don’t think it will either. And in fact, I would argue that the let’s just say Gen Z, as they get 10 years older, and now they’re 35 or 10 years older, and now they’re 45, I think they’re going to start to see some value in the touch in the field. It’s right now that, you know, everything is disposable to them. They want it cheap, they want it fast, right? They’ve got a little bit of disposable income. They’re looking for a very different experience where you know, 3545 55 you’re looking for, for quality, you’re looking for something that you can actually try on. And I think that makes a huge difference.

Aaron 25:48
You know, go ahead, that reminds me I in my personal life, I do blacksmithing as a hobby, and my personal life,

Barb 25:55
Wait a second.

Aaron 25:59
When I first told my aunt, that I was getting into blacksmithing and knifemaking, her exact comment to me, she says, Well, why would you do that when you can go to Walmart and buy a night for $10? That’s not the point. I don’t want a $10 knife.

Barb 26:16
Yeah, yeah, exactly. You don’t want the $10 knife. And again, it’s about the experience. It’s about the craftsmanship. It’s about the quality behind what you can make yourself. And you just like last week, last week’s guest. He’s still doing woodworking. Well, yeah, I can go to Walmart or I can go to Ikea, and I can buy something. But it’s not the right size. It’s not the right color. The craftsmanship isn’t there, it falls apart, you know, six months later. And that’s we’re losing that, right? In so many cases, I think we’re losing that element. And I’m a big believer that we’re actually going to see a rebound, where people will start to appreciate quality versus just convenience, because that’s what it is right now is it’s it’s convenient to shop online. And if I can shop locally, at two o’clock in the morning, I’m just as likely to do that. So it’s a good thing. Aaron, is there anything else that you’d like to share with our audience? Before we wrap up today?

Aaron 27:19
Ah, you know, I guess it’s, it’s been an interesting roller coaster here. Since we’ve started this business. I know, we definitely have seen some challenges like we’ve worked through, a lot of those can tend to be regulatory, but we’ve even seen issues with with Google with Facebook, where they don’t like particular products, for one reason or another. And so that does lead to challenges for us. And so that’s, I mean, that’s another reason why, why retail is still going to thrive locally, is because a lot of products are not welcomed by the mega companies like like Facebook, Instagram, Google, all those types of things. So I mean, that’s, that’s something that we can that we can offer that you don’t get overwhelmed with on online.

Barb 28:26
Yeah, exactly. I agree with you, 100%. And I find it so interesting. Of course, you and I have had a few conversations ahead of time. I find it so interesting, that big brother has decided what our sins are in society. And you know, government has a tendency to stick their foot in there probably a little bit too often. And now we have the Googles and Facebooks of the world doing it too. So it it adds to the list of challenges that apparently you’d like to tackle. So, yeah, kudos to you. There’s lots of lots of folks who wouldn’t talk about one. Awesome. All right, Aaron, just as we wrap up, but I’ll get you to do is share with everyone who’s listening, how they can find you. Where are you? Where are you online? Tell us a little bit about that information.

Aaron 29:12
Okay, well, our physical store located in Regina right in the warehouse district, corner of seventh and corner Mall. The actual address is 217 6/7 Avenue. Our website is www.cachetactical.ca. And that is path spelled ca ch E and we are on socials. We’re on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all under the name cache tactical

Barb 29:47
Awesome. Well that is fantastic. And what would someone Google to find you?

Aaron 29:52
They would Google Cache Tactical and or Outdoor Adventure in Regina.

Barb 29:58
Exactly. That is perfect. All right, Aaron, thanks very much for joining us today to talk about Cache tactical and some of the challenges that you’re willingly taking on. On that we’re having having me on. Absolutely. On that note, if you would like to sell your story, then you need to tell your story and there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life show. If you would like to be a guest, you can email me at barb@abovethefold.live, or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at abovethefold.ca. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and local business cheerleader. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Aaron @ Cache Tactical Supply

Ep. 121 Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Today’s guest is dishing on the lost art of woodworking!

Cedric Delavaud, a university educated business owner, returned to his roots🌳 (no pun intended!) and his passion to build a woodworking business creating, mastering and sharing his expertise. With a focus on building and sharing his love for the craft in an environmentally safe way, Cedric hopes to help build resilience and tenacity in the next generation.

Listen in to hear his passion and check him out online to learn more!

Transcript

Barb 0:01
Are you ready to make the door swing the phone ring and the tail ding. In this episode, we’re talking about one of the best kept secrets in any community. Its network of local businesses, from the skinny lessons that make you wince to the tell all expose as these everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business marketer and founder of the Get found for local programme. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses to multilocation stores. You can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers. Today, we’re talking with Cedric beliveau from Ludoland here in Regina. I’m gonna let you tell him, I’m gonna let him tell you all about the ins and outs of his business. But my very first question, Cedric, what the heck is a Ludoland?

Cedric 1:03
Hello, Barb. So we’ve looked around, I essentially do. Two things I offer woodworking classes can be for kids or adults. And I also build fine handcrafted products, mostly games and furniture.

Barb 1:18
Excellent. So it let’s talk a little bit about that. Before we got on air. You started explaining to me what Ludoland mean. So let’s tell everybody because that’s a fantastic story.

Cedric 1:31
Yes, so as you may probably hear, I have a strong accent. I’m coming from France. And I want it to have two sides in my name, the Francophone side and the English side. So Ludo is a French word. That means learning while having fun learning while playing. So I was mostly thinking about the workshops and, you know, building things with kids. And so yeah, that’s how it came up Ludoland a place for kids to have fun and learn things.

Barb 2:04
Exactly. So was that kind of your original idea for the business was you were going to help kids with working to keep the craft alive?

Cedric 2:13
Oh, boy, no, no, I actually started with making games. That was a very, very small thing I was doing. And, you know, it’s kind of weird. When you run a business, you start with one idea. And then you have another radio and another one another another one. And it just builds up like this. Yes. So. So ya know, the original idea was to sell games. And then I added the classes for kids and then added the added classes and yeah.

Barb 2:44
Oh, very cool. So like, how do people find you? Because to be honest, before we had a chance to talk, I hadn’t heard of your business. But once I hit up your website, there is some amazing stuff that you’ve built. There’s classes for kids, teens and adults. So like, how are people finding you?

Cedric 3:03
Well, I, I would say it’s mostly word of mouth, you know, it’s, you know, people would come in my shop, bring their kids, they like it. So they talk to their friends. And that’s how it works. Mostly. That’s I think one of the challenges when you run a business is the marketing sides and get people to know you. That’s something very difficult. And for artists, especially like we do things because we love what we do, but we don’t have any training in you know, the accounting or marketing. So that that’s, that’s the tough part.

Barb 3:41
Yeah, yeah. No, that’s a very good point. So tell me, what does a typical day look like for you? Because I’m thinking you’re not hopping on a podcast every day.

Cedric 3:51
Yeah, though, a typical day starts with coffee a lot. And yeah, no, usually I start my day by, you know, answering all the emails and question I receive during the evening and, and then I spend most of my day in the shop, building things until 334 30. And after that, I do my classes. So the after school programme, where I receive kids in the shop to build things. So that’s a typical typical day in my shop.

Barb 4:26
Excellent. So let’s talk a little bit about these classes. What kind of things would the kids learn or the adults what would they work on?

Cedric 4:34
So kids I have two programmes. So the after school programme, they don’t get to choose what the worker Okay, so I tell them, we’re going to work on that project and everybody is doing the same thing. Which is cool, but what I like the best is the summer programme because I offer kids to choose whatever they want to build. Okay. So, so yeah, that’s a great opportunity for them to come up with one idea. They don’t know how they’re going to do that. And sometimes even I don’t know, like, oh, boy, that’s ambitious, you know? Yeah. But we just get to work on that. And literally, every time like, make it happen, and yes, there is a woodworking side, but I also invest a lot on mistakes, you know. And that’s something I think in our society, we don’t give much credit to mistakes. And I think that mistakes are great way to learn things. Yes. So yeah, that’s something also I try to, you know, make them understand that mistakes are here, because you’re trying something new. And obviously, you do mistakes, like everyone at every age, and that’s something I want to implement in their mind, you know, mistakes are fine. They’re just a way for you to learn something,

Barb 6:03
You know, I wouldn’t even go one step further and say, mistakes are important, because it builds up resilience. And you to survive in today’s world, you need to be somewhat resilient to I’m going to try this, okay, it didn’t work, I’m going to try something different. And, and that, I guess, resilience, use my own word, that ability to go back and try again and again and again, until something works, or until you find another way to do something that is so important, especially as you talked about in your intro. Because we’re so reliant on technology, we look for our phones to solve absolutely everything. And something like the craft that you practice, it’s a complete lost art, because you can put it on, you know, a machine and make something probably not have the same quality. So, yeah, like, I think the skill that’s being learned there is huge, absolutely huge. Let’s touch on that craft for just a minute. Obviously, this is a very well honed skill for you. Is it something like was your data word woodworker as well? Where does the passion come from?

Cedric 7:18
Well, you You’re beside it, it’s my dad. He was, he was a woodworker. And I was lucky enough to have so that woodworker, but the dad who was also patient enough to allow me to hang with him in the shop. And so I get to see him working. And I helped him and I learned a lot with him. But you know, then life is about you know, you go to school, you get your degree, you have to find a job. And you get into that. I call that a bad routine, because we want everyone to fit in the same mould. I don’t think we all meant to do that. But anyway, and I wasn’t feeling good. So yeah, I just at some point in my life had just stopped and said, I want to go back to what I used to love when I was a kid. And I was thinking about my dad and how I would do things and build beds and and I said that’s what I want to do. So I just got back to it and bought some tools and re practice all the things I remembered. And that’s how I got into it. Wow,

Barb 8:33
That is so interesting. And you know, your point about I think we as parents and society, we we tend to want to put kids into a box. And so when a child or when a teen is in high school, when they’re in grade 12, we quite often will say, you know, where are you going to school next year, instead of saying, What are your plans after grade 12? Because some are gonna go to school, some aren’t. Some are going to, they’re going to do all sorts of different things. And I’ll be the first to admit that my husband and I, we both have enough credentials behind her name to you know, choke on. But one of our kids came to us one day and said, What if I don’t go to university? And I was like, Okay, what if you don’t, but he kind of looked at me, he’s in grade nine right now. So he kind of looked at me and he said, Well, are you going to be mad? I said, I don’t care to your life. I said, as long as you’re happy and you can pay your bills, it’s up to you. And you could you could literally see the stress fall from his face, because clearly, you know, he was feeling like that was an expectation. And so having asked the question now, there was that moment of oh, my god, like I get to choose. And yeah, I don’t I don’t care what my kids do as long as it’s legal, as long as no one else. And you know, they consist In themselves, like my job, my job is to build a functioning adult not to make a copy of myself or my husband.

Cedric 10:08
Absolutely. And you see, it just reminds me when I was at that age, I would have loved to go into, you know, woodworking and getting to learn earlier, some skills. But I was pretty good at school. So my teachers, and my parents said, No, you have to go to university. And I was like, Yeah, but what if I don’t want to? Well, you’re good at school, you have to those going, you know, to learn skills, or those who are not good at school. And I was like, what kind of thing is that? It doesn’t make any sense, you know, you should be able to choose regardless the level at school or

Barb 10:52
Exactly, yes. Well, you know, and it’s funny, because my 14 year old again, he’s very strong in math. And so he’s been invited to participate in like, the higher level math class or whatever. And so he was kind of questioning and I said, you know, Hey, buddy, if you end up going into carpentry or any of the trades, like being able to do that math off the top of your head, that is going to be a skill that will serve you incredibly well. And it wasn’t until we had that conversation that he kind of went Oh, yeah, so I can actually use it now convincing him that he’s going to use a polynomial or whatever they’re called, convincing him of that. That doesn’t happen quite so easily. So, Cedric, you never told me before we started? Is your dad in Canada? Is he still here? With Oh, he’s still in France. Oh, okay. So pictures and videos of what you’ve made? Yeah, yeah, I do. I do. Yeah. Sorry to see critique them, does He say, oh, you should have this. And you should have that? Ah,

Cedric 11:56
No, I would say that he’s impressed. Because I remember when I told him that I would quit my job and stop doing my own business with woodworking. He was like, what to do. And it was like, you don’t realise how much things you need to know you need to learn. And I was like, I don’t care. I don’t care. You know, I made that choice. And I’m gonna put all the efforts required to achieve my goals. So yeah, yeah, he was doubling first. But now when I show him what I’m making for my clients, yeah,

Barb 12:32
Yeah, no, that’s good. Yeah, exactly. You know, and that’s so true. I think that’s, I think that’s when you can recognise that someone is truly an entrepreneur, when they can admit that. I don’t have a clue. But I will figure it out. Because being an entrepreneur takes a special kind of tenacity, to be able to say, Hey, I’m ditching the corporate career, I’m ditching the university educated career, and you know, I’m going down this path instead and let go, because I got to figure stuff out.

Cedric 13:05
And I think there’s a lot of people, they think you need a plan, you know, things need to be planned and set up. And you’re going to do that in order to achieve that. And it’s like, no, there’s no such thing. You just, you know, you make a decision. You put the effort in, and eventually things will come to you. You know, like, if you put the efforts in like, yeah,

Barb 13:30
Yeah, it’s and that is so important. You have to be putting the time in, you need to, you know, fine tune the skill, the craft, get the message out there, do all of those sorts of things, right? Absolutely. Yeah, one of the one of the things that you shared with me before we started was around the environmental practices that you have, or how environmentally friendly woodworking can be because you’re using natural stains and things like that. Just talk for a little bit about that and share with our listeners what that looks like.

Cedric 14:00
Yeah, so that’s something that was very important for me since the beginning. But I that’s it’s still something I’m improving, you know, like, I just want my business to have the lowest impact on Earth, you know. So yeah, I am now using all natural stain and natural finishing. So if you go in match my shop, there won’t be any bad chemical orders like everything is natural. I also recently switched to no paper so I don’t use paper at all in my business. And the glue as well. I’m trying a new glue that is animal glue. So that’s something that was actually used in the past that back in times, there was no chemical so people had to find a way to stain to glue and to finish their pieces without chemicals. So I’m trying to get back into those traditional methods. And, and yeah, it have, it has a very low impact on the environment. And that’s really what I like. And when kids come in the shop, they get to use that as well. And I feel very comfortable and safe to give them this product because it’s safe to use does. It’s all water based are all based. There’s no chemical at all. So yeah,

Barb 15:27
So tell me about being no paper because right away sandpaper jumps into my mind. So how do you be paid? Okay. Okay, so there’s still sandpaper got me? Got the paper isn’t technically paper, right? So, ya know,

Cedric 15:42
When I talked about paper, it’s about invoices. And like, yes, exactly. So for example, all the rules for my games, there are PDF version. And I have a little tablet where I do all my sketching all my notes, my calendar, everything is on that little tablet. And, and yeah, I’ve been reducing a lot like you don’t realise, until you step into no paper. But before I give amount of paper I would use I was like, Oh, my goodness, that’s such a waste such a waste. So no more paper here.

Barb 16:25
Good for you. And, you know, I think there’s a generational thing there. Because I am, let’s say 100% electronic, but the way my brain works, I need to write things down on paper to stick. So if I just type it, it will stay in my brain anywhere near the same way as if I make some notes. So I end up with all these chicken scratch notes that honestly I never go look at, because I remember them because I wrote it down. So maybe I need to think about the tablet you can write on. But for right

Cedric 17:00
Now, I am like you. And that’s the reason why I got a paper tablet, which is a tablet you actually write on because I tried electronic with typing. It doesn’t work for me. Like it doesn’t stay in my head. I don’t know why I couldn’t get used to it. So I’m like this, I need to write things down with my hand. So yeah, I got this little tablet, and that’s working perfectly for me.

Barb 17:29
So does it save for you like, can you save whenever you write,

Cedric 17:35
It’s yes, it saves everything, you can create your own template. So I’ve been creating a template for my calendar that suits my needs. So I have my table template from the calendar I’ve got, I can take notes, all kinds of things. That’s very great tool for me.

Barb 17:52
Well, yeah. Okay, so we’re gonna talk for a few minutes offline. Coming up right away. So I think I might be adding to my birthday list that I see right away. I mean, like, tomorrow is my birthday. So I can give that to my husband tonight. He owes me like, we will go into detail, but he owes me for my birthday. So I told them exactly. But get this. I told them exactly what I wanted. I gave him the link to go and like purchase. It’s a local thing that’s happening. And he dragged his heels and hummed and hawed and then tickets were sold out. So it’s kind of in the back house. Okay, so let’s talk about, let’s talk about you again, because that’s why we’re here. So we talked a little bit about the classes, but I know you also do game rental, so games that you’ve made, and then you rent them. So like, Tell me about that, are they great big ones are they like tabletop ones, tell me a little bit about that,

Cedric 18:53
Um, either both I have got some big games that would sit on the ground, because they’re just too big to be on the table. I have some that sits on a table, but they’re still you know, fairly big. And these games are traditional games from Europe. So before we had all the electronics and all that kind of thing, people used to go in fairs. And you would find a lot of these wooden games for, you know, people to play with. It’s not even for kids, you know, like adults can play with that too. And, and they got into pubs in Europe as well. And thus still, they’re still pretty used now in Europe, obviously less than back in times. And when I arrived in Canada, I didn’t find any of these games and I could be a good idea you know, to make some and offer them for people you know, to to rent it for weddings or festivals or you know, stuff like this and, and when people usually really, really liked it. Oh, I bet

Barb 19:59
Like, right away, my mind jumped to my kids birthdays, because being teens now, like they need something to do other than playing on their phone. Right? And so it’s like, yeah, rent a couple of these things. My daughter’s birthday is in the spring. So it would still be, you know, hopefully, hopefully nice weather by then. But that’s exactly my son’s birthday. Like, there’s just always going to be snow, no two questions about it. In fact, if there wasn’t snow for his birthday, that would be a little bit worrisome, because he’s right in the dead of winter. So whatever. But yeah, that’s, that’s an awesome idea. So how do people go about renting?

Cedric 20:40
So, usually, they contact me. And yeah, they just tell me, you know, how much games they want, how long they want them? Where they want them. And I just, you know, on the day of the renting, I would load metric with all the games they chose and come to their place, set it up. Give them the rules then

Barb 21:05
Matter? No, that’s awesome. That is fantastic. We’re just about at a time. So technically, we’re actually at a time but that’s okay. I give us the details. How do people find you find your website, give us the address, give us all those details.

Cedric 21:22
So if you go on social media, I am on Instagram, Facebook, so you just type Loulan Regina, and you would you know find my pages. And the website is just www.ludoland.site. And on the site, you have all the informations you have links to register for classes, you have all the prices you have all the regular products they offer as well. So

Barb 21:48
Yeah, okay, that is awesome. Super easy to find you. And when will you be having classes this spring? For the Easter break, even?

Probably for after Easter break before that by the time we get the show produced.

Cedric 22:03
Oh, yeah, this is a time of the year where it’s a little bit tricky because I have the summer classes coming up. And I want to get some time free before these classes to to prep them. So I still don’t know at the moment. I may have a last after school programme before summer. But in a couple of weeks, I will release all the details for summer and depending on how it goes I will decide whether or not I run the last session before seven.

Barb 22:36
Got it. Okay, well, that is fantastic. Is there anything else that you’d like to share? Before we wrap up today? I don’t know. I think we’re gonna share a bottle of wine from France with me. Oh, I’m teasing, teasing.

Cedric 23:00
My dad is often sending me good wine bottle from friends, but they usually do not last very long in the house.

Barb 23:12
Instantly, they would be gone instantly. I hear you. Alright, well, I will go ahead and wrap this up today. So thank you so much, Cedric for joining me today and talking a little bit about Ludoland and the games you’re making your environmental practices, the classes that you’re teaching. I think one of the things that we all as local business owners see more often than we would like is sometimes it’s really hard to get our name out there, get our product out there. So I really appreciate that you took the time to come and talk with us today. And I do hope that lots of folks who hear the episode will reach out and make some contact. On that note, if you want to sell your story you need to tell your story and there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life show. If you would like to be a guest you can email me at barb at above the fold dot live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at above the fold. Ca I’m your host Bart McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local programme. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Cedric @ Ludoland Regina

Ep. 120 Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Today we’re going behind the scenes to talk about programs that support entrepreneurs in growing, starting and expanding their businesses.
Jasmine Patterson is a well-known and well-respected business cheerleader from the #AudacityQYR movement to her current role with the Business Development Bank of Canada. Jasmine’s journey has been anything but “as predicted.”
Tune in as she shares her story of growing her career in the entrepreneurial community and the personal tole that unfolded.

Transcript

Barb 0:02
Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone ring and the tilting? In this episode we’re talking about one of the best kept secrets in any community. The behind the scenes programmes that support local businesses and entrepreneurs in getting started growing and expanding from the skinny lessons that will make you wince, wince to the to the TMZ style tell all expos as these everyday people are doing extraordinary things. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local programme. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses to multilocation stores, you can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers today to doers. Today, we’re going behind the scenes of Jasmine Patterson, a well known and well respected business cheerleader. Welcome Jasmine, tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey.

Jasmine 1:02
Oh, thanks, Barb. You’re such a sweetheart. Cheerleader. I like that term. I like to like to be a cheerleader for entrepreneurs. Definitely.

Barb 1:11
Exactly. entrepreneurs need that they need people behind them, boosting them up because entrepreneurial or anybody who’s an entrepreneur. It’s a crazy world. Right? Crazy, but I interrupted you. So tell us.

Jasmine 1:26
Okay, yeah, no, that’s, uh, I mean, it’s a big part of what has brought me to where I am today is that like, loving cheerleading for entrepreneurs and realising how much Regina entrepreneurs, Saskatchewan entrepreneurs are so humble and need people to help, like, tell them to be audacious and tell their story and like, write about themselves. Like, you aren’t a amazing entrepreneur. And you need to brag about yourself, and that’s okay. And you should and other people should do so.

Barb 1:57
Okay, so I want to do so. But let’s talk about that. So why do you think that, especially here in Saskatchewan, we have such a tough time bragging about ourselves? Why is it so hard for us?

Jasmine 2:13
I honestly think it comes from the humble roots of Saskatchewan. And we come from rural farmers where the like we’re the one living skies we are the breadbasket of Canada. So we were all kind of like, came from farmers being very humbled, doing the work that we needed to do getting things done. And we always just worked really hard and got things done, and never really thought to tell people how amazing the things are that we’re doing. And I noticed that like time and time again, when I started working for economic development, Regina, and we were working with entrepreneurs, I just noticed that I’d be talking to somebody and they start telling me about some of the accomplishments that they had done. And I was like, Oh my gosh, like, people don’t realise that the world Entrepreneur of the Year Award from EY was from Regina, well fed Davidson tea with agency foods, like he wasn’t a world Entrepreneur of the Year. So I’m here and people like to never realise that or I know people in Toronto that know about Hellberg and Burke, or skip the dishes, and just assume that it’s like a east coast or west coast.

Barb 3:25
We’re back here.

Jasmine 3:26
Yeah, it came right from, they don’t realise it came right from the prairies and came right from Regina. So it was really exciting for me to be able to help tell those stories, and to work with entrepreneurs and startups and tell them like, you can do anything from here. Like we actually have a huge advantage being in Regina and Saskatchewan. Because we are like that Little Big Town mindset. Yes. Where you can learn from anybody. You can call anybody and ask them like, Hey, can I buy you a coffee and learn from you? And they’re like, Yeah, for sure. Because that’s just how Perry people Saskatchewan people are

Barb 4:00
Exactly that. It’s how we’re hardwired. In fact, you talked about that in your introduction that you provided me before we started today. And I had to giggle when I read that because it’s so true. You can call anybody you can send anybody a LinkedIn request. And as soon as you explain, hey, I’m from Saskatchewan to and blah, blah, blah, people accept that request. And they are more than open to having a conversation. And I agree wholeheartedly. I went to University in Ontario, and it’s a really different culture, great people. But, but so much more competition, right? And it didn’t matter if it was for a job if it was for the guy you wanted to date, right? There was so much competition over everything that that same culture did not exist. Nobody was there to give you a hand up. In fact, they were more likely to you know, bump you out of the way but in front of you, right, that kind of thing. And that was really hard to get used to at first when I first moved out there and it made that decision easy when I decided you know what I’m ready to go home. Yeah, it was.

Jasmine 5:04
Yeah, honestly. Yeah, that’s a big part of what kept me here. Like I advocate strongly, I’m a big advocate for Regina for Saskatchewan for the prairies. for that exact reason, like I’ve had my one of my best friends lives in Toronto, she has tried to get me to come there. My dad lives in Kelowna, he’s tried to get me to come that way. And I’m like, love it, I will travel to come see you. But I’m not leaving here. Because people that live here have such big opportunity to like the sky’s the limit, like when I was for economic development, Regina, I was leading a group called the Council for entrepreneurship growth, which came up with the audacity movement, which I know you’re familiar with. But it was a group of individuals like radicals who had been involved with it that Rachel milky with Hellberg and Burke was on it. There are quite a few different individuals on that committee. And like, I was only a couple of years at a university. And I’m hoping like run that meeting. There’s no way like when I told my friends who lived in Toronto or live in Vancouver that I was doing that, like they would have had been working there for 10 years or more to even get that opportunity. Exactly. Like, people give you the chance.

Barb 6:19
Yeah, so and in fact, even that couple of years out of university, you were just as likely to go for coffee or lunch with Rachel milky after you were done the meeting or before the meeting to prepare. And where you put yourself in Toronto or Vancouver, like somebody else at a completely different level is doing all of that. And if you even get to sit in the room, you’re doing lucky. Right? So so how did you how did you get into supporting entrepreneurs? Do you come from an entrepreneurial family? Were you ever an entrepreneur? Like, like, how did you actually find yourself supporting all of us crazy entrepreneurs who bounce around? Like, I don’t know ping pong balls?

Jasmine 6:55
Yes, I love it. I think that’s why is just because I love the energy of entrepreneurs. But so I was in university actually, I started university, going into the sciences. I don’t know if you know that. But I did. Yes, my first two and a half years of university, I was in the sciences. I was like bound and determined since I was five that I was going to be a veterinarian. Sure. Okay. Animals, so I absolutely adore. So I’m still working on working that into like, I’ve done like little side hustles as like doing pet photography and stuff like that just because of animal perfect. That. Yeah, so I was in sciences. And then I actually, one of my like, advice that I was give to younger individuals is volunteer for whatever it is that you think you want to do for your life. So when I was in high school, I had volunteered actually my first year in university, I would say, it was my first year university, I volunteered at about clinic for six months. And every Saturday mornings. I mean, you talk to anybody, if you offer them free work, and you’re like, Hey, can I work for you for free? Because I just want to like learn about what it’s like to be in this environment, some thinking about doing a fair job, like nine out of 10 times, they’re gonna say yes, because you’re a worker. Yeah, so I did that. And every Saturday morning, I was there. And I started realising the pieces of it that I was missing. So I love working with people. I’ve always been in sales and hospitality jobs my whole life. Like since I was 12, I’ve had jobs. And so I miss, like, I worked with a lot of animals, which is amazing, but I miss talking to people. And then so I was like, well, maybe this isn’t for me putting the animals down.

Barb 8:37
Well, can’t even imagine.

Jasmine 8:41
And then also, I realised real quick that getting the average that you need to get into veterinarian schools in sciences while working full time because I was working full time because I was also like helping in my household to like pay bills and stuff like that. So I had to work, but I couldn’t get my average to the point that it needed to be. So I was like, Okay, well, what else could I potentially do? Maybe pharmacy, so I volunteered with a pharmacy really, really fast. I went there for like a month. And I was like nope, like, this is not my thing. People that do it, but it just wasn’t for me. So then I was actually working for pretty much telecommunications at the time. And my boss there was like, You’re so good at sales, you should switch into business. And I was like, I don’t know, I always found myself in scientists. I loved science as a kid. And then I took a finance class just as an elective to be like, well, I’ll just try business class. The Cube con was my prof and I fell in love with finance. So thank you very much. And I was just so engaged. And then I started like looking more into the business faculty and I realised that you could like be in all these clubs and like join like JVC RAs and be in like all these different things and meet so many people. And I was like hanging out he was right It’s totally for me. So I made the switch. And actually, you’re on my first prop for communication. Yeah, I made the first switch into business. Oh, yes. So then and your clock is fabulous. We got to like work with entrepreneurs and come up with a communication strategy. So yeah, I was like, This is so cool. I love working with business owners. So that kind of sparked things for me. So yeah, and then the rest was history and out of university after working for Connexus for a little bit. They hired me because they sponsored my JDC West team. I was on the marketing team. Yes. They hired me out of universities. I did get a finance major self declared myself or marketing. Okay, there’s no double major yet to work on that. But yeah, that was that was I was there for a little while, realised I missed like the business strategy side, like, Okay, I want to work with businesses, and my friend works for economic development, Regina, she told me about the position, I was coming open. coordinator of Business Services. Okay, let’s try it. John Lee and Dave Oh, there gave me a shot. I started working for them. And like, as soon as I started working with startups and business owners, I knew this is for me. Yeah. I love entrepreneurs. Yeah, there was so much passion and excitement. And they just love it. They just want to do what they love every day. And I wanted to help them do what they love every day.

Barb 11:33
Yeah. Okay, so you just said something really important there. Right? Yeah, that that desire to help. And so you and I have known each other for about 12 or 15 years. And the only reason I know that’s the time I had is because you were in one of the first classes that I taught when I was working part time at the University teaching, because my kids are still little like, I want to say Peter might have been six months old or a year old. And he just turned 14. I know exactly. Oh, my goodness. Yep. Exactly that long. Oh, I know. Doesn’t time go fast. But let’s not get in. That’s not gonna go to my rabbit hole. Wow. So here’s my point, though, as and I don’t think it matters if you’re male or female, but as a professional who’s driven to support entrepreneurs, you have a job Monday to Friday, nine to five? Well, a lot of our entrepreneurial stuff. It happens, you know, Monday to Friday, five till nine. And so there you are at an event there you are doing something on the weekend. You’ve got a young family, you’re married, you’ve got a dog you love to bike, but you you still want a life? How do you balance it all?

Jasmine 12:50
You don’t you just manage. When I worked for active Regina, I at the time, wasn’t married, didn’t have a kid did have a dog. But just the dog out of those three was a lot easier. And I was I was working well over 40 hours a week. And I was going to events constantly. I was always at entrepreneurship events. I was running entrepreneurship events myself, I was talking to people outside of regular business hours. I knew that’s what they needed. And it was incredible, like, DDL was the biggest catalyst to my career. And I absolutely adore them for it. And it did though results like I went from coordinator to manager to director in three and a half years. Wow. And I think that very much aligns. Another thing I tell a lot of young people or people who are looking into their career changes is I had a mentor, Lord Snell fabulous individual when I was in university. And he the first thing he said to me was, what are your values? Let’s nail down what your values are. And I was like, what does that even mean? And he showed me he went through a whole exercise nailed down my three or five top priority. values were and he said make sure that any organisation you’re going to work for that they align with those values. Yes, because it’s just gonna pay you back in spades. So I was like, Okay, so that’s what I did. And my reflect ever Dinah are my values aligned wholeheartedly with theirs. And with the CEO that was there, John, and that I think why I moved up so quickly, because I ran for awhile was what they were doing, they could tell that I was passionate about what they were doing. And I wanted to work more than 40 hours a week because I just loved it so much. But that also also resulted in burnout. Yes. If I hit that burnout wall.

Barb 14:49
Okay, so you dig into that part of the story? Yeah. How did you recognise it? Because it’s one thing to talk about the other side when you you know, okay, you burnt out and here’s what I did. Did you recognise what was happening?

Jasmine 15:04
They offered me the job for a director because I was the manager, the director that at that point in time left to go launch his own startup. And they said, like, is this something that you want to do? And I was like, No. I don’t think I can handle that. Like, that’s a lot of responsibility. Because when you go into directors and you’re doing like business strategy, you have a whole team of people, like a bigger team of people that you’re managing, and are terrified. And they’re like, Okay, well, let’s work through that. And I got a leadership coach, and I was like, okay, maybe I can do this, because I kept saying, like, Jasmine, like, we’re going to help you we can do this. And I was like, okay, for sure. But I was like, I kept having like these, like, mini, like, packs, basically where I was just like, the thought of everything that I needed to do was really starting to freak me out. Yeah. So that was my first sign. And I got a therapist. Physical Therapist, which I advocate strongly for therapy, it has saved my life, I’m pretty sure. But at that time, I was also the president of Cyprus, Saskatchewan, young professionals and entrepreneurs for the Regina chapter. I was also planning my wedding, which was in Mexico, so is a destination wedding because all the planning that at the time, it was also being put in charge of the audacity movement, and like what that meant, which at that time was like still so up in the air.

Barb 16:27
Yeah. Vague in the beginning, right? Yeah, it was.

Jasmine 16:31
So it was just like, Yeah, let’s just say yes to everything until I have a panic attack and realise I can’t do that. So that was I learned quickly that they need to put boundaries around how much time I’m willing to commit to certain things. But I didn’t realise that I couldn’t do everything.

Barb 16:54
You know, went there. I just couldn’t, Cheever. It’s how you driven? You want to say yes to everything. You want to support everyone who’s asking for help. And and so that’s just how you’re hardwired. It’s like, okay, I have to do this. And now I have to do that. So did it mean that you had to start saying no, or, you know, what changed?

Jasmine 17:12
Yeah, it definitely meant that I had to start saying no, so I actually ended up taking a month off of work because my reading actually like did not go anywhere as planned. Like it ended up being like a total monsoon wedding and Cancun and like, they just went away. So that on top of like, just everything with work and trying to plan the audacity of that and everything. Like I just hit a wall on my like, my light switch just turned off, like I couldn’t do anything. So I ended up actually taking a month off work and EDR was absolutely great. Like incredible, like John and the team just like completely put their arms around me and we’re like, don’t worry about anything worry about you. Like, work is fine. People will be fine. Like, we don’t need to have to adapt to the events this month. Like just go home take care of you. And that was like I threw the book at it. Like I did yoga. I did. Therapy. I was like going to a naturopath. I was going to an acupuncturist. I was like doing all the things that I could find to get through. Yes, yes. That’s just the how that’s my MO, unfortunately. Fortunately, unfortunately. I’ll tell you the first two weeks, I did nothing. The second two weeks. That’s when I like was able to like crawl out of that darkness. And I had so many people around me that were helping. And I was supposed to do a second year of being President of SIPE, I said no. Okay, which was very difficult for me. Yes. But I said I was like, I have to step back. And they were amazing the board that I had that they were just incredible, and somebody else stepped up so thankfully for that person. And yeah, so then I came out of it and worked really slowly to get back up to her not went back up to where I was because obviously I wasn’t saying yes to everything anymore. But yeah, I got I came out of it with a lot of learned lessons and realising that I needed to put boundaries on my time and not say yes to everything. Yes.

Barb 19:18
And so let’s talk about that lost art of saying no, because I don’t think it matters anymore. If you’re a parent, an entrepreneur or a professional climbing the ranks. There’s a misconception that if you’re saying no, you know, okay, fine, we’ll move on to someone else. And I think especially as an entrepreneur, so that’s my perspective. Saying no, comes with this connotation that, oh, well, that’s fine. I can just hire someone else. Absolutely, you can. There are so many great businesses out there. And it takes a long time as a small business owner to get to a place where it’s like, yeah, I’m gonna say no, when I get that vibe right up front from a client, it’s like, you know what, this isn’t going to be a great working relationship, I can already tell that we’re very different. Here’s, you know, a couple of others that I might recommend. And the one thing that I’ve discovered is your network of similar businesses that you might send someone to, they’re also going to get that same vibe from the client a lot of times, so whatever. But like, when I think about saying, No, especially as a female and a professional, how did you build that muscle? How did you build the confidence to say no, whether it’s your boss, one of your committees?

Jasmine 20:47
I think that it’s, it’s hard for people if they don’t hit that burnout phase to say no, because once I hit that, I was like, I’m not going back. They’re not going back into that whole dark place. So whenever somebody then would ask me to do something, or like, add another responsibility on my plate, I’d really sit there and look at my again, I went back to my values and be like, does this align with what I’m trying to accomplish? Right? And if it didn’t, I had to be really honest with the person and say, like, I have burned out before. I, I can’t accept another responsibility right now. And the more times that you do that, like because you don’t need to explain yourself. Yeah, if you’re doing your job, and they’re trying to add more onto your job, like you don’t need to explain yourself. And the same way with your clients. I love that you do that, because you’re saving yourself and you’re saving them time. Yes. Because I did the same thing working for active i. So at the time was running the square one programme, which is now called the south startup Institute, big plug for them, if you are a startup 100% Go to sound startup Institute, so many free resources. But the greatest thing about that and about my job now I work for BBC Business Development Bank of Canada, was that when someone comes to me, looking for whatever it might be for their business, so looking for mentorship that’s looking for financing, if they’re looking for whatever it might be, if I’m not the right person to do it. I’ll tell you others that I think might be right. And that’s what you said you do, too. It’s like I’m not just saying no, I’m saying, No, I can’t buy here are some other people who can so you’re still helping people. And you’re helping yourself by not taking on a responsibility that isn’t yours.

Barb 22:31
Yep. Okay. So let’s kind of dig into that a little bit. Because you’re right. I think when you’re hardwired to help people, it’s like, you know, I’m probably not the best fit. But here’s someone else who might be able to help. And I think that’s where your experience with the entrepreneurial committee and with all of the different supports that are available out in, you know, the community, the province and even the Federally what’s available. By knowing that network, you’re able to point people in the right direction. Do I remember correctly? From our earlier conversations? Did you actually hit burnout twice? Or just once? Okay, there we go. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So you did go back, you ended up? And so what happened? How did? How did you let yourself slide back? Okay, so

Jasmine 23:17
I mean, my second burnout, and I do want to jump back at some point to the ecosystem side of things. But with regards to the, the burnout phases of my life. So when I saw that EDR i Then, so I came out of that burnout, I was doing really, really well. And then I went on my honeymoon, and I got pregnant, which was the plan and I didn’t think I was gonna have enough so it did. I was very blessed that way. But I got pregnant had my daughter and a month before she was born and global pandemic hit, with everything on its head. So I was very different. Having a child that when I was expecting, because I was isolated. I did not get to do like the mom and me groups like that kind of stuff. It was really difficult. She was colic for five months. And I didn’t have a lot of support because you weren’t allowed to see anybody so it was just like you have to handle this and it’s like, okay, Daniel, this is really hard. So my first and only child at this point in time and while still but I had BDC and a few other organisations actually approached me during my maternity leave to see if I would work for them after I came out of maternity leave and that was really nice but when you like go into mat leave and like becoming a mom like Well, I’m forgotten like nobody’s gonna remember me because I am not working and I was worried about that and then I was starting to have people reach out and I was like, oh, people still no baby and like a not a bearable so anyways, I ended up working for BTC once again went back to my values, they really line I’m and I worked there for a year before I hit burnout. But we might have run out this time is because I have never worked with a child before.

Barb 25:11
Yes, exactly. Child during a global pandemic? Yes, exactly. I’m just noticing our time. And I do want to quickly jump back to the ecosystem. Just give us a little bit of an overview of what you actually do at BDC. And what kind of support is out there for entrepreneurs?

Jasmine 25:30
Yeah, so with the ecosystem, what I want to say to all entrepreneurs is, there are so many supports for you, you do not have to do it alone. And I’m happy to speak with anybody that’s running a business or thinking about starting a business, I love grabbing coffee, or having virtual chats with people just to see if I know of any support because my whole job for like four and a half years and understanding the entire ecosystem of support available to all Saskatchewan entrepreneurs. So whether it be when entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan Futurpreneur, Clarence Campbell development fund from a tee, there’s so many like a huge array. And then like this all sort of into like I was speaking to before, I’m so happy to chat about those with anybody. BDC has developed a Canada where I currently work as an account manager for small business. We offer financing and advisory services for entrepreneurs, and for just business. So we’re the bank for businesses, you’ve probably seen billboards, we don’t have like, did they bank accounts, we don’t do personal, we just lead to business owners. And we land on those areas that are different from the other banks, we actually are very complementary to the other banks. So if it’s financing that you’re looking for, or if you’re looking for just like some help in what direction should I be taking? What can I do for my next step? Give me a call, shoot me an email. happy to chat.

Barb 25:56
Perfect. Well, you know what, I let’s do that now. So if somebody does want to get in touch with you, how do they do it? What’s the best way to find you connect with you and ask some of these questions?

Jasmine 27:06
Yeah, so check it out on LinkedIn. So I’m under Jasmine Patterson on LinkedIn. And then you could also shoot me an email jasmine.patterson@bdc.ca And I’m sure you’ll put that in there. So I don’t spell it all out for you. That’s the best way to get into contact with me either LinkedIn or or shoot me an email, and happy to connect.

Barb 27:32
Okay, well, that is awesome. So I’m gonna wrap this up today was actually one of the fastest episodes even I kind of lost track of time there. So I could chat with you forever, BB. Exactly. All right. Well, we’re gonna wrap this up. So thank you, Jasmine for joining. Yeah. And just sharing your story, your journey. I think there’s so much to be learned in there and the honesty that I think sometimes we all have a really hard time sharing because, you know, our worlds, our social media, and everything looks so rosy from the front side. So thank you. Yeah, yeah. On that note, if you would like to be a guest on the show and you want to sell your story, then there is no better place than to tell your story on the secret life show. If you’d like to be a guest, email me at barb at above the fold dot live, or just reach out on our Facebook or Instagram page at Above the fold. Ca. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get Found her local programme. Remember you were charged for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 119 Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives

Jeff Harmel, Realty Executives

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

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Thinking of selling your home?! Buying or selling; it’s a BIG decision.
Today, we’re joining Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives to chat buying and selling, tips to prepare as a buyer and an honest conversation on why hiring a Realtor can save you $1000s and decrease your home’s time on market.
Jeff’s been in the real estate industry for years. He’s seen ups, downs and crazy times. Tune in to get the inside scoop on where the real estate market may be headed!

Transcript

Barb 0:02
Are you ready to make the phone ring, the website ping and the tail ding? In this episode, we’re talking about one of the best kept secrets in any community. Its network of small and local businesses, businesses that rely on foot traffic, phone calls and website bookings. From the skinny lessons that will make you wins to the tell all expose A’s. These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business. Welcome to The Secret Life is local. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses to multilocation stores, you can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers. Today, we’re going behind the scenes with Jeff Harmel. From Realty Executives. Welcome, Jeff, tell us a little bit about yourself and your approach to Real Estate.

Jeff 1:02
Hi, Barb, it’s nice speaking with you today, I started real estate in 2008. I was working prior to that, in the collection industry and for MasterCard. I was excited to get into real estate, because I always wanted to work for myself. And when I when I first entered the real estate market, My decision was more based on wanting to work for myself and not wanting to work in an office environment anymore. And that was my big driver. If it wasn’t about, you know, stars in my eyes about how much money I was gonna make or anything about that it was all about getting out of the office, I didn’t want to work in an office environment.

Barb 1:55
So was it the pole of you know, being outside being away from the office doing stuff meeting people? Or was it simply the kind of the drudgery that sometimes comes with being in an office?

Jeff 2:11
It was it was being outside? It was meeting people, having experiences with people and helping people. That’s it. And of course, getting out of the office, I didn’t like working in an office environment, and the freedom of planning my own days what they were going to be and how much energy I was going to put into that day or what was going to happen. And those were my main drivers. And I got into it for all the right reasons. Because my first two years of real estate it wasn’t it wasn’t quite what I thought it was going to be when I started. Okay. Because yeah, it was it was a little bit different than what I expected. But it all worked out. Great.

Barb 2:58
Okay, so what wasn’t what you expected? Can you can you elaborate on that a little bit for us?

Jeff 3:07
I thought when I initially started that there would be like my, I’ll just describe my first day in real estate that will probably help. I went into I started at Century 21. And part of the reason I started there initially was I found an ad on Kijiji when I was surfing through Kijiji, while I was working at MasterCard, I went for an interview and then started there after I got my license, of course. And my first day was sitting down, writing out a list of everyone I knew, and licking envelopes and sending them a letter that I started in real estate. And I remember after afterwards, I walked to my manager’s office. Bernie, who was a great guy, and still a good friend of mine. And I asked him, I said, what so what do I do now? And he goes, Oh, you’re done? And this was like the morning they said, Yeah, he goes, well. You goes, pick up the phone, start calling some for sale by owners or, you know, see who you can meet with for coffee to talk about real estate. And I was kind of figuring how do I get business and I started panicking thinking I need to get business right away. Yeah. And I thought I have to hit the ground running and fast. And so I went back to my office, and I remember calling my brother and speaking with him and I said I’m not sure what I do now. And he said, he said to me at the time, he said, Well, why don’t you do what one of the realtors does in town, or Trombley? And I said, What does he do? And he said well, he He calls for sale by owners, you need to get on the phone and call for sale by owners. Oh, so so so I went on staff combs for sale site was the one at the time. And I started sifting through the site looking at houses. And I was thinking to myself, What do I say to these people, I have no idea what to say. And then then I printed off some script. And I didn’t know what to do. I started trying to use scripts as I was calling people, and I thought this doesn’t feel authentic. And, and so I thought to myself, You know what? I’m just gonna call people and talk to him about their homes, and invite myself over. Okay, so, so that’s what I did. And, and I when I, when I got people on the phone, I would say to them, Oh, those are really nice carpets you have or That’s some nice renovations, is that a new kitchen? And, and the person would say, Yeah, I installed it myself, or I did that. And then I would just say, oh, good for you. I can’t do that kind of stuff. I, I’m not good at that. And, and, you know, somewhere in the conversation, they would be asked me, Why are you calling me I’m selling on my own? You know, I don’t, I don’t need a realtor. And I was just calm. And I would say, No, that’s fine. I don’t have a buyer from your home, right for your home right now. But I would like to come look to your home in case I get a buyer for it, which was true. I didn’t have any buyers. And I would invite myself over. That’s that’s how it all started.

Barb 6:39
So let’s let’s kind of follow that thread. So if I was going to, if we better not sell my house from underneath my husband’s feet. If you’re going to list our house, what are you going to say to me? Why? Because this is the argument that I hear all the time, why hire a realtor versus listed on task homes for sale or Kijiji or Facebook marketplace? Tell me about what you as a realtor. In your experience. What do you bring to the table for me?

Jeff 7:10
Well, one of the biggest dilemmas that people have when they decide to go for sale by owner list on their own, is they think they think it’s such a simple process. And they think that real estate agents don’t do any work. Like they don’t do any work. And they make lots of money. The, when you call out a real estate agent, to discuss listing your home, it’s what all backup for a second. So let’s say you decide to go for sale by owner you’re thinking of it first, you’re going to call maybe one or two realtors and try and get a price. And then you’re going to, then you’re going to kind of get some some indication where the markets going, then you’re going to look online, and you’re going to think, Okay, I’m going to declutter my house and do a few things that I need to do. And then I’m going to put my sign on the lawn with the For Sale By Owner company, and then everyone’s going to want to come by my house, right. And the problem with that is, and it can work, and there are for sale by owners that have done well. But part of the problem is markets are very fluid. And a lot of people don’t understand that the market can change in two weeks, three weeks, when when I started in real estate in 2008, I started actually April Fool’s Day 2000 to 2008 was my first day in real estate. And that month, the market changed by the end of the month and started sliding downward, right through till 2009. And and then started going up again, a lot of people don’t know that. And so a for sale by owner that lists their home in a fluid market like that. The price could change in a month and go down or up. Right. So and a real estate agent is kind of I compare it because I bought and sold stocks before. Have you ever called an investment analysts or a stockbroker and ask them what’s happening with the market or I’ve been thinking about buying these stocks? While the real estate agent has a pulse on the market. They know how many how many listings are in the city? Is there a lot of bungalows in that area? So you know, what’s the inventory like in that area? So when a for sale by owner list, they don’t have all this extra information. And so whereas when I meet you and your for sale by owner, I might say, Okay, we could list the home at 400,000. But I’m thinking I’m thinking our market is going up right now there’s low inventory. Less let’s listed at fourth already, because it, we’re more likely to get a better price for it even though the comparables from the previous three months, were at this amount. The market looks like it’s continuing going on an upward trend. And as far as negotiations if you’re getting multiple offers in, if you’re that for sale by owner, and all of a sudden you get lucky enough to get two or three offers in. Dealing with those offers knowing which conditions are the best conditions, which offer is the best, what makes it the strongest offer, and are these people that are coming to you pre approved. Being an experienced realtor, no one gets in my car unless they’ve been pre approved with the mortgage broker or the bank. And I’ve had people that wanted to the only exceptions to that would be someone I clearly know could buy a house in the sense that they can either pay cash for it or I know they’re financially stable. But the benefits of using a realtor far outweigh trying on your own. And like I said, some fizz bows are for sale by owners have done well with it. But it’s the market is bigger too when you hit MLS and as a real estate agent, especially nowadays, because there’s so many different platforms that when I list their home, it hits it, it hits my Instagram and hits Facebook, there’s extra advertising that way. And there’s at least 30 other websites that goes to where it gets exposure. So your your chances of getting very good value for the sale of your home is increased dramatically by using a realtor and then of course the experience so you don’t end up being sued or anything like that for mistakes.

Barb 12:01
So have they ever done we’ll call it a comparative study where they look at the price that someone gets for their home when they list with a realtor versus not or the time on market there looked at those two particular numbers.

Jeff 12:18
I don’t have those stats for you today. But I know in the past they have been compared and I know NAR which is the which runs the real estate in the states have released stats on that before and it’s always been better for a real estate agent to get a better price for people by listing the home,

Barb 12:46
Okay, so as as a real estate agent you work with both buyers and sellers, but with sellers in particular, what do you usually coach them on to help get the most value out of their home

Jeff 13:01
When I meet with a seller, some sellers want to do particular renovations before they sell because they think I’m going to do this, this and this and this and I’m going to get a lot more money for my home I’m gonna get an extra 50,000 Or I’m gonna get this and when I meet with a seller depending on the style of the home and what it is and what areas and I want to make sure that they’re not leaving money on the table or losing money because they’re they’re doing renovations that aren’t aren’t going to get them that extra dollar. For example, I met with a seller recently and they wanted to redo the bathroom, redo the kitchen and all new flooring all new paint, paint the outside of the home and new shingles and all these things to increase the price of the home. And I remember saying to her I wouldn’t do that. And this is not the style of home to be doing this for and it’s not in the area where you’re going to get your return. And she was kind of shocked because she she thought she could you know make 30 or 40,000 on this. And I said a lot of renovations that are done for your for people’s homes are too poor to live in and live in a nicer home it’s not to get extra money. I said to her, honestly paint the inside and try and do it yourself if you know how to paint. Paint the outside try and do it yourself as you can rent to a paint gun and newer flooring and and then we lift it and she was shocked and she said really? And I said yes and we’ll If, and the hope here is to get your money back on the home or make a bid, because you paid. And then I told her, you paid too much for this home to begin with. And then I showed her when she purchased the home. Back in. It was like three years ago, and I said you paid too much for this home because I’m able to run comparables. A lot of people don’t know this from three or four years ago as well.

Barb 15:28
Right? Yeah.

Jeff 15:31
So. So yeah, it’s people have to be cautious. And that’s why hiring or inexperienced real estate agent makes all the difference. It I’ve saved people so much money over the

Barb 15:42
Years, and hopefully made them that much extra money as well when they’re selling, right. Oh, yeah.

Jeff 15:48
And, and then on the flip side, when it when, when it is the type of home, where it can be flipped and make a lot of money. I have I have worked with people that have wanted to do that. And I know the type of home they need to purchase to do that flip, and the areas to look in, and the amount of money to put in to do that flip. Last year, for example, I had a young couple come to me and they wanted to do their first flip. And I made it clear to them that the market could change they need time. And, you know, these are the risks, and they still wanted to go ahead with it. And they said, now we have to find a home. That’s a bungalow that’s under 200,000. And you’re going to put 80,000 into it. And you’re not going to put any more money than that. And it’s going to sell for 340. And at the end of the day, they ended up putting in more money than I suggested. And they still made money, but

Barb 16:53
Just as much.

Jeff 16:55
Not as much as they could have. But it was still very good. Yeah.

Barb 16:58
One of the things that I remember from when we bought and built our house, of course, we did a lot of show home looking. And you know, there was lots of talk about you needed to declutter, and as you said, the neutral paint colors you needed to to make the home generic. So the family pictures had to come down and the generic, you know, Walmart artists picture needed to go up that kind of thing. Is that still the advice that you would give to someone?

Jeff 17:27
I don’t know about the generic Walmart picture. Though it. I listed a home a few years ago for a client that was an artist. And if I could have everyone staged their home the way she did, it was perfect. And I remember walking in there and I said, oh, all the all the walls in the house are white. I said this is beautiful. And and she goes Yes, I painted it white so that my art on the walls and all the colorful art I do is accented better. And it just showed beautifully. Neutral colors are extremely important. decluttering is extremely important. And clean, really clean home, like show home ready. Like that’s that’s the biggest stress for a lot of people when they’re selling their home is having their home perfect for every showing. But it’s absolutely essential because people walking into a dirty home. And it’s not showing good and it’s full of stuff everywhere. They can lose 1000s of dollars on the sale.

Barb 18:45
Exactly, yes. Now, being a devil’s advocate, because I know you have two kids as well, trying to sell your house when you’ve got two kids and maybe a couple of dogs or cats or pets around. It’s hard. Like it’s a ton of work.

Jeff 19:03
Well yeah, I went through when I went through the sale of my home in 2014 I believe we moved to the east end and I lived in Arnheim area in a raised bungalow. And my wife was pregnant with my daughter at the time. And it was very difficult trying to keep the home clear and ready for showings. And initially, I believe I listed it myself. And then I decided to contact a real estate agent from my office at Century 21 people are probably gonna laugh You’re a realtor, why would you hire a realtor to sell your home because I wanted to separate myself emotionally from the sale. And it was the best thing it was the best thing I did. And yeah and so that when the the offers came in If I had the confidence of knowing that, you know, my real estate agent would bring them to me, we would go over them and deal with them. And separating myself from the sale that way, helped me obtain more for my home. And I was able to take a step back. And then when the offer came in, my real estate agent said to me, yes, Jeff, this is good, this is good. But, you know, maybe you should take it here instead of countering or maybe we should do this. And it was just, it was better for me to separate myself from it.

Barb 20:33
Yeah. And you know, I can appreciate that it’s no different than the doctor trying to diagnose themselves. Right when, when it is personal. Yes, letting someone else who is a professional being able to support you probably makes a huge difference. So I know, you said that the market can change quite quickly. But what can you tell us about the spring market? And where where you would anticipate we’re going these next couple of few months?

Jeff 21:01
That’s a very difficult question. And I’ll try and answer it as at as best I can, because going from 2009, right through till 2017. And even 2018, and 20 2019, when our market dropped back to 2009 10 prices, a lot of people don’t know that, I was able to anticipate the market very good. And I remember giving people advice in 2015 2016, saying, get your home sold. Now, the markets gonna go down, even before it went down. I had a few clients that made a lot of money before the market shifted, because I could see it coming. When the pandemic hits and and our market went up like this, a lot of real estate agents didn’t see this happening quite this way. And going into this market with the increased interest rates. The thing is that’s happening right now, is we still have very low inventory. I was just at a realtor open house a week ago, and I was asking some other agents I work with, are you seeing a lot of competing offers? And they’re saying, Yes, we’re starting to see competing offers, we’re starting to see this. And so going forward for this spring market now. Yes, I’m thinking, it’s going to be a very good market and walk. I’m not thinking it’ll be as strong as it was last year. But I’m thinking it’ll still be a very good market as long as the inventory stays low. So it’ll have to be monitored closely. But if put it this way, if you’re in a mortgage right now, and your rate is 2.25. And your mortgage is not coming due for two more years, but if you’re thinking, Oh, maybe we should sell our house and upgrade, why would you? Yeah. And lock yourself into a higher rate. So a lot of people are waiting right now, if their mortgage isn’t coming due, so there’s a good chance we could have pretty low inventory again this year. Okay.

Barb 23:21
So definitely only have a minute or so left, can you share with us I don’t know if you saw this in the show preamble. Share that, that sort of moment in your history that you know, now that it’s history, you can look back and kind of laugh about it. But at the time, it was maybe a little bit painful. And I think if the story you shared me shared with me about you and a buddy writing the exam, you know, at the same time, because you were quite anxious to get into the industry.

Jeff 23:50
Oh, that was yeah, there was three, had to write three, I had to write the exam three times I was nervous and the material for being a real estate agent a lot different than the practical, the books to the practical. And I remember failing the exam the first two times because I I wasn’t I just wasn’t able to absorb the material, the that well. And I finally passed the exam. And friend of mine, he said, Well, he wrote it at the same time. And he said, and he got 94 and is exactly so what do you get? And I said, I said I got 75, but I passed. And I remember he said to me, Oh, I did better than you on the exam. And I said, That’s okay. I said, We’ll see who sells more houses.

Barb 24:45
And so that’s actually my question. So what happened to your colleague? Did they stay in industry or,

Jeff 24:54
Oh, they’re still selling homes they are. Yeah, but I will say I sell more

Barb 25:02
You’re awesome. That is fantastic. All right, Jeff, we are at a time. So thank you very much for joining me today just to talk a little bit about this spring market and what we might be expecting to see hoping to see. And some tips if you are thinking about selling what you might want to do to be prepared. And you know why there’s some real value in hiring a realtor to help you with one of the largest transactions in your life. So thank you, Jeff. much. Appreciate it. Okay, have a great day. Absolutely. So on that note, if you want to sell your story, then you need to tell your story. And there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life. If you’d like to be a guest, email me at barb at above the fold dot live, or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at Above the fold. Ca. Jeff, as I do that, I realize you didn’t have a chance to share your number and website address. Could you that do that for us quickly?

Jeff 25:59
Yes, if someone needs to get a hold of me, they can call me at 306-539-5202 or go to my website. Jeffharmel.com

Barb 26:09
Awesome. I am your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. Remember, you are tired for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 118 Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

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Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

If you’ve ever received a spam email or aren’t exactly sure what phishing is, today’s episode if for you!

Fraudulent emails, scams, links and purchases are costing businesses billions of dollars every year with no sign of a downturn on the horizon.

Everyday business owners are caught by links that appear to be legitimate, by claims that seem reasonable and by offers that seem helpful. They all lead to one place ~ a lost and a cost to the business.

I’m talking to Shahzad Khoja today from IBITS to better understand how a business can protect themselves and their employees from the dozens of untrustworthy communications we receive everyday.

This is an episode that can save you $1000s! Protect yourself and all your digital  assets (click here for a free worksheet!).

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Are you ready to make the phone ring, the website paying and a till ding? In this episode, we’re talking about one of the best kept secrets in any community. Its network of local businesses, businesses that rely on foot traffic, phone calls and website bookings. From the skinny lessons that will make you wince to the tell all expose days, these everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses to multilocation stores, you can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers. But before we head into our episode today, I want to ask everyone a question. Have you ever received a spam email? Of course you have who hasn’t? What about a spoof email where it looks like it’s coming from one business, but it’s actually coming from someone else? Or maybe you’ve even had that notification that an account like Facebook or Instagram has been compromised? That’s what we’re talking about today. Cyber security and how as a business, you can protect yourself. So we’re gonna go behind the scenes with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS Intelligent Business and IT solutions. Welcome Shahzad. Tell us a little bit about yourself. And IBITS.

Shahzad 1:32
Thank you, Barb. Thank you for having me on the show. My name is Shahzad. I’m with Ibis. Ibis has been providing IT services. Since 2010. In the province of Saskatchewan, we specialize in providing IT services IT support and cybersecurity to small and medium sized businesses all throughout Canada from our headquarters in Regina. And we are one of the very few businesses in Saskatchewan, providing IT services in both English and French language.

Barb 2:07
Excellent. So let me ask me a really silly question. Why is what you do important?

Shahzad 2:18
What we do is important, because especially living in a province, like Saskatchewan, where we live as a small community, there’s a need for champions in every industry to rise and help local businesses. And this is something that with our expertise, we feel almost obligated to serve our community by providing the best solution so that the small local businesses can thrive, be more secure, and are able to grow and help other fellow community members.

Barb 3:03
Isn’t cybersecurity. Isn’t that a big business thing? Like as a small business? Do I really need to even worry about it?

Shahzad 3:12
This is a million dollar question. every small business owner especially with all the tools, Google, you know, we know how to protect ourselves. We can easily go online search for help and get whatever thing we need. Right now. So So when when a question comes for cybersecurity, we are more, you know, eager to go online and find solutions to help protect ourselves which is also a very good option. But when when the question comes off, who is being impacted with that decision of someone managing their own cybersecurity? One one tends to look at some some answers that am I knowledgeable enough? Am I trained enough? Do I have all the Industry Certification? And do I know everything what I need to do to protect myself and my business from all the cyber threats? And when the question comes to that level? It is slightly you know, important for someone to are basically easy to just pick up the phone and call someone and ask for help. That goes a long way. A lot of time we speak with businesses and they have had their own it and control because every small business start with one or two people and when they start at that level, it makes sense to manage their own it. Yeah. But when they start growing, they definitely need to account for several people involved in the business and how their their their activity is going to impact their business if they are not taking all the checks and balances for their IT security,

Barb 5:08
Exactly. As a business owner, I know I feel quite comfortable with our security. But I can’t, I can’t influence what all of the rest of my team click on. So they might get something that looks 100% 100% legitimate. But when you click the link, it’s like, oh, that’s not where I thought it was going. And one of the biggest offenders that I’m seeing recently is Facebook, I will get a message that looks like it’s from, from Facebook, from Facebook billing from meta. And when you actually look at the link that it comes from, like the email address that it comes from, it’s very clear that it’s not. And even something that simple, I think really confuses people, because right away, they jump to well, if it says it’s from Facebook, then doesn’t have to be from Facebook. And people don’t understand how simple it is to you know, spoof, you know, when a name and an address that it’s that it’s coming from when you’re working with small and local businesses, where like, where would you typically start? I know on our side, we always start with web security and passwords and you know, two factor authentication, where do you start when you step into a local business?

Shahzad 6:28
Excellent question. There. I wish there was an easy answer for this question that you start from here. But but the best way that you can start at this day and age is education. Education is number one priority, if you have a team who, who is using technology, computers, cell phone, you name it, to help you with your business, they all should be first of all trained, they need to have the right education. Once they are trained, you have done 50% of the job. For example, you mentioned about Facebook, a lot of people now working from home, they try and in their spare time on their lunch break, they would visit social media website, which not knowingly could be safe and could not be safe. And especially when they’re using company property. Yes, their their office computer to go on such website, the risk of a cyber attack increases at that point. And then if the education piece has been taken care of the 50 person, the rest of this stuff would be your antivirus would be your spam filter. All the things that go in the list would kind of act as a you know, secondary defense mechanism. So this is this is very important for any small business to keep in mind that educate education is primary. And and we as a small community have a lot to take advantage of local resources we have available. For example, I did not know until a couple of years ago that through Regina Public Library, we have access to LinkedIn learning. Yes, so if your Regina Public Libraries, card holder, you can easily log into your account access LinkedIn learning and LinkedIn learning is full of security courses. So as a business owner, I would advise any person or anyone listening to this podcast is if you want your team to be educated, you can take advantage of a lot of free resources. In fact, Government of Canada has put in a lot of things in place you can go to get cybersafe.gc.ca There’s tons of material, you can get certified. You can Google you can go on online, and then just find resources to train your staff on how they can be more prepared for such attacks to emails to text messages, or you know for it of mediums.

Barb 9:19
So let’s start there, then she’s where or how do a lot of these attacks start? Is it email? Is it somebody clicking on a link they shouldn’t? How does this typically happen?

Shahzad 9:34
It’s one of the primary way of this as we are seeing more commonly happening is especially with email, email is been you know very very useful too. For many many years. People have been using email for their business for their personal for their tax. You know if you if you forget your password, what do you do? Do go on your email, and then you get your recovery code. So email has been number one, there’s text messages, there’s also websites, you know, a lot of time we would website that has, they have actually become more secure. If the companies who website you’re visiting, they have put security tools in place that are keeping them secure, you probably are best to explain that function. But But email is, of course, number one source. And a lot of times people unknowingly receiving messages from the people that know, click on links. And that can open up a can of worms, like, sometimes you won’t even know you have a virus, your computer would all of a sudden start acting slow. And you would just try and doing different methods, but But you wouldn’t know what you did. And the fact might come now or come down the road. But eventually you will see that one click that you did not knowingly, can cause a lot of harm. Like there’s been stats by the Government of Canada that I was eager to share on this podcast, please do that. In 2021 alone, the number of reported frauds costed $379 million, wow, which is 130% increase from previous year. And it is only based on five to 10 person reported crimes. Out of that almost 380 million or you can say 400 Close to 470 person fraud was caused or are was due to cybercrime. Now, if you look at the numbers, only five to 10 person crimes are reported. That means that that 70% of cyber attacks were were basically only five to 10% reported crimes. So if we start looking at the overall picture, the damage is huge. A lot of businesses do not even survive after a cyber attack, like on average estimated value of our cost that goes behind a cyber attack for any business as a million dollars. So if your revenues are basically, you know, under a million dollar, guess what, if your business is getting attacked, you are not able to recover from that damage.

Barb 12:39
Exactly. So if I do some quick math and no promises that this is correct, if if the cost is almost 400 million right now, based on that five to 10% of reporting, let’s assume it’s 10%. That means we’re actually talking about $4 billion. from a cost perspective. If we presume that the other you know, 90%, then gets reported $4 billion is absolutely huge. From a business perspective, that’s revenue lost out of the Canadian economy. That could be you know, hiring people doing things, or doing all of the the work that businesses are supposed to. So if my math is correct, and I’m literally doing it chicken scratch as you talk, if I’m wrong, please tell me now.

Shahzad 13:32
No, it makes sense. In fact, if I’m looking at it, the numbers even huge, because as we speak, you know, a lot of cyber activity is happening, right? A lot of and and it’s it’s it’s one of the facts that cyber criminals are evolving daily. They are finding new tools, new technologies, new ways of you know, spreading those malware attacks ransomware attacks in return, what are we doing as a business owner, right? What steps are we taking for their counter attack? Like what are we going to do today? That can stop them from attacking our business? And it’s a basically a group of businesses that are working together if I am a business owner, and if I buy my let’s say, I work with an accounting firm for my for my taxes, or my bookkeeping, right? And if my business is compromised, what effect I had on my business can impact that accounting firm. Now I bet accounting firm is dealing with another 10 organization in Regina, for example. So that ripple effect is is huge. And going back to the number you came up with. It’s probably possible in fact The damage is even more. So we all need to make sure that we’re taking small, tiny steps every day to secure ourselves so we can avoid such catastrophe.

Barb 15:10
A couple of months ago, I shared a blog post on my website, as well as a tool for anyone who was subscribed to my newsletter. And in that blog post, and in that, in that tool, all I was doing was giving them a spreadsheet that said, Hey, let’s keep track of your passwords. So what is the password for your website? What is the password, you know, for your domain and your hosting. And for lots of people that went beyond their comfort level, as soon as we started talking about hosting and DNS and some of those pieces, one of the things and I know you and I agree on this point, one of the things that I always say to a business owner is a, make sure you retain ownership of all of your digital assets. And that’s something as simple as the documents you create your website, your social channels, because there’s a very significant number of times where I see business owners give their ownership over to someone else. And for me, like I refuse to own other people’s stuff, because yeah, if I get compromised, I do not want you know, that to then spread from there. What kind of what kind of tools like as a small business owner, you know, where can I start? I know you talked about LinkedIn learning but but now I’m ready to do something, what should be some of my first steps Shahzad?

Shahzad 16:47
First step is you need to number one, very important, a lot of businesses when we start talking to them, they do not know what they have in their business. Sometimes they would have idle devices hooked up to their network, that they do not know what the purpose is. And those are an updated unpatched devices that can be very, very harmful for the organization. So first, first thing, first, you need to do an inventory of your entire IT environment. It can be as small as a, you know, keyboard and mouse, you know, printers, cell phones that are getting connected. And the second thing you need to do is to see what is your network coverage? For example, if you have a business where you allow visitors who come to your business and who are accessing your network to go on the internet, is it secure? Is it Is there any security in place, that they are not going to be connecting to the same network, as your staff is connecting to so you got to make sure that that’s separate. Apart from that, you also need to make sure that your devices, no matter how many devices you have in your organization, server, computer, laptops, print printers, network stores, devices, everything should be updated on timely basis. After email, the second, let’s say for example, in an attack, somebody clicked on a link. What happens is that was somebody’s mistake. But if your computer was never updated, with a very important security update from windows, guess what that update that was left out can be also a cause of an attack. That’s what cyber criminals are doing is they’re finding loopholes in existing code existing, you know, piece of software that you’re running on your computer. And if that was never updated, guess what you are opening a door for for an attack. So you got to make sure that all your devices are getting timely updates. You are keeping track of all the devices who are being updated because, again, you cannot always leave those things in your, in your staff hand they have tons of things to do every day, right? They have to to make sure that they’re doing their task regularly. So there has to be an automation or monitoring in place that they are the computer the devices are being updated. And that’s where you know that you have done your job in terms of patching your devices. And of course offer that you have to secure your network with proper network device software. And then you also need to make sure you have a good security antivirus or Nowadays, there’s been enhancement, and that is called endpoint detection and response EDR, which basically, not to get too technical, but can roll back a ransomware attack, which we can probably discuss down the road. But there are tools that you can use to protect your, your assets, and also kind of help your staff to be more secure from their daily job.

Barb 20:28
Yes, I’m gonna share a really quick, funny story. You know, our office, we have a network and one of the alerts that I have set up on the network is if a new device joins the network, I just get an alert on my phone. Right? Not a big deal. And the one day, a device that I knew was supposed to be inactive, suddenly joined the network. And it joined the network at some, like really weird time of the day. So I knew exactly who had done what. And in this particular case, it was actually one of my teenagers who was using it. But here’s the good part was one of my teenagers had taken their siblings device, and was logging on to the network. Simply wasn’t home. The other one was logging in, and I was like, ah, hey, what’s going on? And, you know, said teenager was like, oh, good God, like, Why does mom have to know so much about this stuff?

Shahzad 21:27
Perfect. Yeah. Yeah.

Barb 21:29
One of the things that I often see right now, and you know, if you look, in the average business, you’ve got folks who are nearing retirement and maybe aren’t particularly comfortable with technology, some are, that’s not a generalization. Then you’ve got, I’ll say, Generation X, who is a little bit more comfortable with it, but you know, maybe not in detail, right down to Generation Z, who has never known a world without a phone in their hand. And the culprits that I’m seeing most often right now, are my generation Z, folks, because they want to click everything, they move so fast, they don’t read. Any thoughts on you know, what that might look like in the next five to 10 years for a business? How do we start to put controls and protections in place from that that behavior where we all just click everything without thinking?

Shahzad 22:28
Very, very important question. And I think the, the answer to that question is, we all need to start about cyber security awareness. At a very young age for our our young generation, education, education, education, the more we spread awareness about it, it’s, it’s going to help us down the road, and five to 10 years, what we see here is now that what COVID did that it opened up doors to a lot of new platforms, for example, work from home. Yes, exactly. And what we have been noticing that countries are taking huge advantage of this opportunity they are, they’re actually allowing remote workers to come and live in those countries, which, for example, you know, we usually do it when we retire, we, we go away, when when it’s super cold, there we go and live somewhere warm. That’s actually happening now for younger generation who have who have the ability to work for the employer from from anywhere in the world. Not they’re able to go and live in the places of their dreams. But they’re also able to work remotely live a lifestyle that they like, and what what that say that we all need to make sure that the businesses who want to keep up because there’s a shortage of labor, right, we can find the right person to work for us. And if we need to find the right resource, we need to make sure that we open our doors to those people who have who have that option to work from home. And if you do that, we have to ask this important question. That what are we willing to do to make ourselves secure because if a person anywhere in the world wants to work for us, what tools we need to give them to be able to login to our, our network, remotely, do the daily job they’re supposed to do either it can be as small as email from any device they want, but we need to make sure that we provide the right tools and also not only providing the tools but also keeping a check and balance, which is very important and we tend to forget that you know if you have given an employee, a company equipment company property to do their job. Our responsibility doesn’t end there, we have to make sure that that device has been in track, we need to make sure that it’s getting updated. It has some some mechanism in place that if the person tries to visit any suspicious website, it’s blocking. Yes, it’s making sure that any extra work. Other other work that they’re not supposed to be doing, should be monitored and blocked. And that’s the only way you can make sure that your company property is safe because your company data is being stored on that device. Exactly. Data is is very important for any organization. So if you’re making backups, if you’re making sure the devices you have on your network are secure, then only you can confidently hire someone to work for you from from work from home bases or, or anywhere in the world.

Barb 26:03
Exactly. Yeah, that is fantastic advice. She’s on. We’re just about at a time here today. Before we do wrap up, can you maybe tell us how folks can get a hold of you? Should they you know, do some work first and then give you a shout? Or where do they start? How do they find you.

Shahzad 26:21
So we are easy to find our website is ibits.ca We are available on almost all social platforms. You can find us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, we try and post regularly with tips that businesses can do. And it’s easy to get ahold of us as easiest just picking up the phone and giving us a call and asking any questions you have about your business it we would be more than happy to provide our services. And we are also offering a free network assessment of your entire business at no extra cost with no obligation because this is something we feel it’s important for us to give back to our community.

Barb 27:10
Absolutely. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. All right. On that note, if you want to sell your story, then you need to tell your story. And there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life show. If you would like to be a guest you can email me at barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at above the fold. Ca. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Shahzad @ IBITS

https://www.facebook.com/IBITSCanada/

https://www.instagram.com/ibits.ca/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ibits/

Ep. 117 Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

QC Gifts Logo

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Kathy Sabo is the corporate girl gone rogue. After years in the corporate sector, travelling, recruiting and missing her family, Kathy decided it was time to turn in the frequent flyer points and try her hand at running her own business.

The result of her passions is QC Gift, an on-demand gift buying, creating and planning service. From corporate gifts in hotel rooms during the Grey Cup and Agribition to personalized gifts for him and her, Kathy has the market cornered.

Someone hard to buy for? Every gift purchased from Kathy is custom. It is custom to the recipient. It has custom contents and it comes with a playlist to set the mood when the time for gift giving happens!

Tune in now and bookmark this episode to find her website when you need it!

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Are you ready to make the phone ring, that website ping, and a till ding? In this episode, we’re talking about one of the best kept secrets in any community. Its network of local businesses, businesses that rely on foot traffic, phone calls and website visitors from the skinny lessons that will make you wince to the tell all expose days. These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their businesses. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses to multilocation stores, you can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers. Today, we’re going behind this behind the scenes with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts, who makes gift giving easy from little kids birthday presents to Office gifts for the whole team to kick off projects with a bang. Welcome, Kathy, tell us a little bit about yourself and QC gifts.

Kathy 1:07
Well, first off, thank you so much for having me here today. I’m really excited to do my first podcast. Absolutely. I’m I’m born and raised here in Regina, Saskatchewan. I’ve had a career in education for the last decade. And then I had some kids and I’ve kind of transitioned to more of a career here around Regina. But I do have an interesting spin and a different kind of eye for looking around the city. So I am I’m excited to share some of my lessons learned with you.

Barb 1:41
Absolutely. So we’re just you know, kind of past the holiday season. And you know, how was Christmas? Was it a pretty good? Was it a pretty busy time for your business?

Kathy 1:54
It was funny, I kind of didn’t expect it to be as crazy as it was a kind of kicked off with a bang with the great cop actually, we had some good orders. Then we did some boxes for hotel guests and that sort of thing. And then it rolled into Edgar Bishan. And Edgar vision this year was just awesome. For us. It was our first time being there. And it kind of got the wheels rolling towards, you know, exhibitions did last week of November into December. So we were right in the thick of it. So from then through on to right. Even last week, I was filling orders out so it was crazy. Wow. Yeah.

Barb 2:35
Okay, so tell us about some of the orders that you feel like what what kind of gifts do you do?

Kathy 2:42
Um, well, I kind of have two different branches. So we have the custom gift box where it’s a husband that has a wife who appreciates local loves the arts, but he kind of is a busy guy, or he doesn’t want to spend the time to, you know, make something really special. But he wants to treat his special somebody with something really thoughtful. Yep, those are my favorites. So I get a big budget, I can talk to my favorite people in town. And I can kind of create something in a lovely box. And each of my boxes, I put a playlist in it. So what I mean by that is, it’s a music playlist that goes on top of free, you can even open it. So you get your box. And there’s a little QR code and I asked the person to just take that, so that while they’re opening it, they’re actually setting the mood, the music’s playing so cool into the box. And that’s actually what I do for all my boxes. So if you look then at like another example, this Christmas, I made 200 boxes for a retirement home. Okay, and inside each of those boxes, we made cookies, we had chocolate, like bark in there, and then an ornament custom made for the retirement home. And each one of those had a playlist in it where they could listen to a Christmas playlist. So no matter the size of the box, I really want individuals to not just have a thing but I want them to experience it. I think sometimes we rely too heavily on like giving things so a lot of my gifts you’ll find that are available on the website are for they’re useful gifts, they’re useful art, there’s a purpose behind them, and or there’s food related that sort of thing. So I feel as though it does create more than just a thing.

Barb 4:55
You know what that idea of a gift experience that It’s not something that’s common, right? It’s not just about get the tissue paper off. Like, it’s the whole experience around it. Where did you come up with that idea? It just came to you.

Kathy 5:13
It just came to me, I guess, you know, I found one that during COVID QR codes came back into like a little more of a popular thing. I love music. It’s a part of who I am. I’ve always enjoyed that sort of thing. And, you know, I was a believer of the QR code, because I had spent so much time in Asia with my past career. So, so I just wanted to embrace it in my gift boxes. I don’t know why I’m a techie girl. I am a I like to, you know, be a early adapter. And, you know, give people you know, like, it’s not that hard to take a picture of a QR code. Yep, high and low. And it’s a little surprise for them. And it doesn’t cost my business a lot of money. It’s my time. Yeah, I think it’s thoughtful.

Barb 6:07
So are the are the playlists curated? Based on what’s in the gift? Or do you kind of have a standard set of, I don’t know, 10 or something, and you just pick which one seems to make the most sense for the gift that you’re giving? Like, how do you put that together?

Kathy 6:24
I think it just depends if it’s a birthday box, I have a birthday playlist, and it’s a thank you gift box. You know, we got all those Thank you songs from diet going in there. It’s you know, and then if it’s like something special like to me this past weekend, I had my friends basketballs, her little guys basketball league bought big water bottles that I can like, put put their team logo on with like their number. And I have towels like that. So I created created a basketball playlist for them. Oh, cool. So it has like the warm up song and all that. And so each box, I have the QR code placed right directly on top of the box, taped on there. So and then my girlfriend who’s like, on the group chat for the team actually said, hey, guys scan this so that you guys can create an experience with your kids.

Barb 7:22
Yeah. Oh, that is so cool. I have never heard or seen anything like that. Obviously, I’ve never received anything from you. So that like, that’s just a fantastic idea. I love that. And I hope you trademark that. So that, you know, when other people start doing it that is is exciting. Okay, so you also talk about purposeful gifts. And that really warms my heart. Because, you know, as a society, we’ve really landed in this place where it’s just stuff stuff stuff, like I just want more and more and more. And, you know, we kind of see my own kids, my kids are teenagers, and they’re falling victim victim to it. They want they want they want. And yet when I look at what they just got for Christmas, but things that we hear about the most are the experiences they had. And, you know, like on one hand, okay, yes, we all want something under the tree, you know, to open but at the same time, what can we create as an experience, instead of just needing more and more and more stuff? Right?

Kathy 8:31
A really good gift box. I love giving families is I placed a game in a box like, like sequence. Yes, I have to pay for something, I guess. But you know, it’s, it’s a game that I think you know, it’s not that expensive. And it’s a cool thing to have later on. But then inside it, that box, I also include all these local snacks. Right? Like we have so many cool like chocolate tears and like drinks and like munchies. Like we have a lot of people making cool stuff and Regina. Yeah, so flooring all of that stuff in there. And then can like also add rebellion beer, like I have a liquor license, right, like so I can actually create, then throw that playlist in there. And it’s an experience and yes, there’s money towards it. You’re creating more than just like a little snack and a game like obviously kids are going to, you know, remember that fun time that they played sequence with their parents with all the snacks. And then ladies have recreated a couple of weekends later, you know?

Barb 9:38
Exactly. Hey, have you heard of Ken ball games? Do you know that? Oh, okay. I’ll meet they’re based in Saskatoon and they make up baseball and football. Like your tea? No, you’re not Yachty What’s the game with the pegs that you move? So they’ve created baseball and ballgames in that same concept. You just you have to look it up afterwards. Because yeah, they’re made in Saskatoon. They have a website. And so I think, nationally, I don’t think they’re international yet because of the cost to ship. But we purchased one for my husband’s birthday last year. And it is it’s just like baseball, just like baseball, including the fact that I can still beat my kids. Exactly like, Yeah, hold on to those moments as long as you possibly can.

Kathy 10:36
And it’s a local game, which is another thing. And like, these are those conversations. Like when I first started a year ago, I remember I reached out to Val milker. She’s a local artist in the city that I just love. And she was like, Well, do you know this person to know this person? And then it kind of got me into like, the network of what’s available and what’s going on from her perspective. And then I started to actually go to some of the, you know, craft shows and that sort of stuff to kind of gauge what else is going on in the city. And, you know, it’s been such a cool experience from, you know, education and government relations, kind of jobs to hearing about, like, what’s going on in the ground, grassroots of our city, really. And then sharing those stories like what you’re doing I, I love the podcast concept. I’m not that brave. I do do a blog, though, where if back in my history, you know, I’ve last year in my very first year, I think I probably interviewed about 10 local businesses and call it their blogs up on my site and trying to, you know, get that momentum going about our city.

Barb 11:45
Yeah, exactly. That’s, that’s one of the biggest things. And I mean, you’re totally singing my song now. Because I’m a huge believer that we we need to help our local businesses get found. It’s easy to find Costco, WalMart and Sobeys. Right, we need to help our local businesses get found. And I mean, that’s exactly what I do is, you know, what do you need to do to get found because we’re all on social media, we all push a ton of content out to whoever is watching and listening. But we forget, how do we get the customer when they’re now ready to make the purchase? Just because my social media post shows up in front of you doesn’t mean you’re ready to buy right now. But when you are, how do I make sure that you know, when you start Googling, you know, gift boxes, Regina? Things like that, how do we make sure that we get in front of people? So it’s, um, it is it’s a really, it’s a really interesting experience to see how all these local businesses kind of come out of the woodwork when you start digging. And, and they’re too far they’re too far buried, like Walmart and Costco are just too easy to go and grab the first thing you see on the shelf and say, Okay, this is for the mother in law, this is for the father in law, here we go Christmas shopping done.

Kathy 13:09
Right? It’s just, it’s interesting, because COVID was really like what drew me to do this business model, because at the time, I was communications role where I have a lens of Regina, and I knew that all of the community associations, all of those groups of people were not working at that point, it was like, so there wasn’t another hat like networking going on. If you were, you know, hoping for a, you know, like a community sale or any of that sort of stuff, none of that was going on. So I, when I started QC gets really was thinking of the people that didn’t have the website at the time that weren’t wanting to have that model. Like, really, I read the book traction, a little while ago, it’s a really good book. Yeah. Which talks about, you know, how you lay out, like your business and structure it. And one of the things that I was doing that I found I was doing wrong was, I was spending like, you know, 50% of my time worrying about ads on social media, but only 10% of my sales were coming from it. So like we spreading the web differently, and really understanding that. Like, even though I think everybody should be on social media and knowing exactly how to use it and where it should be, I needed to also reach out to those places that weren’t so easy. So I created a list of people that I could connect with that could help me spread the word.

Barb 14:48
Yeah, exactly. So like, take us back to COVID and your earlier career, like do you just wake up one morning and go like, hey, I want to do gift boxes like take us on that journey? So how did you end up being the owner of QC Gifts? What’s that? What’s that story look like?

Kathy 15:08
It took some years. It’s interesting how I think of woman’s career can be affected by having children. Honestly, I was in a position where I had to do quite a lot of traveling. The work hours were international hours. Yeah. So when you go away, and you have little babies is I’m not saying that for dad. It’s not difficult at all. Yep. But it was really hard on me, I found that it gave me a lot of anxiety and my mental health, like really began to kind of suffer because of it. I wasn’t having joy at work anymore. So I was like, Okay, well, maybe, you know, I had a tenured tenure career at the U of R. So it was a good, like, Fine, you know, doing that, but I was ready for change. So I did end up wanting to do a communications job, because in the back of my mind, I knew I had to get more experience on the local scene. Because when it comes to creating partnerships, and that sort of stuff, I was already kind of thinking, how could I leverage that it here in Regina, because I have some good skill sets, you know, developing contracts. So that kind of those were kind of in my head bumping around. And then I got a job where I learned a lot of the communication skills that I needed to communicate locally. And it was interesting, because when I started the job, there was no COVID. And then three weeks in COVID hit and to be a senior strategist for all local community centers. Yeah. It was a trip, I tell you, but it gave me so much more experience in that timeframe than I would have If COVID wasn’t happening. Because that whole time I was able to practice news releases and all that sort of stuff, which I wasn’t doing both, you know if it was regular time, so it was interesting.

Barb 17:11
Yeah. Oh, it would be Yeah.

Kathy 17:15
So we introduced that level of marketing, and I wanted flexibility. Had these kids at home. I liked working at home because I was doing COVID Then for a while at home for about, I don’t know, it was like a year and a half with the Cydia. So I was like, I don’t want to go back into an office. I think this is lovely to have the flexibility. And you know, some places aren’t weren’t willing to do that. Yep. So it kind of just evolved. From there, I had all these little ideas. And then I shook them out. And then I kind of threw the dice out. And then I knew it was going to be about gifts. I didn’t know that I would be doing sublimation and customizing stuff to the extent that we are now. But I just think it’s such an incredible like avenue that we’ve developed now that we’re here. I look at sticks and doodles, and I think their backgrounds kind of similar to mine, actually, they bought a Cricut. And like started creating stuff out of wood. And a year or two later, poof, they have a bricks and mortar business. And I’m not saying that’s what I want by any means. But I did start with the Cricut. And it got those creative juices of mind flowing and it made me really think about how we can make such professional items. Yes, he’s in our house. So, um, you know, it’s pretty cool what we can do nowadays, as an entrepreneur, if you’re willing to, you know, pound the pavement, make those connections. And then, you know, I’m a year in, and we, you know, have a lot more work to do. But like, I’m confident that each year it’s gonna get better.

Barb 18:54
Yes, exactly. So talk about this customization. So I come to you and I say, hey, I need a gift for my husband or my mother in law. Like, tell me about that customization process. Because it sounds a little bit like to you, the sky’s the limit. So as long as I come to you with, here’s who I want to get for, here’s my budget, here’s their interest, then, like your creative juices just take over from there, is that right?

Kathy 19:22
It is for the most part, like when I do like a like an order of custom. They usually will saying okay, like I’ll give you an example say a hobby. I don’t want to do the hobbies say

Barb 19:34
They get beat up enough because I suspect you see many of them.

Kathy 19:39
I do I do. And so let’s just think of, okay, we have a girl that broke her ankle at the office and we want to get well but barks you know, okay. And so what I kind of do is is I ask the person who’s, you know, called me or emailed me I just, I asked them a few things like are they a plant? person or are they a chocolate person? Are they a coffee person, and just a few things there, what’s their favorite TV show, and it kind of gives me I have some pretty good gauges of emotional intelligence. So I can kind of sleuth on the internet a bit on them. And I’ll actually kind of figure out where I feel like their interest on that those topics might be or whatever. And then I would, you know, create a couple of designs of items, like a water bottle or a t shirt, or something like that. And I’ll send the design to the person, and they can kind of give me some guidance from there. And then we can adjust and then send, once they’re good with it, I then will sublimate it onto like the blank. And so really, what I use is I use Canva. It’s a designing program, which has hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of clip arts. So really, all I do is I kind of just, you know, create a couple things using the clip arts. And then you know, sublimation, it’s a really interesting process. It’s a special ink that you accidentally heat up, and then it turns into a gas and then it adheres to like a plastic. Oh, wow. Okay, yeah, it’s interesting. So what you have to do is really have like, the images on, like, printed onto something, and then secure to that product that you’re putting it onto super tight. And that’s the transfer happens. It’s kind of like you’re burning the image into the plastic, if you have to imagine it that way.

Barb 21:39
Okay, yeah, that makes some sense. Wow. Like I, I’m trying to wrap my head around that, like, how in the heck did you how did you learn to do that?

Kathy 21:50
Well, you know, designing on Cricut was like my start. And then it took me like to do social media and stuff you already are using Canva. So to then be able to design something to print off on a special kind of paper, it’s not that big of a leap. And really, like, I have to say, Youtube, Snapchat, and all those social media tools out there, show people how to do things. It’s incredible. So you know, like, trial and error, you know, you have to commit to something, I have made a lot of errors with the products that we’ve made. And, you know, we don’t sell those. So there’s a big investment in learning how to do it, for sure. But now that we’re here, like, I tell you, I get every, every time something goes out, I tell you, people are sending messages back saying how they thought this was the most thoughtful gift if my favorite gift to give. Yeah, well, you know, it’s not just about you know, them getting it you know, everybody gets happy. You get happy giving it to the person you get happy making it I have these two girls. Oh my gosh, yep. This This Christmas, it was pretty funny. They have they played pranks in the office, where the take a picture and then they put it on something funny. Okay. Well, so they’ve been putting it or something like that. So anyways, they did this mug where they got a silly picture of the girl. And then on the other side of the mug was the girl that was sending it to her sticking her tongue out at the picture. Oh, my goodness, it was so funny. And then, you know, it’s just started. Now this pranking in their office that I helped them with. It’s hilarious.

Barb 23:39
Absolutely. Okay, so we’re actually getting close to having to wrap up. But before we do that, tell me about, like your favorite box you ever did. Or the craziest one you ever did, like, Give us an idea of the like breadth of what you can do?

Kathy 24:00
Well, for Grey Cup, we did a good one that I thought it turned out really good. It was for a large company in the city. And they were having a bunch of their head office come down to Regina for the Grey Cup. So they had, you know, rented out, say 50 hotel rooms. And I had a healthy budget. So I was kind of given the freedom to play around with it. And so what I did was like, you know, I said, Okay, so what kind of things were you expecting? And they kind of had their, you know, few little things and I’m like, okay, cool, cool, cool. And then I’m like, alright, but what about all of this? And so this is how I make it easy. I may get more than what you would think. And that’s what makes these gifts pot. So I was like, Well, those are great ideas. We’ll have some, you know, coffee pods and some tea. Sure, we’ll put in, you know, a granola bar. But then what I did I was I was like, let’s get some Tylenol because they’ll probably be hungover from the Grey Cup. Okay, yeah. What about some earplugs while you’re in the hotel room because people are going to be partying and that’s going to be super annoying. And you might want to get some sleep. So earplugs put in there. Oh, and your hands and your feet might be cold at the game. So I put warmers in the box. So then I ran around the city worked with locks, Simpson snacks, cyberpunk soda, you know, all of these guys and put those items in there. So then this big business feels good too, because they’re supporting local. And then of course, I made my playlist with some, you know, typical Grey Cup songs, but I had to sneak some, you know, writer songs in there. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I just had a blast doing it. And I tell you, they felt great leaving those for their people that were coming here. And I’m sure that it amplified their experience of the Grey Cup event.

Barb 25:58
Oh, absolutely. That is fantastic. All right. Just before we wrap up today, Kathy, I tell people how they can find you.

Kathy 26:07
Sure, if you don’t mind, you can email me at Kathy with a K at QCgifts.ca You can check out me, check me out online@www.qcgifts.ca. And I’m also available on all social media channels like Facebook, tick tock, and Instagram.

Barb 26:29
Awesome. That is fantastic. That is such a neat story that you have Kathy and you know, I hear hear from so many entrepreneurs how they left the corporate career or they left that traditional trajectory. Sometimes it’s tied to kids family, and sometimes it’s just what’s inside of us. Right? We have that whole to do something different. So thank you for sharing with us so openly today. On that note, if you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at barb at above the fold dot live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at above the fold. Ca. If you want to sell your story then you need to tell your story. And there is no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life Show. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 116 Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Andrea Lo Toronto Dating Hub

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Picture your perfect first date. Do you see a quaint little coffee shop? Maybe drinks & a movie?

How about puppy yoga? Or jet skiing?

Meet Andrea Lo and her not-so-conventional singles service. Andrea plans events through her business, the Toronto Dating Hub, for singles across the area. From how to dress, what to wear and how to pose, Andrea helps all of her guests have a fun, safe and comfortable group first date experience.

In the Toronto area, interested in attending? Check out Andrea’s contact details below. Curious to learn more about her “real guests” approach to marketing her business? Tune in to today’s episode!

 

 

Transcript

Andrea 0:00
Hey, how are you? I’m more than five right now because it was all quiet and then I don’t know if you can hear the drilling and I’m like, No,

Barb 0:08
I can’t I can’t hear anything.

Andrea 0:09
Okay, because I’m like, the worst thing that can happen is the drilling and renovations in a condo and I’m like a great yeah, it’s gonna be very

Barb 0:24
Exciting. Oh, you don’t know.

Andrea 0:26
Like it’s different people in the building will do renovations and they’ll send out a notice but it’s like, Thanks for the notice, but there’s nothing I could do except I guess, you know, leave my place and go to a Starbucks instead. But yeah, the problem with that, that a lot of the places is like they’re not there’s not a strong signal for Wi Fi. So it’s

Barb 0:49
Terrible. Yeah. When you’re trying to hop on those calls. Yeah. It’s absolutely terrible. I agree wholeheartedly. Okay, cool. Thank you for being so accommodating. I will take too much of your time, but I am super excited to hear about the Toronto Dating Hub. And so that’s exactly how I should refer to it right is the Toronto. Yeah, okay. Okay,

Andrea 1:13
Perfect. And so and then you said, I know you’re gonna record both, but it’s really more of my voice. Because I was just like, do I have to like, change it? Because, you know, I’m used to zoom and I got to zoom background and like, I don’t know.

Barb 1:23
Yeah, no, you don’t do anything like you can see like, I’m in ponytail. And I’m not sure if I brush my hair today. I’m sure I tried but I was on the phone at the same time. And I’m just like, Why do I have all these knots in the bottom of my ponytail? But anyway, that’s a whole other issue. No, I used to do a video podcast. And it just you know what, it was a heck of a lot of work for both me and guests. Because you did you want to do all that shit to prepare. And it was like, Yeah, you know what people want to listen when they’re walking the dog and stuff like that. So yeah, I kind of went away from that and instead, I Yeah, we just get to like, let it all hang out and not worry about it. So it’s kind of nice. Nice. Okay, so tell you a little bit about how this works. The podcast is 25 minutes long because it does air on our local radio station first, so I have to fit into their time slot. And yeah, so 25 minutes we get to just chit chat. Obviously this is the first time we’re meeting but usually what I’ll say to guests is he’s just like the first time we met and all ask you questions about your business and yeah, so it’s really just a 25 minute promo for the Toronto dating how we’re gonna air just before Valentine’s so timing wise, I think it should work out pretty good for you. Yeah. So it’ll just be kind of fun. And what else can you tell you going in? I’ll do a bit of an intro. I usually trip on my tongue a couple of times in the intro so I’ll clean that up. If something big happens like let’s say they are drilling and like your bookshelf behind you falls over.

Andrea 2:57
I heard about that on your one of your podcasts I was listening to. Yeah,

Barb 3:01
That’s exactly. So a big step happens. I do absolutely go edit that out. But unless it’s big, I don’t go back and do a lot of editing. So it’s pretty raw and authentic. If you make a mistake if you if you need to say something again, just tell me and we’ll totally take that out. Exciting part might be that we’re waiting for a pickup and if they ring my doorbell, I’m in my basement by the way, if they ring the doorbell, my dogs are going to go apeshit Now, the good news is there are no dogs in my office right now. And so what I’ll have to do is like pause the recording, run upstairs, give them the pickup, then come back downstairs. It’s almost it’s inevitable that you know it’s gonna happen while I’m in the middle of recording because that’s everybody’s favorite time to ring the doorbell right? Worse. Cemeteries There we go. All right. And with that, if you are ready, I will start the intro and start the recording.

Andrea 4:03
Yeah, and you can hear me okay like it’s coming clear.

Barb 4:07
Yeah, I’ve been watching it my end watching our audio levels. Were pretty pretty level I might adjust you know a little bit kind of as we go. The one thing that sometimes happens is guests lean back from their microphone. So if you see me doing this, it just means come back closer to your microphone. And when we get close to that 25 minute mark, you will still see me hold up two fingers just to say like we’re in that last couple minutes. And I’ll make sure that you have time to like promo how do people find you? How do they sign up? You know, that kind of stuff. So we save that kind of to the end. And yeah, otherwise it would be as if we’re having a glass of wine on the patio in Toronto. Exactly. Okay, cool. I will I’m not gonna be able to see you for a second because I have to switch screens to read my intro. But I do try and do like a live intro so you will hear all of it so here we go. Ready? All right. Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone ring and the website ping? In this episode, we’re talking about one of the best kept secrets in any community. Its network of local businesses, businesses that rely on foot traffic, phone calls, and in today’s case, website pings from those skinny lessons that will make you wince to the tell all expose as these everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their businesses. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and local business cheerleader. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses tell multilocation stores you can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers. Today we’re going behind the scenes with one Toronto business owner who is changing up the dating scene. Yeah, that dating scene. So tune in and let’s he see. Let’s hear oh, Andrea is changing the dating scene. In Toronto. Welcome, Andrea. Thank you

Andrea 6:20
So much for having me. I’m so excited to be here. Yep,

Barb 6:23
Absolutely. It’s a pleasure. So you know, let’s kick off. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Andrea 6:29
All right, my name is Andrew Lo. I’m the founder of Toronto Dating Hub. We’re in race here in Toronto. Simply put, I plan events and connect people.

Barb 6:38
Awesome. Okay, that’s where the dating piece fits in there. Very cool. Now, how did you get there? Because something tells me you didn’t finish high school or university and say, hey, I want to start connecting people. So yeah, what’s your what’s your story? Yeah, so

Andrea 6:54
I went to University of Toronto for business and marketing. I always knew I loved working with people being around people being creative. So, you know, I did you know, finish school and still you know, doing something that I studied but you know, I worked for marketing agencies did a lot of experiential marketing. So working on a lot of corporate brands doing a lot of events and marketing campaigns. And during the pandemic while I got laid off like many others, and honestly, it was a really dark time for me. I’m sure many people, you know, can say the same thing. But for me during the pandemic in 2020, you know, three awful things kind of happened. One obviously being laid off after working for that company for almost nine years was a good chunk of my career. Yeah, and then and then the boyfriend at the time broke up with me. Oh, goodness, it’s always great. And then I live in in a condo downtown, which is great. But my family being strict Asian parents and family, because they live with them and then during that start of the pandemic, where you know, the whole lockdown. So, you know, if you’re not going to be in our bubble in our home, then you can’t see your nephews you can’t come over, you know, and it was like, oh, no, I lost my job, my career. The boyfriend at the time, my family doesn’t want to see me it was really dark time. And

Barb 8:26
So no kidding. Wow, that’s hard. That’s very isolating, which makes all of that even harder.

Andrea 8:34
Exactly. And so you know, it took a while of course to get over it definitely did the ugly crying to find you know, some kind of source or something to take my mind off things refocus and I took all that sort of negative energy and was like, Okay, if I am feeling isolated and awful, I can’t imagine what other people are feeling who who are also single but have less of a network that than I do. And so I said, Okay, I’m going to start Toronto Dating Hub. I’m going to start doing singles events. And at that time, it was you know, online, but I figured, okay, you know what, I’m gonna I’m gonna do something for the singles community because at the time, there were no events, you know, virtual in person. And so I channeled all that energy towards trauma Dating Hub, and that’s where it’s sort of all began where the virtual events at first you think of them like virtual house parties, I was gathering, you know, men and women who are single and doing icebreakers, doing breakout rooms. It was really cool. And then, you know, fast forward today, I’m doing two to five events per month. This is on top of my day job.

Barb 9:55
There’s another day job to you. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. And

Andrea 9:59
But I’m, it’s been such a wonderful time to help other singles out and you know, see some of them transform, you know, from being super shy and introverted to you know, someone who’s getting matches now and going on dates. So it’s, it’s really cool. I love what I do. And that’s sort of how I found my calling through a dark time to now doing something I’m super passionate about, and it’s so impactful.

Barb 10:27
Oh, absolutely. And you know, it’s interesting, because it’s so many entrepreneur entrepreneurial journeys, there is there’s that dark time to come to a better place. Right. And sometimes I think we have to go through that. We have to be in a really gross place to be able to go okay, I need to change something and then that’s when we, you know, the whole Caterpillar becomes a butterfly thing. Right? Okay, so tell me about the hub. So is it all in person? Is there an online component still? And you know, like, what are some of the stories you’re seeing as a result of the hub?

Andrea 11:07
Yes, so I try to do really different things. You know, I’m certainly not the only player in the space here. However, I feel I’m super different. I’m the first in the world to do jetski speeddating. Yep, you’re jet skiing. You’re on jet skis and your speed dating and so that’s really cool. But I’ve done super other cool things like E scooter speed dating, you know picnic speed dating, Puppy yoga. Now, just I’ve always said you know, even when you’re when first dates right, it’s it’s important. To have some kind of activity. Yes, you different, right. Otherwise, it’s just like, Okay, let’s just go for coffee and chat. Like, you can do that with anyone at any time. So I really want to make sure my events were different and if you don’t find was a romantic connection. You can still check off something from your bucket list, right? Because Absolutely, you go you know, jet skiing, let alone use that as a form to meet other singles in the city. So it’s super cool. And yeah, like I said, I’ve seen people go from, you know, super introverted, super shy you know, not a lot of friends. Maybe they’re new to the city and they’ve flourished in terms of, you know, after coaching or coming to a few events and getting comfortable in their own skin, learning how to converse with others right from their shell. And, you know, being able to finally connect with someone else over some fun over fun activities, finals matches and finally date or date again, for some people and I have anywhere from, you know, students like coming out of university or just graduated to divorce dates. Right? Like you see a whole gamut of different people from different walks of life come out, right. Again, just really nice to see people come out, have fun come out of their shell. Talk, be lively had read somewhat so many people. My events were their first you know, like coming out to events again, like my friends, were there first events coming out of the pandemic.

Barb 13:17
Exactly. Being in person again. Okay, I gotta take you back to this jetskiing speed dating, speed dating or like even like I’ve done speed networking, so I’ve done that thing before. So usually they give you like, one minute or five minutes or 15 minutes. How do you jet ski speed meeting people, like just explain what that looks like for me. I need a visual for this one.

Andrea 13:40
Yes, for sure. So basically, depending on the event, like how many jet skis I’m able to source with the vendor, the partner and one event there was like five jet skis. So instead of you each each have a jet ski to ride like a female and a male on you know, because there’s not enough I would actually play some together. So it’s even more like oh, my gosh, like I’m sharing a jetski. Yeah, super cool, because you’re learning to trust one another. Yep. You’re helping each other get on the jetski because you can flip off just trying to get on a jetski. Right. Oh, totally. So you know, you’re helping each other out. Potentially that means you’re holding hands right? You’re You’re I think of Aladdin remember the to you trust me when he holds up his hand to go on the magic carpet. Right? Yeah. So you know you’re doing that and also, right? Everyone always thinks is it the guy that operates the Jetski? Well, no, it’s up to those two individuals because you are trained to be able to operate or be a passenger. And so it’s up to that couple to design decide who would like to, you know, you know, operate and sit in front while someone learns to to be in the back and you’re kind of CO piloting. So I always thought well, eight it’s super fun to go jet skiing. If you’ve ever been on a jet ski. It’s it’s, yeah, 100 kilometers an hour, which you’re flying. So there’s the thrill, the exhilaration, and then you’re now you know, meeting with someone else and you’re trying to have a conversation so you can’t go 100 kilometers. But, you know, I think it’s about 20 kilometers before you can’t really hear them if you go too fast. But we’re just having loads of fun and it’s like I said, building trust as we go too fast. You might scare the person or the person might fly off. Right, exactly. And but it’s super fun. So you do that but then I just do I just basically rotate them I just stay they go off for let’s say 510 minutes, they come back and then we switch partners. I have a list that we rotate them. It’s very organized in that sense. And usually a lot of times I might have jet skis plus kayaks and paddle boards. So it’s a whole water sports event. And so again, some people don’t feel I have people who don’t know how to swim come out.

Barb 15:57
Oh, wow. Oh, that’s so great on their farm. Oh, wow.

Andrea 16:02
So like I said, it’s amazing to see what people are willing to do and to come out of their shell or comfort zone to to do that. And that’s part of why I love what I do is to push people beyond their comfort zone to get out there have fun and potentially meet your your match.
Barb 16:22
Okay, so the part you didn’t mention and I was I was actually kind of waiting for you to say it was it also means showing up in a bathing suit. Potentially your first date like that

Andrea 16:34
Crazy. Well, I mean, it’s not mandatory per se like to wear you know, bikini. I mean, obviously if you’re going to, you know, go into the water and again, we’ve had some people capsize in the water. Yeah, exactly. And they lost her sunglasses are hanging out there, but definitely before every activity and that goes for jet skiing or anything. Even puppy yoga. Yes, cute by the way. We always do I always do icebreakers. Okay, and and that for example, Jetski. That’s when maybe you’re wearing your whole outfit and not in your bikini yet. But you know that is to get people comfortable. And that’s when you’re introducing yourself and make people do a 32nd intro when it’s a small, smaller, intimate group. So everyone kind of gets a 32nd highlight. So before you’re getting in the waters and on the jet skiing, you get to know people a little bit and then sort of hop on the jet skis. But yeah, we have people like have cover ups or maybe they’re, they’re wearing a bathing suit underneath, you know, set of rules. But yeah, it’s super fun. And again, it just pushes people outside their comfort

Barb 17:42
Zone outside their comfort zone. I think puppy yoga would be hilarious because as a woman with flexibility, even trying to watch my husband do anything that involves stretching. That’s just a giggle fest for me. Like he’s hilarious. I’m like, What do you mean you can’t touch your toes like serious? Right? But he’s never had flexibility and neither does my son. So it’s, you know, it’s kind of an you know, meanwhile, here’s me three times my son’s age and I’m like, Yep, no problem, touch, have, you know, like, I just don’t even think about it. So I think yoga, that would be so, so entertaining to watch. And then

Andrea 18:21
you throw the puppies in like, what yoga are you doing? Really? Yes, exactly.

Barb 18:25
Yeah. Especially if the puppies are trying to crawl all over you like my dogs do and yeah, so yeah, the floor to do like, anything yoga oriented. The dogs are like, Oh, thumbs on the floor. That means she wants to play. Here’s your role. Here’s her like gross, slimy rope. Like,

Andrea 18:41
Let’s go. Yeah. Oh, that’s how this works. Yeah, we bring, you know anywhere from eight to 10 puppies. Yeah, we work with an ethical breeder and you know, it’s, it’s so awesome. And, and throughout the class, actually, we put the puppies like, you know on them if they’re wearing a hoodie, we kind of put them in their hood behind and it’s like puppy love. They’re kissing you and hugging you. And it’s just like therapeutic.

Barb 19:10
Also. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so, have you met your match through your program?

Andrea 19:20
So funny enough, and people always ask me like, So Andrew, are you single? Like, what’s your story? And I try not to talk about too much. I’m like, It’s not about me, everyone. It’s just let’s focus on on you guys. So I honestly I have met many wonderful people through through my events or at my events, especially as soon as they if they catch when I am single. Then they’re all like, oh, wait a second, like you know, powerhouse. Who’s organizing events she seems super bubbly and fun. So you know, I definitely have note there’s no shortage of people. I definitely meet through my events and you know, going out and all that. But I’m still you know, looking for the one so if anyone’s listening and you’re eligible bachelor.

Barb 20:07
Exactly. No, you know what’s interesting to me. So you and I were talking just before we got started, and I went to university out there. And now I’m back in Saskatchewan. The it was so much harder to meet people out there. Unless you were going to school with them or working with them. So you just didn’t meet people the same way. Now, it’s definitely changed here somewhat, you know, since I was out there going to university, but everybody tends to know everybody here like we’re just so much a smaller environment, or culture or population. And and so it’s you know, it’s easier. Now having said that, a I haven’t been on a single scene for years and be you know, I had never tried the dating apps never did any of that. Do you find that a lot of people who come out to your events, they’re kind of tired or that online virtual meeting like they’re ready for honest human connection again.

Andrea 21:12
Exactly. So the dating space definitely has changed over the years and especially during our during after the pandemic. Yeah. You know, some of the changes they will during the pandemic, the apps were flooded, like you see an influx of people who jumped on the apps, the zeros like how else will I meet people now? That’s right. Yes. That has it’s good and bad, right? Good. You have lots of options, many plenty. of fish in the sea as however, too many options overwhelms people and then you start to think like, Well, someone better might be out there so you get super picky and no one’s good enough. So that causes a lot of these complaints of like no one good is out there are no one serious or, you know, this and that are being ghosted, many, many stories. And so dating in a big city, there’s definitely a lot of complaints about that. Yeah. And that’s why, you know, with singles events, it’s complimentary to dating apps, right. You can still use the apps. I certainly also recommend this for my coaching clients where, you know, they’re like, I’ve given up I’ve tried everything, and I’m like, usually when I talk to them, they haven’t tried everything or they haven’t tried long enough, right. I always make a lot of parallels to you know, in the interview and job hunting process. You wouldn’t, you wouldn’t just, you know, job hunt for five minutes per day when you’re job hunting. Right, exactly. Yeah. Just try it for like a week and then say, you know, it’s, that’s enough for me. I’m not gonna find a job now. So I’m just gonna, I’m just gonna stop right. So the same thing when you’re searching for that special someone going on an app for example, five minutes a day or doing it at 1am Just before going to bed like that. It’s it’s not going to work right? That’s right. But you know, the singles events creates a different option for people to definitely create connections in person. But that’s because we’re not like those apps where when it gives you a name tag, you know, so just imagine bar if you were single and came out, but I’m not asking you the bar. What’s your age? Where do you live all that stuff? So that it’s like the swiping right. As soon as I see you, I’m like, Oh, you’re you know, you’re 25 No, that’s too young too. Old, whatever it is, and you kind of swipe left in person. Yeah, I’ve seen people because what I’m offering is a chance to connect and build deeper, meaningful connections. I see because I do the match forums. I’ve seen people who are maybe, you know, eight years apart 10 years apart or they’re not from the same city. They chose each other because they had a connection at the event. And that, again, people on apps there you could be swiping away or you could be going on it for months and not even you find someone to finally meet with because that’s how hard it can be. Yeah, so this is expediting that process, but also ensuring that you’re having that meaningful connection. You see the person right away, so there’s no like, I wonder what she looks like or what he looks like because they’re right there. Exactly. And you know,

Barb 24:13
I think some people take great pictures. Some people don’t you know, so there’s when you’re looking at that online, it’s so what is it objective, right? I liked the picture. I don’t I like the age I don’t wear when you’re in person with people and you actually have that opportunity to create a common bond a common experience. It makes a world of difference. The irony in this conversation is I always talk about Google being Tinder for business. I don’t know if you’ve seen any of my social media. But but but that’s the whole purpose behind Google is they want to make the match between customers and businesses. And you’re looking to make the match between you know, people. What’s funny to me about the whole thing is if we only look at a business online until let’s say somebody goes to your website, they go to the website, they’re like, oh, I don’t like this and they just keep on going but if they come out to an event, experience it, then they tend to have a very different response. Because they’ve, you know, taken the risk, so to speak and said, Hey, I’m gonna go out and I’m going to try one of Andrea’s event, or, you know, on the business side, they go out, you’re like, Oh, I’m gonna you know, try going into this business. So, you know, I think there’s some real I don’t know, there’s just a common thread in there. And then that we as humans, we’re drawn to, you know, the experience itself and, you know, being able to do all of these things. Absolutely. So we’re go ahead.

Andrea 25:47
No, we’re definitely visually and it’s funny that you mentioned about pictures and well, first of all, by my website, in order for people to guess for some people still, there’s still some stigma and taboo like, oh, I don’t want to be caught like doing a singles event, especially for women. Right. And so for me, me being female and it’s a female owned business, and I’m, you know, bipoc own business. You know, I’ve seen women like and I’ve heard women say, because you’re a female, you’re the face of your brand. I’ve just felt more comfortable. I discount tickets for women, right? And I try to make that experience but I my website, I use real photos. They’re not stock photos. There’s a lot of my competitors that use stock photos and yeah, maybe they don’t feel comfortable. Because again, like you said, what if someone goes to my, my pictures, I’m like, Well, I don’t like what I see. So I’m not gonna go to this event, but I just found that it’s more authentic that I just lead with these are real photos from my events. You are liking what they see. And you know, I give advice before every event because I send detailed reminders, you know, where is it to dress up and I give examples of what what does it mean to dress up? Because that is your, your brand you’re representing and that’s your first impression, but I actually do photo shoots. That’s one of the services that I offer. I do makeovers so I can go over you know, the written portion but also the photo. So for those for example gentleman who, like I don’t take photos, I can’t take photos. I actually do photo shoots and I consult them on what to wear how to pose shoot so that they stay authentically them. We’re not trying to make them look like Brad Pitt or somebody that they’re not right. I stay authentic to them. So you know, if they let’s say I like working in video games. We might have a photo that really, you know, is done playing you know, we stages so there’s like a board game at play. And so we get to see their personality, their photos, but much better pictures than their gym selfie or the selfie with really bad lighting and then they have like a double chin. That’s you know, like all those like really bad photos. Yeah, it is really important to have great photos or if you come in person that you dress up because that is the first impression and people wake will make a judgment call. Just it’s they say it’s within two, three seconds. We’ll make a lot about somebody and whether we want to connect with them or not. So it’s super important.
Barb 28:10
Perfect timing. That was my doorbell. Hold on Yeah.
Hate Amazon be right back Yeah, no worries.
Hear me Amazon needs your firstborn now to return something. Okay, so that was perfect timing. Because you had just like finished a sentence and I was like Oh, alright, and so we have about three minutes left. Let’s didn’t want you to be able to give all the social links how to sign up and stuff like that. I don’t want to quite move into. Is there one quick story that you could share?

Andrea 31:48
I’m like, what kind of story I have many stories but

Barb 31:51
Yeah, I know. That’s the the challenge. Well, you know what, since we’re kind of taking a business focus, let’s quickly talk about how you balance the two. How you balance the two and then we’ll wrap it up because you’ve said you’ve got a job again, plus you’re doing this okay. Oh my balance a picture. Okay. Okay, so I’ll ask my question. You answer and then we’ll move into wrap up. So Andrea, just before we do wrap up, tell me how you’re balancing being an entrepreneur and being an employee again.

Andrea 32:29
I don’t sleep.

Barb 32:32
I’ve heard that Yes. From entrepreneurs.

Andrea 32:34
They don’t want to leave. Yeah, definitely not a good thing. You know, self cares. Definitely. Important and much needed. But definitely being passionate about what you be passionate about what you what you do is super important. I think that’s what keeps me going because, you know, like I said, I found my calling. This is something I’m really passionate about and I love connecting people. So work doesn’t feel like work. It’s just honestly so much fun. And, you know, I’m very on top of like, my Google Calendar. Like if it’s not on my schedule, it’s not happening. So I definitely use my calendars to stay organized. I have a to do list that I you know, check things off. And a long time for but between being very on top of your time being passionate about what you do. That’s and having that sort of end goal that you’re super passionate about. Going that’s how I can

Barb 33:33
Make it all work very cool. All right, just before we wrap up, I let’s find out how folks can find you. Yeah,

Andrea 33:41
Absolutely. So my website is torontodatinghub.com Super easy to remember and I’m Toronto Dating Hub on all the social platforms. So Facebook, Instagram, and on my website, you’ll find all my services, the coaching services like the photo services, mock dates, wingwoman services, very, very unique services, as well as the photoshoot, dating profile makeover, and all my events are listed there. They’re also listed on Eventbrite and meetups. So pretty easy to find me and so I hope that people take a chance to come out and your first 15 minute consultation is complimentary. So that’s also a really great way to figure out if I can help you if we’re a match and get started.

Barb 34:29
That way. Awesome. Well, that was fantastic. Thank you so much, Andrea, for joining me today just to talk about Toronto Dating Hub, how you’re balancing it and like so many entrepreneurs, how you got where you are having to go through that really crappy place that you were in when COVID first started on that note, if you want to sell your story, then you need to tell your story and there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life show. If you’d like to be a guest you can email me at barb at above the fold dot live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at above the fold. Ca I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and a local business champion. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now. Oh my god, I just had a total heart attack. I looked when I went to click the stop button. I knew for sure that I had clicked the unpause button. But I thought for a second that I had actually clicked a stop button instead of the N pause and I was like No but it did. We’re all good. Oh my god. Amazing. So I’m still going on upstairs because the dogs are still going apeshit God, I hate Amazon. I don’t know if you’ve ordered anything from Amazon lately, but their return process has totally changed. And it’s gross. Yeah, like now somebody actually comes in picks it up. So they were supposed to pick it up Tuesday. And so I skipped my swim practice on Tuesday to stay home so they can pick this thing up and then show up and show up. Yeah. So then today like back to back recordings, meetings, everything else I knew I knew they would come right in the middle of a recording. It’s just Murphy’s Law. Anyway, I’m done griping.

Andrea 36:23
Well, at least you returned it and now you can focus on doing your other meetings without hopefully
Barb 36:29
Without worry, right? Exactly. What happens if they like what if they say well, we didn’t pick it up or we we have I don’t know because like I feel like I have no control where it used to be you would just return it no way put the post office and you know you instantly got credit but now like it’s kind of a guessing game. Not liking it. Anyway, it was a total pleasure to meet you. That sounds so cool. The stuff you’re doing. I wish there had been stuff like that when I was you know, out there and single and yeah, I like I had a I was in a pretty serious relationship when I was out there. And honestly half the reason I came back to Saskatchewan even though it’s home for me was Yeah, I don’t want this relationship to go anywhere. I’m leaving.

Andrea 37:14
Exit Strategy.

Barb 37:16
I know exactly. It’s it’s not a common exit strategy. I have another place I can call home See you later.

Andrea 37:22
And I guess like if there were from here, they’re like, I’m not going to Saskatchewan.

Barb 37:26
Oh god. No, he came here for Christmas one year and it was funny. Because it was a brown Christmas which like happens once every 20 years. He didn’t mind it but you could definitely tell he was like, I’m not sticking around here for too long. I’m always Okay, nice guy. I actually his birthday is Saturday. Yeah, like I like every once in a while. Right. Yeah. So, you know, it didn’t end terribly badly. And yeah, whatever. Anyway, it was a pleasure to meet you was very cool. Thank you for having me business. Yep. And we’ll start to keep in touch because, as I say, I don’t know what we’re going to do at the back end. Now that my partner’s gone back to work full time. But like it’s been a good experience for me because I’m trying to you know how sometimes you have to take your own business stuff back in, figure it out, untie the knots, and then you’re ready to share it with someone. Right and because he did it for so long. There’s a lot of not tango, like an awful lot of not. So let’s go on Okay, I just need to get that all sorted out. And then the new year will be a whole new thing.

Andrea 38:35
Well, hopefully you figure it out and on titles not

Barb 38:40
Exactly. Hey, so what is your full time job now? What are you doing? Um,

Andrea 38:44
I worked for the government on contract also, I don’t get the lovely benefits but yeah, contract and but it’s still like very easy. Pretty easy job. And so that’s why I keep it because a good secure income coming in. And obviously I don’t work that many hours with them.

Barb 39:06
Like it’s gives you a little bit of freedom to be what you want. I do so yeah. What are you actually doing for them?

Andrea 39:14
I’m in short, it’s like it’s like customer service for the ministries. Okay. Yep. So it’s, I answer emails.

Barb 39:23
Yeah. Pretty low maintenance kind of stuff. Yeah. Not very

Andrea 39:27
Stressful at all, which is great. So I already got enough stress during the events and all that other stuff. So

Barb 39:33
Totally, yeah, but then you know, you’re leaving work every day, whatever, four o’clock, five o’clock, whatever time work ends and you’re done. You don’t

Andrea 39:42
Have to go in the office because I am on contract and they don’t have space for us. And I think their government they they definitely want to like I think the full timers are only there three days a week. And you have to like book your desk and yep, they’re trying to keep it like you know, COVID friendly kind of thing. So for us, like they don’t even want to like spend resources on having us in there. So I’m like, no problem. I’ll come in

Barb 40:07
So yep, yeah, exactly. I’m sure they monitor can monitor everything remotely nowadays. Right. And so, yeah, yeah.

Andrea 40:16
I’m not sure I move the mouse. Yeah.

Barb 40:21
That’s like when you hire on Fiverr. It’s like okay, great. You moved your mouse serious? Yeah, they know Oh, God. Yes. I totally understand that. All right. I’m gonna go bitch at my husband about this hiccup that I just had to endure. You have a fantastic Black Friday if you’re doing any shopping. And yeah, let’s keep in touch on LinkedIn there and that’ll be good.

Andrea 40:44
For sure. Thanks for having me. Thank you for doing

Barb 40:46
This. Absolutely. Yep. Before your episode goes live. You’ll see a couple of emails from me, you know, just reminding you and whatnot. And if you want to promote it on your social to say hey, have you ever thought about then you can

Andrea 40:57
Share it there? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. And I sent you some

Barb 41:01
Photos and all this. I did see it I didn’t haven’t had a chance to click the link or whatever. But yes, but you look perfectly fine. By the way. I have you fullscreen like I’m like off squished in the corner.

Ep. 115 Karey Kapell from Next Level Business and Life Coaching

Karey Kapell

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Online mastermind groups are pretty common but today we’re talking to an entrepreneur who ‘just knew’ that people were exhausted from spending their time and lives online. So she brought the online tradition back to a real classroom where entrepreneurs could share their stories in a safe space and receive the value of collective advice from other local businesses.

From retail stores to online businesses, the members of @kareykapell and @michellestrawford ‘s mastermind are building local connections and real-world superpowers.

Tune in for today’s podcast 🎤 episode on @cjtr_91.3 to learn more about the power of masterminds and to hear a brief diversion on the status of childcare! 😜

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone ring and the website ding? In this episode, we’re talking about one of the best kept secrets in any community. Its network of local businesses, businesses that rely on foot traffic and phone calls from the skinny lessons that will make you win the tell all exposes. These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their businesses. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and local business cheerleader. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses to local multilocation stores. You can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers. Today, we’re going behind the scenes with Karey Kapell from her namesake business coaching service to talk about turning her online mastermind programme into an in person business besties mastermind programme in her local community. Tune in to hear how Karey and her business partner are changing the conversation for women business owners. Welcome Karey, tell us a little bit about yourself and your mastermind programme.

Karey 1:15
And I help female entrepreneurs find their next level in business, so working with them on their leadership skills as well as their business strategy. So what is a mastermind? Yes. What the heck is a mastermind? So a mastermind is a peer to peer support group where we bring entrepreneurs together to support each other help solve problems that they’re having in their business, give advice and just be you know, not only, you know, strategic support, but also emotional support, mental support when it comes to growing your business. So it’s an it’s a, an incubator for, you know, coming to the table with all your challenges, and really like having people on the outside looking in who have may have been through something similar, and have tried different things to help you really solution, your challenges and help you go to that next level.

Barb 2:14
So do you find Karey that in your groups, you need to have very homogeneous groups? Where everybody is service based? Or everybody is retail based? Or what does your group makeup look like?

Karey 2:27
That’s actually a really good question. So traditionally, in the past, when I ran masterminds, I would often keep them focused on like, you know, industry specific, so like, coaches only, like more product based only. And this time, actually, last year, we decided to do a mix of both. And we’ve actually found the diversity of a group has been incredibly beneficial, and in a lot of ways, because lots of times when we come to the table, we’re also each other’s ideal clients in some ways, or we like our like, we’re people that like want to experience the like we’ve experienced the business before or like purchase from them. And so a lot of times, like, just having that diverse group of women around the table is beneficial. And that diverse outlook is been really game changing. So traditionally, like, I in the past, like I said, I kind of segment, segmented it, but now I’m just kind of opening it up, we want to see a good balance. Like if you’re the only product based business in there, and it’s only service based, then that might not be as useful for you. So we tried to make it balanced in that way.

Barb 3:38
So how many people would be in your mastermind groups, whether it was online or in person?

Karey 3:44
Yeah, so typically, we keep it to like 10. Because we want to create, like a really intimate experience, I myself have been a part of larger ones. And I feel sometimes I got lost a little bit and like the amount of people plus you don’t get as much time to solution your business if there’s too many. So we try to keep it to 10. So that it’s a really intimate group and everyone has lots of time to talk about their business, their challenges and, and such. So yeah, 10 is a good number.

Barb 4:11
Is it funny how, let’s say 10 years ago, we would have called up a friend called up another business owner, gone for coffee and had these conversations. And as technology changed, and then COVID hit our behaviours change where everything moved online. And yet, you’ve brought that mastermind concept back to being in person to tell me a little bit about that journey. And you have a partner in that process too.

Karey 4:38
Yeah, so before COVID I ran my masterminds completely online and a lot of that too was like the decision there was like the scalability of it is a little bit more you know, you can scale it you don’t have to like niche into just like the Regina market where where I live right. And so that was great and all but there’s a there’s a difference. Word of energy when people are in person. And one of the things that even though I was also a part of online masterminds, I would often travel every so often to go meet the mastermind in person. And those times were so incredibly powerful and impactful that when it came to running when in Regina, actually, Michelle Stratford, who’s owns Bella chic, she’s the producer of what women want. She was in one of my in person masterminds a long time ago, back when I first started them in 20, like 18. And we did it in person then. And that was before I got into like online marketing and kind of online coaching and stuff. And she just loved the power of that group. And so she had approached me and she’s like, you know, I think that there are so many entrepreneurs who are just craving that in person connection, they’re craving, like, they’re so done with being online, they’re so done talking through a computer screen, and they just want to be in person. So, um, we decided to, like, let’s target like Regina, and surrounding area businesses, and let’s do this in person. And the response was incredible people really were craving that in person connection.

Barb 6:11
Yeah, absolutely. You know, and just having somebody to bounce ideas off. That’s huge. And even if it’s not at the mastermind, you’ve got this other group of nine people who you can send an email to and say, like, hey, what do you think of this idea? Have you ever bumped into this? Do you have any ideas? Right? And so we all kind of build that little micro network? Yeah, you know, almost like I want to say built in friends. Right.

Karey 6:39
But it’s whether we call each other business besties.

Barb 6:42
Yeah, exactly. And that’s exactly what you’re building. So tell me what a session would would look like in a mastermind here in Regina. Yeah.

Karey 6:51
So we host them in person at slant, which is a new co workspace in Regina. And so we all like gather, and at the very beginning, we just kind of do like a little like, how’s it going check in, and then each person gets a certain amount of time, depending on how many people show up. And we’ve been like, this year, everyone has showed up every single time. It’s been amazing. The commitment level has been awesome. And so we just kind of distribute the time between each entrepreneur and they get so much time and we basically say, Okay, what is your challenge, and they get like two minutes to describe the challenge that they’re bringing to the table for that session. And then we do a thing where we you have we have two to three minutes to ask clarifying questions only. So we’re not solutioning. We’re just clarifying questions, right? So like, Who’s your ideal clients? What have you tried in the past? Like, just things like that, right. And then after that, we go into like what we call brain writing, where we everybody just dumps their ideas for solutions onto a piece of paper. And we would do that for a couple minutes. And then we open up the floor to conversation. So someone can take an idea that they wrote on a piece of paper, and just say, Hey, have you thought of this, and then the masterminding happens, and people just jump in. And we just kind of go from there. What the reason why we introduced the brain writing was because sometimes some people are more quiet, and some people are more dominant. And we wanted the opportunity for everyone to just at least get their idea down. So if they didn’t have a chance to talk or give their idea, at least it’s written on paper, and then all those sheets of paper, go to that entrepreneur, they get to like, take it away with them and like, then everyone signs it, and they can review it after and then reach out to that individual and be like, hey, like, Can you expound on your idea? Yeah, um, so yeah, that’s the format. And then at the very end of each person’s session as facilitators. And as for me, my job as the coach, and the group is to be like, okay, out of everything that everyone said, what feels most aligned for you? And what’s the action you’re going to take and commit to before you get back to this table? Accountability is so huge in this group, and we kick it off saying like, Don’t say you’re going to do something unless you’re committed to doing it, because we are going to hold you to that to your commitments, because we need to be pushed, right? Yeah. So that’s essentially how the mastermind goes. And it’s incredible the ideas and the solutions that come up. It’s honestly I would love to record a live session just to show people the incredible power. Exactly. Having nine other brains on your business is amazing.

Barb 9:31
So just back up for a second, did you say that this is a weekly thing or a monthly thing?

Karey 9:36
It’s monthly. And so in between we have we we have we’re all in Facebook groups where we interact in between sessions, so I will always post like, Okay, what was everyone’s action? How is everyone doing with it? Where are you at? So we do lots of check ins. I’ll go in there. Michelle will go in there and we’ll like write little motivational things or we’ll just randomly check in on people if we know Oh, that they’re going through a launch? Or how did this action go? We knew that you were like going out door to door and like handing pamphlets out, for example, like how did it go and will offer more ideas in between. So, for example, we had one entrepreneur who we decided, like you should, you know, create, like a Slim Jim card of the service that you can provide, go door to door to businesses. And so we followed up after, for example, and we’re like, how did it go, she’s like, I dropped 100 off, this many people booked. And we’re like, Okay, I think that everyone in like, you know, should get a follow up, you should send a follow up email, just because sometimes when you invite people to buy from you, they, they need to be reminded a couple of times. So it’s just like, stuff like that, like supporting them as they go forward. And so there’s a lot of in between support. Yep. We also encourage what we call like, you know, at the beginning of the mastermind, everyone, we we challenge everyone to date each other at least once. So go on a date. Yeah. And so it’s, it’s just kind of really fostering that connection, because you never know what you can learn from somebody. salutely Yeah. And so we encourage that, and that doesn’t have to be in person, if they just a quick phone call or a team’s meeting or whatever, that’s totally fine. And but lots of them have gone for coffee and have visited each other’s businesses and things like that. So lots of in between.

Barb 11:20
Yeah, yeah, that’s awesome. So are entrepreneurs committing a whole day each month? Or is it half a day? So they can get through all 10? People?

Karey 11:29
Yeah, it’s half a day. So we typically start at like noon, and then we’ll like end around 334 depending on, you know, we try to be quite like structured with our time. And yeah, we you know, as facilitators, it’s like we, you know, don’t give us backstory, unless we need to ask for it’s like, just get to the challenge, get to the get to the problem. Let’s focus on like the solution, not how you got there. Yeah, so it is sometimes a challenge to get it all out in the four hours. But it’s incredible.

Barb 12:00
Yeah, absolutely. So what are some of the common problems that you’re hearing from folks right now?

Karey 12:05
You know, it’s interesting, like a lot of our entrepreneurs right now, like burnout is a big thing. And I think a lot of it comes like from COVID. And just having to like, they had to pivot and solution and like all hands on deck during COVID. And then all of a sudden, we’re hit with this economy right now. And it’s just like one thing after another. So a lot of people were finding just like their motivation and their drive like a little bit lost. And that was totally relatable to both Michelle and I like, we felt it too. And so that’s been like a big thing. The other thing, of course, which a lot of entrepreneurs can struggle with, but especially during these hard times, was cashflow. So a lot of times, like the businesses during COVID, they had to invest in, you know, online suddenly, or just pivot the way they were doing business. And some of them did really well and grew really well. So they took their cash flow, and invest it on being able to handle the capacity or the volume or to pivot online. And then we hit a really hard economy. Yes. So we’re like the, the cash flow situation has been a challenge. And so we’ve been really working hard on like, how can we increase your guys’s cash flow? What are easy things to sell and do that What are ways to like work with the bank to offer a little bit of relief? I noticed like one of the big challenges with female entrepreneurs in particular that I find this is not to say it’s true for all of them, but going in debts lines of credit. It’s a really, really scary thing. And it’s just not, you know, there’s so much like noise around the failure of that, but it’s like some most successful businesses at some point have to rely on some sort of like cash injection from loans. In order to grow. It’s actually quite normal. Yes. Um, so yeah, just Howard, like some, you know, ways to do that without feeling like you’re getting in too deep that you can’t get out, either.

Barb 14:01
I remember a conversation that I had had with a coach very early on with my business. And he had actually drawn out a graph where it looked at, you know, typically, you want your business trajectory in terms of the revenue to kind of be that, you know, angled line up, but he said, you know, expenses never follow that line. So expenses are gonna go up, and then they’re underneath the graph, and then they’re gonna go up again, and then they’re underneath. And he said, the important thing is, when you when you’re seeing expenses go up. For a lot of business owners, you tend to want to turtle and it’s 100% have to pull back. If you want that trajectory to keep going up. You got to spend the money to make money and it’ll level off and then spend money to make money. And that’s a really hard thing. And I agree with you 100%. As women entrepreneurs, I think there’s a societal belief that, you know, a you can do it on your own. You don’t need to hire someone to do it. Humby we have to figure all this stuff out on our own. And that’s where something like a mastermind comes in really handy. But there’s also a belief and I, you know, I even look at how my own kids are growing up, what what is expected of a female versus what is expected of a male is so entirely different, even in the school system. Right, girls are expected to sit and be quiet and just get their work done. Boys are rambunctious and their hands are grown up, and they’re talking. And they’re given so much more latitude. Because they’re boys, it drives me insane as a parent, why? Stepping back as an entrepreneur, it’s like, we were totally, you know, taught a completely different set of rules.

Karey 15:49
So traditionally, entrepreneurship is very masculine and business strategy is very masculine. And so just even with like, you know, if I look at like my growing up, like my dad, he made the money he handled the money, I was never modelled a woman empowered with money, and not because my parents weren’t amazing and awesome. It’s just not, that just wasn’t the way things were. And so a lot of women with money, we’re just we don’t feel empowered around it. Yeah. And so that’s been a really huge thing. And I love that you said, like, we’ve been really like, hounding this a lot. Like when you’ve gotta spend money to continue to grow. And a lot of time entrepreneurs, like when they when sales start to drip, they completely pull back, but it’s like, everyone is pulling back, this is your time to go all in, not all in like, we’ve got to be smart about it. You got to know your numbers. And but it’s, it’s so true. That’s incredibly important. And sometimes that means a line of credit. And that’s okay.

Barb 16:46
So yeah, well, and to your point about, you know, your parents and who manage the money and stuff. It was really interesting to me early in my corporate career, before I started my business, I had achieved some fairly, like, well standing positions in my career, and you know, my own parents, you know, oh, good for you. Congratulations, right. That was it. My husband, then a couple of years later, achieve the same position, same title, right? Couple years later, well, oh, my goodness, you would swear the man just like won the lottery. They just like they couldn’t stop praising him when I was like, Huh, what like, right and bless my parents who are cool, but that’s how they were raised. Them, man should have the title them, right. And it was just like, wow, okay, this is entirely enlightening.

Karey 17:41
It’s very likely. And I think a lot of actually female entrepreneurs in particular, like, the actual fear at the end of the day is not necessarily failure. I mean, they do feel failure, because as women, we hate disappointing others, you know, we don’t want to let our family down, like, so many of them are like, I don’t want to let my family down. And I’m like, why would you put that responsibility on yourself? Like you would, I don’t find a lot of husbands being like, you know, like, I don’t want to let my family down. Like, they, of course want to provide for them and everything, but like, it’s just as guilt. And yeah, I just think that, like, it’s, it’s really interesting. And I think women are actually more scared of success, than they are a failure, because success is not something that’s been modelled to us. It’s, you know, there’s a lot of power and, you know, in being successful or the breadwinner, traditionally. And I think that, you know, rocking that boat a little is actually quite disruptive to society to relationships, no matter how amazing the partner is, is just, they’ve also been conditioned to be the taker care, like to take care of the breadwinners. And so you suddenly start making more money than your husband or like you are a really successful women. There’s a lot of discomfort out there around that. And we’re, we’ve come a long way. But I think there’s still a lot of undoing around the conditioning, just as females that we have to do in order to like, take those risks and be as successful as we can be. So it’s super interesting.

Barb 19:06
Yeah. One of the things that I always watch is, because my kids are really close in age, and I can see you know, how they’re interpreting things. One of the things that I think that’s really cool is, my daughter is 15, my son, my son is 14. And I remember back when I was that age, you know, I was already really cognizant of my my body image and you know, how I wanted to look and things like that. My daughter is 15 She has absolutely no body consciousness at all, like none. And, you know, we have never said the word diet in our house we talk about healthy and we talk about nutrition and we write but we have never, ever said the word diet in terms of you know, losing weight, because nobody consciousness. So at 15 She actually still competes with her brother for who’s taller and who’s heavier. And I love that. Well, you like it? I like do too. I love it. Well, but wait a second, you don’t actually get to pack a lot of muscle on in these next few years. So that’s always gonna be possible. Yeah, exactly. Or it’s gonna be like, no, no, you don’t want to compete with him on this one right? Height to absolutely keep going because they are neck and neck. But you touched on something really interesting there and you talk about the the pressure that we put on ourselves as women, we have to take care of our family. We have to this we have to get the groceries do the laundry. Oh, yeah, and run a successful business. And just yesterday, I was having this. Two Devils on my shoulder like that the devil in the angel, because it was my son’s birthday yesterday. And every instinct within me was like, Oh, my God, I have to bake a cake and have to put icing on it after this. And I’m like, No, I don’t. I want my son to have a cake. It’s okay, if I go buy something. He’s not here. He’s not okay. He knew it was bought. It wasn’t hard to figure out. But believe me, it wasn’t figured hard to figure out who made it or not. But it’s like, no, if I want him to have something. My business is in a position or family is in a position. I can go by it, put it in front of him, and I can continue to do things that are earning money. Does earning money have to be the only thing? No, absolutely not. But you know what? When I look at what am I going to enjoy? I was enjoying the work that I was doing. What is he going to enjoy? He’s going to enjoy eating something. He’s not going to care who made it.

Karey 21:37
Right. Totally. And yeah, I haven’t. I have a similar like not birthday related but similar scenario in terms of that guilt. It’s in the last year I’ve travelled four or five times have been gone a lot like I went to Portugal twice, I went to Phoenix. Prior to COVID. I would go to New York a couple times a year like all over LA like with masterminding and things like that. And I’ve had people say to me, how do you get away with that? Like, how do you gotten away with being gone so much? And I’m like, no one would ask my husband, if he went away that many times, they would never ask that because that’s just his job, right? That’s what my career can involve a lot of travel. And I’m lucky that I have a partner who’s like go like that. He’s, he actually plans the birthday parties, which is amazing. Because I’m just more of like the visionary dreamer, I come up with the idea. He’s like the executor. And we just work like that. But yeah, it’s interesting how like, I and I’ve had to check myself sometimes to be like, I don’t need to feel guilty about going away. My kids are fine. Their dad is more than capable. He’s like he more organised than I am and is going to be more thorough and efficient. Yeah. And he can he can deal with the stuff. Even at our daycare. You know, I was always the contact person if the kids were sick. And I was like, actually could could my husband be the first point of contact? I’ll be the second one. And it was like, they didn’t even think they just automatically put me as first contact. Yes. And so it’s little things like that, that it you make it makes you realise that we’ve come a long way. And there is still a long way to go. Yeah. So there’s a lot of undoing in order to be, you know, successful in business and to say yes to those opportunities, and letting go of the guilt and the shame and just allowing your partner to step up in different ways. And it’s really interesting, but yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s been quite the journey. Absolutely. And then there’s always those times where you know, whether you’re a single parent all the time, or you’re single parenting because one parent is travelling, that adds a whole new dynamic. I don’t want to get us too far off topic.

Barb 23:44
We only have a couple of minutes left. So quickly, tell us about the mastermind that you have coming up, how can people find the information, find out the costs, all of those sorts of things? And if somebody is interested in signing up, where do they go?

Karey 23:58
Yeah, so we’re actually just getting our landing page relaunched. So in the next week that will be available, but the best place to reach out for information is actually on my Instagram, or Michelle’s Instagram. So at Carey Capelle, or at Michelle Stratford. So definitely, we’re going to be talking about it a lot in the next few weeks as well. So we’ll have lots of information and the website link will will go up on on there as well. Um, yeah, so those are those are the places my website as well reach your next level.com You can always go there and obviously once the mastermind landing pages is ready to go up that will be live on there as well. So yeah, the next one launches in March of 2023. We’re currently just going through the waitlist and then we’ll be opening it up for enrollment, depending on again, like depending on the uptake, we might actually run two groups again, because there’s been quite a bit of interest. Um, And yes, you can find out all the details in the next few weeks once it’s launched, and otherwise reach out on Instagram. Perfect. We’ll be there to answer any questions you have.

Barb 25:09
Okay, that is fantastic. Um, just before we do wrap up today, now you’ve shared your social channels, and I was frantically trying to write it the background, but just quickly share those social channels with us one more time, and then I will wrap us up.

Karey 25:21
Awesome. So at Karey Kapell. And then at Michelle Stratford

Barb 25:27
Okay, perfect. All right. Well, Karey, thank you very much for being with us here today. I’m really excited to learn more about this mastermind and I’ll be sure to hit up the the new page once it’s live. On that note, if you would like to tell your story, then you have to. That is not how this is supposed to go. And on that note, if you want to sell your story, then you need to tell your story. And there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life show. If you would like to be a guest, you can email me at barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at abovethefold.ca. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and Local Business Champion. Remember you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Karey @ Next Level Business and Life Coaching

Ep. 114 Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Joel Sopp Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Joel Sopp is a self-proclaimed social media evangelist. He believes 100% in the power of social media. In today’s episode, Joel & I will go toe-to-toe in the ultimate show down of Google vs Social Media.

As a small business owner, where do you put your time & effort? Social media? Google?

Social media is tough to get the visibility.

Google is tougher to understand on your own.

In this ultimate showdown, Joel & I call it a tie, with small business coming out on top!

Transcript

Speaker 0:01
In the blue corner weighing in at a solid 255 pounds with a professional record of 25 viral social media clients 38 recommendations and five starring roles coming to us from the city that rhymes with fun. Please welcome Joe saw Bob and his opponent in the red corner weighing in at, excuse me. Hailing from the infamous Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, rated as the best rank for rank Local Business SEO marketer with 52. top of the page rankings 38 of them coming by the way of get found participants, and only for fourth place or lower rankings. None other than McGraw love. Now, for the 1000s in attendance, and the millions watching around the world. Let’s get ready to rumble.

Barb 1:21
Welcome to The Secret Life of local Show. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. But today, we have a treat for you put down those phones pop in your ear earbuds. And let’s do this the ultimate showdown for local business, Google, or social media? How is a business owner to know? Today we’re gonna go toe to toe with Joel SOP from socially acceptable marketing, to finally answer the chicken and the egg question for every small business. Can I attract more customers with Google or social media? Joel, I’m going to be a gracious host, and let you take the first swing.

Joel 2:09
Thank you so much, Barb, I really appreciate that. It is a very much a chicken and egg question, which is more important. Is it the social media marketing? Or is it the Google presence that you have and people finding you on Google? Those are the keywords the short tail keywords the longtail keywords? Or is it about people finding you with hashtags on social media, which is most important, and a lot of people really struggle with trying to see their social presence being really robust. And with Facebook and Instagram, making it a pay to play environment that really makes the small business owners struggle because not everyone has a huge robust budget to be able to be spreading every single post with even five or 10 or $50 through of the entire social media atmosphere. And then you have to consider where does my customer spend their time on what social platform like where does my business need to be? Yeah, do I have to be everywhere?

Barb 3:10
Absolutely. And you know, the other consideration there is time? How much time does it take to be on each platform? How much time does it take to run that Google Ad post on Google post on all these different social channels? So there’s a time and a budget aspect? So when you’re working with your clients in socially acceptable marketing, how do you counsel them to make the choice between the two?

Joel 3:36
Well, the most important part is to hyper target on who their customer actually is. Because when they understand who their customer is, they get to really delve into where their customer spends their time, okay. And when they find a where their customer spends their time, they can find out which platform based on the demographics of who uses that platform. They’re to find out other mobile device, so they still an older client that’s on a laptop or a desktop that’s using Facebook still, or they tick talker. So there’s so many different platforms and so many different demographics to consider. So it’s very important to know and hyper target who your ideal client is, whether it’s Google, or whether it’s social media.

Barb 4:19
So I think that’s a fantastic lead in so when you’re talking about hyper targeting, you’re really talking about zoning in on who their ideal customer is, or who their target audience is. Can you think of an example though of a target audience that isn’t using Google when they want to solve a problem?

Joel 4:37
Hmm, that is a great question.

Barb 4:41
So I’m 100% i 100%. agree with you that when we’re looking at the social channels, you know, if you want to hit up Gen Z, and maybe even, you know, a little bit older Tiktok is the place to be now I know a ton of local businesses who are having great success from an awareness standpoint on tick tock, or maybe they’ve gone all in with Instagram and Instagram reels. But the foundation that I find is all of those customers when they want to solve a problem, find a plumber, find a dentist get a massage, I still find that they’re going to Google. So what do you find with your clients?

Joel 5:20
Finding more often than not, they are. Using a lot of awareness campaigns, like for video has always been the most engaging form of content that has been out there. Even Instagram, which has been a highly curated image platform. It’s very, very difficult to go onto Instagram now and find images as the very first thing you hit when you go on Instagram. It’s almost always video. Yes, absolutely. reels have taken over. They have even Facebook. Yeah, look, even Facebook, you’re finding almost always the stories are gonna be the first thing that pop up and the reels. So I think the video is, is really a huge part of spreading the awareness campaign. But I do feel that a lot of people when they want to find out something local, you’re 100%, right, people are going to Google to find the answers that they need.

Barb 6:16
So here’s something interesting that I’m seeing on some of the platforms now tick tock is a video only platform, if you were to post a picture on tick tock the same way people are posting a picture as a real on Instagram, you’re not gonna get a whole heck of a lot of views or plays out of it, because it is just a static image. And people are getting around that on Instagram by saying, you know, okay, Instagram, here’s a, here’s an image as a real now put that in your algorithm. Right. So that’s a very popular concept right now. But when I look at what’s happening, when I get caught up in the reels on Instagram, I usually find that I’m not seeing local content anymore. Yet, when I go on Tik Tok, and I’m flipping through all of the different videos that pop up, I will still see local content. So are you noticing that as well? Or what do you see when you bounce between some of the more popular channels?

Joel 7:17
No, definitely, I see that on Instagram, it seems to be siloed I’ll see a lot more content based on the very first reel that I choose almost every single reel follows suit. And it’s a basically a vein or it’s a theme that follows that initial reel or video that I that I that I watch. But on Tik Tok, it’s all the algorithm is based on definitely on your likes on your previous legs and videos on the type of content. You gotta be very careful the links you click, you have to be careful the videos you watch, because if you go down one rabbit hole, I mean, your video, I actually curate my likes, I actually go into the videos I’ve liked. And I go back and I start unliking videos that watch because I like I have no idea why a watch that I don’t want to see any more of this content. Yeah. And I want to see if I can hack the algorithm to adjust what comes into my flow going forward. Because, yeah, there’s some things that I’m like, I don’t even know why I watched it in the first place. There’s video game content my kids send me like, I don’t need to see a whole bunch of video games for the rest of this month. Exactly what I’m trying to do research for my clients, I don’t see a whole bunch of video game content. Well, I’m looking to see what other teenagers or other teens other sort of young adults are trying to watch and try and get a feel for what Saskatchewan young adults are trying to find to push products out there and see if there’s anything that I can recommend to my clients and what kind of videos they could be producing.

Barb 8:48
Right. So let’s talk. Let’s talk about that production process. So first off, who are you seeing us consume the different platforms? And then what do you counseling your client on in terms of, you know, here’s that the quickest, easiest way to create that video content, because quick picture versus a video, one takes longer.

Joel 9:20
So sorry, right? The organic part of taking a video is extremely important. I think there’s a certain amount of production value that one expects from a larger content creator and people allow that to happen with. But you can’t, how do I put this there’s a cringe factor if you’re not a big account and you’ve amazing production value. So you’re just trying to but you’re just trying to find my views. I’m not gonna watch you. But if you have like 3 million followers and you’ve got a great content, great quality quant content and amazing cameras, then I expect that right? So there’s that Organic kind of shaky camera views that I expect if you’re a smaller account and you’ve got a lot of use, I want that right? The other cringe factor to be aware of when you’re a local company that’s trying to get views is the age of the people in your videos. If you’re an older person like ourselves, and you’re trying to be the main character, you’re, you’re likely not going to, unless you’re going for the cringe factor, you’re likely not going to get any views at all, if you’re trying to be serious in your production value of your product or service. Unless you’re doing like a tongue in cheek, or you’re trying to make fun of yourself. But there has to be authentic. If you’re trying to make fun of yourself. And people can tell it people are like, it’s disingenuous, I’m not going to buy into this exactly, yes, 100% Let’s you’re going to try to make yourself into a meme. And people can tell you’re trying to make yourself a meme. And they’re like, we’re not gonna make you a meme. Like, it’s, it’s a really difficult place tick tock to to try and break into. There’s been a few companies that have successfully done it, but it’s a very tricky place to to win in the social media game.

Barb 11:06
Absolutely. And I think you touched on something really important there. It’s the authenticity, so the authenticity of what you’re doing whatever it is, is so, so important. And so if I look at, uh, you know, my even my own social channels, the simpler the video is, typically, the higher the views, the plays, things like that. So the most simple video I have ever done is just a camera on my keyboard typing. That’s all I did. Five seconds. 8000 views who watched somebody type 1000 times. But they did, because it was so simple.

Joel 11:48
So the algorithm, did they watch it? Probably?

Barb 11:50
Oh, yeah, I know. That’s one thing I’ve never looked at is how many people but because it was so quick, and there was words that came across the screen. So if you watched more than once, right, you had to it was purposeful, that it was very quick. And in fact, I’ve heard that advice from folks, when you’re talking about creating these reels or tiktoks. Purposely have your word go quicker on the screen than somebody can read the first time. So they have to watch it two or three times to see what you had to say. And then they’ll scroll on to the next video.

Joel 12:25
Like, unless you’re doing an instructional video on something popular like, like ramen noodles, or something that’s very, very chic right now to do. And you’re in your own kitchen and you’re in your pajamas or something like people wouldn’t expect. Likely no one’s gonna watch your three minute video, because their attention span is gone. The world’s 32nd Fish goldfish videos yet fortunately,

Barb 12:51
And more or less, even on the Google side, it’s exactly what we see, when we’re teaching our course, we talk a lot about what to expect on your website, if you can get somebody to spend five or 10 minutes on your website, like they are in hook line and sinker. But your resume usually you’re seeing somewhere between one and two minutes. Because 95% of people who go to a website, especially for the first time, they’re not there to buy, they’re there to learn to read to research, see if there’s headings that jump out at them 95% of people, so that’s absolutely huge, right. And the biggest difference I see between social media and Google is social media is serving that customer. What they think the customer wants is based on their algorithm, which is a very complicated formula, I get that. The Google side says, Okay, you searched for x. So we’re gonna serve you x. And the only time that they start to, you know, decide what you should see is if there’s a Google ad that is paid content, or, you know, there’s a bit of a formula that goes into all of the different keywords. But if a local business has the keywords, and the customer has searched for those keywords, Google’s matchmaking service puts those two pieces together so that the customer now chooses what they want to click and what they want to see. So I find that when local customers want to solve that problem, get that plumber over to my house now, because it Sunday in my sewer is backed up, right? Like I’m going to Google and I am finding that first business that comes up and says that they’re open. Are you finding that especially with the younger generation, so let’s say a Gen Z? Are they starting to use Tik Tok and social as a search platform? Are they still using it? As an entertainment platform,

Joel 15:01
I see it still as entertainment. They’re using a lot of getting a lot of lead gen still through Facebook and Instagram, depending Instagram is where a lot more of the Gen Z is being their lead gen from, okay, I’m getting a lot of people moving their businesses on to Instagram, they can do a lot of clock clock cross platform advertising, obviously, because Facebook owns Instagram. So it’s very easy if you have a legacy business on Facebook to just automatically advertise on Facebook, or on Instagram, pardon me. But a lot of newer businesses are just going straight to Instagram and forgetting Facebook now and yes, to attracting that younger demographic and not really worrying about their parents anymore. We have a baby boomer generation that are 1/3 of our business, like 1/3 of our business in our country, that are getting to an age where they’re moving into senior complexes and controlled communities where they’re not going to have that need for plumbing and for furnaces and for home renovations and whatnot. And we’re moving into more of the Gen X our generation and more the Gen Z’s were becoming the homeowners. But there’s a lot more people leaving the rural communities moving to urban communities. So a lot of the smaller towns are dying out. So we’re seeing a lot more dense populations moving to the city, which means a lot more people are starting to build up the note. Yes, absolutely. But that’s still it’s still, what’s really bothers me I think about the whole search thing is we still have a phonebook in Saskatchewan. even get me started. And people are still using the phonebook to search for things. It blows my mind. But rural Saskatchewan still relies on it so much. Yes.

Barb 16:51
And that’s because a lot of our rural businesses are managing their online presence yet. Exactly.

Joel 16:59
Don’t see the value just need a website because it’s just a glorified business card. It’s the only thing it’s for. Yes. They don’t realize that the farmer this driving the half million dollar combine isn’t pulling out the phone book anymore. No, he’s got a GPS driving his combine. And he’s using a smartphone to look up parts. And if you don’t, if he’s not getting it from the part in town, he’s going to the city to get it exactly.

Barb 17:18
When you think when you think about the social platforms, what do you think that let’s just say the number one strength of of each platform is like what’s Tiktok strength? What’s Facebook strength?

Joel 17:33
Mmm hmm. Facebook strength is that has a lot of users, which means it has a powerful lead generation component. There’s a lot of people and because of how detailed they can get into the granular hyper targeting of the amount of money a household uses the amount of likes that that person because of how long Facebook’s been around and they get the nuancing of the likes people have down to a science that you can get very, very granular on your hyper targeting. So I think that’s the strength that Facebook has. Yep, Instagram very much relies on that as well. But I think they also have more of that cliquishness. You get to find people within your niche and you get to find people that are of the same mindset of you. So when you’re looking for customers that want to be of the same thought process of you or have the same region as you Instagram has that powerful back end as well that allows you to find them very easily. That’s what I found with my customers. Tick tock TOC the power there. There’s a lot of opportunity there. But my clients haven’t really fun a lot of ways locally in Saskatchewan to break in it seems to be still heavily entertainment weighted. I know that there’s a lot of us customers and international customers that are making a lot of money off tick tock Yeah, seems to be the creators are making a lot of money off of it. I haven’t heard of a lot of businesses locally in Saskatchewan that are making a ton of cash off it yet

Barb 19:24
Yeah, you know it’s interesting I was in a local business would have been a couple of months ago and they were actually streaming live to both tick tock and Instagram at the same time. So they had two mobile devices set up to record two employees who were doing a call it a presentation. And and it was it was edutainment, right so there was a little bit of education but there was a lot of entertainment involved in what they were doing and myself and let’s just say half a dozen customers were in the store at the time. And I remember thinking a how can they have any kind of decent audio getting picked up but be As a customer I was like, I don’t want to be in the back end your video like no yeah, I didn’t get up and yeah, exactly like

Joel 20:08
Who does it really well locally though for attracting people down because else Cafe on 13th Avenue. Okay. Yeah, I have no cuz it’s just it’s just oh, they have the best doors you have to go try it as soon as the weather’s nice again this spring. Yeah. But it’s just one camera facing the staff as they turn around and they make their goal whip or they make their the Reese’s peanut butter ice creams actually have Reese’s Peanut butter? Peanut butter in the middle of the aisle. Okay, it’s wrapped, wrapped in the butter dust like it’s ridiculous. But all it is, is it the lead generation purpose of TiC tock?

Barb 20:46
Yeah, that’s Yep, so they they do alive for like a couple of minutes

Joel 20:51
Go to the TIC tock, and then they hand it to the customers. So they’re showing the product to the Tiktok every single time plus they engage if someone’s on their newer customers of their so they’re talking to the viewers and encouraging them to come down while they’re engaging with someone. So they leave tick tock to talk to someone. And they’re showing the product. So it’s a great product placement, it’s a great way to engage with customers. Customers don’t have to be shown online. But yeah, it’s they do it really, really smart. And they usually get like 400 Viewers, which is an amazing amount of viewers on tick tock for a live for local Saskatchewan.

Barb 21:25
Exactly. So how many talks are they doing a day, then I just kind of do it.

Joel 21:29
They probably do it probably just in the evening in the summertime to get people who are walking in Cathedral to actually divert their walking path to ELS and they will have literally like 25 people nonstop from five o’clock until nine o’clock when they close down the sidewalk all day long.

Barb 21:47
So, you know, if we look at a business like ours, then so they’ve committed fully to a platform, they’re seeing more sales because of that platform. You know, how does how does a local business get to that place? Because there’s a lot of time and effort and planning and the right staff? If you lose that one staff person who was doing such a great job with tick tock, how do you maintain that? So how do you help a local business through that

Joel 22:23
You need to have an engaged employee, someone who’s got a personality, you need to have someone who’s going to want to be not just staring out the window waiting for someone to walk up. But somebody is going to want to be able to be personable someone who wants to be engaging someone who’s going to be technologically savvy somewhat. You also want to understand that the times when your customers are going to be engaging with the platform. If no one’s online at nine to 11 o’clock in the morning, then don’t be online from nine to 11 in the morning. Wait until seven tonight at night if that’s when your customers are typically going to be on their devices. Even if they’re out for a walk. They may get a notification that else cafes live on Tik Tok click Yep. And then it’s going to be popping up a little sign saying hey, follow us in Tik Tok. If you follow us, you might get a free ice cream cone or some sort of loss leader that you can gain followers. Just little things like that to be aware of, of how you can gain followers and how you can keep them engaged. Look for ways to do giveaways or or you know little things like Hey, make sure you tap that screen to increase the legs because that’s going to push us to your FYP or the for you page. Little things about it’s knowing your platform and the tips and tricks to get more followers or to gain more recognition. Yep. So it’s if you’re going to choose a platform, don’t just choose it and set it and forget it. Right, engage with it, understand it and utilize it.

Barb 23:51
Yes. So do you think a local business or small business? Should they hop on a whole bunch of platforms? Or which platform would they choose nowadays?

Joel 24:02
If all of their customers are on all of their platform, all the platforms and yes choose all platforms? That’s the easy answer. Yeah, no, I would not recommend that. They go on to all the platforms. Now. Let me caveat that with you should choose to capture every platform with your name as if you don’t somebody else will.

Barb 24:27
Exactly, yeah

Joel 24:29
Because it’s the wild west of the internet. And I’ve had many companies that haven’t captured every single like their Google presence, and their Facebook and their Instagram, their Tik Tok or wherever else their Twitter account, and then someone else has gone on and grabbed it. And suddenly they don’t have control of their social real estate. Yes, someone else can be out there yelling from the rooftops that they’re that actual business.

Barb 24:55
Exactly. Yes. I agree. 100% you scary for your brand. Yeah, grab Grab those handles, even if you don’t plan to use the platform in the near term, because you don’t know when your business changes you don’t know when the business sells. So you can’t predict the future. So one of the best ways to just redirect it back to your website or something simple. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Just provide a base platform. Absolutely. All right, Joel, it looks like we are running out of time here today. So what I’m hearing is that it is local business, who is the winner of this round. Because here’s our great awareness tool, social media, make more people aware of your business. And we’ve got Google as a excellent platform to help customers when they want to solve a problem when they need the plumber when they need the massage, when they’re looking for local businesses that they want to be able to support. Let’s wrap it up by having you share all of your contact details about socially acceptable marketing.

Joel 25:54
Sure, as you’ve mentioned, my name is Joel Sopp. I’ve been called the Social Media evangelist because I believe in social media so much. You’ve mentioned my company’s Socially Acceptable Marketing, you can reach me director by text at 1-306-531-2751 or the longest email in the world. joel.sopp@sociallyacceptable marketing.ca.

Barb 26:18
Awesome. That is fantastic. You will find all of the details on our website, or on our social channels when this episode goes live. Thank you very much for helping us kick off 2023 With today’s episode, and on that note, if you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook or Instagram page at Abovethefold.Ca. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and champion of local businesses. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 113 Annabel Townsend from the Penny University Bookstore

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Book lover? Looking for your next page turner?

Today’s guest wrote her PhD thesis about ideas of quality in the coffee industry at the University of Sheffield, UK, and then emigrated to Saskatchewan with her young family. When she’s not making coffee, she writes, rides a tricycle and enjoys life on the flat Canadian Prairies.

Annabel Townsend’s first book, It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time, came out in 2018 with Pottersfield Press. The follow-up, ‘A Thousand Lives’ is coming soon.

In 2020, (during the pandemic) Annabel opened the Penny University Bookstore in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Transcript

Barb 0:01
Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone ring and the tail ding. One of the best kept secrets in any community is its network of local businesses, businesses that rely on local customers, foot traffic and phone calls. Those same businesses that support your kids sports teams, donate to fundraising efforts and provide the expertise to get the job done. But no more secrets. From the skinny lessons that will make you wince to the tell all expose days. These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get Found her local program. Today, we’re going behind the scenes with one local business owner who’s on a mission to get people reading once again. Annabelle Townsend is the owner of the penny University. And as a bookstore owner, she has a very interesting story to tell. But I’m gonna let her tell the story. So Annabel, let’s hear a little bit about you. Tell me about yourself and your business.

Annabel 1:15
Hi, everyone. Thank you for that. My name is Annabel Townsend, I now own the penny university bookstore, which is in Cathedral in Regina. And this has been a sort of massive roller coaster of an adventure over the last few years because I was all set to open the bookstore about a week before they declare the pandemic. And so we are in the midst of very interesting times. And I think the circumstances that we all found ourselves in have lent themselves to a lot of people reading a lot more, which I am all about. So we are bumbling along in Cathedral we are bringing people lots of exciting new books and a lot of good coffee as well.

Barb 2:03
So I find that really interesting that you’re seeing people go back to the reading, I have teenagers and it feels like all they want to do is watch Netflix stream and play on their phone and getting them to do something like sitting down with a book like my son, he looks at me like I have a third head. Why would I possibly want to read them?

Annabel 2:23
Yeah, you’ve got to get away from seeing reading as a chore. And I think schools are not necessarily the best at doing that, particularly with sort of reluctant readers. And I’m lucky, maybe I have an extremely unusual 12 year old but they’ve always got a nose in the book and the screen and tablet and video games and everything else as well. But both my kids are very good readers, which is possibly a result of their parenting. They’ve always been surrounded by books. And I think that helps to the point where I had to open a shop to get them out of my house. But there’s a lot of good things which tend to be sort of catching teenagers I mean, books on, on on tick tock is like an amazing phenomenon that I don’t understand at all. And it is getting teenagers to get excited about new books, which is fantastic. As much as I don’t understand it, or I I made like one tick tock wants to show wheeling and it was a disaster. And I don’t know I’m doing however. Exactly right. And but certainly there’s been a few like Netflix series as well, which people are getting really into and then realizing that it’s based on a book. And that will helps as well. So however you discover it, as long as you discover it, right? It’s all good.

Barb 3:54
Yeah. You know, I remember that. My, my mom in particular would always meet encouraged me to read the book first, and then watch the movie. And so I did that quite a bit growing up. And I did the same thing with my kids. And so my son, you know, when he was a little bit younger, so he wasn’t quite into Harry Potter. But you know, a little bit junior to that. So he would read the book and watch the movie. Well, he was always so ripped off by the movie that yeah, there was so much that the movie skipped. Right.

Annabel 4:23
Yes. Well, it’s it’s a difficult thing. Because if you made a book and introduced every single aspect in the book, to a movie, it would be like nine hours long. So you can’t do it. And it’s always the movie directors interpretation of the book. And yours may differ from that. That is the wonderful thing about books. You can see different things in it depending on who you are and when you’re reading it. And I think with Harry Potter, it’s because I mean those came out when I was a young team nature, and it blew up so much, probably before it did here as well. And then if you read them again, as an adult, you see completely different things in it than you did when I was like 14. So it’s, you know, and I’ve watched other movies as well, I enjoyed them as well. But again, it’s a different experience.

Barb 5:21
Yes. And those are the type of books that you can read multiple times. And heck, you can watch the movie multiple times. And you get something new out of it every time. Yeah, they minister you didn’t pick up on or like a little clue to the storyline. And I just find it fascinating how she must have the author must have, like, had that whole thing plan start to finish?

Annabel 5:49
I don’t know. Sure she did. To be honest. Well, I I’ve never written fantasy series. So I don’t know for sure. But I think you probably sort of plan maybe two or three books. And then it just takes on a life of its own. And, and a lot of certainly fantasy. All fiction writers say that the characters run off and do their own things. Once you’ve got an initial idea. It it spirals and it snowballs from there a lot of the time. So I don’t think you have to sit down and plan the seven very long books.

Barb 6:30
In one go, you know, you’re getting that’d be one heck of a planning session.

Annabel 6:33
It was it was

Barb 6:34
So tell me what brought you to this to the place where you know, now you’re a bookstore owner, what’s what’s your background Annabel? Like? How did you build that love for reading?

Annabel 6:45
Oh, all sorts of things. Really. I’ve always loved reading and I write as well. And I joke in that obviously the shop is just a ploy to sell my own book. I am actually my My background is in coffee. I academically as well as business venture i Wow. Yeah, I this is a very, very long story. In the UK, I did my PhD about ideas of quality in the coffee industry. And that took me all over the world. And there is an enormous amount of very dry reading involved in doing a doctorate. And but once I’d done that, and I essentially written a book in my thesis, a very, very dry, boring, long book. I didn’t know what to do myself, because having an obscure doctrine that kind of renders you unemployable most of the time. And I didn’t want to stay in academia. So I started running coffee shops, and I had one over in the UK. And we had a writers club in the in the coffee shop who met regularly and they were loads of fun. We ended up doing NaNoWriMo meetups in there, which is National Novel Writing Month, have you ever come across No way, hey, is coming up in November the premises, you have 30 days in November to write 50,000 words into a novel. And it’s an immense task, and it’s incredibly silly, you end up you have to write an average of 16 170 words a day, if you want to complete 50,000 words. I remember bettering of enough NaNoWriMo is to have that figure in my head now. So anyway, we use the coffee shop as a hub for people to come in and write their books. And none of them were any good. I can safely say this. I don’t think anyone’s gonna get offended by that. But the idea is that you have you end up with a 50,000 word manuscript which you can spend the rest of your life editing. It’s just a practice of getting it down on paper. Yeah. And so anyway, we always had a kind of literature feel to my coffee shop. And then I we moved to Canada, and ended up in Regina, and I started a coffee shop again downtown in 2015, I think. And that was wonderful. It was also very, very difficult because there are a lot of coffee shops in Regina or many here.

Barb 9:26
Yeah, yeah.

Annabel 9:29
And not helped by the fact that I had a baby and middle of it and not literally. We hang on for a couple of years and invade a nice little coffee community. And we also had this big book exchange in the coffee shop. And that again sort of took on a life of its own but we ended up with a lot more donations than people taking them away again, so I didn’t I didn’t want to get into the use book business because it required is considerable curation, which I didn’t have the time for. And so anyway, unfortunately, I closed the coffee shop down because I just couldn’t make it work, where we were and sort of reeling from that. I still wanted to be self employed. And I’m not good at working for other people. Well, at this point, yes. It’s not easy. But eventually, I sort of got myself into a position where I could try this again. And I still wanted to keep my coffee background going. And instead of having a coffee shop with books in it, I now have a bookshop with coffee in it. Excellent.

Barb 10:45
Awesome. It’s on 13th Avenue. Are you I’m trying to put you on the me of right in the middle.

Annabel 10:50
And we are in the shadow of the cathedral. Next to Bodie yoga. In a coffee shop and seed.

Barb 10:59
Yeah, okay. Yeah, no, I know exactly where you are. Awesome. So who would you typically see at your coffee shop throughout the day? I’m sorry, two books during the book.

Annabel 11:08
So um, well, a range of coffee drinkers as well. We were very cathedral focused, I think this is the the place to be and I think independent bookshop is going to survive. And Regina, it needs to be in a very kind of walkable neighborhood, because we get people sort of ambling along with 13th Avenue just come in, because we look interesting. And you’re less likely to get that if we were in a strip mall, or, you know, that kind of thing. So the location was very important to me to get it right. And but yeah, we have all sorts coming in, actually. And curating the books was, it felt sort of very overwhelming, because how do you pick things that people are going to want to read, and a lot of it was blind chance, I mean, we do keep an eye on and all the best sellers lists, and the publishers send me their top picks of the week all the time, and things like that. But a lot of it actually comes from our community, because we order in books for people who ask for them, we can’t possibly stock everything everybody wants all the time. So we have an ordering system, you just email us, and we can generally find you what you want in about two weeks. Again, it’s it’s not gonna be as good as Amazon, but it will come in in time. And when people order things, we then sort of think, Oh, that looks interesting, and order female for the shop. So our stock is constantly evolving, depending on what people asked for. And I think that really helps to kind of tailor it to our community as well.

Barb 12:46
So, you know, I think if you walk into a large chain bookstore right now, I don’t know if they will do a custom order for you anymore.

Annabel 12:57
They can’t and they can’t. I mean, I have been avoiding said chain stores since we opened for obvious reasons. But they obviously have bigger constraints in that they’re dealing with a sort of national or international audience, whereas I am dealing with exactly who’s in front of me at the time. So I guess I have it a bit easier. Yeah.

Barb 13:23
Well, and that’s, you know, that’s what I’m thinking because a lot of people do prefer to shop local. And so once they know that the business exists, they will patronize that business.

Annabel 13:34
So yeah, and the shop local movement was a godsend when we were setting up I think, particularly in the the lockdown, so there was a much stronger trend towards shopping local and sort of supporting local businesses. And long may that continue?

Barb 13:52
Yeah. Oh, exactly. I mean, Keep it keep the money in the local economy. I agree. Yeah. 10%. So what kind of challenges do you find yourself facing in your business then right now.

Annabel 14:03
Speed is a big one, when everybody is used to online ordering. And particularly when we had to do a lot of online stuff when we couldn’t have people coming in the shop to a great capacity. And is like, well, you can order it from us and it will turn ups in 10 days if you’re lucky. Or you can click on Amazon and it arrives immediately. So it was very the the answer to that was having more stuff in the stop shop that people wanted at the time. So it has to be really quick on getting like the best sellers in and when people were excited about a specific thing coming out. We had to have it the day it was released, that kind of thing. So it’s cutting down on the wait time about also, you know, praying that people have some patience with us. And but yeah, that was that was a challenge. And also, I think our advantage over Amazon is the fact that you can walk in and browse and you’re talking to actual humans. We don’t have an algorithm we have my staff members, recommending see. And that that makes the whole experience much more personable and hopefully enjoyable. And but when you’ve got capacity restrictions and masks and social distancing, and contact us delivery that was far harder to sort of get that experience. So, fortunately, I think we’re over the worst of that. And the fact that we managed to keep going and develop it over that, you know, I can’t complain about anything ever again.

Barb 15:32
You know, I’m a bit of a believer that if you were able to survive business wise, the last couple or few years,

Annabel 15:40
I don’t want to jinx anything, either.

Barb 15:46
Like, I’m very cautious when I say that it’s like, actually get worse five. Yes, exactly. Okay. So, you know, let’s, let’s think about, like tips for parents, like how do you, we all hear the stories when our kids are little, you know, read to them. And that’s how you build the lifelong habit. And we read to our kids and I have one like, super reader won’t get her nose or the book to listen to the teacher kind of reader. And then one, as I already said, reading Why would I do that for fun? Yeah. Having said that, though, I have to give him some credit. One of the best things that like just my own personal opinion here for a second, my own opinion that we did was prior to COVID. We had purchased e readers for both of our kids. And when we would travel didn’t matter if we were going to the lake for the weekend. Or to a warm destination, the kids would take their Cobos so we charge them up. We’d load them up from the public library, and they’d be good to go. So honest to goodness when you look at the hours on each of my kids Cobos, like Yeah 1000s So reading something that’s it and it really doesn’t matter.

Annabel 17:01
The format I’m terrified of Cobos and Kindles and things because the only time I get to read properly is lying in the bath, and I’m terrified of dropping it and I stick to paperbacks. Yes. Some of them I’ve Kelly ages. Yeah. And I again, I can’t fault ebooks so much prefer if you bought the paperback because I don’t know how to sell ebooks. Yeah, I’ve had my my kids. It’s been an interesting experience, because my eldest just suddenly learned to read and there was no effort involved whatsoever on my part. Thank you, teachers. I not sure what happened there. But they just clicked and it works. And but my youngest daughter she is she has vision issues. And this is fascinating. And I could talk about vision therapy for months if you want me to, but she, it looks like dyslexia in that she’ll read a line of text and suddenly the end of the words disappear or jump off the page or move around. And it’s so weird. And it’s not actually dyslexia. She got diagnosed with something unpronounceable, but it basically means her eyes are not lining up on the text properly. And it’s a muscle, it’s a muscle thing. So we have to do all these strange exercises involving training her eye muscles, and however, teach because she she’s just 10 Seven, she’s just started grade two. And she should be reading by now. But we were sort of getting through to the end of grade while not going. This is not happening, what is going on. And it’s not that she’s not interested in books, but she gets so frustrated because she can’t do it and trying to get over that frustration so that reading becomes pleasurable, and not something that she’s really struggling with and getting frustrated with it that will switch her off. And I found there’s so many like, particularly for young learner readers and everything aimed at kindergarten, it’s all leveled reading. And I hate that I really hate that. Because it’s like, oh, well, you’re six, you must be on level two. You know, if you’re not on level two, something’s wrong with you, and that kind of thing. And it’s, it doesn’t work if you’ve got struggling readers. And so my attitude was, look, I have a shop full of books, what the hell he wants or hate. And if she’s left her own devices, she will pick the things with pink covers. She’ll pick anything that she recognizes from the TV. And but if she picks a book and she actually wants to read it herself or whatsoever at least look at the pictures herself. And it’s it helps to encourage right she’s got some agency there. She’s not beings told to sit down and read this because I’m telling you to sit down and read this. And that makes all the difference if you’ve still got a choice, and if you’re not ever told, Oh, you can’t have that that’s too grown up for you. And the same with my eldest, I mean, they’re probably reading things that they really shouldn’t be reading at 12 years old, but I’m not going to stop them, because I’m sure I did the same. Yeah.

Barb 20:23
You know what? That’s exactly it. Yeah, go back and look at what we read when we were 1012 and 14, and what they’re reading now, what we were reading from a content perspective was quite a bit worse now. from a content perspective, different reasons for different things quite a bit worse. And so yeah, like it all. And you know, on one hand, yeah, okay. I want to be somewhat cautious how I introduce concepts to my kids. And I do like the bubble wrap that I get to keep them in for these. Yeah, like years. Yeah, same time, they’re gonna go to their school library, they’re gonna pick something out, they’re gonna go to the bookstore with friends, they’re gonna pick something out. You know, I don’t think there’s such a thing as an R rated book that you can’t sell to someone who’s under 18. Right?

Annabel 21:09
Not so and I mean, if they’re not comfortable reading it, then no, we’ll put it down again.

Barb 21:17
Exactly. So I would imagine the look on your face. Annabelle. If someone walked in, and they’re picking up, you know, What’s that movie called? Grey’s whatever, from a few years ago, not Grey’s Anatomy, the book about the man and I’m 50 Shades of Grey. Thank you. There we go. So imagine a young team come in and pick that up, you’d be like, I don’t know that. That’s why you should be on your reading ballot.

Annabel 21:46
To be fair. The cover and the blurb on the back kind of gives that away, I think of 50 shades, but I would discourage them reading 50 Shades of Grey, because it’s terribly written not because

Barb 22:04
I read the series like yeah, terrible. Yep.

Annabel 22:09
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, your own kid, right. And I don’t think mine would pick that up because Ill grown ups. And so yeah, I’m lucky in that they’re still at the stage where that sort of thing is all you careful, you know, hiding under the veggies kind of thing.

Barb 22:35
Sooner or later, since you have some favorite authors that you find that you’re stocking their books on a pretty regular basis.

Annabel 22:41
Some of them I’m lucky in that I have three employees, and they’re all they all read very different things. So between us, we kind of cover most genres. And I tend to read a lot of kind of creative nonfiction, so sort of interesting current affairs, sort of books and a lot of biographies, memoirs, that kind of thing. And, and that is balanced with a lot of very nerdy sci fi and fantasy. That’s my jam. And then my full time employee, Nicole, she’s much more into poetry, and she reads ya as well. So she looks after those sections. Somebody else much prefers horror, and things like that. And I did have someone who read cookbooks for pleasure. He was he was very good cook. So you know, even the things that I don’t read much myself, I have somebody who does know about these things, which really helps. And but yeah, I mean, the ones that sell well in my shop, and there’s a lot of reading local, as well as just as well as sort of reading the best sellers. But we’ve had actually sort of quite a few nonfiction books, which have done surprisingly well in there, and kind of local politics ones. So that’s been interesting. And then we’ve got the Giller Prize shortlist in at the moment, and those are super popular, because everyone’s kind of putting bets on what’s going to win. So yeah.

Barb 24:20
Yeah, very cool. So and I would think that they’ll probably be some really interesting books that come out of COVID. And, you know, respond. It’s a couple days away, I think. But I’m your I’m not sure.

Annabel 24:33
I mean, we’re getting into silly season at the moment. I call it that because everybody publishes books, so that they’re on the shelves in time for Christmas. And everybody who was in hardcover last year ends up in softcover this year, that kind of thing. And so yeah, there’s there’s a lot of new releases coming out and COVID had the effect where everything that was usually published in the spring got pushed back to the fall. And that certainly last Christmas, there was so much that came out at the same time because everything had been delayed and it was all catching up with itself. So I think they’re kind of getting back on to usual patterns this year. But there’s still a lot of backlog and I’m sure there are a lot of pandemic lit coming up. And it is a kind of polarizing thing because one of my favorite books in the last couple of years was station 11 With by Emily St. John Mandel, and it was actually written 10 years ago, but it’s all about a pandemic. And of course, books about pandemics at the moment are either super popular because people want to make their own lives seem so much better in comparison. So you’ve got the truly horrible ones, those are popular, or we want lights, escapist fantasy, which has got nothing to do with COVID Who can escape from it for a while. So playbooks and COVID lit is kind of polarizing at the moment.

Barb 26:02
So Annabel, we are basically at a time but just before we wrap up, can you tell me what would people Google to be able to find you?

Annabel 26:12
You can just Google bookstores in Regina. We are the penny university bookstore, and and we’re on Instagram and Facebook and not on Tik Tok.

Barb 26:28
And understandably so.

Annabel 26:31
You can find us on Instagram or Facebook quite happily or just come into the store.

Barb 26:35
Okay, that sounds fantastic. You were on 13th Avenue here in Regina. So thank you so much for joining me today just to talk about Penny University. I haven’t had an opportunity to be there yet myself. But with Christmas around the corner I will make a point of introducing myself so that’ll be fantastic. If you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at above the fold. Ca. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 112 Cathlyn Melvin from Tedx Coach & Copywriter

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Cathlyn Melvin is a TEDx coach and copywriter whose insight has been featured via TEDx, Thrive Global, Fempreneur Online, The Writing Cooperative, and other outlets.

With a degree in theatre performance and over a decade as an actor, director, writer, editor, and educator, Cathlyn draws on her diverse experiences to help mission-driven experts design and deliver their world-changing messages through TEDx coaching and done-for-you copywriting services.

When she’s not writing or coaching, you might find Cathlyn baking something delicious made of chocolate or reading in the sunshine with her very snuggly and loudly purring cat, Tucker.

Transcript

Barb 0:01
Are you ready to make the phone ring, the website ping and the bank accounting? From the skinny lessons that will make you wince to the tell all expose A’s. These everyday people, the guests on the show are doing extraordinary things in their business. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local programme. Do we have a treat for you today? Put on those phones, pop in your earbuds. And let’s do this. Today, we’re sharing the secrets and going behind the scenes with a business owner to hear how Kathlyn Melvin has become a TEDx coach, and copywriter whose insights have been featured on TEDx and thrive global. But I’m gonna let her tell the story. So Cathlyn, tell us a little bit about yourself, and how the heck you got involved in TEDx?

Cathlyn 1:00
Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me. I’m super excited to talk about all of this with your listeners. Absolutely. So my I’ve sort of taken a lot of lily pads to get to where I am now. And it’s interesting looking back and seeing how everything has kind of flowed as I hopped from one to the other. So the work that I do now is actually related to the my sport of choice way back in high school. Oh, wow, you wouldn’t have found me on the volleyball court or playing basketball. But my sport of choice was speech and debate. I was a competitive speaker for four years, and competed all the way up to the national level, and went on to coach a speech and debate team after I graduated to while I was in undergrad studying theatre. So since that’s what my degrees in and I spent a little over a decade working as an actor and director and theatre educator, before I made the switch into doing the work that I do now as both a copywriter and a TEDx coach. So I had started learning about copywriting during my time as a theatre artists because my first business was national touring children’s theatre here in the states where we send educators out across the country to work with different communities of kids to put on plays. And I was writing all of our content for our website and our social media in our emails that were going out. So that was really my introduction to what copywriting was. And so it created this really nice transition when it was time for me to leave the theatre industry to move into messaging. And of course, now, I work not only as a copywriter under that messaging umbrella, but also under that same umbrella is the work I do with business owners on their TEDx journey, taking them all the way from generating their idea to figuring out what events to applying for them to getting it all down on paper, and then up on its feet and ready for that final performance.

Barb 3:21
Wow. Well, let’s unpack all of that a little bit. So first off, as a speaking coach, I can’t wait to hear your tips for me when we’re done our episode today. Because I’m sure every time you hear someone speak publicly, you’re like, Oh, you don’t want to say that? Or oh, that’s not a you know, great word, or that’s got negative connotation. So I’m sure that’s really hard when you’re listening to other people deliver a message is like, oh, no, no, don’t say that. Right. Okay, and what kind of copywriter? Are you? Because I really learned to appreciate that there are nurturing messages, conversion messages. So what do you primarily focus on?

Cathlyn 4:00
So a lot of what I do is conversion, copywriting focused on launch materials, right sales pages, I’ll write the sales emails that go along with it. But I also do a lot of other kinds of emails, I’ve written web, welcome sequences. I’ve written nurture sequences. And I really love emails, because every single email is its own individual thing. Like it stands on its own, it has to be super strong. But then when you’re creating a sequence, it’s also just one element of this bigger long form piece of communication. And so it’s super fun to me to figure out where all of those puzzle pieces go, what to highlight and each of them so that you come away with this really cohesive piece of communication

Barb 4:44
Exactly as they campaign when all is said and done because you want to walk someone through a journey, but but you’re delving it out bite size because we as consumers nowadays, we just don’t sit back and consume a whole bunch to get information from any type of business anymore. So yeah, I’ve, we work with a couple of conversion copywriters here. And I, they are totally worth their weight in gold. Because, you know, they help us make sure that things happen. So no, I think that’s fantastic. Absolutely. Let’s focus in on this TEDx work. Because, you know, one of the things that really attracted me to the information that you provided for me when we were getting ready for today’s episode, was the thought that, you know, the average person could be a TEDx speaker. So how the heck does someone who, you know might be listening today, actually look at that opportunity? How to how does someone become a TEDx speaker?

Cathlyn 5:44
So something that’s really interesting about TEDx is that they’re not looking for quote, unquote, circuit speakers, they’re not looking for professional speakers who go from stage to stage and share one talk or one singular message across multiple stages, they’re really focusing on the idea that you have, that you can share out into the world that can ripple out and create a big impact. So you don’t need to be someone who has a tonne of public speaking experience. I recommend that if you’ve never, you know, done a Facebook Live, or you’ve never been a guest on a podcast, do a handful of those things first. But don’t get stuck in that because you don’t need to be a guest on 100 different podcasts before you’re ready for your TEDx talk, you just need to get some of those. Some of those like first step nerves out, being in front of an audience, even if it’s virtual, even if you can’t see them, as our listeners can’t see us right now. But so often, I think business owners, they know that TEDx is like this incredible credibility marker, they know that it can help expand your audience and your reach out and help sort of like lubricate conversations with clients or with media. And so they look at it and they go, that’s so important. And it’s something that I would really like to do I have a message on my heart that I would like to share.

Barb 7:22
But yes, exactly. And there’s so many things that hold you back. Because, you know, I think about myself, and five years ago, when I was doing some of my first Facebook Lives, or Instagram lives, or even YouTube videos, like you would try and try and try again, and then you would record remotely and you would upload, and you and then all of a sudden, somewhere along the way, you get so used to it, that you show up without brushing your hair. And when you have major catastrophes that we had one time when we were recording in the radio station, this shelf, our show notes sit on a shelf, and the shelf came crashing down, right as we hit the Go Live button. And so first, your first reaction is like shock. Oh my God, what’s happening, your second reaction is total and complete loss of control and laughter. And then the third thought that goes to your head is, oh, my God, I have to get through my show intro. So thank God, my, my guest, and when we sit in the station, my guests, it’s to the right of me. And she had completely lost everything. Like she was almost falling out of the chair with laughter. I had the people from the radio station are running in quietly to try and pick pieces up because they hear the bang, and I’m trying to get through to grow. But that’s the kind of stuff that like, I look back, and I just absolutely howl with laughter. Because, Oh, well. You know, like, I can’t say the word I want to say but it happened, right, and you just learn to roll with it. And I think that’s a really important skill for a public speaker, because stuffs gonna happen. And whether your mic crashes, or the TV screen comes crashing down at a TEDx like stuffs gonna happen, and you got to be able to go, Oh, that’s not good. Okay, let’s keep going. I didn’t do that. Oh, let’s keep going as well as I could have that day.

Cathlyn 9:31
You know, it varies depending on where you’re at on a given day. Yes. When I was teaching theatre, we would get to the point in the programme where the kids were getting ready for their, their final performance. And we would always say, you know, things are gonna happen. We’ve rehearsed you know what you’re doing, but we really want to focus on what’s going going on on stage because in the audience A baby’s gonna cry. A Grandma’s gonna take four minutes to unwrap a peppermint, you know, things like that that are so distracting. Yes. But as long as you’ve prepared yourself, and as long as you’re grounded and in your message and what you really want to share, you can just keep going, yes, you can pause, you can laugh at something that happens, you can move forward and treat it like real life. Because you’re live on stage.

Barb 10:30
Exactly, yes. And I think the more prepared you are, the easier it is to be natural about those responses. When you’re not feeling as prepared or your messages in a synced as you’d like, all of a sudden, you know, you don’t know how to respond to that, because you’re so focused on that moment on stage. So the more comfortable you get, the more natural it becomes. It’s like, oh, okay, that happen?

Are y’all done grandma? Okay, we’ll move on now. Right? Exactly. Or, you know, it’s Oh, can I have one of those to grandpa? Right?

Like, you’re really good. I just kind of go with it. I know, we had one time when we were broadcasting live. And we were doing both radio station and Facebook Live at the same time. And you know how Facebook does? Like you can put all those like skins or whatever, when you’re live. Yeah, well, these rabbit ears got stuck. Right. So I had rabbit ears on top of my head, and they wouldn’t turn off. And in fact, people on Facebook, were trying to tell me, we’ll just click this. I’m like, No, I am they won’t go away. So I was doing the episode like this. And the unfortunate thing is, guest sooner nervous. So here’s me laughing and you know, having these years and she’s just mortified. I felt so bad for after she was like, Oh, my God, I didn’t know what to do. I’m like, Yeah, laugh. It’s all you can do. Right?

Cathlyn 11:56
So and so that’s why I really liked to have people start out with things like going live, yeah, or guessing on a podcast, or even giving their own workshop or webinar over over the internet. Because that can help you just kind of shake that off and realise things happen, things don’t always go the way that that you need them to. And so once you’ve done that, once you’ve got a handful of those experiences, and you know, generally speaking, what your message is that you want to share, that’s when you can really get started. Even if you’re looking around and you’re watching other people’s TEDx talks, and you’re thinking, Oh, my goodness, they’ve been in business so much longer than I have, or, well, they’ve already written three books. And I’ve written zero books. The ones that we often see shared around, there are people who already were at a certain level of business. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to be there at that same level before you give your TEDx talk. It is never too soon. Yeah, write your TEDx talk.

Barb 13:05
And I think there are like, There’s levels of TEDx, right? Because where I live, we’ve had, you know, kind of a local TEDx. And, you know, a few people went on stage, you know, shared their message. And I don’t know that it really went anywhere for them. Like, it’s not like you then crawl up the ranks of a TEDx thing. It’s the national and the international ones, you know, that are a really big dream, I think for a lot of folks the thought of being able to be on that stage. How do you go from attending that local one?

Cathlyn 13:37
Sorry, okay, you all TEDx events are local. Okay? So, a lot of the time when we talk about Ted, we say, oh, I want to give a TED talk, or my friend gave a TED talk. And what they really mean is those local TEDx events, and they can be a range of sizes. Some of them are highly established, some of them are newer. The first one happened in 2009. Whereas Ted, the parent organisation that’s been around since the 80s, and for a long time, they had one conference a year. Now they have to, but that’s where people like Bill Gates and Shonda Rhimes and Monica Lewinsky, give, give their talks at ahead. Okay, so the x what that means in TEDx is that it’s independently organised. So the organisers, they get a free licence from Ted, okay, and there are a bunch of hoops they have to jump through, they have to attend a TED conference, they have to go through training to be able to host their events. But there are over 3500 TEDx events annually around the globe.

Barb 14:50
Okay, I did not know this. Wow. So that’s how they that’s the common thread, though. They’re not all the parent count. Companies events,

Cathlyn 15:01
Oh, yeah, they are often in under that umbrella. And there are rules that are set by Ted that TEDx organisers have to follow. But they all have their own energies, they all have their own processes, because they’re all independent. Yeah. And so, what you what you get out of TEDx, like so many things, you can’t just give a TEDx talk and assume it’s gonna blow up and change your life. But what it is, is lended credibility. So borrowed credibility when a TEDx organiser trusts you to go on their stage and speak live and give this talk. Then when you are talking to someone in the media, or you’re talking to a client, that credibility gets transferred to you. You’ve already been trusted by that brand guy. And we all have so much trust in the TEDx brand, right?

Barb 16:01
Yes, exactly.

Cathlyn 16:03
So you give your your talk, and then you need to talk about it, you need to share it, you need to keep bringing it up in order for it to continue to benefit you and your business. Exactly.

Barb 16:15
You know, it’s funny, it was probably three years ago now, because it would have been before COVID When our community had a TEDx talk, and I can remember two of the speakers only because I knew them as colleagues. And then I don’t think I’ve heard anything about it since. Right. And, and COVID, definitely changed. Like, I wouldn’t doubt that the organisers had intended for it to be an annual thing, because there’s a lot of time and investment in building the brand locally. And yeah, I can’t say that. I’ve heard boo about it since.

Cathlyn 16:53
So yeah, that may just be something that that died with COVID.

Barb 16:58
Exactly. Yeah, that’s entirely possible. So if there’s 3500 of them around the globe, what do you see in terms of the trends, like do a lot of folks from a community that wouldn’t have a TEDx? Do they apply to them? Like how? So how do you make that leap? Now? How do you become a speaker for one of those events.

Cathlyn 17:19
So usually, each event will publish their application online. And that can happen six months before the event that can happen three months before the event, I recommend giving yourself at least a six month runway. Because there first of all, there are a lot of steps to go through from figuring out what your idea is getting that really narrowed down niche down and refined so that you have this succinct and compelling idea worth spreading, figuring out what you want to get out of TEDx. So that that can then inform what events you’re going to apply for, and other things down the line. But that, that part of the process where you’re deciding what event to apply for, you might make a list of events that you’re really interested in, that are happening in the next, you know, six to eight months. And then you kind of have to wait and check back and check back until they they start putting their applications online. And the applications are different for each event. As is so much of the process. Yeah, so some organisations, some events will just have like a one level, you submit an online application and you get selected based on that application. Sometimes that’s just the first step, you submit that online application, and then they do a zoom interview with you. Or they have you submit a video of you talking some, some places have in person auditions that they bring people in for. So that whole process, it just it can really vary. And so keeping track of where you want to apply what that process is, like, if they give you that information upfront, sometimes they don’t give you that information upfront. You fill out the application and then surprise, they invite you to an interview and you’re like I didn’t know we were going to do an interview.

Barb 19:26
Hopefully keeping you on your toes even then.

Cathlyn 19:31
Yeah. Because every committee, every team has different preferences of how they want to work that selection process and how they want want their processes to be.

Barb 19:42
Yeah. So if that was something that I was interested, I wanted to get that get out there and share my Google Message. Can I apply to any and every, you know, event that’s happening? Are they all listed on that main Ted site? Like how do I even find out about that stuff?

Cathlyn 19:59
So every event that happens is listed on ted.com. If you just if you Google TEDx events, there’ll be a page on ted.com That that pops up. It’s not super user friendly. But you can find the basic information of when and where. And then as far as can you apply to all of them? It depends on the event, right?

Barb 20:24
So some depends on their criteria, because some may have a criteria to be local only, where others probably are opening it up a little bit broader, depending on the size of the event, I’m guessing.

Cathlyn 20:37
Yeah, so most TEDx events do accept applications from wherever. But everyone smile, you’ll run into one that, for instance, TEDx Surrey, outside of Vancouver, right? They only want people who are local to, to the Vancouver area. Got it? Most of the time, that’s not a restriction, but you do have to watch for it. Because you don’t want to waste your own time filling out an application that you’re not qualified for. And you don’t want to waste the organisers time either.

Barb 21:10
Yeah, exactly. No, that makes perfect sense to me. And, like, how, how would you recommend to someone when you’re coaching them? How do you recommend finding or fine tuning that topic?

Cathlyn 21:24
So there’s a process that I take my clients through, that I asked and then we work together. Right now I work one on one in early 2023, there’ll be a group programme available. But even in the group programme, every student will get a one on one session with me to refine their idea worth spreading, because it’s so foundational. And it really is, like me putting my brain on the idea. Yeah. And together working, working ourselves through drafts of that idea worth spreading until we come up with, with the one that we’re really focused on and gonna send out.

Barb 22:06
Yeah, so do you find that you fine tune the I’ll call it the topic almost like the subject line, and then you flesh out the meat? Or do you find that you flesh out the meat and then solidify from a sales standpoint, what that topic is going to be to, to make it most likely that the person is accepted.

Cathlyn 22:31
So the idea worth spreading is really the core of the whole TEDx thing. Yeah. So wrap. So we definitely want to start with what is the message? What is that idea? And from there, then we can expand and we can say, Okay, what sort of support do we have for that? Do where, where have you seen this happen in your life? Or where where is there other expert evidence that we can pull in? But the idea itself is is the starting point.

Barb 23:04
Okay. Okay, that makes much more sense to me, Catherine, we only have a couple or a few minutes left. So you’ve talked a little bit about a programme that you’re wanting and talked a little bit about your own business and things like that. So So give us a little bit of background on what that might look like, and then share how we can get a hold of you.

Cathlyn 23:26
Yeah, so point of clarification, what the what the programme or process looks like. So with my one on one clients, it’s a four month experience. And it’s sort of divided into two phases. So in the first phase, we’re really focused on nailing down that idea worth spreading, and figuring out what events you want to apply to and then customising those applications. And that’s something that we go pretty deep into because customising each of your applications to what that event is looking for is a game changer. That’s a huge differentiator. Exactly. So that’s the first phase. And that lasts about six weeks. And then we move into a 12 week ish phase. In total, it’s 18 weeks, but depending on where your strengths live, that can that the six and the 12 can can meld together a little bit. So the second phase is all about getting your ideas down on paper. Doing the drafting and the editing, I work alongside to give comments and with my one on one clients, I do a full final edit. When we get to the point where we’re like, this feels like it’s 99% there. Yep. And then we work together on memorization. There are a lot of tools that I bring in from my experience as an actor and a director that I help my clients through that process because the memorization can can be Big mental hurdle. So having that guidance is really invaluable, and then getting it up on its feet. And I direct the talk in a similar way to how I might direct a play note with focusing on intonation and pacing and movement and how, what should I just do here? Should I Inna? Exactly. So that by the time you get to your event, you’re super ready for a really confident and powerful and joyful

Barb 25:32
TEDx experience. Exactly.

Cathlyn 25:36
Ted, it’s really important to TEDx that you can back up your idea. Absolutely. Like, yeah, if you’re, if you’re using data, it should be from a peer reviewed

Barb 25:45
Exactly like real science, right? Yes. Yes, they

Cathlyn 25:50
have a rule that they call no bad science.

Barb 25:52
Yeah. Okay, Cathlyn, we are at a time tell us how folks can find you your social channels, and then we’ll have to wrap up.

Cathlyn 26:02
Yeah. So the first place that I want to direct people is to my TEDx planner, it’s a free resource on my website, at rate cat creative.com/tedx. Planner. That’s ri ght creative.com. And then if you want to find me on socials, I am on LinkedIn. Kathlyn, Melvin, I am on Facebook. You can find my business page, right get creative, or my personal page is public and it’s used for business venture capital in Melbourne. And then the third one that I’m fairly active on his Instagram at Right cat creed.

Barb 26:38
Awesome. Well, that is fantastic. Katelyn, thank you so much. TEDx is something that’s always piqued my curiosity. So when you reached out about doing a podcast, I thought, Oh, this will be a great conversation. If you are interested in being a guest, you can contact me at barb@abovethefold.live, or find us on our social channels at abovethefold.ca. I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Cathlyn @ Right Cat Creative

Ep. 111 Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Corey Liebrecht is a pretty zippy guy. So much so that he named his business Zippity Zip Courier!

At the tender age of 53, he’s a first time business owner. Born and raised in Regina, he’s lived his life in the community and knows alllll the shortcuts to get around.

After 33 years of service to his employer, he decided to stick it to the man, and goes his own way!

Transcript

Barb 0:01
Are you ready to make the phone ring the website ping and the till ding? One of the best kept secrets in any community is its network of local businesses, businesses that rely on delivery, foot traffic and phone calls. Those same businesses that support your kids sports teams, donate to your fundraising efforts and provide the expertise to get something from location A to B, but no more secrets.

From those skinned knee lessons that will make you wince, to the tell all exposees. These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get Found Digital Marketing Program for local businesses.

Today, we’re sharing the secrets of one local business on how they went from day to day grind to local business owner and now they’re helping other local businesses get their merchandise from point A to point B in a hotshot manner.

Today’s guest is Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier, a local courier that can get your package from A to B fast, cost effectively and efficiently. So tune in and let’s hear from Corey.

Welcome, Corey, tell us a little bit about yourself. And Zippity Zip Courier, which I tried saying that seven times fast and that did not go well.

Corey 0:09
Hi, good morning. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. A little bit about myself. I’ve grown up in Regina, I lived here all my life, went to high school here graduated and pretty much started at that time, but was Ipsco, went straight out there to work and spent the next 33 years out there doing various jobs, and then decided it was time to retire. But I was a little too young to actually retire, retire so to speak. So I decided that, you know, it was something else that I had to do out there and starting Zippity Zip Courier was something I came up with and decided to do, and I’m actually quite enjoying it. And it’s my first time ever, you know, doing something like this, becoming an entrepreneur, so to speak. And starting my own business. I just kind of dove into it. Both feet first. And it’s learned along the way. So.

Barb 1:14
Excellent. So you went from being a heavy equipment operator, which is a very skilled trade to being a courier. So you’re using literally different muscles, different sides of your brain. What like, what was the impetus behind? Hey, you know what, I want to be a courier for the next number of years. What was that impetus?

Corey 1:34
Well, it was actually my wife telling me that if I didn’t do something after I retired, she’d divorced me.

Barb 1:43
So ay to go.

Corey 1:44
It turns out to starting your own business is a little cheaper than getting a divorce, I guess so.

Barb 1:49
Yes. Way to go. Mrs. Corey!

Corey 1:51
Yes, so actually, it was you know, I thought that coming out of like, I started it right in the middle of the pandemic right of last year in 2021. And I kind of figured there was a need for this type of service, right? Ours is a little bit of a different service as a courier, we specialize in same day delivery, and hotshot one hour or less service. So if somebody gets a hold of us and says we need something, you know, by, it’s, it’s 10 o’clock, and we need it before 11. We can actually assign a driver to that immediately, and get that delivery done. So it’s, it’s in that kind of direction that I thought we could go, you know, and that little bit of a specialty was missing here in Regina in the courier service. So that’s why I started it.

Barb 2:45
Awesome. So do you focus on the business to business market or business to consumer, or even consumer to consumer? Like, if I as a resident of the city, call you? Can you do a delivery for me as well?

Corey 2:58
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, we we concentrate on a little bit of everything, right? So consumer to consumer, if you’re somebody in the city that’s just looking for simple delivery, you know, hey, I need to get these papers somewhere or a letter somewhere or parcels someplace, in, give us a call. And we’ll come and pick it up from you and take it where it needs to be.

Barb 3:20
Okay. And because you started the business during that COVID time period, did you find that it was particularly busy because for a while there, we had you know, contactless delivery and all those sorts of things.

Corey 3:34
It was and it still kind of is right. It seems to be picking up even a little bit more now that COVID is, you know, so much over I guess you’d say. But during that time, it was more, we were just people were just getting to know us. And that’s one of the things that we’re still kind of struggling with is getting our name out there and making sure that people know who we are and what we’re doing. So but yeah, we we did find it was, you know, fairly busy for us.

Barb 4:09
Okay, let’s talk about that for a second. So you talked about getting your name out there. So how do people find you? What are they googling for? What are they searching for? How does someone actually find you?

Corey 4:21
Well, they’re searching if they you know, they’re searching for Regina, courier or courier in Regina. They can certainly look us up, you know, online on Google. We have a website, we have a Twitter, we have Instagram account and Facebook is normally where we see most of our traffic from right now. So that’s where people can find us.

Barb 4:44
Okay, so that’s where the majority of people are coming from. So what are some crazy things that you’ve delivered over the years then?

Corey 4:52
Well, let’s see. One of the one of the craziest things I did deliver was a I trailered not my trailer, but I trailered somebody 10 sheep! Yes, I actually went out to the farmer and we loaded up 10 sheep with the back of a trailer, and we took them to another farmers place. So that was one of my strangest calls that I’ve ever done so far,

Barb 5:22
You know, and that is, that’s a really strange one, because farmers are usually pretty good with having their own trailers and equipment and, you know, being able to move livestock.

Corey 5:31
So it just seemed to be that day that they were stuck. And they called me and said, Hey, do you have a truck to haul this trailer? We have the trailer? And I said, sure. I’ll do that for you.

Barb 5:39
Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, that’s a very interesting one. What about the most expensive delivery you ever made?

Corey 5:49
The most expensive delivery I’ve made so far. It was. It was. I don’t know if I should say it or not. But it was a check for over a million and a half dollars. Oh, wow. Yeah. Wow. And the reason I seen that it was because it was in an envelope. Okay. And it was being delivered from a lawyer to a bank. So okay, that was probably my biggest one yet that you know, money wise. Yes.

Barb 6:18
You know what, I was actually expecting that you might say something like diamonds or something, you know, like that I wasn’t expecting? Oh, no, usually, you know, checks are in an envelope, and then they go wherever.

Corey 6:30
That’s what surprised me about it. It was like, boy, you guys are really trusting on this one, obviously.

Barb 6:37
Yeah, no kidding. Oh, isn’t that an interesting one? So Corey, how are you feeling about the leap from manual labor? To like, now you’re, you’re really using your brain on a daily basis to schedule how many of our drivers you have. And you know, just being an entrepreneur, you know, what, at a time in your life, where lots of people are just gonna say, I’ve had enough. So are you feeling about that?

Corey 7:04
You know I feel good about it. It’s actually keeping me really busy. Some days, I actually say now that I put in more time and more hours than I did when I was actually working. It just seems like the day doesn’t stop at five o’clock. There’s always something to do. And as I’m going sometimes, still, you know, 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock at night, answering emails and doing all the busy behind the scenes stuff, so to speak, right. So I do love getting out there, though. I love driving. I love meeting the people. And, you know, getting to talk to people. One of my favorite things to do is I deliver for a couple of bakeries here in the city. Okay. And it’s always fun when you can take a nice big cake to somebody, like from Queen City cakes I deliver for and, you know, it’s nice to take it to the door and say happy anniversary year. Happy birthday to you. And you get a real nice reaction from that. So it’s one of my one of my favorite things to do. And it’s also nice to surprise husband sometimes when they don’t know their wife has delivered something and you’ve delivered it to the door. And you’re like, oh, okay, thank you very much.

Barb 8:21
Or vice versa? Because, you know, sometimes a husband orders something for boat or the truck.

Corey 8:29
Hey, can you pick me up these bumpers, please. But don’t tell my wife about him just kind of set him in the garage?

Barb 8:34
Exactly. Oh, yeah. I could just imagine, you know, it’s funny that you mentioned clean city cakes, because I was wondering if one of the things that you were doing was some of those types of food deliveries? You know, maybe not an I don’t know, like, if somebody decided to get a pizza and they didn’t want to use Uber or skip the dishes, can they call you?

Corey 8:57
Well, normally we try to stay away from that kind of stuff. Because other deliveries that are doing that, you know, we tend to stay away from those kinds of deliveries and let those guys do that stuff themselves. And you know, what will tend to stay with bakeries, or we can also do stuff like if people need groceries picked up, or something like that. We’ll do that for them.

Barb 9:23
Yeah, that makes sense. Um, oh, I lost my train of thought I was going to ask you one more question. Okay, let’s talk about how everything comes together from a logistic standpoint. How many drivers do you have right now?

Corey 9:35
Actually, there’s just myself and a couple of temporary drivers that we have. We’re still growing right now, like I said, so. I shouldn’t say they’re part time not temporary. But yeah, that’s we seem to be able to handle our volume of what we got right now with that. But we’re, you know, we’re always looking to expand and the more that we can expand the more business that we can get The more drivers will be able to hire right?

Barb 10:03
So yeah, exactly. And I’m guessing that one of the things that you really enjoy doing then is just driving.

Corey 10:10
Oh, it is. Yeah, it was something I did for 20 years as a heavy equipment operator. I mean, it wasn’t all over the place, but it was still driving. Right. And I really enjoy that. Yeah, it’s, you have to enjoy something like that. And you have to have the patience for it. You’re out in the road over the city, and you’re in traffic all the time. So it it’s challenging, but you know, it’s rewarding at the same time too.

Barb 10:36
Yeah, absolutely. Have you ever thought of I have thrown on the bike shorts and doing bike courier services in the nice months here that we have, as short lived as they are.

Corey 10:49
I’m sorry, I didn’t catch on. Yeah.

Barb 10:51
Have you ever thought about doing bike courier services?

Corey 10:56
You know, that’s something that I has crossed my mind. And maybe someday we’ll step into that. Because we do have short deliveries that we do downtown for for lawyers offices, and, and things like that. So, you know, sometimes we’re going downtown, and we’re picking up from one place and walking down the block with it or across the street. Right. So that might be something to look at for later deliveries in the future. It would be certainly that somebody else isn’t doing so it would definitely be a first I think

Barb 11:29
Yes, exactly. You know, it’s funny. It’s something that I’ve often thought about in terms of, you know, just delivery and just in general. So, you know, I think back to when my kids were little, and my kids are in their teens now. But I think back to when they were little we used to have one day a week where we weren’t allowed to use the vehicle. So if the kids wanted to go someplace, it had to be in the bike trailer, or if they were old enough, you know, they had to be able to bike. And it was a great learning for them. But be from a fitness standpoint, it was a you know, really good commitment on my part. And then of course, they get bigger and older and busier. And so some of those sorts of things start to slide by the wayside. And, you know, I often look back at, you know, the couple of years that we did that. And like we went some distances, we live in the far south end of the city, and I would bike up to the RCMP to go to the museum, just for example, with the bike trailer behind me. So fitness wise, it was a fantastic thing.

Corey 12:33
Oh, yeah, definitely. There’s a lot of advantages to it other, you know, fitness wise, it really you can’t be surprised at how quickly you can gain that, you know, go farther, go farther, go farther all the time. Before you know what you’re doing. kilometers, you know, lots of kilometers.

Barb 12:52
So exactly. And I would think, especially when you’re in that downtown core, a bike is probably faster than a car, finding a parking spot plugging a meter, right, doing all those sorts of things.

Corey 13:07
Oh, absolutely. I mean, that’s a challenge right there in itself. Some days it’s finding parking downtown and always having to plug the meters. And we don’t charge our clients for any of that stuff. That’s just kind of you know, it’s coming out of your business, it is the cost of doing business. Right knows. And that can add up to after a while. Sometimes we’re downtown, you know, 8-10 times a day, right. So if you’re always bugging and we’re driving around looking for a parking spot, and trust me, the commissioners and parking enforcement people downtown, take your job pretty seriously.

Barb 13:40
They do. Absolutely. Sometimes I wonder if they’re on commission?

Corey 13:44
Yes, almost right.

Barb 13:48
So like gas prices, that must have had a huge impact on your business, and I’m just talking about gas prices must have had a huge impact on what you do and the rates that you needed to charge that it did,

Corey 14:03
Actually, we did have to increase our rates, because the gas prices were just going up enormously, so fast. And to tell you the truth, it really was a struggle for for us to do that. Because we want to stay competitive, and we want to stay fair to our clients as well, right. We’re not trying to gouge them or overpriced them or anything like that. So when we did it, we informed all of them that we were doing it and the response back was actually very positive and understanding from all of them, right and which made it a lot easier to do. And so we feel right now that we’re at a rate that we can live with and that they can live with and that is you know, that we can do it with the gas prices and inflation where it is right now. So the good thing about our businesses, we don’t have a lot of overhead to gas prices, you know, maintenance of vehicles, you know, some office supplies and stuff like that is our biggest cost, right? So in that way, it’s good for us, you know that we don’t have that many costs. So we can kind of keep our rates down to right.

Barb 15:20
And I suspect at the time that you needed to contact clients and let them know that rates were going to go up, I expect you weren’t the first one to have to do that. Anyone who is doing deliveries, I think nowadays, whether it’s that pizza driver, Uber, like any of those guys are being impacted by those prices. So you probably weren’t the first.

Corey 15:44
I don’t think we were and we found some of our clients actually, because they already established their rates and their prices and stuff like that adjusted to it as well. So they kind of knew what was coming. And they just went and adjusted their side of what they had to do as well to, to do with it. Right.

Barb 16:04
So when you’re planning out your logistics for delivery, are you using anything fancy, like Google Map to plan out your routes?

Corey 16:19
We depend on Google Maps quite a bit right to get us around the city. And after a while, you get to know where you’re going and places that where it is right, pretty much. But basically, we don’t have a big system where everything is tracked or anything like that. We keep it pretty simple. I mean, you’ve given us a phone call, tell us what you need, if today or even tomorrow. And we’ll schedule a time when it needs to be picked up. And we’ll come and get it get all the information from you that we need to get. And then we will get it to its delivery. And yeah, and once it’s there, we make a phone call to make sure that we will let you know that the delivery has been made. And it’s made it to where it is. And we try to always make unless it’s, you know, non contact delivery or something like that, we always try to make contact with the recipient, because we don’t like to leave packages anywhere where they can be taken or stolen there. So we always try to make sure that we make contact with the recipient, we do everything that we can to do that, you know, even if we have to phone them. So and if we can’t, well, we just try our best to leave it in a safe place for them right? Yeah, so yeah, we keep it pretty simple for everybody.

Barb 17:47
And, you know, keeping it simple is probably something that clients really appreciate nowadays, because I think for a lot of, for so many of the things that we do nowadays, there’s so much technology involved, and it’s become so complex. So whether you’re buying something online, and then you have to wait for the delivery, and you’re getting confirmations and and even when you’re shopping locally, you know lots of local businesses are shipping, but then there’s a bunch of text involved. And you need to confirm this. And there’s something to be said for simple, right?

Corey 18:21
Yeah. And we’re finding our customers really liked that. Like we’ve even had some customers that are switched over from other companies, right? And told us that like the simplicity about this, it’s just so easy for us. Yeah. And we don’t have to go through the computer system. And we don’t have to, you know, to enter a bunch of stuff, and then wait for replies and everything else like that, right. So simple. It’s fast. It’s easy. And that’s the way we like to keep it for everybody. So

Barb 18:49
yeah, exactly. So when you’re looking at a day’s worth of delivery, do you find that most often you can, you know, 24 hour turnaround? You said you even have a one hour hotshot service. Are you just kind of planning out your day, knowing what you’ve got? And if you have to slot something in, you know, how do you make sure you get everything done in that day?

Corey 19:09
That’s pretty much what we do is that if we know ahead of time, we’ve got everything scheduled and slotted in and figured out ahead of time of what we’re going and what we have to do. And yes, we do get those phone calls or texts, where people are like, Hey, can you do this for us? And it’s not always a rush delivery, right? They’ll give us a call and they’ll say, you know, can you have it there by three this afternoon? It’s in the morning, right? So that’s easy for us to slot somebody in and pick that call up and do it for them. We don’t find that we really have any kind of problems or or overlap in that regard where we’re rushing, where we got two or three deliveries all in one hour to do we find that we were pretty good with getting everything organized.

Barb 19:54
Good. Yeah, that’s awesome. And I know it might seem a ways away still but Christmas is not that far away. So I, you know, do you think you’ll be busier at Christmas time? Will you be doing some of those last minute delivery?

Corey 20:08
Always busier at Christmas? Yeah, like Christmas time is always one of our busiest times of the season, right? So we even expect to have to hire another couple of drivers for that time of season, right. And already, our customers are telling us that they expect it to be busy this year. To be prepared for, you know, for us to have a lot of deliveries for them to do. So. That’s nice. That sense being that it’s, you know, still summertime, and they’re telling us that they expect to be busy already for Christmas. So

Barb 20:46
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, that’s, you know, that’s so true. Because as we watch the business cycle going into and out of COVID, you know, we’ve seen the up, we’ve seen the down. And I know a lot of folks had an initial bubble when masks came off in Saskatchewan back in March. And then, you know, there was a little bit of a business. People were holding their breath, because consumers didn’t initially come out the way businesses were hoping. So then a number of businesses started to slow down again, kind of June, July and August. But knowing that retailers are expecting that the Christmas season, maybe even Black Friday, for those that do participate, you know, will be a good season for them. You know, I think that’s a very good thing, because businesses have been on a rough road, these last almost three years, right? Probably three years since this started.

Corey 21:52
Yeah, definitely. And we’ve seen that up and down curve too in ourselves, right with them. We I mean, we ride the roller coaster with them when they’re busy. We’re busy. When they’re not busy. We’re not busy. So we like to see the uptick, obviously, in are hoping just like everybody else, that it’s going to be a great fall and a great Christmas for everybody. And we can all look forward to something a little more positive, right?

Barb 22:19
Yeah, exactly. I agree. So does the missus help with some of the deliveries since she was, you know, holding business or divorce over your head?

Corey 22:29
Oh yeah. She’s involved in the business quite a bit. She does do deliveries. And she works on I guess you’d say that the inside of the back end of things, right. So she looks after the business with all the accounting and planning and scheduling and stuff like that. So she does a lot of work herself. Yeah. She’s, she’s a big help. And my right hand person, so to speak. Without her I’d be probably 10 times as busy.

Barb 23:00
Exactly. So she’s kind of that Chief logistics officer or chief financial officer.

Corey 23:07
Well. She’s in charge of keeping our poop in a group here.

Barb 23:12
So somebody’s got to you know, somebody’s got to look after those details in a business doesn’t matter who does it.

Corey 23:22
There always has to be somebody looking after the business on the other end, right.

Barb 23:26
Yeah, exactly. Corey, we’re almost at a time here today, can I get you to share with our audience, where they find you on social media and your website so that if anyone needs a local deliver, they can give you a shout?

Corey 23:41
Sure, you can find us on our website at www.zippityzipcourier.com. Or you can go to our Facebook page to zippity zip courier and you can find us there. And we also have a Twitter account. It’s zippityzipcourier2021. Or sorry, that’s our Instagram, and our Twitter is @Courierzip my goodness. Yeah, but yeah, You can find us on the web page and a Facebook page, we get a lot of traffic there. And, you know, we always appreciate that if you leave us post and you know, whether you’re appreciated our business or if you even have something that we can help you with, you know, we appreciate any kind of comments on there. So

Barb 24:30
Awesome. Well, that is fantastic. So on that note, if you want to sell your story, then you need to tell your story. And there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life show.

If you would like to be a guest you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at Abovethefold.ca.

I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and local business cheerleader. Remember you worked hard for your success don’t keep it a secret bye for now.

Connect with Corey @ Zippity Zip Courier

Ep. 110 Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

With Christmas around the corner, we’re all looking for gift ideas, sustainable ways to give and unique presents for family & friends. Look no further!
Quinn Nikulak is the owner and maker of a small woodworking business in Southey, SK that specializes in wooden toys and sustainable woodworking. From robot keychains to climbing houses, Quinn is dreaming big for the little people in our lives.

Transcript

Barb 0:01
Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone ring and the website ping?

One of the best kept secrets in any community is its network of local businesses, businesses that rely on local customers foot traffic and phone calls or website visits. Those same businesses are supporting your kids sports teams and donating to fundraising efforts. But no more secrets from the skinned knee lessons or maybe skin knuckle lessons for today’s episode that will make you wince to the tell exposee.

These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get Found for Local program. Today, we’re sharing the behind the scenes story of a local business who’s making sustainable wooden toys for kids. I want you to really think about some of those toys that you may have had as a kid a wooden toy in particular, they stood up to everything.

Let’s get started. Today we have Quinn from Kustom Kitties Canada, who’s going to talk to us about all sorts of fun things that are wooden, and toys, and sustainable. So with that, I’m gonna let him take over Quinn, tell us a little bit about yourself and your business.

Quinn 0:21
All right, so, so as you said, my name is Quinn. I am actually a special education teacher and I’m a woodworker as well. I’m also working on a Master’s of educational psychology because I kind of hate myself and don’t want to have any spare time.

Barb 0:37
That’s, that’s where my brain actually went on. Like, oh, Quinn doesn’t sleep. Okay. Good to know.

Quinn 0:42
Yeah, sleeper for the week. Absolutely. So I actually started out in woodworking making custom cat furniture, which is why it’s Kustom Kitties Canada.

Barb 0:55
Yeah. Got it. Okay. Yep.

Quinn 1:00
But then, so 16 months ago, my, my son was born. And he was born super premature. And, yeah. And so making toys for him was kind of just a coping mechanism for me. It was just something I could do, right? Because when you’re when your child is in the NICU, there’s not much you can do as a parent, right? You can, you can come and you can cuddle them and you can you know, you can change diapers, but there’s not much you can do because at the end the day you gotta leave them, right.

So I started making toys for my son. Okay. And that also happened to be in the middle of the pandemic, and everybody, I started posting them on Facebook, and everyone wants that. A lot of people started saying I want one of those. I want one of those. I want one of those very, um, and so, you know, I kind of said, oh, people want the things I make for my son. Oh, okay. Yeah. So I basically pivoted my whole business during the pandemic. Wow. Yeah. Yep. The whole thing. The whole business. And I and I started making kids toys. But being a special education teacher, I always want to make sure all the toys are educational,

Barb 2:08
Safe, educational, tactile, right.

Quinn 2:13
Tough. Yes. I was a little boy. I know how tough a little boys can be on boys. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I think the first toy I ever made for my son was I think I made them a rattle. And I made them a little frog shaped rattle. And it had a couple little beads in the center. And yeah, and then people were like, hey, I want that. I want that. I want that. And then I made a toy car. And then I made a toy boat. And then I made some stacking stones. And it just, it just kept growing and growing and growing. I’m actually almost at the point where I am considering leaving education just to run this business because Oh, wow. Getting that busy.

Barb 2:52
Okay, yep. And so every piece is handmade and custom made? Or do you have any? Like, I don’t know, prefab machining that happens in the process, or is this a labor of love from first cut to last hand.

Quinn 3:07
So 90% of my toys are 100% made by me in my shop from lumber. Okay. That last 10% is things where I, I couldn’t make them but they take so long that I do just by them. So things like wheels and dowels. Okay, right. So like, I can make dowels. But it’s takes so long and I wouldn’t save any money. So I just buy them. Exactly. Yeah. Um, but yeah, beyond that, like everything’s made by me. The only thing that’s ever Yeah, the only thing that’s ever purchased is things like screws, bolts, dowels. But, ya know, everything is made by me. And the vast majority of what I make is made all from hardwood instead of instead of soft wood. So like I do make a couple of things out of pine and a little bit out of hemlock. But the majority of my toys are made out of you know, cherry, beech, oak, walnuts, that sort of thing.

Barb 4:04
Yeah. Which creates a lot more interest in the piece because once that stained, you’ve got such a rich green to those hardwoods as opposed to a pine which is such a plain flat kind of grain in the wood. So it probably makes it a lot more interesting to just parent standpoint. Nevermind that it’s actually going to stand up to a kid now.

Quinn 4:24
I actually don’t stay in any of my toys.

Barb 4:26
Ah, okay.

Quinn 4:28
So like if it’s if it’s Walnut, it’s walnut, it is solid walnut. Um, it’s actually one of the things I don’t do is I don’t use any stains and I avoid finishes. Because the more I’ve looked into it, the more I don’t think they’re safe for kids.

Barb 4:43
Because yeah, it’s gonna go in their mouth, they’re gonna chew on it.

Quinn 4:47
And their reason do is that actually globally in terms of pollution, the paint stain industry is just horrendous. Yeah, they’re, they’re actually the number one polluter in the world is the paint stain industry.

Barb 5:00
Get out. I had no idea. Okay, so this is the sustainability part of your business. So talk to me a little bit about this. Because I as a consumer, I had no idea.

Quinn 5:08
Okay, so one of the big things I do is I used to use some exotic lumber and some of my toys, but I don’t do that anymore. One of the big reasons for that is actually the most sustainable lumber you can get is the lumber that comes from closest to you. Hey, that makes some sense. Yep. Yeah. So like, if you ever look on there, and you’ll find toys that are made, let’s say out of bamboo, or rubber, wood, and stuff like that, and they’re advertised is very sustainable. But that toy that wood was still shipped from overseas in a cargo ship belching fumes. Whereas, you know, in some cases, like when I make like little wooden beads, like I’ll make them from branches I find on walks, they’re ultimately sustainable. No tree was cut down, it’s just dead ball.

Barb 5:52
Exactly.

Quinn 5:55
And in terms of sustainability of, let’s say, like finishes, the only finish I use is I use beeswax and mineral oil. So the mineral oils is a petroleum byproduct. But it’s completely kid safe. You know, we give it to adults to to make them poop. And then beeswax is absolutely sustainable because I actually have a friend of mine who literally lives 10 kilometers down the road, and he tells me his beeswax and so all my finishes are very, very localized.

Barb 6:24
Exactly. So does that then seal the wood as well so that if by chance, you know, the kid takes it into the bathtub, it’s still gonna survive.

Quinn 6:32
It will as long as it’s dried afterwards. Okay. So like, like if let’s say I made like a toy boat, and I see a little that beeswax mineral oil. If you take it out of the bathtub and just like leave it aside to dry. Yeah, it’ll be fine. If you leave it in the bathtub overnight. It will seep in eventually.

Barb 6:46
Yep. Yeah, exactly. So let’s just go back to the beginning for a second. You started off making for your son, how is your son today?

Quinn 6:54
He’s doing very well. He’s actually just starting to walk. Oh, very exciting. He’s getting to that point where he kind of does the the Jack Sparrow walk right where he’s gotten off to the side and totally unbalanced, but it’s adorable.

Barb 7:06
Exactly. Okay, awesome. So we just had to make sure.

Quinn 7:10
So he’s fine. He’s, he’s been great. Okay, yeah.

Barb 7:13
And so are you still making toys for him? And what are you making for him now?

Quinn 7:18
I actually just finished up sanding literally about 10 minutes before we started. Just finish sanding up a Pickler Triangle for him.

Barb 7:25
Oh, sorry, a Pickler Triangle?

Quinn 7:28
It’s a bigger triangle. So what it is, is it’s like a folding climbing apparatus that forms a triangle, obviously. And then the whole thing folds folds flat for storage. But basically what it is, is it’s kind of like an intro to climbing for kids who are just starting to learn those gross motor skills. And it’s so instead of using like kitchen chairs and whatnot, which you know, are old and wobbly, and that that you have this very sturdy hardwood triangle. That is very, very sturdy, and the kid can use it for anything they want to they can climb on it, they can make a fort out of it, tit comes with a slide.

Barb 8:03
Wow. How big is it?

Quinn 8:06
That’s about 36 inches high. So about three feet, okay. Yep. Yeah, they’re, they’re not huge, but they’re very much for like two to five year olds.

Barb 8:13
Yep, that makes sense. I remember when our son started climbing, not so much walking. He was climbing well, before he was walking like, well before, and he’d get himself up on the kitchen table. No problem. Like, if you so much as blanked or answered the phone, it was like serious, buddy. Like, how did you do that? But the speed and the skill was just instant.

Quinn 8:39
Yeah, and I was the same way to I was a climber. I broke my leg when I was two years old, apparently, even then I was still getting on top of the fridge and all that. Hooking the cast on like the fridge and flipping up. Because kids just want to climb. It’s that it’s that gross core motor strength that they just want to use so badly.

Barb 8:57
Yep. Let’s be honest, everything else in the world is above them. They just want to get up there to see like, Hey, what’s going on up here?

Quinn 9:06
Absolutely. Yeah, like my son right now is like I want to be held and you can kind of tell it’s not I want to be held. It’s kind of I want to see the world how you see it.

Barb 9:15
Exactly. Yeah, that’s exactly it.

Quinn 9:19
Okay, so everything is getting shorter rides.

Barb 9:21
So like, how do you plan this stuff out? Do you have to go find like a blueprint? Like, how does this stuff all come together in your mind?

Quinn 9:31
Well, usually, there’s about 37 tracks in my mind, all of which are running at the same time. But so it kind of depends on what it is. So things so like, I actually have quite an extensive library at this point. But things like toy cars are I just make them Okay, I just I grabbed some pieces of wood and I say, I’m gonna make myself a truck today. And I make a truck. Yeah, um, in terms of like pickler triangles.what I actually did was I got a set of plans off the internet. I made kind of a prototype one went, Wow, that sucks. I’m going to change this.

And that sometimes if it’s something new that I’ve never done before, I’ll go out and I’ll get a set of plans go, Hmm, that’s terrible, and then improve it and improve it and improve it. So usually by the second or third iteration, it’s a very, very, very, very finished and thought out. And I know what I’m doing exactly.

Sometimes what I also find, too, is, is that a lot of times, especially daycares, they’ll have a really old piece of a really old piece of climbing equipment. And they’ll say we have no idea where it was bought from. It is older than the building. Can you make us another one? Because this one’s in trouble. And I usually go I snap a couple pictures. And then I say, Well, this is this isn’t very strong anymore. I’m going to improve it. I’m going to make it stronger. So like right now, I actually just finished a big massive clamor for the Early Learning Center, and Regina. And that was basically the same thing. They said, Hey, we want another one of these. And I looked at the design and when I will make this stronger, because this scares me.

Barb 10:59
Yeah, exactly. And now that you’re a parent, you have a completely different frame of reference than you know, three years ago, you’d be like, Okay, this will be fine. But then you put real life kid on top of it. You’re like, what that back?

Quinn 11:14
Yeah. And that’s, and that’s one of the reasons why I use almost exclusively hardwoods is because so I don’t know if I don’t know if in your research for this. You found out but actually offer a lifetime warranty on all my toys. If it ever breaks, I will fix that. It’s it’s it’s not only me standing behind it, but it’s also the sustainability thing. I want none of my toys ever ending up in the landfill while I’m alive. So the lifetime is actually like my lifetime. your lifetime. Yeah, not the lifetime of the toy. My lifetime. Good for you. But But that’s one of the reasons why I use all hardwoods. I, you know, I don’t use anything that could potentially be toxic to kids or anything like that. Because at the end of the day, right, like, I want this to be a sustainable, safe. And above all else, I want it to be a business that provides a really good service at a at a reasonable cost. Yeah, I don’t know if you’ve ever looked at furniture for schools, but

Barb 12:06
Oh, furniture for schools, yes, through the roof, because of course, you know, it’s got to stand up to so much. But wood furniture, wood toys are not an inexpensive endeavor. And I remember back when my kids were, you know, doing the toddling around. My dad made them a rocking chair and a rocking horse. And the joke in the family was like a tornado could come through, and the house could be flattened. But those two little rockers would still just be going without a scratch on them. By the time both of my kids were done with them. We passed it on then to the next cousin, who same thing. She had twins. They did their thing. She passed them on again. And they still look brand new. Brand new, right?

Quinn 12:58
We have a rocking horse actually, that my wife’s grandfather, a great grandfather made and yeah, my my in laws just put a coat of paint on it when my son was born. And it looks and works great.

Barb 13:11
Exactly. Yep. Yeah, that’s, that’s what people I think they forget now in days, no, okay, granted, if I’m buying a toy for my kid, it doesn’t necessarily need to last for seven generations. But that one toy, a, you’re gonna pass it down. Be from a sustainability standpoint, it’s a heck of a lot better than the plastic and all the chemicals and the coatings, everything else that’s in there. Because when you start dissecting, you know, some of what we give to our kids and what ends up in their mouth at that age and stuff. It’s like, oh, wait, hold on. Right. Yeah, it can be pretty atrocious.

Quinn 13:51
Well, that’s actually one of the reasons why. So there are some finishes that some people consider safe for kids. Okay, but kids to everything. Yes, absolutely. And there’s a difference between contact safe and ingestion safe. Right? So like, beeswax and mineral oil. I like I’ll take a spoonful that finished right now and eat it right. It’s these terrible but it will not harming right. Whereas if, let’s say I put a big thick coat of varnish on, and some trout is chewing on it. They’re ingesting it right there. It’s not just a case of oh, they’re scratching it up. It’s being ingested.

Barb 14:26
Yeah, yeah, I agree. So let’s just go back to when you were actually making cat furniture. What, what started that? Because Have you always been working with wood? Or where did that interest come from?

Quinn 14:40
I’m one of those people who always I’ve always liked building things. Always. Right. I was a Lego kid. I was given me wood and the hammer nails and I’ll build a fork kid. Yeah. And I think I just kind of realized when I hit about 2526 that I just I wanted to build things maybe not as a career, but I wanted to build things just to keep my hands busy. Yeah. And the cat furniture I you know, I don’t even remember what my love my mind process was on that I think I was just like, oh, build care furniture and everyone will buy it and I’ll be hugely wealthy. I think it’s also because we have two cats. And I think my wife was like, you should make them a cat tree guy that you should. Yeah, that just kind of spiraled.

Barb 15:30
And so you’re not doing that at all anymore. If somebody knocks on your door and said, Hey, we saw this great cat thing. You know, would you build it for us? You’re like, No, I’m all toys now.

Quinn 15:38
Yeah, I’ve pretty much fully pivoted to toys with the exception of I do some work for Excalibur Cat Cafe in Regina every so often. And also build stuff for them just because we have a really long standing really awesome relationship. Yeah, but But ya know, I’ve pivoted to entirely toys and educational, okay. And it’s also just, like right now, like, I’m booking for Christmas already.

Barb 16:02
That’s what I was just gonna say. So how far in advance? Are you booking? So Christmas? We know that. So we need folks thinking about their Christmas order and their stocking stuffer and the toys for Christmas? And what is the like the most fun toy the coolest toy that you’re making right now? What’s your favorite thing to make?

Quinn 16:21
I saw I just finished that epic climber for the ELC. Yep. And then it makes my internal climber so happy. I look at it. And I see my son playing with it. And I’m just like, Oh, I wish I had one of these as good. I wish I had one now that could hold up to 300 pounds, you know, 30 year old man.

Barb 16:38
How big was it?

Quinn 16:40
It’s about four qfeet square and about four and a half feet high. Okay, so that’s not huge, but it’s quite large in terms of a climber.

Barb 16:48
Yep. And so when did you have to put it together on site?

Quinn 16:53
No, actually, I built the whole thing to fold so I can. So I actually fold slabs that folds down to about five inches. Okay. And then I’m actually I’m dropping it off, actually this afternoon right after our interview.

Barb 17:05
Oh, very cool. Okay. K that’s a big one. What about some of the stuff that you will be making for Christmas? What’s going to be popular this Christmas?

Quinn 17:16
Picklers are huge. Um, I’m already taking orders. I was actually taking orders for big Christmas picklers back in July. Oh, yeah, it’s unfortunately they take a little bit of time. So I usually tell people give me some notice, especially around Christmas because I get so busy. Yep. What else is I just released some toy boats. Those are seem to be quite popular. Stacking stones and magnetic stacking stones are always popular. I always run over them every year.

Barb 17:46
Sorry, what are those? I don’t know what those are.

Quinn 17:48
Stacking stones are basically they’re like building blocks. The only difference is that they’re they’re shaped to look like rocks. Okay. So the idea the idea is basically they’re very naturalistic open ended play. Right. So they can Yeah, they can be bricks for building or they can be boulders, or they can be asteroids coming to destroy the dinosaurs. Got it? Yeah. Are there a cliff, you know, for your army man or whatever. Right there. They’re just very open ended. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And then the magnetic ones that are the exact same except they’re magnetic.

Barb 18:20
Oh, cool. So they stick to a fridge?

Quinn 18:24
Ah, yeah, they should. Okay.

Barb 18:26
Yeah, I’m just trying to think how heavy they are. Because you know, anything that’s rock. Like if they tried to make it magnetic, it would never stick to my fridge. It would be falling off all the time.

Quinn 18:36
But yeah, they got a pretty good man doesn’t tell them. The only the only issue is going back to that safety piece. They have to be magnetic enough that they’re fun to play with, but not so magnetic that they could potentially be dangerous.

Barb 18:47
Yes, exactly. And then they have to be big enough so that they don’t end up in somebody’s mouth, don’t they? Exactly. Yeah. Would they be like, I don’t know three by three by five.

Quinn 18:58
Oh, no, they’re like two inches by three inches. Oh, okay. Yeah, like, like I could maybe swallow one if I tried really hard. No way.

Barb 19:08
It sounds like it’s a grape kind of thing.

Quinn 19:11
No. Much much bigger.

Barb 19:14
This is one of those times where you need like the podcast to be visual so you can do show and tell Right?

Quinn 19:26
Exactly. Yeah. Um, but ya know, those are really popular and I also do toy robots. Those have been quite popular the last couple of years.

Barb 19:32
Oh, they totally would be Yep.

Quinn 19:34
Oh, absolutely. And I don’t know it’s always a little bit it’s always a little different. Last year, last year, this time of year I had blended family cars and those sold super well.

Barb 19:47
What did you say – blended family cars.

Quinn 19:50
Yeah. So you know you know in like the game of life. You have your little yellow car with a little thing slots in it. A friend of mine is Jamaican and his his wife was indigenous. And they could never find toys that showed a blended family or a multiracial family or a multicultural family. And that really annoyed me. So we started making these multicultural blended family cars that are kind of loosely based on the life cars. Okay. And those old super well, last year, like I couldn’t keep them in stock, and I was trying so hard.

Barb 20:23
Oh, wow. And you know, I like I never would have thought of that. But now that you explain it, I can totally understand why they would be popular. That makes perfect sense to me.

Quinn 20:33
Right? Yeah, blended. blended family toys don’t really seem to exist.

Barb 20:36
No, they totally don’t. And in total aside, but our daughter is adopted from Ethiopia. Do you know how hard it is in Western Canada? Or little old Regina to find a doll that is representative of a black child? Or was 15 years ago?

Quinn 20:54
And not only representative But respectfully representative? Yeah, no, absolutely. I 100%. Understand. I make a lot of toys for families with children on the autism spectrum. And they say the same thing. It’s so hard to find, you know, good quality planning toys that are at a reasonable price. You can order them online. Yeah. What it’ll be eight, nine $1,000. Exactly. Shipping.

Barb 21:23
Yes. And what parent you know, is in a position to spend that when I think back to a couple of the dolls that we would have bought when she was little toys r us. We could usually find something, but not necessarily you know what she wanted? What was popular? It was like, if they carry 25 different dolls, then two of them would have one that was representative. And it was like, well, that’s not the one she wants. Like that’s the high school one. And

Quinn 21:57
yeah, she’s three. She doesn’t want the high school one she wants.

Barb 22:02
She wants the one she can do the hair and Yes, exactly, exactly. So here’s a question. And I don’t know if you always know the recipient of the toy. But mainly boys, mainly girls, pretty 50/50 split.

Quinn 22:17
Pretty 5050. The climbing toys are almost always 50/50. The stacking stones are 50/50. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people will buy the cars for boys, which doesn’t make any sense to me, because there are cars that they’re not gendered. But no, what did you feel pretty 50/50? Yeah. Yeah, no, know I, I’d say it’s pretty tough to get to be. But that will be really interesting data to have.

Barb 22:48
It would be because I think even if you had some sort of records of it, it will continue to change over time. So if you go to when my kids were little 15 years ago, there was a ton of times where we were really trying to very purposefully stay gender neutral. But no matter what we did that influences our round them weren’t they were not gender neutral. Now fast forward. You look at how much awareness has changed, and acceptance has changed. Now I don’t think we would get anywhere near the pushback. But that’s just my guess. I mean, I don’t you have the son and you will find out.

Quinn 23:33
You know, what’s funny is our one of our son’s favorite things to do is to help clean Oh, and you know, he loves using the broom loves using the vacuum anything like that? Yeah, no, it’s kids just like toys. They don’t they don’t care if it’s for boys or for girls. They just like toys.

Barb 23:51
Exactly. Yes. Just like they they just want to be with you. They don’t care what they’re doing. It doesn’t have to be big and fancy and expensive and a family outing and just want to be with you and do stuff.

Quinn 24:01
Absolutely. They just want to spend time with the people who love them.

Barb 24:04
Yeah, exactly. And, and we as adults tend to be the ones that make that complicated for them.

Quinn 24:11
we tend to put our own anxieties on kids.

Barb 24:13
Oh, don’t we though. Isn’t that the truth? Yeah,

Quinn 24:16
that’s a whole different podcast.

Barb 24:17
Exactly. That’s our next episode. Exactly. We’re almost at a time here today, Quinn. So before we do wrap up, tell us how do people find Kustom Kitties Canada.

Quinn 24:29
Okay, well, if you’re in Regina watching news, you can. You can find any of my products at Groovy Mama or Inspiring Young Minds to Learn. I also have products at the Faint Pparasol in Lumsden, Toad Hall toys In Winnipeg. Join Marketplace in Saskatoon. You can also find me online on Facebook at facebook.com/Kustom Kitties Canada with two Ks one C not KKK. They’re different. We don’t we don’t hang out with them.

Barb 24:59
Yeah, exactly, totally different page.

Quinn 25:02
Totally different page. Totally different values. Yeah. Um, or on Instagram at Kustom Kitties Canada and I do have a website coming up soon is just as we discussed at the beginning I am doing everything under the sun and the website is taking its time.

Barb 25:16
Exactly. And based on what you told me about your Instagram page, your Instagram page pretty much acts as a website for you. You’ve got your stuff on there, you can contact us there. So if Instagrams working don’t don’t fix something that’s not broken, right?

Quinn 25:30
Oh yeah, Facebook and Instagram 90% of my sales.

Barb 25:33
Exactly. That is awesome. And I will just put a plug in there that it is Kustom Kitties Canada do not lose, lose that we’re in Canada when you’re looking to find Quinn.

Awesome.

Quinn 25:44
Kustom Kitties Canada

Barb 25:45
Exactly. All right. That is it for our time today. So thank you very much Quinn.

It was a pleasure to hear about some of these things. And I’m actually going to keep you online for just a minute after we’re done to talk about a couple of these things because we may have some ideas.

If you would like to sell your story then you need to tell your story and there is no better place to start than the Secret Life Show. If you’d like to be a guest email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at Abovethefold.ca.

I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and local business cheerleader. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Quinn @ Kustom Kitties Canada

Ep. 109 Tess Boehm from TotallyTess Tradeshows

Tess Boehm

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

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We are getting Totally Tess’d today!
TotallyTess is a community-oriented tradeshow company. They not only put on tradeshows around the province, they also manage the Regina Summer Market, Regina Dragon Boat Festival and lead several community fundraisers, like the online events to fill the three community fridges.
Tess pours her heart and soul into every event, many that give back to Souls Harbour, Carmicheal Outreach, as well as other communities such as the Moosomin Food Bank.

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone ring and the website ping?

One of the best kept secrets in any community is its network of local businesses, businesses that rely on foot traffic, phone calls, website visitors, those same businesses that support your kids sport teams and donate to all of those fundraising efforts. But no more secrets from the skinned knee lessons that will make you wince to the tell all exposee. These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business.

Welcome to The Secret Life of Local. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and local business cheerleader. Today, we’re sharing the secrets and going behind the scenes to some of Regina’s biggest events and talking to one local business owner about how in the heck she does it all. This woman is a powerhouse of getting things done. I want to welcome Tess Boehm to the show and her business TotallyTess Tradeshows and Events. Welcome Tess. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your business.

Tess 0:35
Well, let’s see. I grew up in Saskatoon. And I’ve always been very involved in the community very much. So a lot of things from very young. I started as a candy striper in Saskatoon actually at the hospital. Oh, we were supposed to do one day a week. And I met a girl who was just really interested in as well. And we ended up going three days a week. And we spent and it’s funny, because these are the things that are still part of my passion. We spent one day in the children’s ward, we spent one day in the longterm ward with the seniors. And then on our Sundays, we always worked in admitting so my whole life when I think about it has been focused on, you know, helping others working with children working with seniors. And this has just continued on.

Barb 0:46
Wow. And community. The thread I see, even from, you know, wanting to be kids, seniors, it’s a community. Right, absolutely. All comes back to community. So how does totally test trade chosen events? How does that fit into the bucket that fills you up?

Tess 1:05
Well, I think that part of it originally, when I first started, we were doing trade shows for different causes to raise money for a school that needed a playground for the food banks, that type of thing. And then I was just doing them from 2003 on I did a lot of fundraising for my own surgeries that I’ve gone to Brazil for and people just started to see us raising money for different things. Okay, so I did that for quite a few years. And then finally in 2012, I just incorporated got the business licensing all done PST, GST, you know, all the different realms of requirements that you need. Exactly.

Barb 1:40
Yes. That becomes a full time job in and of itself.

Tess 1:44
Sometimes, yes. So I think I just went from there, I saw different charities. One of the things that is close to my heart, and always has been is Caitlin’s Hope for Sight. Kaitlyn Beston has a rare eye desire disease, it’s optic nerve hyperplasia. And at the time, her only option for treatment was to go to China for stem cell implants. Now, they still don’t have all the funds they need for this surgery in China. However, I don’t know if that’s really the only option anymore.

She’s in high school now, doing her own charity work, she just finished cutting off her hair for charity. She’s a brilliant young, young, caring woman who has like a desire to be something she’s amazing. I love her. And she’s brilliant. But she also has always helped doing, you know, doing things for other people. So I really jumped on board early years with that project. And then, you know, we just continued on.

In February of 2020, totally tests brought the very first drag show to the battlefords pride, okay, they were having some issues, trying to get people you know, supporting the whole thing. We had lieutenant governor, Russ Murasty attend. And so that was exciting, because we really got them going. And now if you look at their Facebook page, they’re doing like unimaginable things all the time. And it’s fabulous.

So I think sometimes it just takes a little bit of like, a start, right. And someone to bring it in. So one of the other things is I’m Mary Moosomin . And so that’s this is my 10th year of Mary Moosomin and trade show and mMoosomin. I love Moosomin, it’s such a great community.

But every year we go out there and we collect food for the Moosomin Food Bank. Last I heard from them, they estimated around we we raised about 400 pounds for food so far. Oh, oh, so I know, it’s so good. And the thing is, is that all of my totally test trade show events are free to attend. But sometimes I do ask you for a little item for a food bank, or some school supplies for charity or whatever. And we just try to bring people together for a cause. And then I offer that cause of free trade show at my table.

Barb 3:52
Very cool. Okay, so make this connection for me. So you have this tradeshow business, attendance is free, like how do you find the events that you’re supporting? Or rather, how does a community organization that needs support? How do they find you? Like how? Yeah, how does that piece come together?

Tess 4:13
Honestly, it’s kind of word of mouth. If you’ll see on some of the Facebook pages on on the business pages in the community pages, sometimes they’ll tag me Oh ask Tess because she’ll know or they’ll reach out to me directly by email saying so and so said to reach you for a prize for my for my event or I’ve done a lot of like live auction things on Facebook or you know, trade shows to assist we did a Kinnetts one. I’ve done events to fill all the community fridges, we’ve had huge ones like that. Or we did what’s in your closet and we collected clothes for Carmichael and different items. And when the province and people just start come together. It’s amazing. And really, I see it as a spiderweb I’m just connecting all the little parts and pieces.

Barb 4:58
Yes. One of the things things that that I’ve seen as well. So we we actually teach a program that’s all geared towards community organizations. So we teach them what they need to do on Google. But what we see from a result standpoint, is when a community organization start to get that snowball rolling, it’s absolutely huge what they can do, because just like people are really committed to shopping local when they can, they are absolutely committed to supporting a community organization when they know. And too often we don’t even know that this stuff is happening. So you can’t support something that you don’t know about. Right. Right. Tell me about can you think of a time you know, where, when you look back, you’re just like, you feel this overwhelming sense of pride? You are, you’re dumbfounded by, you know, something you were able to move forward for community organization. And I know, this wasn’t one of our prepared questions. I don’t mean to put you on the spot. But it just I really.

Tess 6:04
I mean, I just don’t think it’s just one, right. I mean, there are certain things like for example, all through COVID, all the troubles and stuff, what I did was I did, I did trade shows to support the community fridges. And one of the things that was really interesting was that, you know, I, after we collected the money, like people really never knew if I took that money and put it in my bank or went to the store, right? So I had to involve people. So we went to the store, we took pictures of the groceries, I had people meet me at the fridges, and help us unload.

And you know, just telling us, I think the follow up is really important. And whenever you’re dealing with charity, because people need to see where it’s gone to. I’ve even posted a picture of like, the check that I made, you know, just anything I can do to show involvement or have an information package that says, you know, here’s what we did with it or where it went. Or here I am at Walmart buying, you know, $400 in school supplies, or whatever it is because people want to know that when you donate, and that you donate through a charity or through my organization to the money’s going where it needs to go.

And what sometimes it’s as simple as you know, St. Teresa school, for example, I’ve done their fundraiser for their school playground for a few years. And they just came back to me and said, Will you do this years again? And so? And I’m like, of course, so what’s new on the thing, because they’ve got some of their, you know, their products in their school ground already. So where’s the money going to? Oh, it’s going here. Perfect.

I mean, look at Summer Bash. Yeah, five years ago, they said, did you want to volunteer a little bit and help us on this? Now? I’m on the board of directors. I mean, I planned the whole market we just had last weekend over 100 vendors.

Barb 7:47
Oh, my God, serious. Wow.

Tess 7:49
Yes. It was amazing. And the thing is that people don’t realize that that’s probably well over 300 or 400 hours of my time. Yes. And so in two weeks, I’ve got the Regina Dragonboat Festival market that I’m doing. And it’s like, you know, Wascana park on the 27th. It’s exciting. But there’s so many places that need you. Yes, as a matter of fact, interesting enough at summer market, a charity approached me and said, Can you be on our board of directors.

Barb 8:20
And he’s like, so much time to spare at this point in time.

Tess 8:22
I know. Actually, it was funny, because I said, I just left a board that I’ve been on for 22 years. I said I just stepped back and I I’m just not ready to join another one right now. Although it’s a fabulous charity. It’s great. But but it’s just not the right time. Right. But I mean, look at how summer market like said they do 40 events every summer through the bash through the movie nights through the community events. It’s amazing. And I’m such a little tiny piece of that. And Adam Hicks and the team have just gone above and beyond in more ways than I can even imagine.

Barb 8:57
Wow. Okay, so that begs the question then, because this is an actually your full time job. How do you find time? How do you find this three or 400 hours?

Tess 9:08
I think I’m like any busy person. The busy people get stuff done. Yes. I get up every morning at five and I sit in my home office from five to seven and then I get ready for work. Okay, I go to work, come home, make supper for dad. You know, have a family moment and then I continue in my office till about nine or 10 Okay. Admittedly I do have family from my husband’s first marriage so they’re but they’re older, like they’re in their their have their own families are settled. Okay, but my husband’s father lives with us. And so there’s a little bit more work involved with him for sure. But, um, I think you just have to plan like I plan my day.

However, admittedly, I did hire someone to help me through the piles of paperwork for the bash and now the dragon boat and I’ve had someone come in my office In the evenings and work from like six to nine, I just posted on Facebook, I’m like, Hey, I’m looking for an admin person. And then here she is. So it’s been very helpful, because I would often, you know, rope my husband into those things, but he’s busy doing other things, too, with his own business. So you can only do so many things.

And I’m just like, the piles of paper on my desk are like three feet high. And I’m like, I just need someone to help me go through it. Yes. And do it. Because I can’t just use a computer I need I’m a ima hands on, I need to see your registration, I need to read it, I need to look at it, I need to be all involved in all parts of it. And that, in itself makes that paper. But it’s not something I can control and make sure I don’t make a mistake if it’s on the computer.

Barb 10:46
Exactly. So when you’re involved with an event, and let’s use summer bash, as an example. So when you’re involved with an event, you’re helping from the ground up through your business, you’re touching kind of everything in that event, is that what usually happened?

Tess 11:00
Well, it depends really, I mean, the summer bash has grown to, like, a way we can’t even imagine. I don’t involve myself in the 40 other events they do, because I don’t have time for those. But I will if they if there’s a little something someone can come to me with that I can help with. But generally I do the trade show portion only. But I mean, it’s to its starting, right, everybody gets a registration, then a contract, then a payment, then an invoice added to the Facebook group, proper receipts being done all the media things, you know, adding them to lists and things that need to be done.

So yeah, that in itself, like everybody has five parts for each person. Okay, so although they’re smart, and they went to planning pod, which is very helpful, okay, it’s still a computer program. And I still need to have the conversation with a person that says, you know, what is this item, and you got to make sure you don’t put too many jewelers beside like, Dude, you want a jeweler beside one jeweler and another one. Because all you do is create stress for the vendor, because then they feel their sales aren’t going to be good enough. And there’s so many parts of like caring about the person that’s coming to the event, and making sure that their needs are dealt with as well. Who needs who has health issues that might need to be close to a washroom or be close to a place where they can park because they have mobility issues, or, you know, has a product that will melt in the sun. Like there’s so many things, right?

Barb 12:28
So you know, what I think of as I listened to you, your wedding must have been the most amazingly choreographed event ever. Because for someone to have that kind of foresight to think about not putting the dealer side by side and being close to a washer. Not everybody has that skill test. Like that is a total skill.

Tess 12:51
But I think that comes out of my own need as well. Like I on another side, I was the first Canadian to go to Brazil for a specialized weight loss surgery. I used to be almost 500 pounds. And I have

Barb 13:04
Now I see you as we’re having this conversation. I only see a circle but I have seen your Facebook picture.

Tess 13:09
Absolutely. And so I’ve lost well over two, well, gosh, I’m getting close into the I’m well past 250 that I’ve lost, but I’m still losing now and like I think about those things about my health. Like, I have some mobility issues from a hip surgery I had. I have kidney stones. So I think about somebody maybe needs a washroom like I think about those things because it’s important or, you know, there’s a gentleman I just got an email yesterday from a woman who said, My husband has some you know, hip injury. Can we be close where we have to unload our tents and stuff next Saturday? Oh, yeah, no problem. Because I want someone to be thinking about those things for me. And when I was working with the bariatric community to like, I’m that person, I would go into doctors offices and say, like, there’s no bariatric chairs here. Like, it’s not a one size fits all, like things need to be changed. And I mean, they are now there’s been so much more awareness for all these things. But yes, at one time, there sure wasn’t. And when I was at sighs there sure wasn’t. Oh, wow. Okay,

Barb 14:10
so I never even thought of that. You know, right. When you and I were getting started, you started talking about also the Young Living Oils that you do. So right on top of everything else, the 300 hours just for one event plus the full time job plus the Yes, anyway, so tell me a little bit about that. And then like you were talking about some of the the health benefits there in particular, we were talking about thieves. So just give me the high level on that.

Tess 14:37
Well, Young Living Essential Oils are therapeutic oils, their quality is very good. My husband and I don’t take any over the counter medications or prescription drugs. So we basically oil everything and work on the crazy oil lady and that’s okay. But they people come to me and they buy stuff for me under you know, like underground because they don’t want people to know they’re doing it sometimes. But I mean, it’s a way of life for me, like I build my immune system every day. This is how I deal with stress, I use stress away, or I use valor or whatever. And I do these things for myself.

But I also help a lot of people with it. So I make rollerballs for ADHD, PTSD, ADD, you name it. Yeah, and, and thieves is just one of the most amazing things for immune system like, I use theives. I mean, if I get a sore throat, I mean, we’re not supposed to give medical advice. And we don’t Yes, but I use a lot of the oils internally. And I do teach, I do tell people what I do. But they have such an amazing line of products. And so I do have my oils available for sale in Such and Stuff, which is at 1818 MCAra, which is a health and wellness store. I do have my product there. But I mean, I also take it to trade shows and take care of myself and my family with it too. Yeah, that is the primary thing. Like I use certain oils for stress and things like that every day because it keeps me you know, doing what I need to do and happy.

Barb 16:04
You use the term when you and I were talking before pulling with oils or something. What does that mean?

Tess 16:12
Well, people use oils, essential oils for oil pulling, which is good for your teeth and good for your gums. Some people put it on their toothbrush, but they can actually just put a couple drops of oil in there, coconut oil, and then they would just swish it around their mouth every day. And it’s just supposed to be really good for your teeth and gums. And, you know, just to help with your overall wellness, I do a lot of things for for my immunity, immune systems are so important right now. And actually, right now, especially it’s important not like to stay healthy. I have very few sick days a year because I do ensure these things are done. But one of the things that’s that’s great about it too, is that it just gives me the ability to do things from a nor now a more natural state. Yeah, I want to be healthy. I want to do what I can do not to get ill. And using the oils for me is everything.

Barb 17:06
Yeah. How did you learn all of this Tess?

Tess 17:10
Well, it’s been years to tell you the truth. Like I, I went to a trade show and I bought a kit. Okay, a starter kit. I didn’t know what was for I must have been guided that day to go do it. And just over time I learned about the different oils. I mean, I have kidney stones, and I use oils for my stones. And people you know in the doc my own nephrologist is like, How come you never end up in the hospital? Well, because I treat myself like I make sure I’m I’m caring for me. I’ve been having I’ve been having bowel blockages, and they can’t figure out why. I don’t go to the hospital for that either. I do my plan at home. So you know and other people would say you’re crazy. And they do say that. Okay, but I’m I go to the medical community last. And that’s just me. I’m not going to tell someone not to do that. I’m just going to tell you, if you ask me, I’m going to tell you what I do for me because it works.

Barb 18:04
Exactly. And traditional medicine absolutely has a place and a needed place. 100. But I agree with you, when we look at society wise where we’re at right now, hospitals and caregivers are so overwhelmed. Anything we can do to take care of ourselves and our loved ones. Like I 100% support it. 100% Yeah, do you.

Tess 18:39
So anyway, and out of that conversation, interestingly enough, because we just talked about this with some folks the other day, they say that the wellness, you know, the wellness area is gonna go into about a $15 billion business this year. And you know, money’s not everything. And that’s not very important to me ever. But, but what it has done is at at summer market on the weekend, we were like, Okay, it’s time to go back to my wellness expos that I would do. I branded My name honoring our wellness. And I took that around the province and I it’s time to go back to that I feel it. Like I feel there’s a need for it. So I’m going to start that again.

Barb 19:12
Okay, so honoring our wellness, what would you actually do?

Tess 19:15
What I do is I put on a trade show with all wellness events. All the vendors have something for our health, and or a product or, you know, we have massage therapists we have people that do Reiki, maybe Access Bars, or tea readers, whatever, and they come together and offer their services.

Barb 19:35
So one of the questions I almost always ask our guests is how if I was Googling something, if I was trying to solve a problem, whether this is on the tradeshow or arm, or the Young Living arm, what am I what am I searching for to find your businesses?

Tess 19:53
Well I on my I’m mostly Facebook and the reason for that is that it’s just it’s just so much it’s so I used and I realistically don’t have time for SNAP and Twitter and Flickr and whatever else they are, there’s out there. I don’t have time for that. And I think when I retire from my job, I might go into those a little bit more. But the time that you spend every day trying to figure out where to post is stressful for me. So

Barb 20:19
I’m on my mind ever get back. Like, that’s my thing was social media. Yes, if it has a purpose, go for it, keeping up with friends and family, go for it. But it is a time suck. And you’ll never get that time back with your family

Tess 20:33
100%. So my facebook page for trade shows is TotallyTess Trade Shows and Events. Now you have to be careful because I have a group within that when we were doing online stuff. And there’s nothing posted there right now because we’re back to live. But and my Young Living is Young Living Essential Oils, Regina, and I do get messages randomly from people. We did. We did a trade show, actually, I got a message from a lady and she’s like, Oh, my husband, this and this and this. And I recommended some products. And then I was in a tradeshow in the fort. And this woman came up and she said, You know, I’m having these issues with my husband. I said, Oh my gosh, that’s the second time in a week that I’ve heard about this. And she said, Oh, that was probably me. And it was and, and so no sooner was that. Then I had them to my house. And I was scanning them and you know, doing all these things that I do. So yeah, it was really interesting.

Barb 21:19
You have a ton of moving pieces. Okay, just want to jump back to the event business for a minute. Okay, so you’re working on Dragon Boat? And so I’m sorry, I haven’t been for years. Is there a tradeshow at Dragon Boat?

Tess 21:30
It’s kind of like the first biggest one ever. And so it’s a three day festival. Yeah. And they approached actually, here’s a funny, they came to the summer market and said to my husband, who’s the guy that runs this? And my husband said, Well, you can speak to my wife for the tradeshow portion. So they approached me and said, You know, I’m interested in doing something bigger. They had had in the past, I think about maybe 10 vendors or something. I’m not sure because I hadn’t seen it for sure. But so I’ve got about 50 vendors right now we’re in Los Ghana Park by Pine Island, okay, and it’s next Saturday, the 27th from 10 to six, and they’re all going to be tented, it’s going to be exciting. I’m so excited. It’s going to be my first one with them. Okay, so we’re not 100% sure what to expect. But we hope that people are going to come out and support them. There’s a lot of people talking about it. And we’re super excited about it.

Barb 22:20
So when I think about Dragonboat. So the last time I did it was a few years ago, I apologize for the background noise. The last time I did dragon boats was a few years ago now, there was tents and I want to say there is like an event, you know, throughout the night and stuff. So the trade show is just around all of that space then, right.

Tess 22:40
So we’re right by Pine Island. So the food trucks are going to be on pine on like on the parking lot of Pine Island, because they have to be on the cement. Yep. And then there’s, of course, there’s beer gardens and the races that are occurring. And then there’s some children’s activities. And then the tradeshow portion is just the Saturday so we take up the area. I’m terrible at directions. I think it’s just south of the Pine Island parking lot. And we’ve we’re going to be kind of in between the trees. And it’s kind of between the road and the walking path. So all the tents are going to be set up there.

Barb 23:12
Oh, very cool. Very cool.

Tess 23:14
I’m super excited about it.

Barb 23:16
So when dragon boats are done, what’s next for you? What’s the next events coming up?

Tess 23:22
Okay, I’m going for my first time ever to Yorkton October 29 and 30th. For two day show. I’ve got November in Regina fifth and sixth of the Hungarian club. I think the 19 Moose Jaw in November 26. And 27th. December 4 is in Moosomin. Oh, and December 3 is going to be the school trade show. Now I just added that one. So super exciting.

But you know what all of my events are on my trade show page. Okay, there’s a there’s a pin at the top of the post so you can actually go and see what’s available for registration. I have a girl that are higher that makes amazing posters. People think it’s me, but it’s really not. She’s a graphic designer. She’s fabulous. I pay her I don’t care. She’s wonderful. And I send her all the information and she makes wonderful posters for me. So it’s, it’s perfect. And that was the start coming out. That’s my weekend. This plan. I just canceled my Kenosee event for this weekend. And I’m going to stay home and work on my stuff.

Barb 24:16
Oh my goodness. I Oh, like I’m just assuming that you barely sleep at this point. Because oh my goodness, you have so many moving pieces. That is crazy.

Tess 24:26
I’m kind of an 11 to five sleeper. I’ve never needed a whole lot all through school everything.

Barb 24:31
Oh, six hours? Yeah, that’s about average. I’m about a seven hour sleeper so yeah, wow, you get a lot done anymore. What is that then? 19 hours or whatever? At Sure. Do I’d ever. Alright, just before we do wrap up, you referenced your Facebook page. Just tell us one more time your Facebook page and your Young Living website if you would.

Tess 24:53
Right. So it’s TotallyTess Trade Shows and Events but I think it just comes up like TotallyTess Trade Shows. It’s a pink tea. It’s really Cute, and my Young Living is Young Living Essential Oils Regina.

Barb 25:03
Awesome. That is perfect. Well, thank you, Tess so much for joining me today to talk about TotallyTess Trade Shows and Events as well as your Young Living oils.

And on that note, if you want to sell your story you need to tell your story. And there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life show. If you would like to be a guest, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at Abovethefold.ca.

I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and Local Business Champion. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Tess @ TotallyTess Tradeshows

Ep. 108 Shane Chapman from The Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

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Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Today’s episode takes some crazy twists & turns as we talk everything from starting a business to building a team and buying a min-van.

Shane Chapman is co-owner of The Ultimate Deck Shop in Regina & Saskatoon, a dad of four boys (say what?!) and a former corporate man turned planning whiz. If you’re thinking of tackling an outdoor space, wanting to turn a tired and worn outdoor look into something spectacular, look no further. Shane and his team will help you turn your outdoor space into a backyard paradise!

Listen in now as we talk building decks and teams; and buying the dreaded mini-van….

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone ring and the tail ding. One of the best kept secrets in any community is its network of local businesses, businesses that rely on local customers foot traffic and phone calls. Those same businesses that support kids sports teams donate to fundraising efforts and provide the expertise to create a backyard oasis. But no more secrets. From the skinned knee lessons that will make you wince to tell all the expose days. These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business.

Barb 0:37
Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. Today, we’re swapping secrets with Shane Chapman who turned in the keys to his corporate career and picked up a tool belt. He’s the owner of the ultimate deck shop, but I’m gonna let you tell him his story. So Shane, take it away. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the deck shop.

Shane 1:04
Sure, just to be clear, I never had keys at the corporate job. That’s why I left. Give me the keys

Barb 1:09
they wouldn’t give you the keys to the city okay.

Shane 1:14
Yeah, my name is Shane Chapman. I am a longtime resident of Regina, Saskatchewan. I grew up around southern Saskatchewan and came to the U of R for school in 1999. Ended up out of university in a job at SaskTel. I left that job in 2016 and started this business with a kind of lifelong friend of mine. Got a wife and four rambunctious little boys at home. And so life I’m not sure where it’s busier if it’s work or at home, but it’s busy. 24/7.

Barb 1:43
Well, and isn’t it? So if you’ve got that meant on the go, do you sleep?

Shane 1:48
I have known it at odd times. Yep. Actually, my youngest son’s only three months old. So we’re in the middle of that right now. I sleep with him every night. And he was actually on a pretty decent schedule here up until about three days ago when that got all shot to hell. So now he’s decided to not sleep again. There is little three or four months of regression here. And we’re dealing with that.

Barb 2:09
And you know what, there’s something about that three month mark, because I’ve heard that story from so many folks, usually mums, but you hit that three month mark. And it’s like they become aware of the world. I always joke that our three month old woke up one day and discovered he had a sister that we had adopted from Ethiopia, because literally she showed up overnight, and he never slept again.

Shane 2:29
Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right. He hasn’t had that much of a shock. No babies by mail truck, but he’s Something must be going on. So

Barb 2:38
Exactly. Awesome. Okay, Ultimate Deck Shop. Tell me besides the obvious, what do you guys do?

Shane 2:45
So the long and short of it is we’re a lumberyard, essentially. But we don’t operate, we kind of call ourselves the anti lumberyard, because we don’t want to be known for the same thing that traditional lumber yards are known for the best way I can describe it as you can think of us like a flooring store for the outdoors. And so we stock everything you need for building a deck or any backyard project. And our focus is on having I know it’s gonna sound super cliche, but having better selection prices and service than anybody you know, just like everybody says, but we actually try to live that.

Barb 3:15
But you actually do that. Yeah, exactly. It’s tough to Define Your Niche by something you actually do when? Yes, exactly. Okay. Like the last two years, when it comes to lumber, it’s been a little on the ugly side, what’s that been like?

Shane 3:29
Yeah, so this is our seventh season in Regina, with our regional location. And what I’ve learned is that you can never predict what the next year is gonna be like, but the last two years have been because of COVID. The reason just changes as to why you can’t predict what it’s going to be like, but certainly, certainly the last two years have been extra intriguing, I guess. Challenging will say sure. Yeah. So yeah, obviously, the lumber prices, especially last year, were just about as erratic as you could possibly have. And, you know, in our young time in the industry, we’ve never seen anything like that. I’m not sure even the old timers had. So it was certainly a bit of a bit of a roller coaster ride last year of things happening. But it didn’t seem to didn’t seem to deter people from wanting to do their projects while they were home and had the time.

Barb 4:16
Yeah, exactly. People have the time. So what do you think drove that price change? Was it demand? Everybody wanted to get into the backyard and do stuff because they were at home? Or was it tight? Like what were their supply issues? I mean, trees still grew and I don’t know we’re processing plant shut down. Like what drove that?

Shane 4:35
There was I think there was, boy, if I dig back deep enough, I think I wrote a blog article and I had about eight reasons as to why it happens. But it was certainly a collection of issues. Obviously the demand was through the roof because of people being home and tackling projects, new home construction, it’s through the roof. Then you had it combined with the fact that the mills were closed down to two COVID issues. So there were a lot of them. It was a very steady Do typical supply and demand. The supply dropped off due to COVID restrictions and reduced workforce and, you know, closures due to COVID infections and whatnot. And then combine that with, you know, an 80% overnight increase in demand for projects and you had the perfect storm for something to happen like that. And, logistics as well, you know, like through the last couple years, all sudden shipping anything, even if you had it, you’re paying top dollar to ship it anywhere. So there’s a lot of things at play for sure. Yeah,

Barb 5:29
exactly. Everything just kind of came together at the right time or the wrong time, depending on how you want to look at it. Cool. And so do you help people plan out their projects? Do most people come to you and say, you know, here’s what I want to do, and you just kind of help them pull it together? Or like, Where does your service start or your product start and where does it end?

Shane 5:48
Yeah, we frequently tell people that we’re, we’re whatever you need us to be. So we can be as hands on or hands off as you need us to be because everybody’s a little bit different. The reason why we started this store in the first place was because the shopping experience for doing a backyard project like this was not great. Before you had two options. You could go to a box store, which we all know how atrocious the service levels are when you get a box store. And even the product quality from box stores is not great. Or you can go to a lumberyard, which is fine. If you are, you know a large volume contractor home builder, that’s who they’re used to dealing with. But for the average homeowner, they’re a little bit intimidated walking into a place like that. Very much an old boys club kind of mentality, kind of. It’s not what can I do for you? What can you do for me kind of thing? Yeah.

Shane 6:33
So this wasn’t an environment that was conducive to a project that many consider to be a friendly DIY, do it on the weekend kind of thing. So that’s why we started the store. And so to that point, if somebody walks in and knows exactly what they’re doing and knows exactly what they want, then we can be just order takers. Yeah. And if you need a little bit more hand holding, and you need to know, you know what materials you need and how to do this, and what the city wanting for this, then we do our best to try to answer all the questions to make sure that your project is safe and successful at the end,

Barb 7:02
perfect. Something you said really tweaked for me, you talk about it being an old boys network. So I’ll just tell you a really short story, because this isn’t about me, this is about you. But I grew up in a house where my dad was a journeyman electrician, we built two or three houses as a family. So I was constantly on, you know, a property that was being built. And in fact, he wired houses for a ton of people. So even though I knew nothing, it just kind of gets into your head and gets into your blood. So fast forward, I don’t know, 20 years, 30 years, my husband and I are building a house. And we’ve got a series of contractors, we are actually general contractors ourselves, so we didn’t have a builder. And one of our contractors was pushing back, they provided a price they came in, they said oh, you know, we can’t do it for this price. Yada, yada. So they’re having this conversation with my husband. And he came home and said, you know, here’s what they said, This is how much more they want. And I was like to heck with that. I showed up at the house the next day and my steel toed boots on. And I said, Look, here’s how we quoted it. Here’s how it’s gonna work. Here’s where this is gonna run. And that’s gonna run. Are we good? We’re good. He says, Not what’s the end of the conversation? I actually think I saw that particular contract contractor face to face again. My husband’s like, I think you made an impression straight when you’re asking me for more money.

Shane 8:34
Yeah, exactly. I mean, there’s certainly that too, right? There’s this. I mean, in general, the word contractor kind of has, unfortunately, a bit of a negative connotation to it, because there are a lot of phone calls and fly by night. But this is a province where we don’t have requirements to become a contractor. If you have a drill in a truck, you can be a contractor, there’s no licensing required, there’s no, you know, there’s no specific hoops to jump through to become one. So unfortunately, it results in a lot of people that probably aren’t qualified to be one becoming one. And then it’s also where there’s demand, there’s an opportunity, there’s people that will jump in to fill it, whether they should or not. So absolutely. I think everybody has a bad contractor story. And so even and certainly like, you know, I was a contractor before I’m not suggesting that there aren’t good ones out there. There are absolutely really good contractors out there, but they can be tough to find. And so by having kind of us involved that has, you know, this brick and mortar location and faces that actually work there and whatever, it’s kind of a nice, I think for some people, at least it’s a nice barrier between themselves in the contractor, even if they are hiring somebody to do it. They can kind of go somewhere where they feel heard and they feel like they can learn and, and you know, we can be there Google in a way. So

Barb 9:48
Exactly. Yeah. And so having somebody in your corner, which can be a really important thing in any kind of project like that, right? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So let’s talk a little bit about why on the corporate side, they wouldn’t give you the keys. And what was the impetus to make the leap? Like, why not just go to another Chrome Corporation? Why not take the easy way? What drove you?

Shane 10:11
Um, I always knew I wanted to do something on my own. I just didn’t, it took me a long time to figure out what that was. I don’t think that’s rare. That’s probably a pretty common story that people know they want to chart their own path, but how to do it, or what to do is the tricky part. Yeah. So I was always dabbling in something through university. Like, since high school, basically, I was always dabbling in something that could be my own that was kind of building on the side, whatever. But at some point, I kind of fell into building decks and I did not grow up with a knowledge of carpentry. My dad was handy. He never shared that with me, probably because I had no interest in it, likely at the time it wasn’t his fault.

Shane 10:49
But at some point along the way, I did pick up an interest in it as I gained experience and the tools decided to start building decks inside. So I was doing that on the evenings and weekends, and it kind of became my hobby slash passion. On the side of the day job, I was enjoying my day job as well, at the time. Yeah. And I was looking to potentially kind of move up through it, but I always knew I didn’t want to be there forever. It was kind of my current thing I was doing. But so it was, it was born from a passion, like the desire to leave. And I think just hitting a few roadblocks within this. And sorry for anybody who’s listening, and that’s pro Union, but I was in this environment that just was not where I wanted to be. That’s not my thing. I didn’t, I didn’t enjoy being in the union and kind of following the typical path chartered by that bureaucracy. So I, the morning needed to get away from that,

Barb 11:39
And if you don’t fit, then yeah, round pegs were Oh,

Shane 11:43
yeah. My answer that you just need to be here longer than somebody else’s, your way of progression anywhere is not, does not sit well with me. So I needed to get away from that. But eventually, it was just kind of a convergence of passion and opportunity. I guess I had the passion. Finally, I’d figured that out. I was doing it on the evenings and weekends.

Shane 12:01
And I kind of had said to my wife that if a big enough opportunity presented itself in the deckbuilding world that I would, I would leave my job for that. Okay, and so it was kind of two things that happened, one a very, very, very large job that I would never be able to do as a part time contractor, which had an association with the Paula France design, which had all the HGTV shows back in the day. Okay, so I had told her about two weeks before this happened. And I was like, boy, you know if, like, if, if I could do it, Paula France does it like that’d be enough. I’d quit my day job and just go do this full time. Yeah.

Shane 12:39
And for whatever reason, the universe is like, you know what that should happen. And Paula Francis’ team phoned me completely randomly out of the blue two weeks later, this project, they wanted me to work on that they had designed. So that was cool. Bit of a sign from the universe there was like, well, maybe now’s the time. So that job ended up happening. And that kind of forced my hand was like, Okay, well, I have to do this now. I can’t. Yeah, because Parkman.

Shane 13:02
At the same time, a good high school friend of mine, we didn’t know each other for a long time. He was a contractor doing interior renovations, whatnot. He was looking to get away from doing that as well, we’d always kind of thought, well, maybe someday we’d do some sort of business together. And so you know, my path was growing with opportunity. I was seeing some, some lack of service and some opportunity within the supply side, for my own personal experience. And he is a contractor who saw those same things and might not have been with deck boards, but with his own stuff. And it was kind of like, you know what we should do? Yep, we should start our own store and do this like the way we think it should be done. Yeah. So that was kind of the start of it. We kind of agreed that we were going to go into business together. I had this massive project. It was like, You know what, now’s the time and, and I think I had recently made it to the final two and a promotion at SaskTel, and was not the chosen one. So I don’t know what that’s the final straw there. All these things are aligning, now’s the time.

Barb 14:01
Exactly. Yeah, that was the final sign you needed. So when you took on that big project, did you start the store at the same time? Or did you do the project and then the store became a physical thing?

Shane 14:12
No, it was happening around the same time. I did continue to keep building with my previous company that was called Fresh jacks for two years after we started the store and that was primarily because I had the work that I had to do. And also because to be quite frank, we had no idea if this store was going to work or who would buy material through it.

Barb 14:33
exactly. And that’s what I was thinking is you kind of had that that safety net that security of here’s the the job stuff and let’s give the store some time to you know, get on until in two feet so really smart strategy really.

Shane 14:48
I knew for sure that I would buy material from my store. Yes

Barb 14:52
One guaranteed customer.

Shane 14:55
me got me so I did that and then it was actually gave us Like you said, the little bit of leeway, I suppose, financial leeway that I could go and make money as a contractor on the side, basically share that with my business partner ways that we could support ourselves while we waited for the store to kind of grow or to take off and be self sufficient. Knowing that I would always at some point, stop building and join the store once it needed me once it needed full time people there. And that did eventually happen. So the plan worked out, I guess.

Barb 15:26
And the same thing with your partner. Is he full time in the business? Or does he just still do some contract work as well?

Shane 15:32
No, he quit before we even opened the door. So he was the one that kind of ran the store for the first two years while I was still building. He was smoking them right away.

Barb 15:39
Yeah. So how many people are in the store now?

Shane 15:43
Oh, boy. It’s not an astronomical number.

Barb 15:49
You should know that?

Shane 15:50
Yeah, it’s split between two two stores. Now I believe we have around 30 people between the two stores.

Barb 15:55
Yeah. So I don’t want to jump right back to the store. But one question that I think on almost every small business owner’s mind right now is how are you finding people.

Shane 16:09
So it’s kind of the tale of two stores for us, really. We were lucky. A couple of years ago, the year before a year of the pandemic hitting, I guess, that we were able to hire a general manager in Regina that actually has really, really helped out with the people situation because he’s brought a lot of people from his past life and his past experience as a manager of the places and brought them to us. And he’s kind of compiled this team of really good solid people that return year after year. And so it’s given us this great consistency in Regina with very little turnover. Really running smoothly. Saskatoon, on the other hand, a little bit nervous about some people’s issues, has started to gain some footing there this year. We’ve got some good people in there now that that was, we’ll have around for a while. So last year was an absolute disaster up there. We liked it when people would come and go before I even had a chance to meet them. Like it was just Oh, wow. Crazy. So yeah. We’re starting to find some stability. It is tricky right now to find people that are willing to kind of come in and do what you’re asking them to do. But I’ll knock on wood, because we haven’t. It hasn’t been an emergency for us at this point.

Barb 17:19
Exactly. So are you finding that most of the people working at this store? They have, you know, some carpentry experience, they have some building experience? Or, like, where are they coming from?

Shane 17:35
I would say most of them do not. That was one thing that earlier on when Wade and I were looking to scale this thing that we thought we really, really needed was more people just like us, we thought well, we have to find people that have a background in building decks and they know what they’re doing so that they can provide that level of service and everything else. Yeah. Turns out, there’s just like, that’s not a lot of people. It’s not a lot of that’s why I asked the question. There’s not a lot of retired deck builders at age 40 that are looking for something to do so you had to kind of break down those barriers a little bit. But we have found some people that have experienced the right thing and we’ve grown to learn that it’s more important to find people than it is to find any specific skill set that can be taught and learned and earned. Yeah, but what we need is good people that want to kind of align with our core values and are here for a reason and we can teach them how to build a deck and provide that level of service. So that’s kind of the angle we’ve taken and it’s it’s working Yeah,

Barb 18:31
so how many stores now two or three

Shane 18:37
too we have Regina and Saskatoon and then we do sell online as well as a separate channel.

Barb 18:41
Okay. Oh, so you do have online sales so that’s kind of cool. And like again all the decking products because do you guys do the guy should know the name because like it’s out my back window here. What lumber helped me help me Shane. I’m stuck no longer that maintenance free. Oh my god. That was terrible.

Shane 19:02
Yeah. Yeah, the composite or trex Yeah, we carry more of that than anywhere. And one of the one of the driving reasons for that was when I was a contractor, I was often showing up to people’s homes to quote their project and they had spent their entire weekend driving around to different lumber yards, like in town out of town wherever to collect all these different samples of the different brands because every Lumberyard only carries one brand.

Shane 19:28
And they bring them all home and try to compare them all and I was like well this is silly like flooring stores would carry seven brands of flooring. Why does every Lumberyard carry one brand of decking and I think the reason is because decking in it of itself is a side business for most lumber yards it’s not you know it’s not a big driver so they don’t have the capacity to carry more than one brand but we kind of thought well if we can put all these options in one place it really gives nobody a reason to have to drive around and waste their whole day this should be something that takes them an hour to figure out not a whole weekend.

Shane 19:56
And so yeah, we know we carry more composite decks and add more colors than anywhere else in the province. And it’s not really even that close. Like we carry a lot more because that’s all we do. Right? We’re not carrying doors and windows and insulation, we just do. Decking fences, outdoor projects.

Barb 20:10
Exactly. Yeah. So there’s a ton of lessons that you’ve learned in the last seven years since you opened the first door. If you think back now, can you think of a couple of things that oh, God, I wish we hadn’t done that? Anything that jumps to mind?

Shane 20:28
Um, oh, god that we wish we wouldn’t have done that. Hey. I don’t know that I had, like, I can’t think of anything major off the top of my head. Like that does not mean there hasn’t been hiccups along the way, a lot of learning experiences. But I don’t think there’s not been something that was that was ever stupid that we did.

Barb 20:50
And you know, you know what I love about that answer, though. So lots of us look back. We’re like, Oh, I wish I hadn’t done that. I wish I hadn’t hadn’t done that. You can change the past, the past is what it is. And as long as it didn’t work, oh, well, you move on. You’re a small business, you’re nimble. And like, you can change on the fly overnight, I can change our website, I can change our marketing, I can change the message. I can change the services for whatever reason, right? Yeah. And that’s what I’m hearing from you is you can change on a dime when you need to, because that’s what we all do to survive.

Shane 21:25
Yeah, there’s no point dwelling on things in the past, like if we dug into it. Sure. Do. I wish I would have not booked as much inventory of that one color? Okay. Sure. That one’s I don’t know, all my all of my intuition. And my stats and data said that I should at the time, and it didn’t work out. So yeah, what’s the opportunity here? I was actually just in a meeting this afternoon just before this. This interview started here with our leadership team. And I believe I witnessed growth in our general manager because he does some things, in his past tended to kind of take a negative view upon things at one point, and we had recently done a full inventory count here and some things didn’t go as smoothly, whatever.

Shane 22:02
And, just his wording today, in the middle of that meeting I think there’s a lot of opportunity here around how we do these inventory accounts. And in my mind, it was such a change in how we were thinking at that moment. Yeah, it wasn’t too. It wasn’t to dwell on what went wrong about that. It was like, What can we do to be better at this? What can we improve in this? I think that generally is my attitude and Wade’s attitude. We don’t ever look at a problem without thinking of a solution. First, if I’m coming to you to talk about a problem, it’s probably because I’ve been thinking about it for a bit first. Yeah, so Exactly. I don’t dwell on things we’ve done wrong in the past. We just think about how we can fix it and do better, I guess?

Barb 22:38
Yes, exactly. It’s funny. I had that almost same conversation with someone yesterday, where I said, when you’re building a team, you’re looking for people who give you your time back versus take your time. So yeah, when my team shows up and says, Oh, we have this problem. I like literally, I’ll sit there and wait, because I’m waiting for the solution. Right? I didn’t identify the problem. I wasn’t working directly with the client, like I’m waiting. And you know, it usually takes two or three times where they go, oh, yeah, I guess we don’t talk about this stuff until there’s a solution. It’s like, Yeah, I’m not like this magic Google wand. And everything just changes because I say so. Yeah, exactly. Right. It’s just not how things work. So how do you make all the pieces come together? Now? You got four kids from three months, up to 15 years? How in the heck do you make all these pieces come together? Where do you find time?

Shane 23:30
you buy a minivan?

Barb 23:33
Remember, when you’re in your 20s and you swore you weren’t buying the minivan?

Shane 23:38
Are you kidding me? 20 days ago, I swore I wasn’t gonna buy a minivan. It was awesome. So like, I’ve got a truck that seats six. So we can get around with my truck. But my wife’s car is too small. We can’t get everything in her little SUV. So but she was one who was like there I will not. I’m not buying a minivan. And I was like, I support you, honey. I don’t think we should. So we tried to avoid it for the longest time here. But the vehicle we really want to buy isn’t super available. So we thought you know what? Maybe we just need to buy a minivan for now until what we want is available.

Barb 24:11
So you got three car seats. Like that’s why the car doesn’t work. Yeah, they just won’t meet.

Shane 24:17
They don’t fit in a Kia Sportage. I can tell you that right now. Exactly. So that’s pretty fresh. That helps the family part of it work. But no, I mean, how does it all work? I mean, for me, it’s having a good team here at the store and it’s having a good team at home. Like my wife is very supportive of things I need to do right now. We have some people issues up in our store in Saskatoon that’s drawing me physically away from home and spending more time up in Saskatoon lately.

Shane 24:43
And, you know, she’s trying to be as supportive of that as she can. There’s four kids at home and one of them’s like three months old. So that’s a lot to ask right now. But at least for now, I’ve got her grace to do that. And then the other part is like we’ve finally gotten to a place now where I don’t need to be here for this store to run. Um, that’s super important. So the regional location is where we started. That’s the story that we had. And I kind of, we’re running for the longest time. We’ve gotten to the point now where we’re off doing other things, the actual day to day business of the retail side is covered, and I’m not, I don’t have to worry about it. So if I need to be in Saskatoon, that’s fine. If I need to spend a day home with the help of the kids extra, that fine place is gonna run itself.

Barb 25:22
Yeah, no, that’s awesome. We are getting close to being at a time. So if I was going to Google you, what am I going to search for and find you?

Shane 25:31
Well, if you want to find the store, just google anything deck related in Saskatchewan, we should pop up pretty much at the top. But the Ultimate Deck Shop is the name of all of our social channels, no matter which one you’re on. So it’s pretty easy to find us that way. For me, personally, Shane Chapman on Facebook or LinkedIn or wherever you prefer your platform there as well. Okay, perfect.

Barb 25:49
And you have a podcast as well. So let’s give it a shout out.

Shane 25:53
Yeah, we’ve got one that’s kind of on hold. And then we do one for the industry, the Ultimate Deck Podcast. So that’s something we started a couple years ago that we, when we started thought, like, does anybody want to listen to a podcast about decks? It turns out, enough people do. So we’ve been doing that for a couple years, too. So certainly, you can tune into that.

Barb 26:09
Yeah. You know, here’s a funny story about Your Podcast shortly after you started it. I got a phone call. And the person said to me, how do we do that? And I was like, What are you talking about? Because I hadn’t seen the podcast. And, you know, no offense, but I wouldn’t go looking for a deck podcast because I have one. So yeah. Oh, how do I do that? I’m like, can you send this to me? Like, what are you talking about a deck podcast? Like, it just made no sense to me? Till I got the link and saw everything. I’m like, Oh, okay. So here you put the pieces together. No idea if that person ever went ahead and created a podcast, but like, so I’ve known about your podcasts from really the early days, the first few episodes, because I want to say it was like the third episode or something when my phone rang. So yeah,

Shane 26:54
yeah, it made an impact within our industry pretty quickly. So I know even when I pitched the idea to wait or said, Wait, I think we’re gonna start a podcast. He didn’t get it either. He’s like, for what? Why? And I’m like, I don’t know. I just, I just feel like it’s somewhere we need to be. So it’s actually done amazing things for us. Oh,

Barb 27:10
you know what, and it scratches the other side of your brain. It lets you talk to people that otherwise you and I would have never sat and talked for 25 minutes. So yeah, exactly. Anything, right? Exactly. Yep. All right. Well, thank you very much Shane. It was fantastic to hear about the corporate keys and the deck shop and the minivan. I did not see that part of the conversation. And I would like to say my kids are teens we made it to the whole thing without a minivan

Shane 27:40
Good for you. That’s what everyone told me like you’re gonna cave. I was like we’re not gonna cave and then when we bought I’d sent a picture to a few people like we caved!

Barb 27:47
Yeah, exactly. We had the extended SUV with like three rows and like I we spent a fortune on gas, but we avoided it. Yeah, yeah. All right. On that note, if you want to sell your story, you have to tell your story. And there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life of local.

Barb 28:08
If you’d like to be a guest email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Abovethefold.ca.

Barb 28:18
I’m your host Barb McGrath, GoogleGirl and local business cheerleader. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 107 Dan Celis from Tommy’s Speak Eatery

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Looking for a local pub with Saskatchewan flavours and a farm-to-table menu?

Look no further than Tommy’s Speakeatery!

I can personally attest to their delicious menu, cold bevies and delightful staff. I just mayyyyy have spent a day or 12 on the patio at this local establishment.

Tune in today as we learn more about this neighbourhood pub, one of its owners, Dan Celis, corporate sales guru turned restaurant owner, and the lengths they go to, to serve their customers.

Transcript

Barb
Are you ready to make the door swing, the phone ring and the till ding? One of the best kept secrets in any community is its network of local businesses. Businesses that rely on local customers, foot traffic and phone calls.

Barb
Those same businesses that support your kids’ sports teams, donate to fundraising efforts and supply the cold bevies on a hot summer afternoon. But no more secrets. From the skinned knee lessons that’ll make you wince to the tell-all exposees. These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their business.

Barb
Today we’re sharing the secrets of Tommy’s Speak Eatery, a relative newcomer on the food scene. Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program. Let’s get started.

Barb
Our guest today is Dan Celis. He’s the owner of one of the hottest spots here in Regina. And I don’t just mean because it’s 29 degrees outside today. So Dan, take it away. Tell us a little bit about yourself and Tommy’s Speakeatery.

Dan
So I’m the managing partner of Tommy Speakeatery, we opened our doors at the end of 2018. That kind of just got into a groove, you can say, By the spring of 2020.

Barb
And we all know what happened in 2020.

Dan
Yeah, you know, it’s kind of one of those moments where you’d put a lot of work in and you started seeing everything going in the right way. And you know, you’re getting excited, and you’re like, the hard work starting to pay off and then all of a sudden, you know, everyone’s saying, Oh, it’s nothing. It’s nothing at all very much. It is a very big thing.

Barb
Exactly. Remember those early COVID conversations? Oh, it’s just the flu. Oh, yeah. Just a cold. Right. Yeah. Like,

Dan
it was pretty, it was pretty interesting. And I mean, I don’t think any of us had any idea what we were in for. I mean, I didn’t have any idea what I was in for when I got into the business either. I don’t think

Barb
exactly. And none of us had ever lived through a pandemic. There hadn’t been one in over 100 years. So how could we know? But boy, you know, thanks to social media and everything else. 100 years from now, they’ll know what to expect from the pandemic. Thanks. So, thanks to our kids. No doubt. So, yes, so talk a little bit about how you got into, I guess, both entrepreneurship, but also restaurant entrepreneurship, because that can be particularly challenging.

Dan
Well, I mean, part of it might have been not knowing what to do with myself in my spare time. So when, I guess way back when I was going to school, I was going to school full time working full time. And when I was done school, I kinda was going a little bit crazy not knowing what to do. With my spare time spent a bit just building random things in the garage different projects and got myself a job in media sales and consulting like as an account executive kind of thing and ended up my first business investing in a niche market pet store here in Regina prairie aquatics where we do saltwater, fish, aquariums reptiles, so none of your cuddly things, any of your dogs or cats, but

Barb
Nothing furry.

Dan
Yeah, exactly just the tarantulas.

Barb
And that would wake me up at night.

Dan
So definitely kind of a little bit of a niche market, and then you know, is working full time and going in and building that business working on that business for a few years. But so you know, I just couldn’t really sit still in my, in my spare time. And then kind of moved on in my career from media sales and consulting with the leader post, and it was working at real. And it just was not, didn’t operate at the pace that I was used to. So I was looking at just trying to do things a little bit quicker, a little bit faster and work, I guess, more independently. And, like, maybe is going a little bit bad either. And I had known. I had known some friends of mine, their parents had been in the restaurant industry for decades, and I had been talking to them as some of my clients are for marketing, advertising and consulting and whatnot. And just at the time, right next door to one of their businesses was open for lease and I kind of joked if they’re going to open a bar there. And yeah, and they were thinking about it at the time. And you know, one thing led to another and we were looking at doing a completely different thing, which would be gringos tacos, which now is kind of a ghost kitchen. We ran out of Tommy’s, but that was the original thing that we were looking to do. But kind of we actually had made some offers to lease and you know, we’re getting quite far down that road, but then on the partners are, like, you know, before we start doing something new, we have a project here that we’re doing that’s not going as we’d like it to, and let’s fix what we’ve got before we start anything new kind of thing.

Barb
Yeah. And that makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

Dan
Oh, yeah. You know, yet, I think probably you know, given the COVID and how many businesses that they had to worry about then to have one less than the end was probably pretty good.

Barb
Exactly a blessing in disguise.

Dan
For sure. So you know, sometimes it’s good to not bite off more than you can chew because I know some of my partner’s there are one of them in particular, like in a week it looked like he had aged 10-15 years just like just with the stress of everything and those first couple of weeks and march 2020 and like the uncertainty of everything right and just trying to who do we keep employed who don’t we, but anyway.

Barb
And those were brutal hard decisions for business owners. And those are the kinds of things that, you know, we all, we all knew it was happening, but we don’t talk about a lot. And it wasn’t that small businesses didn’t want to keep their employees, they didn’t have a choice. Like they’re literally their doors were closed and they were closed for an indefinite period of time. What do you do, you can’t pay a server when there’s no serving to be done.

Dan
100% that I’d heard, like, there were a lot of folks in our communities that paid staff out of their own savings, or took out loans for their businesses and paid their staff out of that. And you know, that there’s only so much that people can do.

Barb
There’s only so much you can do. Yep, yep, yep. And every business is different. If you have one or two staff, and you can help them along, that’s a totally different thing than if you’ve got a team of, you know, 20, because you’ve got five different locations or five different restaurants, right. And so the scope and the magnitude really changes. So let’s not go down the COVID path, because hopefully, we’re looking at the you know, I’m hearing some kind of ugly rumors here about the fall and what we might expect, but that’s okay. We’re not there yet. I’m not going to talk about it. So for right now, I’m putting my rose colored glasses on. And so tell me what’s different about Tommy’s. I know you guys are so Saskatchewan focused, Saskatchewan-based, Saskatchewan-taste. So tell me about that.

Dan
We definitely try to do a lot of things different from, like, just the way our team operates to the way I manage to the way we build our menu and support local, like, I mean, supporting local has been a big thing. It’s helped us out, kept us in, in business. So we’ve made sure that we’re doing the same thing. So every single beer that we have on tap at Tommy’s is made in Saskatchewan that’s it that’s all definitely have some folks come in and try to get on their taps and I just tell them you know, open up a brewery in Saskatchewan or open one back up or what have you and then then maybe we can talk but we do the same thing with our menu as well as the as much as we can like all Saskatchewan pork. That’s actually the pork industry here in Saskatchewan is fantastic. It is the beef industry of course, as well. And so a lot of Saskatchewan beef, Saskatchewan pork as much as we can. Even I guess, a little bit of an oxymoron, but farmed wild boar, if you will, you know, we got that on our menu as well.

Barb
I’ve never eaten that. So wait a second to hold on backup the wild boar. So what like what’s actually on your menu that has wild boar in it?

Dan
So we have our wild boar chorizo, which is one of our tacos. Okay. And then we also will rotate some wild boar and on for different features and will be also included on our fall menu that we’re working to put together right now because of course that’s just around the corner.

Barb
No, no, no, no, fall is a long way away.

Dan
That’s what I’d like to thank you all right, I hear that you got the Halloween decorations for sale. Christmas decorations for sale drive me kind of bonkers. I just want to not pay attention to that, not listen to the back to school ads, et cetera.

Barb
So here, okay, so that sounds kind of cool. But just tell me a little bit about the producers. It is a big production item here in the province because I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before.

Dan
Honestly, it can be a little bit more difficult to get your hands on because, of course, just kind of the way that distribution networks work. Even if something’s made in Saskatchewan, processed in Saskatchewan, sometimes it doesn’t necessarily mean you can just lickety split, get it from a supplier here in Saskatchewan. So sometimes we have to ask our own suppliers to get to work for us and see what they can find for us. But they’ve been great that way. And I mean, even when it comes down to some of the few items that we don’t make entirely from scratch ourselves, we’re able to get from plants that process up in Saskatoon and whatnot.

Barb
So yeah, very cool. Well, a little known fact, of course, when you and I were emailing back and forth to set up today’s episode, I was teasing you and said, Oh, yeah, we’re planning to come there. The one afternoon and we never ended up making it. But I said to my husband, just before we started today, cuz he’s home with me right now to work. And I said to him, we’re going to that patio today, no questions asked. We are getting on her bike. We’re going because we’re heading up to Lake for a few days. So nice. Yes. Looking forward to it very much.

Dan
Just a gorgeous day. We’re just so lucky to get this today. And finally,

Barb
exactly. And going back to what I said earlier, the kids can’t come and I’m OK with that.

Dan
It’s kind of nice. People have an excuse to kind of leave them at home or drop them off at the parents or grandparents or whatever it may be.

Barb
You know, it’s funny. When your kids are little, you’re like, Oh, if you take them everywhere, you need the babysitter. It’s a ton of work. I get it. They’re teenagers, they want nothing to do with you anyway. It’s like, staying at home, watching TV, making popcorn for supper will show up in a couple of hours. You know, we’ll try and figure out how to get a pizza home on our bike and we’ll see then.

Dan
You go Yeah, so for sure, yeah, no minors inside or on the patio. But we can have all the pupper dogs that you’d like on the patio. So they’re definitely welcome as long as you know, they’re on a leash and reasonably well behaved.

Barb
So let’s talk a little bit about your fall menu. By the time our listeners have a chance to tune into this episode, it’ll be either early fall or while No, I guess fall doesn’t actually start too late September anyway, it’ll be later. Let’s just go with that. So let’s talk about this fall menu. What can we expect to see?

Dan
Well, like it was saying, we’re going to be bringing our wild boar, I guess wild boar pork belly, if you could call it that and make this our chef calls it a Borchetta. So Borchetta is what he’s calling it. And we did it as a feature here in the summer, and it went over pretty good. So we’re going to be bringing that back for the fall. We’re going to be expanding on our past menu. So of course, all House made noodles and homemade sauce is in the works. And we’re going to be doing a take on an a, what’s called a Capone’s Al Capone spaghetti, which was cool. So following our prohibition theme that we’ve got for Tommy’s Speakeatery, and we’re going to be kind of leaning on that a bit.

Dan
And so I guess the Capone family had their own family recipe, which is essentially kind of like a walnut pesto versus pine nuts, if you will. So we’re gonna give that a go see how that goes this fall, hey, and also going to be bringing back some of their original menu items that we launched back in 2018. That I guess got the chop during COVID. Because it just didn’t, just didn’t work. Couldn’t do it during those times. So there are some things that we did before that are going to be coming back. Hopefully better than ever.

Barb
Very cool. Were you a foodie before you got into this business?

Dan
Um, oh, little bit, I was lucky. I was lucky enough to work under some really good chefs here in Regina, when I was younger, like 19 to 22. But a few different spots. Murry McDonald, Dan Taylor, a couple of names of people would know Steve Barzan really well. Some really good folks, great teachers. And they just kind of set a higher bar of expectation and both like food quality and execution. And I guess just taking some extra pride in your work and how you run a kitchen and a restaurant and whatnot. So that really stuck with me. And it was always something when I was like 1920 that I had this dream that I’d wanted to do a restaurant, but I was like the only way I could I could justify it though if I had a piece of the pie so to speak.

Barb
Yeah, yeah, no, I totally get that. So when you look at that, that evolution or that transition for you, you went from that corporate gig that I always like to say my mum and dad expected. And so I did what mum and dad expected for too many years. And now I’m doing what I expect. And so I’ve never looked back but when you look at that transition from corporate to entrepreneurialism, which is the longest word possible to say in a podcast, talk a little bit about that because there was no guaranteed paycheck now you’d been in sales. So you know your paychecks were a little bit variable before I suppose. But how did you make that leap? How did that go for you?

Dan
Oh, man. It was a little easier because like I had mentioned I was pretty frustrated with where I was at at the time. I’m just kind of in one of these. You’re part of the management team situation so we’re just going to call you up to do whatever whenever without necessarily a plan but anyways, I digress from that. I just couldn’t take it I guess you could say and I was ready to pretty much do anything. You know, just kind of anything to be my own boss and not have my time wasted. I mean, I can waste my own time. I just don’t like when other people waste it.

Barb
I could waste hours, you know, on a social media post on our short form video, like, I can waste hours, but if somebody else was making me waste that time, it would drive me nuts. I hear ya.

Dan
I so I couldn’t even I just couldn’t like, I couldn’t even as they say. So like I mentioned I knew some folks, and gonna just one conversation led to another and eventually is like, Okay, this is what I’m doing. And I guess, you know, when you’re discontent with some things, it’s a lot easier to do that. But I’m also, I guess, you know, as a little bit of a younger person not totally risk averse at this juncture, particularly then, so is willing to take my shot. Yeah, I guess.

Dan
I’ll never forget the first day though. Or, like, you know, when it’s kind of like sinking in that this is getting to be real, or this is real, maybe it was like my first week, kind of thing back in the restaurant industry after probably 10 years have nothing to do with the restaurant industry at all. And like sitting on the couch and watching TV, and I swear I could just feel my brain rewiring itself. Like and like it’s just like, okay, all this stuff that you like, you know, it’s been processing on the back burner, like clients, numbers and projections, commissions, all of that just like, push that off the shelf. And now we’re gonna refill this. A bunch of other stuff adds on, maybe it’s just the stress, but literally felt like my brain was just rewiring itself. It was the weirdest thing. Yeah, maybe a little bit of terror as well. But

Barb
I suppose Hey, but you know, there’s, there’s, it’s amazing to me how quickly your brain can shut one thing off, and then pick the next thing up. Right? Like, just without missing a beat. It’s like tomorrow, I wake up, and now I’m a restaurant owner. So these are the things I need to do. Right. And, and restaurant business is hard at the best of times, margins are thin. I know, I used to work for tourism, Saskatchewan. And so we had one CEO who was just, there’s probably multiple CEOs who are fantastic, but one in particular that I’m thinking of. And he had been in hotels and food and beverage for years. And he got talking one day about how slim margins can be. And it was totally eye opening for me. Totally eye opening. Because you look at a $25 meal, and you think oh my god, like that’s huge. Well, you got to pay for all of the utilities, and you got to pay for all the staff, you got to pay for all the supplies that went into making it and you gotta pay for what it costs to actually get all of those supplies to this location. And and and and, and it’s like, oh, yeah, ok $25 bucks for burgers, not that bad. after all.

Dan
Yeah, the soap to the garbage bags to everything, you know? Yep. Well, it’s all built into that one price. There’s no other. Yeah, there’s no other source. Really. Right.

Barb
Yeah. So I don’t know if you can talk about this. But this is just something I’ve always been curious about. When you guys are putting priced items, obviously, you have to have a pretty good idea what your overhead is. Do you look at a menu item and know that you need to add 20, 30, 40% to your supply cost? Do you ballpark? Know, your supply costs are going up? And like how do prices evolve? And how do you land on that right price?

Dan
Right now it’s a little bit more interesting than probably ever because of inflation. I like talking to my business partners, they own other restaurants, it’s like menu prices are going up 5% Every three months, whereas, you know, mice might have been like 50 cents at a time now 5%. And if you’re selling menu items that are 20 plus dollars, sometimes it starts to add up pretty quickly. And then of course the other challenges on the flip side is trying to keep your costs as low as possible or totally removing some stuff from your menu because you can’t charge what you need to charge to make that a viable menu item right? So then it is just sitting there and it’s going nowhere, and you’re in the food quality drops and of course, so you can’t do that. So we used to do that a lot with the lamb. We were really pushing lamb a lot on our menu within tacos and features and whatnot. And it started to take off and now all the price of lamb has taken off. So no more lamb on the menu.

Barb
Yeah, if you’re the kind of person who pays any attention, when you’re grocery shopping and stuff like that, excuse me. If you’re the kind of person that pays any attention to those prices, they go up right now and then they come back down. Then they go up and they come back down. And so there’s this rebalancing that’s happening I think across the board but definitely anywhere in that food industry where some of it is sellers figuring out where that right price is. Some is simply supply and demand, the demand goes up, the supply hasn’t. Right. And so you’ve got to be able to make your mark up there. Absolutely. Pricing in general, as an industry, is just fascinating for anyone who would understand it and study it.

Dan
Exactly agreed, like so in the restaurant industry, like traditionally, I guess, like I mean a very wide generalization, you’d be looking at like a 30%, food cost, a 30% labor cost. And then the rest of all your overheads and all, like your counting fees, the work processing fees, the processing fees that you’re charged on collecting taxes, the work is gonna add up to another 30%. And then you know, if you’re doing everything right, you’re left with 10%.

Barb
Yeah, and that’s your margin 10%.

Dan
Exactly. And I mean, and that’s kind of in a perfect world, I’m lucky that I’ve got some really good staff both in the kitchen and out front and pay them accordingly. So, nor food, or labor cost is not necessarily in that realm of the textbook number, it’s definitely higher. But also, we make almost everything from scratch.

Barb
Yes, and so it takes longer. People don’t, don’t take don’t take that into account, because when all you have to do is unfreeze something or defrost it right, cook it up, warm it up and serve it like that takes nothing but is made fresh. Game Changer.

Dan
Exactly. So while I have run a little bit of a higher labor costs, so then I target a lower food cost to balance it out. As opposed to a lot of places at least as far as franchises go. A lot of the American ones, it’s frozen in a box off a truck, and then straight into a deep fryer straight into a microwave. There are restaurants in this city with like, eight or 10 microwaves in the kitchen. And it’s doing and they’re doing most of it. And, and it’s just the kind of thing that, you know, when you take pride in what you’re doing that you don’t want to do. Exactly, right. And you can pay the same price. Sometimes you go to a place where you can microwave pasta and you’re gonna pay the same price somewhere else where it’s made from scratch. But you don’t necessarily know that he is a consumer.

Barb
And that’s just it consumers don’t know, one of the things that I find really interesting is if you look at the food landscape, here in Regina, or Saskatchewan as a whole, it’s really changed in the last 10 years. So every restaurant used to be burger and fries, chips and fries, whatever was now like every menu, I won’t say every menu in so many places are unique. They offer Saskatchewan flavor. They offer, you know, flavors from different countries. They offer vegetarian, like the menus, and the flavors have just changed so drastically. Do you think that that has, you know, really driven interest in terms of consumers eating out more ordering? You know, to go more? Do you think it’s driven the industry in the right direction?

Dan
Well, I would think so. And hope so I mean, Regina has one of the highest per capita is of like restaurants to the population of pretty much anywhere. And definitely having more international flavors on a menu seems to be a big driver of interest. Right? So I mean, both for the consumer, but also, I’d say for my team and the kitchen. For the guys in the kitchen, it gives them a little bit more of an opportunity to be more creative. You know, not necessarily we’ve got the most wild palettes here in Saskatchewan, but you know, there are there are enough foodies in town that you can do something out of the box that people maybe haven’t heard of, but they’re gonna like you know what, that’s not just another burger or whatever. It’s not just fish and chips and like which we do and we got that covered but if you want something that’s going to be unique, very unique you can stop in on the weekend and have something that we’re only going to have that one weekend and that’s it. Exactly. And our chef will talk to me about something and I’ll be like I have no idea what you just said but that’s let’s go with it. This is why you’re the guy

Barb
This is why you do what you do all right we’re almost at a time today but before I let you go I need you to tell me what would someone Google to actually find Tommy Speakeatery. How do we find you?

Dan
You can google Tommy’s Regina, Tommy’s Speakeatery, Tommy’s Speakeasy. I’ve seen show up on our little Google reports where people are looking for but I’m definitely Tommy’s Regina, and you’re not going to want to show up at barber shop tommy guns No.

Barb
Exactly. Alright. Well Dan, thank you very much for joining me this afternoon. It was a real pleasure hearing about the menu and as I said, I’m literally counting down the hours on the clock. I have one hour and 40 minutes to go until I can be on that patio. So right on around this afternoon, do pop out and say hi, we will be on the patio. I’ll be the one in the sun, my husband will be the one under the umbrella.

Barb
Great, awesome. On that note, if you want to sell your story, then you need to tell your story and there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life of Local.

Barb
If you’d like to be a guest email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at abovethefold.ca.

Barb
I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for Local program. Remember you were hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Dan @ Tommy's Speakeatery

Ep. 106 Ann Corcoran, Separation Anxiety Dog Trainer

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Continuing our series on our furry friends, 🐕 Ann Corcoran joins us today to talk about Dog Separation Anxiety.

After over 2 years of having constant companionship, many of us are returning to the office, routine, activities and life. Our fur babies don’t understand. 😟 They’ve had constant companionship and often extra attention as we did meetings from the couch and slept in a little later because no one knew if you still had your pajama pants on in a Zoom meeting. 🐶

Little wonder they expect to go everywhere and do everything; it’s been their routine.

As a pet parent, I can attest that if I don’t have my walking shoes on bright and early, I will get woke up by a cold nose or a paw in the face ~ no sleeping in allowed here! 🐾

Tune in to learn about Dog Separation Anxiety, what is it and how to recognize it as well as what to do about it.

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Are you ready to make the phone ring, the website ping and the tail ding. In our follow up episode on dogs, we’re talking about separation anxiety in our furry friends. Sound familiar?

Barb 0:15
Maybe you hear about it from the neighbors. Maybe you hear that sound each time you come and go from home. One of the best kept secrets in any community is its network of local businesses. But no more secrets from those skinned knee lessons that will make your wince, to the tell exposes, these everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their businesses, and today is no exception.

Barb 0:40
We’re talking with a local business owner. And we’re talking about dog separation anxiety. What it is and what you can do about it. Welcome to The Secret Life of local Show. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get found for local program.

Barb 0:59
I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years, from online businesses to multi location stores, you can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers. Let’s get started.

Barb 1:12
Today’s guest is Ann Corcoran. She has a dog business where she helps pet parents who have dogs that are suffering from separation anxiety. Who knew a dog could get separation anxiety, but she’s here to tell us how to recognize it, what we can do about it, and the supports that are out there. So before I ramble on, let’s have Ann introduce herself and talk a little bit about your business for me Ann.

Ann 1:43
Hi there. Yes, so my name is Ann Corcoran and I’m a separation anxiety certificated trainer. And we’re here today just to give you some information, how we can actually help our dogs. So yeah, as Bob said, it’s not really recognized. As pet owners, we don’t always recognize the signs of separation anxiety. Those are the key few things that we can probably look out for, you know, think about how does your dog react to actually be when you’re before you’re going out? When you pick up your car keys or your mobile? Do you see your dog rushing to the door? Do you sit down to hide underneath the table? Do you see it patched? Is it licking its lips? So they’re just some of the signs of our dogs feeling uncomfortable in the environment at that time.

Barb 2:28
So those also sound like signs of stress, hiding, licking their lips, like those are signs of stress. Or they sound like signs of stress to me. So the dog is actually feeling quite stressed with the thought that you’re going to leave then is that right?

Ann 2:43
Yeah, that’s correct. Yeah. So before the event happens, the dog or dog will put two and two together very quickly. They’re very perceptive. So it could be that you might say a word like, right, we go to the shop now. Okay, have we got our pack lunch ready? Have you got this kid? Have you got your school bags ready, etc, for the dogs will pick up on our movements around the house and think, hey, something’s going on here. I’m not included, why are you going? So they then begin to demonstrate anxiety like we would so we might breathe heavily, and we might feel anxious by feeling sick, nauseous, sweating a lot, perspiring a lot, breathing rate change. And the same happens with animals, you know, that pile up the dog. It happened.

Barb 3:25
We know what’s so interesting about that. In the summertime, we spent a ton of time at the lake. And as soon as the coolers come into the house to get packed to go to the lake, the dogs instantly know where we’re going. And our dogs don’t feel stressed about going to the lake, they get quite excited. They will immediately go and sit in the truck. We might not be going for hours, but they’re in the truck. They’re making sure to go they’re both, you know, in their seats ready. So they pick up on these little cues. And one of the things that we really noticed this summer is as soon as there’s a slight change to routine. So our routine is, you know, get up, take a dog for a walk and get on with the day. But as soon as you don’t do exactly that, they know something’s going on. So they’re very smart little creatures. I think we underestimate them, right?

Ann 4:21
we certainly do. Yeah, we do. Andressa doggies.

Barb 4:24
So okay, so when I think about separation anxiety in my dog is shown. So showing signs of stress. As you know, like most people, they aren’t going to do something just because they’re showing stress. But I think sometimes those behaviors get carried away like they turn into destructive or negative behaviors. Is that typically when you would talk to someone, or do folks call you when they’re hiding under the table and you know, showing some of those very early signs?

Ann 4:59
Yes. So we’ve got two things here. We have a puppy, though sometimes a new puppy, because it moved away from its family home from its mom, and its siblings, though it feels very uncomfortable, it feels strange to them. So they will, you know, bark a lot they might serve if they’re not toilet trained already, they will actually defecate in their beds and around the house, because the stress is because of that toilet train that we got in that scenario.

Ann 5:27
Then you’ve got the dog, that’s, we’ve been there at home all the time, say during the COVID, the COVID pandemic. So everybody’s been working from home. And now obviously, gradually, now this year, we’re actually getting back to normal, which is great. We’re going back to the office, we’re going to the gym, kids going to school, the older children off to college. So again, the house environment has changed. So the dog, a pet dog, has been used to us being there. And now we’re going back to what we’re used to, but the dog isn’t.

Ann 6:00
So it’s that change in the environment, where we start to see perhaps the behavior getting worse. So has it been destructive because it’s been left home alone? Or is it separation anxiety, so there is a slight difference there. So a dog that sometimes is destructive, will do like your shoes, or if you left your kids or lift their school bag around, it will rip out the school bag or chew on the sofa. So that dog is bored and frustrated. Okay. And the dog that is anxiety, separation related behavior will do the destruction around the doorway. So the door that you’re coming in and out of you mainly see the damage around that. Ah, so maybe it didn’t happen before. And now it’s happening.

Barb 6:46
Exactly. So it’s almost dead trying to get out trying to get with you, yeah, thing is if you’re on the other side of that door type of thing.

Ann 6:53
That’s correct. Yeah. So you’ve got the flippers, you’ve got the dog that’s disruptive. So it picks up a cushion, the school bag or shoe says two pieces because it’s bought, and it has to do that to help it calm down. And then there’s the other thing where the dog is actually really in panic. And it’s really over what we call the separation anxiety threshold where it’s been, you know, trying to get out of that trying to get to you it’s trying to escape. And sometimes a dog can actually do harm to themselves, like rip their claws out.

Barb 7:19
Oh, absolutely, yes. So now, let’s differentiate a little bit because there’s a bit of a spectrum. And so on this podcast, I often talk about our fur babies. And we have a senior who, again, these are very smart creatures. He has no hesitation about letting everybody know who he wants to be with. If Mum and Dad aren’t home, he makes a big stink about it, he whines, he cries, he won’t play, right? He wants to be with mum and dad, period. And in fairness, he’s had somebody home with them for five years. So why wouldn’t he want them? The kids can be home with him, but he will be miserable for the kids, the teenagers, you know, like I’m okay with that sometimes, too. And so is that separation anxiety? He never does any destruction. He never does anything negative. But is that separation anxiety? Or is that just intelligence saying no, I don’t want to be with you, I want to be with them.

Ann 8:23
It depends on the situation, though, it’s possible that you know, perhaps for yourself, your dog is hyper attached to you, and wants to be with you 24/7 Because you’re his best buddy. And perhaps with the other family members, he doesn’t feel quite so happy, content. So you’ve got that situation where they are hyper attached and older. So they might withdraw and go and just hide again under the table or just be very quiet, because they are actually missing you. And they feel you know, they feel very uncomfortable within themselves.

Barb 8:56
You know, and I think a big part of it is, when my husband and I are here, he’s always got somebody to sit with, pay attention to him, play with them, right? Like, he’s got a buddy. But when we’re gone, the kids are watching TV or they’re doing things they’re not paying any attention to. So you know, I think a big part of it then is boredom and loneliness for them. Yeah, right.

Ann 9:19
So it is and you know, we can work around that. So you can have a game plan. So maybe with the kids, you say like, let’s have time to spend with the dog. So why don’t you do compound trick training with them to make it more interesting for your dog at that moment in time when you’ve left them and it might give them a good distraction as well. Instead of like being so you sort of spread the love. So the family gets involved with the dog’s duties. They do some training, do the walking, do the feeding, maybe send your dog out to a dog sitter, though, you know, so it’s actually taking that ownership off the dog’s shoulders that you don’t have to rely solely on yourself. You can spread love which is a term used in child psychology. Yes.

Barb 10:02
And you know, the funny thing about that is we actually get our kids to help in the care of the dogs in hopes that that exactly that would happen. So our son, for example, feeds both dogs both meals every day. Well, you’d kind of think that he’d be the favorite. Nope, he’s not. But I think that’s partially a teenager thing. Right? Like right now. Yeah, the fact that the guy who feeds them is not their favorite. Just dumbfounding to me. Absolutely. Okay, so separation anxiety. Um, if I’m concerned that my dog is suffering from separation anxiety, where do I start, especially coming out of a pandemic, and you know, I, my job may have changed, my business may have changed, finances might be a lot tighter. Where do I start?

Ann 10:58
Well, the best thing would be to get hold of a reputable trainer, somebody like myself, who specializes in separation, anxiety related behavior. I can help you with a trading plan, which is evidence based. So science has proven that it works. It’s a form of cognitive behavior therapy, and it’s going at your dog’s pace. So it’s a simple, easy to follow program. So yeah, I would do that.

Ann 11:23
Also speak to your veterinarian as well, maybe if the anxiety is really bad, where you get lots of panting, crying continuously when you’re out. Destruction and self harming, you know, your dog is in an uncomfortable state of mind emotionally, because the dog has gone into panic, you maybe go and talk to a veterinary about perhaps medication to help it but with the, with the medication, it’s best to work hand in hand with a training program to somebody like myself that can help you to actually train safely and going at your dog’s pace. And we can teach all different techniques. Looking at the body language, the big clue is looking at our dog’s body language, we get you to be the doggy detective.

Barb 12:08
So how do you work with clients online? Because I know that you work with clients, you know, all over the place? Yeah, sure. How do you how do you do this online,

Ann 12:18
As we are now, it’s the video link. The data technology allows them to do their work with humans, especially particularly children with anxiety related behaviors, it’s all done by video link. So that means that we don’t have to come out of your home. So that sometimes by visiting you that can put you under stress, so you’re under stress to put your dog under stress, but we’re not doing a real life situation, it wouldn’t be the same for the benefit is to actually have we rig up as we are now be through zoom or use Zoom, or it could be with Windows, or sorry, team, Microsoft Teams. So we have a camera where we communicate, and then a camera that’s looking at your dog, and we just go through this easy assessment, where I’m just watching your dog’s behavior. And then I will, you know, talk to you, talk you through that. And then you know, we assess it. And it’s supported by a fabulous training app. So you’re connected, and you’re not never on your own. You’ve got access to myself with a training app, and I can monitor your training, like going to the gym, that helps motivate you. So we can keep in touch and we meet twice a week.

Barb 13:31
Okay. So is the idea that we want to slowly work up the dog to feeling comfortable with the amount of time that they would be alone?

Ann 13:42
That’s correct, yeah, we will keep the dog safe at all times, that’s paramount. So we start and we find that point where your dog is comfortable. So if that’s like three seconds, it’s three seconds, that’s still a big win for your dog in three seconds. In the dog’s mind when he’s dealing with separation anxiety is a big thing for the dog. So it could be a three second dog where dogs are individual like we are. So we have different starting points. But the Paramount is that we keep your dog safe at all times.

Barb 14:11
So just work me through this process. So if I have a dog with separation anxiety and walk out the door, five seconds later, they’re out the door, they’re scratching to me that says they’ve got a five second threshold. How do we work this up? What are we actually doing to go from five seconds to 10 seconds to 10 minutes? What are we actually doing? Can you talk about that?

Ann 14:35
Yeah, we’re using it based around systematic desensitization. So gradual steps to the scary thing. So the scary thing for your dog is actually you leaving its side, whether that’s going to the loo, wherever it’s going to take the trash out. Whether it’s you know, just taking the kids to school and school run, though we that’s when the dog is you know not when you’re company and it can’t, can’t cope with being alone.

Ann 15:03
So we have to find the debt before it goes over its threshold. So when you just said the dog was barking and crying at the door, that’s too far, it’s gone over the threshold of its anxiety, it’s gone into panic. So for me that panic is if a speck spider came into the room right now I’ll probably just freeze. I feel quite sick. You know. So that’s what’s happening to the dog. Or if you go on a roller coaster ride, you’re screaming for that moment or three minutes, five minutes of the roller coaster ride, then it stops, you go. Ah.

Ann 15:38
So when you come back into the door, the dog will go, ahhhh, sigh of relief, but they normally do that big shake off. Yep, they really shake off. And so that means that they’re taking the tension out of the body. So we want to get to the point before the dog goes over its threshold. So it could be. So we got the camera rolling, though, we see that the call your dog Buddy, Buddy gets up. And he starts to move around. And then he might start to pant. So that’s our time to actually come back in. Because he’s coping with that situation, it could be that he’s starting to, you know, scratch himself in his basket. That’s a sign that he’s coping, so come back in. So before the behavior escalates, we need to come back in and start again, when your dog is more relaxed. So when he’s resting, not fast asleep, but when he’s resting. Okay.

Barb 16:30
And so can you do it? Can you do multiple common goals in, you know, your 15 minute session or your 30 minute session? Or is it you know, we can do this once or twice and the dog is too alerted. And so we’re done for today?

Ann 16:45
Yeah, it is repetitive, and you think, oh, gosh, this is boring, but it’s supposed to be boring, not exciting, you’re gonna be like, oh, yeah, we go into the zoo, you want to be calm, you want it to be more natural. So that’s why we repeat it over and over, because the dog will suddenly go, oh, gosh, this is boring. But we have to go at the dog’s pace. So it could only be that you do it two or three to two or three depths. And that might be enough for your dog, another dog might be able to do 10 steps of that exercise. We call it lumpy training so you train at them when you are actually a dishwasher, let’s do a little bit of training that might take three minutes. And if it Okay, that’s enough for the dog. So you leave it, you go sit down, okay, you watch, watch a soccer match, the half time whistle blows, you get up and you do a little bit of training. So that’s how we train. It’s not a solid hour, it’s little bits.

Barb 17:36
Little bits here. And one of the things that I’ve learned because we have a rescue dog as well, is their ability to train. It’s very exhausting for them. So what seems like five or 10 minutes for us, or lumpy training, like that’s tiring when they’re truly training. And we saw that earlier this summer, when we were doing some work with our rescue, we started going to new places where there were lots of dogs and lots of people. And we were figuring out what our distance was from a reactivity standpoint.

Barb 18:12
And the first few times he came home, he came home and he just dropped, he was exhausted, he lasted about half an hour, the first few classes, and then he just dropped and slept the rest of the day. Now he does the whole hour, he does the whole park, he comes home, he plays right and our distance is getting shorter and shorter. So we can actually stand and have a conversation with someone, like be close enough to have a conversation, where in the beginning, we had to be so far apart, that we were yelling, just to try and communicate to keep him under threshold.

Barb 18:52
So from a science base, you know, I get where all of this comes from. Now the training that you do is also science based, and it’s force free. And Ann of course is our second guest on the show who is talking about force free and science based training. So can you just talk a little bit about that? Because I know here in Saskatchewan, dog trainers are unregulated, but I know you’re quite qualified. So can you just talk to us a little bit about those two things.

Ann 19:24
So the regulations? It’s a very difficult question to ask because I think across the world, in different cultures, there are different standards. So I think as an organization well you know, we have to do it locally in our own country to begin with and hopefully we’ll get recognized with the same organizations across the world. That’s what we’re trying to work on. But yes, I am qualified in what I do. And as we already said, it is an evidence based program where that is monitored by a governing body. So, it’s proven that we’re following the correct procedures. I am a four three trainer. So for three trainers means that I don’t pay a rattle, can your dolphin shake it, and it is when it barks. But positive reinforcement, so it might be just the smile, a little pat. Giving your dog a treat. That’s positive reinforcement. Yep. Okay, so the thought, oh, 4-3 training, you know, using that site based training. So that’s been taken, it’s been researched. And we’ve come up with these methods that they actually do work. So it could have been say over in Canada, or the United States, it would have gone through scientific research.

Barb 20:44
So peer review.

Ann 20:46
Peer reviewed and the thing in the UK that these are so the way that we train is, as I said, it’s in law handed works hand in hand, as as we would work with humans, with dogs that have separation related behaviors will be the same methods is what we use with humans with their anxiety. desensitizing. The scary thing, so it’s a gradual exposure, the scary thing.

Barb 21:11
Yeah. So if I think I have a dog with separation anxiety, I need to be able to get to work, go to the gym, take the kids to school, but every time I come back, something is destroyed. What do I do in the meantime?

Ann 21:25
Okay, so the best thing to do if your dog is uncomfortable in that situation, think about having a plan in place. So can I take the dog with me? Are we going in the car? Can our dog come with us? Do we have a family member that can stay with a dog? Or can I send it into doggy daycare? Or can I have a neighbor come in and look after my dog? You don’t want to be leaving your dog alone? It’s getting to that point? Because it’s not fair. Put yourself in that situation? If you’re locked in a room with no windows? It goes without saying okay,

Barb 21:59
That’s awesome. And how did you get into this work?

Ann 22:04
Sure. Well, I’ve been working with dogs now for 14 years. And so all sorts of behavior cases. So I have a higher National Diploma in canine psychology, and dog training. I’m a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, UK, and the Association of Pet Behavior Trainers, UK, and they are recognized now throughout the world, those two organizations.

Ann 22:30
So how did I get into this? Well, I used to work with multiple sclerosis patients as the physio therapy assistant. And I relocated and I thought, I think I fancy a change and freshen up. And I thought well about dog training with my own dog. And it was through one of my own dogs because we had definitely moved into the environment. They started to play anxiety related behaviors, like going into full panic like howling, even if we took the trash out. He could not cope. And he will all be destructive around the door. The exit door. So that’s how I wanted to learn more about my own dog. And that’s how I researched it and looked and looked for the right educational package to actually help me to help others that are doing it correctly and safely.

Barb 23:24
So you’ve actually I’ll say lived through having a dog with separation anxiety. Yeah. What, what realistically, is the time period before your dog was comfortable being alone?

Ann 23:39
Okay. So I Be careful what I say I can’t, you know, maybe wave a magic wand to have a Harry Potter moment. Everybody’s an individual. So with Bruce, I would say it took him about two years. Okay, so being very patient with him, it would have been two years where he found that he could actually cope without us.

Barb 24:01
Okay. And was that doing some daily desensitization work or the lumpy training that you talked about? Yeah,

Ann 24:08
Yeah, absolutely. So just a little gradual steps. It started off with me just opening and closing the door. Yep. So you build on that. And then it would be then going out and standing out with him safe, built up, say from 30 seconds to five minutes, then to an hour, then driving down to the gym coming back. So it was all very gradual with him. So yeah. So by the end, I reckon it was about two years. 18 months, two years.

Barb 24:34
Okay. So yes, a fairly extensive period of time. And we only have about two minutes left. Is there anything else that you’d like to share some tips about getting started and tell folks how they can find you and your website and your social channels?

Ann 24:49
Sure. So feel free to get in touch, reach out to me, and I offer discovery calls. So I do a complimentary half an hour discovery call. So my website is www.ann-corcoran.com. Or you can WhatsApp me, my mobile number UK is +44 1603 334001. All my details are on my website so you can go from there.

Ann 25:21
But yeah, so reach out to me or you can look at a wonderful lady called Julie Naismith. She’s based in Canada. She is my mentor, she has a great book out there that you could pick up. It’s called Be Right Back. So that’s a good starting point. But I think I have a plan. Think about putting your own dog into your own routine. What can we do to help Buddy for example, what can we do to prepare ahead before something happens. But you know, I think you need to speak to a professional. As soon as you can you do the delay on it. And also speak to your vet. Okay,

Barb 25:58
That sounds good. Is there a couple of things that I can do kind of on my own as I get ready for my discovery or anything like that?

Ann 26:07
Yeah, sure, I think just prepare yourself. But you could just practice golden opening, closing the door, these little things add up to big wind. And also make a mental note, keep a notebook of what your triggers are. So are you putting your shoes on in front of your dog? If you don’t put your bag or the school kids get their lunches ready the night before and have all those triggers out of the way triggers are a big thing that take your triggers keys, phones, lunches, you know, get all the prep done before but have a game plan. Don’t leave your dog alone is the message.

Barb 26:42
Okay. Well, thank you, Ann. That was fantastic information. I know a lot of folks are seeing some behaviors in their dogs that before the pandemic they had never seen. So having been with us almost exclusively now for two years our dogs are showing more and more of the signs of stress. So I think today’s conversation was very timely.

Barb 27:04
On that note, if you want to sell your story, you need to tell your story. And there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life Show. If you’d like to be a guest, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram account @abovethefold.ca.

Barb 27:25
I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and local business cheerleader. Remember you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Ann @ Ann Corcoran Separation Anxiety Specialist

Ep. 105 Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Are you a pet parent and animal lover who believes you would never surrender a pet? Have you heard stories in the news about animal shelters and rescues being overwhelmed as pets are surrendered?

Do you find yourself automatically blaming COVID? Assuming that these pets were surrendered because they no longer fit people’s lifestyles?

Tune in today to learn the rest of the story. COVID impacted so much more than the health of millions of people; it also impacted family units, living accommodations, finances and our support systems. When families are choosing between groceries and dog food or school supplies, gas and a necessary vet treatment, sometimes the choices are not so clear.

For anyone who has lost a pet, surrendered a pet or made these impossible choices; it is heart-wrenching.

Our guests today are Louise Yates, a retired dog kennel owner and animal welfare volunteer as well as Jennifer Berg, accredited force-free dog trainer.

To learn more about the supports in our community:

Resources for Pet Parents:

  • Cooperative Care by Deb Jones

Podcasts:

To connect with Louise @ Living Sky Honey:

Connect with Jennifer @ Oberhund Dog Services:

Jenn’s e-books can be purchased or downloaded here:

Teach Your Dog How to Be Alone

Pawsitively Purrfect, 4637 Rae St, Regina

Ebooks can be purchased here:

https://books2read.com/TeachYourDogHowtoBeAlone

https://www.dogwise.com/teach-your-dog-how-to-be-alone/?aff=416

Teach Your Dog Manners Around Guests

https://books2read.com/u/bzZJ5E

https://www.dogwise.com/ebook-teach-your-dog-manners-around-guests/?aff=416

 

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR ALL DOG OWNERS TO KNOW: LEARN HOW TO READ YOUR DOG.

Google “Canine Stress Signals” and look at the illustrations of dog body language.

Learn them so you can understand your dog’s emotional state.

VetBehaviourTeam.com has some excellent ones (Behaviour Fact Sheets).

Transcript

Barb 0:00
In today’s episode, we’re tackling the tough conversation of dogs surrendered, unwanted behaviors and support for pet parents in our communities. We’re going behind the scenes with a local dog trainer, and an animal welfare enthusiast to deconstruct the recent media coverage on shelters and rescues being overwhelmed.

Barb 0:25
Welcome to The Secret Life of Community Show. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google girl and local business cheerleader. Let’s get started.

Barb 0:36
Today, we’re doubling the fun with two experienced and insightful guests on the topic of animal welfare. Louise Yates is a former dog kennel owner and volunteer for the past 20 years, along with Jennifer Berg, who has been providing force free science based dog training and behavior modification services for over 17 years. Welcome, ladies. Thank you for being here.

Louise 1:05
Well, thank you for inviting us.

Jennifer 1:06
Thank you. Thank you so much.

Barb 1:09
Absolutely. Louise, can I get you to tell us a little bit more about yourself as we’re getting started?

Louise 1:14
Sure, my hubby and I owned and operated K-Lane Kennels, we actually just retired after doing it for over 20 years in the first part of May. And through all those years, I have been involved in several volunteer projects within animal welfare locally and internationally. And currently, I have a new dog. He has been with us for three months. And he’s about a year and a half old. And I’m training him to do search and rescue volunteer work. So hopefully one day he’ll save somebody’s life. That’s an aspiration we’re working towards.

Barb 1:54
Exactly. And that is fantastic. And in fact, this story of how the dog came into your life actually goes right along with our topic today. So once Jenn’s had a chance to introduce herself, maybe you want to tell us a little bit more about how he came into your life.

Louise 2:08
Sounds good.

Barb 2:09
Okay, awesome. Jenn, take it away. Tell us a little bit about yourself. And what does force-free, in science mean like, what does that actually mean to me as the pet owner?

Jennifer 2:20
Okay, well, I’m a force-free, science based, humane dog trainer. And I’ve been doing that for over 17 years now. What do I do and what is a force-free, humane, science based dog trainer? Well, basically, it’s about learning to train dogs, communicate with dogs in a way that is not using intimidation, or coercion or any equipment that causes any kind of discomfort. And it’s basically teaching them the behaviors that you want them to do and possibly avoiding behaviors you don’t want them to do.

Barb 2:54
So if I was to translate that into the parenting realm, force-free, science based would be just like back in the 60s and 70s kids were spanked, but now, it’s not so cool. So the same thing. Dogs were trained to fear or to experience pain to change behavior. And so the idea is supporting the dog through the learning process without having to be afraid without having to, you know, be worried if he or she makes a mistake. Is that kind of a guess in a nutshell?

Jennifer 3:31
Yeah, and setting them up to succeed, and then reinforcing that rather than setting them up to fail and then punishing or correcting it. So it’s giving them a fair chance, rather than not doing that. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. It’s more like, I’d like you to do this. Good job. I’d like you to do this. Good job. So there’s just a matter of time before hopefully before the dog training community gets on board with that. I mean, there are groups of us who are already on board with that. And you know, started 20 years ago, 30 years ago, even but, you know, that change is hard. And change takes time. And sometimes there needs to be a law or sometimes there needs to be some sort of barriers to doing the alternative.

Barb 4:10
Exactly. Yes. And for anybody who listens to the podcast regularly, I talk about our fur babies quite regularly. And in fact, they’ve, you know, interrupted the odd recording and made an appearance at the odd time. And so some have heard our stories about our rescue and what we think may have happened in the past versus the work that we’re doing now. We’ve seen some really positive results. And we’ve seen our rescue, decompress, and it’s because we’re using exactly what you’re talking about force-free, science based. He trusts us. He trusts us in a completely different way than I think he was able to prior to being rehomed. So

Louise 4:53
And it’s great that you mentioned that connection to how children were raised to dogs because I find it really interest thing that, you know, people get it that you’re not supposed to spank children, and you’re not supposed to wring them out, you know, I grew up in those 60s and 70s. And I remember kids getting the strap in school and all of that, and people know that now, they don’t do that anymore. But then those same people will come home with a dog and do some of the aversive methods. So, you know, making that shift is, is a big step, if, if all someone has ever known is a more violent approach, then that’s what they take. And there’s so much you don’t use the same methods with your dog as with your kid, and you’re gonna, you’re gonna go to much better places in your relationship. Exactly.

Jennifer 5:38
Yeah. And I would like to jump out of that just a little bit, that the basis is also not so much, as well as the intention, but also, you’re able to understand your dog more because of what you’ve learned. And so you can understand their behaviors and say, Oh, that’s actually the dog being afraid or anxious. It’s not bad behavior. They’re not doing it on purpose to spite me. So by understanding how your dog, what your dog is communicating and their emotional state that can change the way you train completely.

Barb 6:08
Absolutely. Yeah. You know what that is the number one thing that I have noticed, as we’ve worked with Frankie, is his communication skills. He’s constantly communicating. And now that we know what we’re listening for, oh, my God, that dog has so much to tell us. Absolutely. Okay, Louise, we need to jump back to you. We need to hear a little bit more about the dog that joined your family a few months ago.

Louise 6:36
Well, Seamus is an Australian cattle dog. And he was bred by a very reputable breeder in Ontario. You know, he had the genetic testing and all of that. So it was a good breeder, not just somebody who decided to turn out some puppies. And he was adopted into a lovely family in Ontario. But unfortunately, the marriage dissolved, and the couples split up. And instead of living in a big house with a yard, and a couple with a child, he ended up living in a Toronto apartment that was quite small. And Australian cattle dogs are working groups, they are designed to work and think and be busy and be active. So it just really wasn’t the life for him.

Louise 7:26
And after our other dog Spec passed away, I knew I wanted my next dog to be a working dog, a volunteer working dog with search and rescue. So I knew what I was looking for in a new dog. And I also know how much work puppies are. So it just worked out perfectly that one family’s struggles led Seamus to come live with us. And I hope to give him a happy-ever after ending. You know, by giving him a good life and giving him all the course free training and hopefully one day he’ll save, save some people out there too. So it’s a bit of a storybook ending, I hope for him. But it’s a really good example of how sometimes people get dogs or cats in their houses and families. But sometimes life has a way of making it impossible to keep that happen, you know, to keep that relationship or to make it where it wouldn’t be fair to the dog or cat to keep staying in that situation.

Louise 8:32
Even though you know this, the woman who had Seamus absolutely loved him, we sent her updates and pictures. She absolutely adored Seamus, but she knew that she couldn’t give him the life that he deserved. So, you know, it’s a really good example of, you know, all the best intentions when people get a pet sometimes don’t always work out.

Barb 8:53
Exactly. And that’s exactly where we wanted to have the conversation today. So that is a beautiful segway. We’re hearing stories of, you know, pandemic puppies, and they’re being returned to shelters. They’re being returned to the Humane Society. Can either one of you confirm whether or not that’s actually true? Or are those just suspicions and stories in the media right now? Do you know?

Louise 9:18
Well, I only know from what I’ve read in the news, and there was a globe that sorry, Global News did a really good article, and they interviewed the Regina Humane Society in the Saskatoon SPCA, and both said yes, they are receiving a lot of animals right now. And they’re not blaming this on COVID or COVID puppies or anything. COVID Kittens, they’re blaming it on economics.

Louise 9:47
People are surrendering their pets because they can’t afford to keep them because maybe they had a great business or job before COVID hit, but they don’t anymore. And we all know what inflation is doing right now. So if You’re buying, you know, I noticed, when I was picking up some cans of dog food, it used to be able to get some higher quality dog food for like, three to 3.50 a can. Now it’s six – 6.50 a can, right?

Louise 10:12
So you know, when you see those kinds of price increases, and families will be struggling financially, before the pandemic hits it, it can be overwhelming, you know, and so, you know, some people can’t afford to buy groceries for their families or braces for their kids. And if they have a pet, it’s like, you know, it’s it’s, it’s easy for people who’ve never lived in their shoes to judge if they have to surrender or rehome their pets, but until people are living that reality of maybe economic instability, or or having health problems or health crises or, or marriage breakup, you know, stuff happens, right? It’s really important that the animals get the best care. And sometimes rehoming is an important part of that.

Barb 11:07
Yeah, absolutely. You know, the flip side of that is, even when life doesn’t necessarily happen, because our lives have changed. And Jen, of course, we’re back in the workplace. We’re busy again, we’re doing lots of things. Now, sometimes the behavior starts to come out. Now, are you talking to families who, you know, they’re having more behavior challenges, because they’re having to leave? What are you hearing from your clients? And how can you support them?

Jennifer 11:37
I would say, I won’t know for sure until maybe September, but it sounds like it’s on the same level as it was the past year.

Barb 11:47
Okay, so so far, we’re on par? And are you seeing more of the separation anxiety type behaviors from those that have called? Or? Or is it something different? Like I’m, you know, I’m trying to pinpoint because of the stories that we’ve seen in Louise, as you referenced, so global did a story here in Regina, as well as Saskatoon, and they also did one in Calgary. The three stories were somewhat similar, but there were some unique nuances, obviously, in each marketplace. So Jen, from a training perspective, are you hearing differently? Are you needing to support your clients differently?

Jennifer 12:26
Not really, it’s the same. It’s teaching them how well usually it’s teaching them how to teach their dog how to be alone, or they are, the problem has become so bad now that it’s become a severe case of separation anxiety. And so then it becomes a more complex problem.

Barb 12:43
So yeah, exactly.

Jennifer 12:46
And one more thing I’m getting to is that a lot of time, a lot of people are now starting to have guests in the home more than they had before. And so their dogs either have never had guests in the house because they were pandemic puppies, or their dog wasn’t very good before and now hasn’t had practice for that for the last year or two. And now they’re trying to go back to the way things were and it’s like a sudden change. So.

Barb 13:08
Yes, exactly. Okay, let’s just talk about language here for a second you guys. We’ve used the word animal welfare, we talk about shelters, rescues rehoming. Can you help the audience understand what’s the difference between some of these terms? And animal welfare must encompass more than just dogs? So that’s cats and guinea pigs and rabbits, like that’s animal welfare across the broad spectrum, is it not?

Louise 13:36
Yep, I would say that you have animal welfare as the umbrella piece over top of sheltering and rescue and a whole lot of other community services out there. And when people think of rescues and shelter, they think about adopting an animal, but they may not understand everything that goes in behind the scenes with with that, you know, a shelter is obviously a physical building, that houses animals and in order to have an animal shelter where you’re taking in animals, you have to be able to feed them, give them water, give them the the necessities of life, veterinary care, enrichment, all kinds of things that go with it.

Louise 14:21
And within a facility, there’s all kinds of biosecurity needs, I say, it’s kind of like a cross between a school and a hospital where if they’re not meticulously clean and sanitary, then disease can happen and that sort of thing.

Louise 14:38
Rescues tend to be smaller, they tend to be organizations that accept a limited number of animals of a specific type. You know, for example, cc rescue is a local rescue and they do work with First Nations communities. In Saskatoon there’s a small dog rescue And all they do is small dogs. Other organizations do breed specific rescues. So they might only take Australian cattle dogs, for example, or mixes of them. And then some just are, don’t discriminate that way, but are selective, they tend to, I find, they tend to take in more puppies, because generally speaking, puppies are easier. You know, they, they’re, they’re cute, they don’t come with, you know, some of the baggage sometimes. And some of that baggage that might be there, as Jen mentioned, isn’t the dog’s problem. It’s it’s people stuff of, you know, people working working with the dogs.

Louise 15:40
And then within the animal welfare umbrella, there’s lots of other things that go in there. For example, the Canine Action Project is a group in Saskatchewan and they do on reserve, spay neuter programs. Again, there’s socio economic elements that come into play here if a community doesn’t have access to veterinary care, because it’s remote, and the financial situation is tough. It’s really, really difficult to spay and neuter your dogs and cats. So that group is dedicated to helping that targeted population.

Louise 16:12
When I look at a group like the Regina Humane Society, they do the sheltering, but they are also the municipal impound and handle bylaws for the city and have tons of community programs. They’re going to be opening a new animal community center in harbor landing next year. And it’s, it’s, it’s like, this is a very cool thing, because it’s through the educational programs for kids to come and learn about some of the things that Jennifer was talking about with force-free training.

Louise 16:40
You know, it’s like if people do what their parents did, so if these kids can come in and learn about, you know, better ways to communicate with animals and better training and things like that, then they’ll grow up to be better pet owners in the future. So the education piece is huge. And also the community service part. Again, with the Humane Society, they’re a big support to the Regina police service, to fire, to victims of domestic violence, they have all of these programs, well, not just programs, but you know, if the the Regina police are going to a drug house, and there’s a dog in it, they’re calling the Regina Humane Society to come in and help get that dog out.

Louise 17:20
And people don’t think about those kinds of layers. Or if a woman is, well, not just a woman, but if a family is experiencing domestic violence, the Regina Humane Society will help get the pet to care so that the family can get care because often people will stay in difficult family settings because of the pet. So animal welfare is very big, it’s very tied with a lot of other social socio economic issues within a community. They tend to focus, you know, there’s a link between violence between animals and people. So you know, if you get the socio economic things right, you can fix a lot of the animal issues in the community. And then, you know, frankly, then the sheltering and the rescue needs can be reduced as well.

Barb 18:07
When we think about the support that families might need, whether they’re experiencing economic difficulties, whether they’re experiencing behavior difficulties, is a humane society someplace I can go for support? Tell me about some of the support that is in the community. And Jen, obviously, you have a training business. So tell us a little bit about the work that you do and how you can support families that might be looking for it.

Louise 18:36
Well, they have a ton of outreach programs. For example, they have the low income spay neuter program. So if people have a pet that they and they are having, you know, have a household income that meets certain thresholds, they can get the their pets spayed or neutered, which, you know, again, if parents are struggling to feed their their kids, and keep their host going if they can get that spay or neuter looked after there’ll be less puppies or kitties but ended up being homeless down the line. And with that comes tattooing and vaccinations. And as a bundle.

Louise 19:13
They also have a food pantry program where if people are struggling with getting pet food, they can reach out because they don’t want people to have to surrender their pets. And sometimes it might be just that a family needs a little extra support for a short time. They’ve got different programs that can help them out. You know, within targeted communities, they’ve got outreach programs where they’ll go into the community and hand out leashes and food and pet supports as well. So they’ve got a lot of things going there. And they also if they have you know when people donate extra foods, and you can hear that when people…

Barb 19:56
Have something to say about

Louise 19:58
When people donate extra food Then things that they can’t use, they share it with the rescue group. So none of it ends up going to ways.

Barb 20:04
Jenn I’ll turn it back to you to tell us a little bit about some of your programs.

Jennifer 20:09
Okay, well, the way I sort of support the community right now, with dog owners, the community of dog owners, I have a training business and I run a specifically probably the most important or the two most important are the private online concert, the private consults, which can be online or outdoor in person. And then I give people hands on one on one, that kind of thing.

Jennifer 20:33
And then the other one is the outdoor group dog walk class that I have, which really allows people to enjoy their dogs in a very normal everyday event where we’re just walking in a nice park area. And so I can help them with their individual needs. So some dogs react really excitedly to other dogs or other people or bikes, or skateboards, or rabbits or squirrels.

Jennifer 20:55
So I basically help guide them through the difficult process of trying to get their behaviors under control a little bit, but also making sure the dog is an owner having a good time and enjoying their dog. And it’s not a very it’s not an expensive class, it’s something that’s sort of long term because, you know, training is an instant usually. So it’s very, very affordable and very thorough. I’m looking for unstructured, yes, and it adapts to the needs of the different people attending. So that would be my two ways.

Louise 21:27
And I will vouch for Jennifer’s walking group, because I take Seamus to it once a week, and it is fantastic.

Barb 21:33
Now the other two things that I know are that you have Jen, and I don’t know how you distribute them, but you’ve written a couple of ebooks. And for someone who is feeling the pinch, how would they talk to you to get a copy of those ebooks?

Jennifer 21:49
Well, they are widely available. So pretty much anywhere where you get an ebook, you can find the titles. And you can also find them on my website oberhund.com. So the first is to teach your dog how to be alone. And that’s a step by step guide, it can be read in an afternoon, and it takes you through the different stages of lessons to take your dog to learn how to be alone.

Jennifer 22:13
And then the other one is to teach your dog manners around guests. So those were the two that came out of all of the calls that I was getting from when the pandemic started, basically, but also I had been getting those calls before, but I just thought, you know, I just need something that’s very inexpensive, but very to the point. And it’s something that people who can’t afford or don’t want to do a private consultation and take the private class private lessons and go through it that way, they can get this book and get a start at least so.

Jennifer 22:41
And it’s a good complement to a private session as well. So for people, for example, for the dog, for people who have dogs who have very extreme behaviors, you know, this book isn’t necessarily going to solve that problem, because that’s a complex problem. And you would need some guidance from a professional usually so but it’s but nothing in the but nothing in the books, or I guess everything in the books does complement a private session with a professional to deal with a very complex case.

Louise 23:08
And I just want to add there is sort of going back to our first conversations about force-free. Not every dog trainer is created equal. And I like to put it in terms of, you know, sometimes new trainers will come out and they can teach your dog how to sit or stay or walk as a heel or that sort of thing. But when it gets to the more complex issues, then you need more complex instruction from the people that are supporting you.

Louise 23:41
And it’s really important that the people you choose to help you and your dog and your relationship and their behavior, have the same philosophies as you do with your pets. Because, you know, we talked when we started this conversation about sometimes people still do things to dogs that are a little bit what I would call mean. And so when you’re working with a trainer or a behaviorist, just, you know, make sure that you know what you’re signing up for. And if you ever do contract with somebody to help you and you don’t feel comfortable with some things that they might suggest that you do with your dog, or that they do to your dog, you can leave you can say no, just because you’re paying somebody for a training service doesn’t mean that you have to stay if it’s not meshing with your values of how you want to work with your dog.

Jennifer 24:31
And I would add that you may save your money in the long run. If you do let that money go and find a better way or a way that’s going to work better for your situation, because to undo a lot of the damage can often be much more expensive and much more time consuming than to just have not gone through with the rest of the two classes you had left or whatever it was.

Jennifer 24:51
And just just to add to what Louise said. The dog training industry is completely unregulated. So anybody could call themselves a dog trainer. It’s a terrible situation for consumers. It’s really It’s almost criminal, I would say, because there’s really nothing for them to do they have they’re on their own, they’re trying to figure out well, you know, it’s like if you hired a plumber, you would have an expectation this person knew what they were supposed to do, and it has the training. But dog training, it’s not that way.

Jennifer 25:16
So and then also to add what Louise mentioned was, people do what they know, and they don’t know what they don’t know. And when people know better, they do better. So a trainer is always a good trainer and will always be learning and always be open to new ideas and changing their ways if they find a better way and stuff. So, you know, when people know better, they do better. So there’s no judgment. Unless they intentionally do it because they know what’s wrong, and they’re hurting dogs on purpose. Like that’s, you know, I don’t think a lot of trainers are like that. I think they’re doing the best that they can with what they know.

Barb 25:52
All right, ladies, we are totally out of time, but thank you to you both for joining me. On that note, if you would like to sell your story, you have to tell your story. And there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret life show.

Barb 26:08
If you’d like to be a guest, email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or just reach out on our Facebook or Instagram account @abovethefold.ca

Barb 26:20
I’m your host Barb McGrath, Google girl and founder of the Get Found for local program. Remember, you were charged for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 104 Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa Tea

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Is it just me, or do you think about drinking tea when you have a sore throat? What about when you can feel a cold coming on?

Tea is that warm, soothing drink that seems to help cure all that ails you. And our guest today is an expert on tea. Specialty Teas.

Jule Gilchrist LOVES tea! So much so, that she’s owned a tea business for 16 years!

Listening to her talk about teas, varieties, sources and some of the “additives” in teas gave me a whole new appreciation for consumables. (Might not be what you think!!)

Grab a fresh cuppa tea and listen in on today’s episode!

Transcript

Barb
Are you ready to make the phone ring, the door swing and the till ding? One of the best kept secrets in any community is its network of local businesses. But no more secrets. From the skinned knee lessons that will make you wince, to the tell all exposees. These everyday people are doing extraordinary things in their businesses.

Barb
Today we’re sharing the secrets of Cuppa t’ Teas in Regina’s Cathedral neighborhood. These are the stories you thought you’d only hear on a Friday night over a cold bevi or quietly over a glass of wine. They are the gooders.

Barb
Welcome to The Secret Life of local. I’m your host Barb McGrath, Googlegirl and local business cheerleader. I’ve been helping local businesses thrive for over 20 years. From online businesses to multi location stores. You can turn browsers to buyers and thinkers to doers. Let’s find out how.

Barb
Today’s guest is Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa T’. So Jule get us started. Tell us a little bit about yourself and Cuppa T’ teas in Regina’s Cathedral neighborhood.

Jule
Well, I love tea. Back in the early 80s there was a tea store. And I was working and I would like probably half of my paycheck would go in there. Yep. And it was an oddity and it was way before its time. And then I am a, I would say ex social worker. So hey, when it was time for me to leave my career, this opportunity to have a tea store came up and I jumped at it. So that was 16 years ago. Okay. And I have never looked back. We are nestled in the cathedral area, which I absolutely love. Yeah. And we’ve kind of grown from there. And most of our teas come from Germany. So they have quite a stricter, higher standard, they tend to kind of test for a lot more things about 500. And I think it’s 27 items. One item shows up back to the country of origin. So they deal in a lot of clean tea. Okay, which is good because of the amount I drink.

Barb
Okay, but tell me about that, like what are they testing for? What would a tea that’s not clean be or have in it?

Jule
Contaminants? So they’re not heavily big on organics, they’re more into well, this isn’t a good substance if it shows up we’re sending it back. Some teas are grown in areas where the fluoride is too high. And that fluoride is absorbed into the tea. So if it has a little bit too much of that back to the country of origin. Believe it or not, the tea you drink has bug parts in it.

Barb
Oh my goodness. Are you serious? Okay. Yes. I don’t want to know this, I think.

Jule
And if it’s too high, we’ll go back to our country of origin. So they’re quite strict. Actually, any food you eat or give is gonna have some bug parts.

Barb
That’s so excellent. Talk about my appetite for the day. Oh, okay. So, when you first started the store, have you always carried teas from Germany? Like, like, how did you find this out? Because that’s not common knowledge stuff?

Jule
No, um, I carried from a wonderful company in Toronto. And they carry kind of more mid grade T, okay. And then we were kind of looking around just exploring. I had a business partner at that time. And she found a company in BC. And they were the distributors for a German company. We thought, What the hell, let’s try them because they’re different. Not many people carry their tea. So we tried them. And it was like, Oh, my God, this is good tea. Ah, okay. And then we looked at their fair trade practices, all that kind of stuff, how they kind of manufacturer where they get it from, what are their standards? And we kind of went, Yeah, sold. We’re on board.

Barb
Got it. Okay, so, so help me as the consumer. Understand what, from a flavor perspective? How when you consume tea and you’re like, Oh, my God, that’s good. Tea. What’s different about it, tea? You? What makes you? What makes you say that? Is it the amount of flavor like what is it?

Jule
It is the quality? Okay, so you can have a chai tea, which is full of spices, and it’s gonna taste nice and fresh and have layers of flavors. And you can just taste all the elements, or you can have just an over spice black. Got is kind of flavored with artificial stuff. And if there’s a lot of artificial things in there, you’ll notice that once you buy your tea a month or two down the road, it doesn’t taste as nice anymore, because it’s all that artificial crap that’s in there.

Barb
Yeah. And you know, that’s very true. It doesn’t matter what I’m eating. If there’s artificial flavors in there. I find I can identify them now. And many of those artificial flavors. They leave a bit of an aftertaste. Yeah. Hey 10 Yeah, no, thank you. If my food still continues on the net, no, I’m good. It doesn’t work. Okay, so nestled in Regina is 13th Avenue. Have you always been there? Yes. Ah,

Jule
Well Actually, I’m gonna have to say no, we were on 15th Avenue for 15th or 14th Avenue, maybe for a year or two. But I’ve been 16 years on 13th Avenue. Yes.

Barb
So how did you find the location or it just happened to be available and and it was you could just tell it was a perfect location to be.

Jule
I’ve always wanted to be on 13th and I was taking a walk. There was a place for lease. Boom. And it was that I think it was that day she put it up and it was like a phone call introducing myself. And away we went from there. Oh, wow.

Barb
Oh, isn’t that something? It sounds like how we butter cabinet the lake. We went for a walk. We saw it. It’s like, oh, hey, what do you think? Mixing you know, work and owners. Sometimes those impulse decisions are some of the best decisions that you make, right? Yes. Yeah,

Jule
I even did that with tea. I was ordering tea. And it was actually a chai. And it was the Marcelo one. And I wasn’t thinking and all of a sudden I just said, you know, black Chai? Well, there is a tea that is black Chai, and my German distributor sent it and it was like, Ah, this is the wrong t and I thought, Oh, what the hell let me try it. It is the best Thai. Really, I call it my best mistake.

Barb
It sounds like a good one. Okay, so let’s talk about that. What are your favorite teas? What are your go twos?

Jule
Oh, depending on what mood I’m in.

Barb
So then that means that you carry teas for pretty much every mood, every style. Right? And so what are you feeling so to speak?

Jule
So typically in the morning, I like a black tea. And depending if I have a sweet tooth moment or not, will depend on whether I like to make flavored tea or just plain tea. Okay, so we’ve got some beautiful plain teas, what we call traditional teas. They have no flavors added or anything. They’re just the tea plant. I’m least favorite to see long because it’s got coppery notes to it. Yeah, so one of my favorites, I would say would be one of my Psalms and it’s more earthy, like and I have a Scottish breakfast and a queen’s blend that I quite love.

Barb
And they’re Scottish breakfast sounds very interesting. Yes.

Jule
And they’re just plain beautiful blends of their earthy notes. Sometimes if I need a little bit of a boost, I’ll do a pu erh. And oh, that one is more of what I say acquired taste because it’s really earthy. Okay. So it’s one that is almost like a compost tea. When they pick it, they let it in a sense, kind of pack it or put it away. And it’s a little bit moist. So it continues to ferment. Okay, so it’s quite earthy. It’s called pu erh. And some of my staff call it poo tea, because sometimes it can be a little ripe.

Jule
Excellent. I can just see customers lining up to get that one after we’re done.

Jule
We usually give a sample if they’ve never tried it before. We give a sample and say don’t buy here’s a sample. If you like it, you’ll come back.

Barb
Right? Yeah. Because it can’t be something that you can get everywhere. Okay, so let’s talk about that. So T store T is one of those things that you can probably buy just about anywhere. Grocery Store. Online. So absolutely. Somebody who, who knows their tea, they’re coming to you hands down. But how do you get that customer who, you know, they’re just dabbling in tea. They don’t know the difference between a box of tea and a good tea. How do you find that customer? How do you get them through the door the first time?

Jule
Usually word of mouth, we have quite an awesome group of people that say, oh my god, if you want good tea, this is where you go. Yeah. Because you’ll taste the difference. And that’s what I hear from a lot of customers. Otherwise, we do a lot of kind of just advertising on well known advertising just over on Facebook or on Instagram or on Google. So those kinds of things. And we have a sandwich board that we tucked in the middle of the sidewalk there, well, not the middle but on the sidewalk there and that brings people in. So those kinds of things and people get teased as gifts and all of a sudden it’s like oh my god, I got this. So a variety of ways. We just don’t rely on one way.

Barb
Right. And I think you know, that’s pretty common for just about any local business. There’s no one place where all of your customers, you know, exist. And so when you’re looking for foot traffic and phone calls, or maybe online purchases, you have to be found in all of these different places. Right? So talk to me a little bit about the foot traffic aspect. Do you have a lot of folks who, you know, you’re fairly close to Regina is downtown, they go for a walk at lunch, you know, they see the sandwich board, they pop in. What do you put on the sandwich board? Is there a call to action on your sandwich board? Or is it a recipe? Or today’s flavor? Like, tell me a little bit about that? What does that look like?

Jule
We used to have summer teas or fall teas, or favorite teas, or a tea subscription box. So we changed it up. Recently, I’ve been lazy. And I have not made any changes. I’ve been working on the Google side. Exactly. And so it’s yes, we change it up. And we do put recipes on there. If we’re doing recipes, it’s going to be either on our Facebook or Instagram, okay, is where you find our recipes. Otherwise, it’s like, hey, we have this. So someone will walk by and say, Hey, what’s that T there? And they’ll point to the board and they name it. And hey, and we kind of go from there.

Barb
Ya know? And it’s, you know, anything that’s going to intrigue traffic to pull them in, right?

Jule
Yes. And it’s changed. Like years ago, we would do radio, we would do ads and paper. And then it started to change. We do more on Instagram and Facebook, and now more on Google. So it’s developing, it’s changing. And yeah, you have to, you have to go with the flow.

Barb
Yep. Yeah, you really do. And I think almost any local business is seeing that now. Where it used to be as simple as if you’re a plumber, you got the phone calls. But now they’re looking for the website. They’re looking on Google, they’re checking if you have any social media channels. And so as consumers, we want to understand more about the businesses that we’re dealing with. And yet we hear from so many local businesses that it feels like everyone is shopping online. And one of the things that I always talk about is, if you if that’s what you’re hearing from your customers, what is the convenience that online is providing that in store? Isn’t it? Is it ours? Is it product selection? What are they going online for? Because, you know, if you’re a tea drinker, and you want quality tea, I can’t get a quality tea from an Amazon or a box at the grocery store. Right. And so I think so many local businesses are starting to see that. Are you starting to see that or hear that? Well, with

Jule
COVID? That’s when things really changed hard and fast. Yeah, we did. We did a lot of online stuff, we got a lot of phone calls, we did a lot of no contact deliveries. Now, and it’s the shop local, there was a really big push on shop, local support local. Now as things have opened up, I’m finding that less people are on the bandwagon of shopping local. I just saw on one of my feeds that there’s a store that’s closing, they just didn’t have the foot traffic. So it’s one of those things that yeah, you gotta be creative. And the questions you ask if I had the answer to that might be a millionaire.

Barb
No, isn’t that the truth, though? It’s interesting. You talk about another business closing, one of the things that we saw from a marketing agency standpoint was that COVID masks came off. And there was this bubble. All of a sudden consumers were out. They felt safe. They went and did their shopping, our phone rang, could we help? Could we work on SEO? Could we work on social media for businesses, and after about a three month time period, that bubble burst? And so by a boat, June, so you know, a month ago, six weeks ago, the bubble started to burst. And then the call was okay. Things haven’t come back the way we hoped. You know, what are our options? Or, you know, people aren’t coming through the door, we don’t have foot traffic. What can we do specifically to get people back in store because the basket size tends to be larger when they’re in store versus just ordering online? Absolutely. So one of the things that we’re starting to hear and of course, you know, even with the writers talking Boat? What was it? 13 players and five staff have tested positive for COVID. So, you know, we don’t know what’s gonna happen with this next wave. And so I think as business owners, we almost all naturally start to recoil to protect ourselves, because oh my god, are we doing this again? Right? And how many more times are we doing this since getting a little carried away? But that’s a whole other story. So I mean, as business owners, we’re protecting ourselves, because yeah, we’ve seen, I saw more businesses have to close their doors when that bubble burst, then the whole time that COVID was, you know, more active than it is right now. And I don’t even know if that’s a fair statement. So have you thought about that? You know, like, how, how will you protect yourself? Will customers go back online and contactless? What are your thoughts?

Jule
You know, it’s so volatile right now. It’s good. Don’t know. So what we’ve done because of the recession, and everything going on in Europe, shipping is a nightmare. And I don’t get my knickers in a knot about it. It is what it is, you go with the flow. And so what I’ve started doing is never in history, and I’ve been at this location over 16 years. Have I ever had to put an order in for Christmas in April? Yeah, we usually do it in August. We get it by the beginning of October and life’s happy. Well, we’re hoping we get it in October. So when I can I’ve just been stocking up because I don’t know. It’s so unpredictable. So it’s kind of a stocking up. Not so much like, whoo. You know, some people say you need to be bone dry, sell what you have. And I’m going oh, no, I need to stock up because I have no idea what this fall is going to bring. So we’re getting creative. We’re doing like advent calendars, and, you know, fun Christmas boxes. We’ve got some cool stuff like pumpkin spice and all those kinds of things. So even though recession COVID shipping all that’s gone. Blowing up around us. We’re just kind of going okay, well, we can’t change that.

Barb
What can we change? What can you influence? I love that jewel, what can you influence? And you can influence the world immediately around you? Right? Yeah. Yeah, I love that. Okay, so an advent calendar for tea for Christmas. That’s awesome. I love that. So is there a different T for each day? Absolutely. That is so cool. Oh, my goodness, I’m already thinking about the D lovers on my left. That would be perfect. Okay, when will they be available?

Jule
Um, I’m supposed to, like I don’t have it? Well, I have some of the teas ready that are going to be shipped. But it’s one of those things that they should be available probably towards the end of October, okay. And I find as a small business that it is collaborating with people. So it doesn’t have to be in their local businesses. They may not be in Regina, but they’re local businesses.

Jule
So I have a lady out in Kelowna. And sometimes we share shipments together. Because sometimes the minimum order might be three to $5,000. Well, I really don’t need that much. A lot of tea or tea products. It’s like, okay, $5,000 worth of a particular cattle. No. So she and I get together and we split stuff. Yep. And so it’s collaborating. It doesn’t necessarily mean that someone right beside me, this person happens to be in BC that I share shipments with. But then again, we also have local, so I’ve got Traditions just down the street here. They’ve got beautiful pottery and stuff. Well, I don’t carry the munchables. I send everyone over there. Ah, yep. And sometimes we’ll collaborate like Mother’s Day. They made tea in a cup. Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah. So it’s kind of getting together and doing stuff with people. There’s a couple gift boxes that are here in Regina that people will purchase tea for me. I’ve got a lady just out in a small town. She works with a funeral home where they give a box and it has cherished things in there. So we’ve done a blend with roses, symbolizing the love of that person. So people are getting creative and it’s all over the map and you just kind of look for those little niches and you just kind of jump on and have fun. Yep.

Barb
Okay, so you know, but that really brings up a good point. So you guys don’t serve in stores. So I can’t pop in and buy myself an iced tea as I’m walking down the street. But if someone else on the street carries it, and you know, hey, you can go to a cup of tea to buy this particular blend. That’s, that’s great cross promotion for you guys, too, because they’re carrying that higher quality product. And you know, driving some foot traffic and awareness. So is that what traditions do or is that similar?

Jule
Traditions is more that it’s a purchase, take home. Okay, but we do have 13th Avenue coffee house and Stone’s Throw. They purchase my tea. So if someone says, Well, I’d like to try this. It’s like, well, there’s a couple places you can go to.

Barb
Exactly.

Jule
We did a post with the stone’s throw they did. Earl Grey cake. Oh, well, it was huge. People coming here cannot have a slice of the cake. No, you got to go to Stone’s Throw.

Barb
Oh, isn’t that brilliant? And you know what? I’ve had tea from 13th Avenue, and I never made the connection. Right? Oh, that’s brilliant. I love that. How in the heck did you guys come up with that?

Jule
Um, you know, I don’t know if they approached me or I approached them. I can’t remember. I was a while back. But just this year, Larry’s bread machine. He is a food truck at the farmers market. And he specializes in croissants and breads and that kind of stuff. And I said, Hey, you want to serve my iced tea? And he said Absolutely. Yep. So he’s got iced tea on Saturdays for people. So it’s just kind of doing that kind of stuff.

Barb
Exactly. So tell me about these iced teas, because I do see you post them on. Especially on Instagram. I see them but you’re making blends and you’re doing recipes and stuff. So how do you come up with those recipes? And do you have a favorite summer recipe?

Jule
The recipe sometimes we find them on? Like googling, Instagram, whatever will find a recipe, but typically it’s sometimes it’s trial and error because I’ll blend teas well. What happens if I put these two together and see what it is like? I do a lot of that. Okay. In my house it’s called surprise tea.

Barb
It’s like that. You know, you used to go to buy like a $1 candy bag and you never knew what was in it. And was that $1 Candy Vegas tea? Yes. Like it went to the pitcher today.

Jule
And if it doesn’t taste good, the plants love it. So we’re good. To waste. Exactly. Typically, because I’m so busy right now I’m incredibly lazy, especially in the summertime. So when I make my tea, I make cold brews. Okay, and one of my favorites is our mango in a cup. And literally, in 1.5 liters of water, it’s six teaspoons of tea, throw the tea and put my cold water in, stick it in the fridge. It’s there the next morning.

Barb
So brew for 12 hours and or 24 hours. I’m seep I guess.

Jule
As long as it’s four hours or more, you’re good.

Barb
So it doesn’t change. So okay, that’s a question I’ve always had about tea. So if I leave, especially if it’s in hot water, does it continue to add flavor if it stays there for a long time?

Jule
In hot water? Yes, it does.

Barb
Okay, but in cold water.

Jule
No cold water, it still gets a little stronger. And after about 12 hours. It’s pretty well done. Okay. Yep. So depending on how strong you’d like your tea, I don’t make my iced tea by boiling it, cooling it down and putting it in the fridge.

Barb
you don’t need to then.

Jule
That’s too much work.

Barb
So cold water.

Jule
Yeah, just fridge water, my tea leaves, in the fridge, done. If I’m entertaining like sometimes I’ll have family over like my son and stuff. And I’ll just make the tea in the morning and by supper. It’s ready. So when anyone contacts us or comes into the store, we give them tons of ideas and how to make their tea experience easy, enjoyable, fun and yummy.

Barb
So one of the things that I really enjoy when I come to the store is the solution base so jewel I got a sore throat jewel like feel a cold coming on. I’m having a hard time sleeping Right. And so you become that kind of tea doctor of, oh, well, how does this smell? What do you think of this? Do you like these ingredients? And do you find that you do that then for a lot of your foot traffic, they come in with a specific want. And that sort of drives where the purchase goes.

Jule
Yep. Every time.

Barb
I start calling you, Dr. Jule. Awesome. I love it.

Jule
And it doesn’t matter if it’s for oh, I got an upset stomach, or I like this flavor. We’ve tried every tea so we can pretty well match people up. Yeah, and we’re pretty accurate.

Barb
Nah, that is awesome. All right, we are pretty much at a time. So what I need to do is get you to tell everyone how to find you both foot traffic and online because you talked about your social channels and your website and some of those things. So tell us away.

Jule
We’re at 2732 – 13 Avenue. And we do have a website, which is www.cuppatteas.com. You’ll find us on Instagram at cuppa.t. And we’re also on Facebook as well. But that one’s a really long one. So you go on one of those you’ll find us either way. Just call us.

Barb
And the phone number?

Jule
It is 306-352-4411.

Barb
Awesome. Well, Jule, thank you so much for joining me today. You know, it was really interesting for me hearing more about your business and peeling back some of those layers. Because most often, most often when you’re talking with a local business, you don’t know all those behind the scenes little secrets like sharing orders and tea coming from Germany who would ever know so thank you for sharing so openly with us.

Barb
And on that note, if you want to sell your story, then you need to tell your story. And there’s no better place to start than being a guest on The Secret Life show. If you’d like to be a guest, email me at Barb@abovethefold.live, or reach out on Facebook or Instagram at abovethefold.ca. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Googlegirl and founder of the Get Found for Local program. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Jule at Cuppa T Teas

Ep. 103 Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

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Today’s guest is passionate about encouraging families to connect outdoors and has gained over 40,000 social media followers within the outdoor family travel space on her platform Born to be Adventurous. In June 2020, she self-published her first hiking guide “Hikes for Families: A Guide to the Canadian Rockies” by funding the printing of the book through Kickstarter.

She worked as a high school teacher, writer, photographer, social media specialist, and content creator for a variety of brands, and tourism boards.

Annika Mang is the co-founder and CEO of TrailCollectiv, every family’s dream app to plan those summer activities!

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Today’s guest is passionate about encouraging families to connect outdoors. And she has gained over 40,000 social media followers just within the outdoor family travel space on her platform, Born to Be adventurous. In June of 2020, she kicked off a self publishing hiking guide called Hikes for Families, A Guide to the Canadian Rockies, and she kicked it off with funding through Kickstarter. This lady has worked at a number of different things. She’s been a high school teacher, a writer, a photographer, a social media specialist, and even a content creator for a number of different brands and tourism boards. So Annika Mang, is now the co-founder and CEO of TrailCollectiv. And she joins us today to talk about the new app and the program she’s launching. Annika, welcome. Thank you for being here.

Annika 1:03
Thank you so much for having me, Barb.

Barb 1:05
It is an absolute pleasure. So kick us off. Tell us a little bit about trail collective. What is that?

Annika 1:12
Yeah, so TrailCollectiv is launching very soon. Actually, it is launched, and you can check it out. But it is an app that is breaking down the barriers for families by giving them detailed trail information and safety information so that you can know where to go. But you can also know what to expect when you get to a trail to start hiking it.

Barb 1:34
Absolutely. So how did you start pulling that stuff together?

Annika 1:41
Yeah, so a lot of it is stuff that I’ve gathered a while going out hiking, I’ve done a lot of trails, we actually have over 200 trails in Saskatchewan. And we have a ton across BC and Alberta as well, with struggles going into eastern Canada and into the South. In the US, we actually have done a lot of the trails ourselves, but we have a group of excuse me, um, trail contributors as well that are contributing trails, which is exciting. So from the community, but people who know what families are looking for. So a lot of moms and dads that are you know, they know what families want. They know how to assess the trail, is it stroller friendly? Is it a city stroller, is it all train city stroller friendly, because those are making a difference? We have, you know, my co founder, Jess out NBC and I, we both have experience with working with people who have disabilities and getting them outside. And so we’re able to assess trails to kind of give notes on that, you know, how accessible it will be for someone who maybe has, has a disability. So those are kind of all things that kind of go into how we provide our trails on our platform.

Barb 2:53
You know, you actually touched on something really interesting to me there. It’s not just a list of trails, it’s, you know, how long is the trail? What amenities are available? On the trail? Is it family friendly? If you’ve got a stroller? Is it wheelchair friendly? There’s so many things that go into, you know, being able to plan outdoor time, how did you start to see the opportunity in the marketplace? Or how did you see the need for something like this? And it’s, you know, I kind of think that’s an obvious answer. But I’m curious what you have to say about that.

Annika 3:29
Yeah, so it could be a very long answer. But it started kind of back when I had my kids and I was really struggling to find the information that I needed. So my kids are now seven and eight years old. But we found it really hard. And even today to find that information that we want to get out and explore with them. I actually started a very simple blog a long time ago that probably not a lot of people know about called ACE family adventures.

And from that, I started to have family and friends ask me for advice on where to go on how to go OUT out on adventures with their kids, soon with people I didn’t know. And that’s when I decided to start and create, you know, maybe try to pursue it more intentionally. And so I created a platform that’s called Born to Be adventurous. And that’s where I was able to share more of our family stories, share trails to go on, and share, you know, tips on what to do when you go outside. So that’s kind of kind of rolled into that. From there. I started writing a hiking guidebook that took me five years to actually publish, because it’s a lot with two little kids at home.

And then that’s done really well, published in 2020. And I’ve always had this dream to create an app where families can more easily find this information and find more trails because when we publish that book or when I publish that book, I had a lot of families reach out and say, can you write a book around Edmonton? What about Saskatchewan? You move back here? Can you write a book around Saskatchewan? What about Vancouver? Because those are all places that I’ve lived and all places that we’ve explored. And I actually thought about writing books in each of those areas, and maybe down the road I will. But how can we impact more families and help them get upside, because the impact for some families is really big. And so that’s where the app started to be created. And now we’re launched.

Barb 5:28
Exactly. Well, and just looking at your background, I think your interest in all of this comes very naturally, because you were both a teacher, you have a Bachelor of phys ed, and a Bachelor is education is the other one. Now my notes are under something. So your interest comes really naturally to all of this talk about, you know, the benefits that you see to families? And you know, how, how do you make space in what already feels like such a crazy busy time when your kids are little to get out there and do this kind of stuff?

Annika 6:01
Yeah, I just from even before I had kids, and just being in the phys ed program, and teaching, you know, students how to be active and how to enjoy being active, was just so incredibly valuable to the students. And you could just see it and get them outside, even just away from their cell phones or on their cell phones constantly. AndI’m not against cell phones. But I do think that we spend too much time and there’s an increase in depression that’s associated with cell phone use.

And so whatever the age of your kids, whether they’re little or whether they’re teens, they need time to be able to escape that. And one of the best ways that I found to do that is through the outdoors, because it automatically makes you more present within your space.

And so that’s partly why I am very passionate about TrailCollectiv is just to help those families, escape the noise of the city, escape the noise of their phones and get outside and start connecting outside. And some of the stories that I’ve heard from families who have either used my book or been impacted by my website by what I share is incredible from one mother who she quit smoking, became more active and started enjoy connecting with our kids all because she realized it was possible to go out and know where to go with her kids. And I think those are the types of stories that are just incredibly impactful.

We don’t realize that because it’s always pushed aside, you know, it’s not seen as valuable. But it reduces stress, anxiety, and improves mental and physical health. And then above all connections, like you can start to actually enjoy hanging out with your kids in that space and being active with them. Instead of sitting on the sidelines all the time watching their sports.

Our kids play soccer, I love watching them, but I like to be active with them too. Because it’s also about my own health and not just my kids.

Barb 7:55
Yeah, absolutely. It’s funny when your kids are. I think you said your kids are still under 10. When your kids are smaller, they look to you to say okay, Mom, what are we doing today? Right? Are we going hiking? Do we have to get groceries? What do we have to do? And when they get a little bit older, mine are in their early teens, when they hit those early teens, it’s like, Are you kidding, I am not getting off the couch to go anywhere. And there’s a whole new set of pressures that comes with that age because their friends are online.

And it doesn’t matter what time of the day they try and log in, they’re gonna find someone online to text with or message with and, and so getting them off the couch by the time they hit those years is a lot harder for me to say, Hey, guys, let’s you know, head out do Wacana trails today, they look at me like I just sprouted a third head.

So my point and my story is a start when they’re young, because getting them outside to do something, if you’ve started when they’re young is a heck of a lot easier. And b make it fun. Let them pick the trail, let them pick the level of difficulty, right? Let them start to make some choices. And they’re not always going to choose to want to be with you. But you know, even if you can get them to the trail with friends or something like that, at least they’re active. Meanwhile, you might have to follow behind them because you’re not actually allowed to be with them anymore. They’re not allowed to be seen with you. Right, but at least they’re out there and they’re doing something.

Annika 9:27
You hit on like three very important things that we always I always try to tell other families because you’re right. Those are such great tips to give people and even if you it does help if you’ve taken them when they’re younger, but as they get older, those are the things I mean my kids are still young but from what I hear from other people is, you know, bring go with another family with kids or go with their friends bring their friends and start you know, giving them those opportunities. And the choice is really huge to like. I noticed that in teaching just how much choice is so important.So I love that you match on those. And those are such bang on. Great tip.

Barb 10:04
So thank you. That’s how I do it with my kids, but don’t tell them

Annika 10:13
for those years, you were like, okay, like, I know I’m getting there because I know. Yeah. So

Barb 10:19
you know, honestly. So for us our son started when he was 10, we started to see that transition. He’s only 13. Right now. He’s just finishing up grade eight. And yeah, you know, he’s kind of at that point, we can still get him to go do things because he really likes hockey, he’s enjoying his rollerblades. And so you know, we’ve had to put limits in place around screen time. And it’s like, other than that, I don’t much care what you do. If you’re outside and you’re doing a sport. I’m all good.

And the one thing that we’ve always had with him is, if there’s a ball in a sport, he’ll do it. Right. So it’s like, oh, look, I bought you a new baseball, I bought a new soccer ball and off he’ll go.

Annika 11:03
Yeah, I love that. You know, I was like me, I give me a rugby ball, a basketball, give me a baseball, like I just yeah, I didn’t have to battle the phone back when I was young. We didn’t really have them. But it’s different now.

Barb 11:15
Exactly. It is so different. I we, you know, one of these days, I have to see if I can get someone on the podcast just to talk about the impact of technology on our youth. Because I agree with you. I think it’s huge. You know, it’s tied to so many negative things. But anyway, that’s not why we’re here. So let’s get back to this app. So tell me about the app, I haven’t had a chance to download it yet. And so tell me about it. What does it do?Yeah, tell me all about it.

Annika 11:41
Yeah, so you can sign up for an account, you go in, and you can search your trails by location, or area or what’s nearby yourself. So you can click a button and check out what’s nearby you. Once you see all your trails, you can go and check out an individual trail, it’ll show you how hard it will be. And you can kind of learn our rating system, it’s a little bit different than other ones that exist. So excuse me, usually people do easy, moderate, hard, we have easiest, easy, moderate, hard and hardest. And because we found that there’s not a big, you know, there’s a big difference between the trails that are, you know, 500 meters to two kilometers, and that they’re shorter. And they might take, you know, an adult, you know, 20 to 30 minutes, but they might take a little toddler 30 minutes to an hour or two, depending on what you’re doing and how you’re exploring.

And those are also often great places to go for a picnic. And so I think those are very valuable just for anyone who wants to explore kind of, but then just be outside without much effort. And then we have a spot, you can see what the adventures are on the trail. So is there a great place to throw rocks? Is there a beautiful mountain to scale or stunning prairie views that you can look at?

And then from accessibility information, as I mentioned before, and then safety information? So are there cliffs on the trail? Is it in an avalanche zone? Is there a fast moving river? Is it uneven? Is it steep? So we really like to hone in on those safety notes so that people can be prepared.

Some trails have a detailed description, there’s a map, and actually, if you open the map and you’re in service, you can follow yourself along the map and see the whole thing on the trail. Yeah, and we’re, our next set of development will add in some offline use so that whether you’re online or offline, you’ll be able to use the app. And then if you contribute a trail so you can contribute a trail you and what you provide is not some good quality information, you can add your Instagram handle, and so that we can then people can find you and say, oh, this person was the one that added that trail that’s so cool. And they’re adding a lot of trails and they can come and find you.

You can get directions to the trail. So there’s lots of can save a trail, you can favorite it. Ie once you’ve completed a trail, it’ll show you how many trails you’ve hiked and elevation and distance and on your profile. So there’s lots to do. Yeah, so there’s a lot to the app and a lot to engage with and a lot that we’re building further. So yeah.

Barb 14:16
Okay, I don’t expect you to know this off the top of your head, but you have to tell me later. Do you have Klingers trail on there?

Oh, I don’t think so. But maybe you should add it. Yeah, we might have to go look for that when it’s still actually under development. It’s up by Greenwater Provincial Park. So you know, we’ll have to talk afterwards. And we can figure out if it’s for sure. So okay, I’ve got the app, I can do all of these things. I love how, you know, being able to put a heart on it. Get directions to find things like those are huge. How many trails do you think, you know, we know about versus what’s actually out there and let’s think Western Canada, right. I think there’s probably as you said there’s 200 trails here in Saskatchewan alone? So there are probably hundreds, maybe even 1000s, you know, in each province, how were you starting to pull all of this information together? That seems like a huge job.

Annika 15:13
Yeah, so we have some ourselves, we have a group of trail contributors that are trusted, that are helping us get them. And so if you want to contribute trails, we like to keep track, we give out, you know, stickers and swag and other things, if you are contributing a lot of trails, especially if you become one that gives us that high quality data for the families, because we really want families to know what to expect when they get out.

We’re also working with destination marketing organizations. So we also visited tourism agencies and parks associations as well to fill in the gaps for that data. So my co founder, and I have quite a lot of connections with people across Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC and a few in the States. And so that’s kind of how we’re able to connect with them and help get that information. So there’s a lot of different avenues. And through all of that, we get the information that we need.

Barb 16:06
Exactly. It’s almost like crowdsourcing trails and,like health and fitness activities for family, right. And so it’s that whole crowdsourcing concept, right, which is really cool.

Annika 16:20
Exactly. And then just being a little bit more like we approved the trails right now that are going in, because we just want to make sure that we have some of that information that’s missing on some other platforms that do exist. And we want to make sure that we’re kind of being that source that is a little bit more reliable and able to kind of get them out on their adventures and know what to expect.

Barb 16:41
Yeah. So as a startup, Were you part of the cultivator here in Saskatchewan?

Annika 16:52
Yeah, I feel so lucky to have been in their Start program back in 2020. And when I had this idea, I got accepted into the program, which was amazing. And I went through the biggest learning curve in my life,

Barb 17:10
I believe it.

Annika 17:11
I didn’t know much about tech, I didn’t know much about business, only the stuff that I learned from running Born to Be adventurous. And this was a completely different world to me. And I’m actually still involved with them and still working with them. And they’ve been an incredible amount of support in this journey. And I am not sure I mean, I wouldn’t have done it without them. Because I just honestly didn’t think that it was possible to do this. So as someone who’s not a tech person, so absolutely.

Barb 17:40
So you’ve been through that startup phase. So talk a little bit about as a startup, how do you find the funding? And where does the funding come in the future so that the business becomes sustainable?

Annika 17:52
Yeah, so right now we’re completely self funded. We brought on an amazing Regina based developer who’s been working with us, and she’s awesome. And she’s female, which is pretty incredible, because there’s not a ton of female developers. And she’s a full stack developer, if you know much about what that means. But it means that she’s pretty amazing.

That’s awesome. And so we’re clearly self funded, we are actually in the process of trying to raise some funds so we can move forward. So we’re really lucky and thankful we’re in the startup TNT, top five, that’s happening in Saskatoon, which is a pretty large,large scale, funding opportunity, and just a great place to build connections.

So it’s been really good for us and being involved in that process. In the fall, we are going to be part of the global startup Canada pitch competition, which is really exciting. And there’s a number of prizes there. And that mostly, you know, I’d like those would be, you know, it’s wonderful to win those competitions. But those are also the spaces where I find that I’ve been able to build those business connections that I lack, because I’m in the education sector, and I don’t have those connections.

And so this is kind of where it’s been really great for me is to build out, you know, our connections. We also were just in competition, and Banff, it’s called her story, and it’s put on by the 51. And that was amazing as well, I got to hear pitches from amazing women entrepreneurs, that are in the tech industry, you know, everything from people who are, you know, doing life changing stem cell research? No, yeah, it was just incredible to be amongst these amazing women in the so that’s kind of where we are looking for funding. At some point we will be charging for the platform. You know, and we have different models that we’re trying to explore. It won’t be outrageous. But we will have to be able to sustain the business and continue to get the word out. So yeah.

Barb 19:56
exactly. You know, I think about some of those pitch competitions and as you say, it’s the people you meet and the connections that you’re able to create. But even the unique approaches to the ideas, right, being able to hear how other startups have, you know, found that model outside the box and be able to then retrofit that to your own business, your own organization, the value of that, to me would just be huge. Absolutely huge. Right. And so yeah, those are very cool. Now, is it through the cultivator that you’ve been able to find all of these and find that common thread to these pitch competitions? Or how did that come to be?

Annika 20:43
I think it’s just a lot of research. So some of it, I’ve learned through them, some of them through different people I’ve met along the way. And I think, connection. So yeah, I just feel like if I and then you can, like I’ve Googled some things just to try to learn about different opportunities. We’ll be looking towards government funding and that kind of thing as well. And hopefully, in the future.

But yeah, I feel like it’s a lot of you know, trying to meet the right people who are going to be able to share the information that you need.

Barb 21:13
Yeah, absolutely. So do you have some favorite trails? Or does your family have some favorite trails?

Annika 21:19
Oh, we are near Regina, we love I believe it’s called the Hidden Valley trails, they’re very close. We also love Fairy Hill. It is just such a beautiful little trail to explore.

So those are kind of near what we really love when we went out to Cypress Hills, we really, it’s a little bit more of a challenging trail for some people. But still, you know, able, a lot of people are able to do it. But it’s the hidden conglomerate cliffs and it takes you kind of off a really steep steep trail, and then takes you over to just these hidden cliffs that you just would not expect to find in Saskatchewan. So those are our favorite ones in Saskatchewan.

Yeah, and then we have other I mean, we’ve explored all over from all over Alberta and BC and then all over Utah and California and Idaho. And yeah, so we’ve been all over. But those Oh, I should say, whatever favorite trails you’ve ever completed is last summer, our family did the West Coast Trail together.

We did it with our six and eight year old, which isn’t really recommended.

Barb 22:24
I know that trail I yeah, I get it.

Annika 22:26
But it was like we just can’t believe that we did it with our kids and that we had so much fun. Like we had an amazing time and connected in a way like we never expected we would.

Was it hard? Yes. It was extremely hard, especially with two little kids. But it was just an outstanding, amazing experience. So absolutely.

Barb 22:55
How many days did you take to do the West Coast?

Annika 22:58
We did it over 10 days instead of how people usually do it in five or six days, and we did a food drop midway. But that was kind of annoying, because we got rid of all of our weight. So not all of our weight but a bunch of the food weight. And then it was like back to a lot more like it’s recommended to have packs on that trail because of the ladders are massive and the amount of climbing, it’s recommended to have a pack that’s like 35 pounds and like my pack was 50 to 55 pounds. And my husband’s was like 60 to 65 which is not really necessarily deemed as safe because you know, if you have a bigger pack, you’re going up ladders and you’re climbing over big boulders.That would happen but

Barb 23:40
but you had the kids and it’s not like they can carry a 30 pound pack. So it’s just no yeah.

Annika 23:46
Have lighter packs on that type of trail too.

Barb 23:49
Exactly. And so when your kids are looking for stuff to do on the weekend, like are they the first ones to be like Hey, Mom, let’s go do this trail. Or, you know, because they do it too much. Are they like Mom, can we just watch TV this Saturday morning?

Annika 24:04
I think it’s a mix. Like I think sometimes they want to do it and sometimes they don’t. Our oldest is obsessed with reading right now. So sometimes it’s really hard to pull her away from her books. And then they like to play soccer on the weekend. So that’s a lot of what we do. They do love like my youngest always wants to go backcountry camping, but I think it’s because she likes being beside me to be beside I think that’s why she likes then I think they just enjoy the time and then sometimes, you know, they still they go a lot they’ll complain, you know, and then once we’re out there then usually they have fun and explore and it’s fine, but it’s the getting out there. They don’t really love transitions to be honest.

Barb 24:49
Yeah, and what kid does right?

Annika 24:54
Like trying to get them in and out of the bath. It’s like they don’t want to go in the bath and then they get in the bath and they don’t want to leave the bath and You’re Yes, yes. Okay.

Barb 25:02
So, um, so your husband obviously really enjoys being active. Is this? Is this something he was like? Yay, let’s go do this. I can’t wait to hike another trail or see like, okay, yeah, let’s go do another one. How does that work in your house?

Annika 25:18
He loves it. It was actually his idea to do the West Coast Trail. And I was having anxiety about taking our little kids on it. I was like, I think they can do it. But it was like a little bit nerve wracking, but he was just so confident that we could do it. He’s very avid like, last summer, he loves trail running, and he also runs. So last summer, he ran the boreal trail in a day, which is about 125 kilometers.

And so I just obviously love the trails, and he likes doing hard.

Barb 25:49
Exactly. Okay, that makes way more sense to me. Because when you have a spouse who’s like, Yeah, I’m gonna do an ultra marathon. Okay, that explains everything.

Annika 25:58
Yeah, and I also knew about the West Coast Trail, I knew that I’d set a goal, I knew that it would be hard for me and I said, you basically have to be the one like when the kids need that extra story when they need extra, like attention that’s on you. Because you have the energy because you’re an ultra runner. For me, I might be in my head like, this is so hard. And I need to also have time to say things like, this was hard.

Barb 26:22
Yeah, exactly. That ability to decompress. Exactly. Okay, we are almost at a time.

So tell folks where they can find the app. Let them know where to find them on your, your social channels, your website? How can people connect with you? And yeah, I really look forward to some of the content you’re going to share related to here’s how to get your kids off the couch. So take it away.

Annika 26:44
Yeah, so you can download track collective, it’s TrailCollectiv without an E on the App Store. So Android and Apple, you can find us at trail collective or trailcollectiv.com. And you can find me personally on the App forum to be adventurous on all the social platforms, as well as my website borntobeadventures.com.

And if you’re in Western Canada, we most likely have a Born to Be adventurous mamas group that you can join. So search born to be adventurous mamas and find the one that you’re nearby and join.

Barb 27:16
That’s right, because we didn’t even talk about the five Facebook groups that you manage.

Annika 27:22
Yeah, well, I started with one. And then people asked to create other ones and other places. So if they know, I oversee them. But mostly they’re run by the communities that are running them.

Barb 27:33
So wow, that is crazy. Awesome.

All right. Well, thank you Annika for joining me today. It’s been a pleasure to talk with you. And you’ve certainly given me some ideas about how I can get my own kids moving. I’m looking forward to downloading the app. Of course, we’ve recorded this episode before the app was actually live. So as you hear this episode, hop into the App Store on Android or Apple and download the trail collective without an E app because you need to check this out.

If you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovthefold.live or just reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Abovethefold.ca

I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember you work hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Annika on the trails around western Canada or connect with her online.

annika@trailcollectiv.com

Ep. 102 Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

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PTSD, or post traumatic stress disorder impacts an estimated 9.2% of Canadians during their lifetime.

Our guest today is not a statistic; Ronley Arnold was impacted by PTSD in the workplace. Join us to hear his story of recovery, the surprising places he found support and the disappointing trends that continue in mental health.

If you, or someone you know, is impacted by PTSD, please contact the Canadian Mental Health Association, or, for Veterans and First Responders, OSI-CAN.

Transcript

Barb  0:00  

PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder impacts an estimated 9.2% of Canadians during their lifetime. Our guest today is not a statistic. He’s here to share his story and the support that he found in our community. I’d like to introduce you to Ronley Arnold. Ronley. Welcome.

Ron  0:23  

Thank you.

Barb  0:24  

Thank you for being here. Let’s start off with a little bit of an introduction. Tell us a bit about yourself and where you work.

Ron  0:33  

Well, I have found myself a position working with OSI-CAN or operational stress injuries Canada as a communications coordinator. So essentially what I do is I help with the online and virtual communication of the OSI-CAN needs to try and improve awareness about not only PTSD, but also I can always access services of everywhere we have within reach.

Barb  1:04  

Okay, okay. And you guys are provincial, actually, you’re a national organization and you work for the provincial chapter. Is that correct? That is correct. Okay, so these supports are then available across Canada? Are they exactly the same in every province? Or is it a little bit different province to province?

Ron  1:22  

Actually we are in Western Canada, we are really slowly building and we will be growing further as we go along. Our services, a lot of them are similar in other provinces, but they are run a little bit differently according to the needs and the resources that they’ve developed in those other provinces.

Barb  1:43  

Okay, so let’s talk about where the need for the services came from in the first place. So wherever you were in your life in your career, Something brought you to OSI-CAN take us back, if you can, to what was happening in your life that made you recognize you needed to find some help?

Ron  2:05  

Well, for me, I was diagnosed with PTSD. And I had gotten quite upset that there didn’t seem to be any resources for those with PTSD across the province. Okay. And so I was having difficulty trying to get the help I needed. I knew I needed to not only function in society, but even to be able to associate with my family properly. Got it.

Barb  2:32  

Okay. And can you talk about what was happening in your life that made you recognize that you had PTSD or, or how you were able to determine that that’s what it was?

Ron  2:45  

Oh, it was, emotionally, it was a pretty painful time. I was, at my worst, isolating myself in my basement. So my family couldn’t see me. I would disappear from society, I was having almost no contact with my immediate family or my extended family. A lot of them didn’t know what was going on with me. They just knew that I didn’t want to come and come out and meet with any of them or go for coffee or anything like that.

Barb  3:18  

Yeah. So some antisocial kind of tendencies were coming out, essentially, yes. Yep. And is that quite contrary to who you typically are? Are you a pretty social guy love to hang out with family, and I’m generally

Ron  3:35  

Quite social. At least I was before. I did well with people. I was actually a public speaker. I used to teach public speaking with the cadet program. I used to teach instruction. And I would get along quite well with a lot of people.

Barb  3:57  

Right. Okay. And so all of that was starting to change. Yes. Was your family part of the impetus to get help? Or did you recognize yourself that, you know, things that something wasn’t right?

Ron  4:14  

A lot of observations other people had of me like I was basically behaving outside of I hit 10. When I got PTSD, it was from 10 years in corrections. Okay. And I was starting to behave the way I do at work at my home, and how I responded to my wife and my kids.

Barb  4:35  

Yep. And so very militant.

Ron  4:39  

Incredibly, yes.

Barb  4:40  

Yeah. If that’s a word, I don’t know if that’s even a word. Oh, it is. How old were your kids at the time?

Ron  4:47  

They were about… Oh, man. I honestly am not sure how old they were at the time when this all started.

Barb  4:57  

Okay. Yep. Either way, it’s gonna have a pretty significant impact on them, I would think because our kids look to us to be consistent, but you know, have some compassion, have some empathy, right? Those sorts of things. And yep, I would guess that those were difficult emotions to get to. Was there any other? Was there any other? I don’t know, I’ll call them side effects or symptoms that you were experiencing? Anger, finding that you were drinking more than usual? What else? What, if anything, else were you finding?

Ron  5:34  

Well, I was getting angry at a lot of things very easily. My driving had become a lot more aggressive and risky.

Barb  5:42  

Ah, yeah.

Ron  5:45  

I actually had gotten into a car accident at one point, from the fears I was having, and having difficulty concentrating. Because I would look for dangers everywhere. And so it became getting to a point where I could not avoid feelings, and I couldn’t put them away and then concentrate on my driving, concentrate on what I was doing. And it was affecting everything that I did.

Barb  6:14  

Exactly. It was 24 hours a day, with the exception of you know, hopefully, still getting some sleep and maybe even that was disturbed. It was set on your shoulders for a long time. So let’s talk about that then. Because anytime we’re expecting, sorry, experiencing that emotional stress. Everybody carries it differently. I know I’m a shoulder carrier. Where did you feel it in your body? And you know, when you started to heal and get better, did you find that there was that weightlifting sensation that they often talk about?

Ron  6:52  

For me, it wasn’t really lifting a weight off of my body. It became almost more of a pressure. I didn’t feel as tight in my chest, I was breathing more controlled. Those were the kinds of things that were going on with me that there was almost a pressure going, pressing in on me. Yep.

Barb  7:15  

Okay, that makes some sense to me then. So talk about getting help. Let’s talk about OSI-CAN and how you’ve been able to find the support. And now in fact, you’ve made that your career. So let’s talk about that.

Ron  7:29  

Well, initially, I was, as I said, I was quite upset that there wasn’t anything out there. So I started calling around to see if anything can be done because WCB was not recognizing mental health issues. Ah, okay. At the time they were starting to know but at the time, they did not. Okay. And so I started calling around so I’d actually gotten some backup from my local MLA. I started phoning around so they suggested phoning around to places like the firefighters.

Barb  8:02  

Okay, yeah. Okay, that makes sense. And when I contacted

Ron  8:07  

the Regina firefighters organization, they actually pointed me to OSI-CAN.

Barb  8:13  

Ah, so they were aware of it already. Yes. Okay.

Ron  8:18  

And knew that they were making an effort to try and make some changes at WCB. Called the presumptive clause. And they also had a group that was available. So I contacted OSI-CAN. They said the contact was through either the Legion or through the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Barb  8:36  

Okay. Oh, boy. So there’s pathways and channels that you have to find and follow to find the support that

Ron  8:43  

There was a time Yes. Yeah.

Barb  8:47  

Is it easier now,

Ron  8:49  

It is a lot easier. Now we’ve got a full website we’ve got as a direct line of contact towards the director of OSI-CAN now. And you just basically you don’t, you can contact the Legion and they will basically give you the information, or the CMHA will do the same. But generally, if you type in OSI-CAN into Google, up we come.

Barb  9:14  

Exactly, yes. And I know you’re also working on being that top result for someone searching for PTSD, or you know, some of those keywords that you’re working on because you want people to be able to find you easily. So at the time that you found OSI-CAN there was no website it was almost a word of mouth type of network. It sounds like then, just about Yeah, yeah. And you know, I think, yes, I can understand why that might happen. But it’s unfortunate that that was the case, because for a lot of people depending on how deep they are into their mental health crisis. Your ability to seek out support gets less and less EFS as your health starts to deteriorate, so the harder it is to find, the less people are going to start to find those supports.

Ron  10:08  

So it is also very difficult to admit that you need support.

Barb  10:12  

Okay, let’s talk about that. So was that a hard thing for you to run? Like?

Ron  10:15  

Yes, it was, it was quite difficult because I had to admit the PTSD was an issue. I had to admit that i The problem wasn’t everyone else. It was happening within me.

Barb  10:31  

Yep. And do you think that that stigma has started to change? Because as a former corrections worker, like that’s pretty, I’ll call it a macho environment. That’s an environment where I would think it would be particularly difficult to say, hey, yeah, you know what, guys, I need some help.

Ron  10:54  

That was difficult to do. The stigma is improving. Sometimes, it’s almost the stigma that we hold ourselves. Mm hmm. That makes it an issue to try and call for help. Yes. But also whether or not if you have to admit that you have PTSD, a lot of times you almost lose the support of your co-workers. And so you need an organization like OSI-CAN, which is now a program of the CMHA. To be able to find that help.

Barb  11:31  

So okay, that’s interesting. So it felt like you were losing support of your colleagues. Tell me about that. Why do you think that was,

Ron  11:41  

It was a lack of understanding a lot of my colleagues I never heard from again, after I stopped working. And they only understood they’re at the jail. And a lot of the principle of what goes on there is if you start to have problems, the question is, maybe you should find somewhere else to find a new job, a new career. And then once you leave, you’re not the immediate problem, which is how you operate at the Correctional Center, you deal with the issues happening right then and there.

Barb  12:19  

And so does that. Does that inference come from your colleagues? Or does that come from higher ups? Or maybe I should speak in past terms? Did it come from higher ups?

Ron  12:34  

A lot of it came from those higher up? Because once you found somewhere new to be, they didn’t have many resources to offer either.

Barb  12:46  

Okay. Once

Ron  12:48  

WCB took over, it’s no longer their problem.

Barb  12:53  

Oh, okay. So that’s so even in that process, with PTSD not being recognized? Was it still considered a workplace injury? And disability? Is that where, where the process starts with them? Or what did that journey look like for you?

Ron  13:15  

Well, with them WCB has now started to recognize it as a workplace injury. Okay. Before you had to be able to prove it, and prove that it was something from your workplace, which was very difficult to do.

Barb  13:29  

Yeah. How do you do that? Like, even even as you say that out loud, I think, how in the heck, do you ever prove that something came from, you know, the workplace versus, you know, common life? Yes. How did you prove it?

Ron  13:45  

For me, it was that presumptive clause, it was the fact that I could point to certain incidents that actually were videotaped. And they were there in my reports, and in the things that I wrote down, I could point to those incidents and be able to prove that something had occurred at work.

Barb  14:09  

Got it. Okay. And being in that corrections environment, I can, I can just imagine some of what you’ve seen and heard and stuff over the years and the, the average citizen out there doesn’t want to know, right, like, that’s one of those things that, you know, people don’t talk about, because they don’t want to know about what goes on behind that closed door. Right. Exactly. Yep. So I can just imagine, okay, so then when you found the OSI-CAN intake process, you found a support group. Has it been smooth sailing ever since?

Ron  14:46  

No, I wouldn’t say smooth sailing, but the support that I got from them has been very very low stress.

Barb  14:54  

Yep. So you found a support group. So do they still have a number of different support groups?

Ron  14:59  

Yes, we do. To across the province and in other provinces as well.

Barb  15:03  

Okay, and so what would a support group look like?

Ron  15:08  

We have a total of 16. Like I now run one of those support groups. And you essentially come in. And even if you don’t want to tell your story yet, you can hear the stories of others. And we often talk about what has gone on in our lives, even just in the last week, or in the last year, if we need it out, that is a place where you can get it out.

Barb  15:32  

Got it. Okay. And so you have males and females that come together, do the groups have particular topics that they talk about? Or is it really just a safe place to talk about whatever?

Ron  15:49  

Well, it is recovery focused on the location, the idea is you come in, and you talk about what is going on. And it is focused on how you can actually become a little bit less damaged or harmed by your situation. And so you are able to deal with your family to go to something as simple as going to a large store. Basically, all of it is something that we encourage people to go see their psychologist, see a psychiatrist, see their doctor, try and get that medical help, as well as the emotional health that you get from the group.

Barb  16:36  

Right. Okay. And do you find that a lot of relationships are forged in those groups, then?

Ron  16:41  

Oh, very much. So. Yes. Yeah.

Barb  16:43  

So you, you knew your group almost right.

Unknown Speaker  16:48  

Yes, exactly. Yeah.

Barb  16:49  

Well, it is pure sport. Exactly. Yeah. Known

Ron  16:53  

As other people who understand what you are going through. And they have been through similar circumstances themselves, like PTSD comes in many shapes and sizes. So for us, it is those who have had experiences similar to our own.

Barb  17:09  

Okay. So let’s talk about those signs and symptoms for a minute. You talked about your own experiences and how you knew you needed to reach out for help, what would be some of those common signs and symptoms that others might be experiencing?

Ron  17:24  

Well, like we said, there was a lot of anger, that you are very quick to anger, you’re very quick to suddenly have fear. And it’s that kind of fight or flight mode that you go into very quickly. For me, whenever somebody slant, like I would go to the gym, as I was encouraged to and it was, I had support to help pay for going to the gym on a regular basis. The problem was that every time I heard the weights slamming together of somebody else working on their barbells, I would automatically flinch and suddenly go into panic mode. And I’d be looking around at all these mirrors where there’s tons of people looking around at what’s going on. And I would go into a panic attack.

Barb  18:16  

Ah, okay.

Ron  18:20  

I did not sleep well. I had strong anxiety. I definitely had issues with depression. Okay. And there were a lot of cases of isolation where I would disappear. My family would often wonder what happened to me. There was a Christmas get together one year, up north, and I disappeared into another area of the hotel. Nobody knew where I was. Nobody knew what I was doing. And all I was trying to do is bring my breathing back under control.

Barb  18:54  

Yeah. Just trying to get away from it a bit. Yeah, yes. And if your family or even if only parts of your family, were aware that you were experiencing some signs of depression, then when you disappear like that, that puts a whole new level of anxiety and everyone else’s minds then to

Ron  19:12  

Oh, very much. So yes. And they will often become afraid of what they can say to me and what they couldn’t say to me. There were times when I wanted to, like, my depression got so bad, and my fears got so bad. I wanted it to be over in any way that I could find. And luckily, I called up for help before it got to the point where I would look at ending things entirely.

Barb  19:40  

Exactly. So let’s talk about that. Then, as an organization, how do you get your message out there?

Ron  19:50  

A lot of the time it goes by word of mouth. So if someone has heard of OSI-CAN they refer someone else to it? We’ve Got it up on Facebook, we’ve got it up on Instagram. We’ve got the information going out on the website through the regular media, things like that. We’ve also got our public service announcements coming out soon. In fact, they’re starting today, with CTV

Barb  20:24  

Got it? Oh, awesome, okay.

Ron  20:28  

And it’s going to be very intense when people are going to be able to see for themselves, but they have to understand that, oh, wow, someone else actually has been through this, someone else might understand what I’m going through.

Barb  20:44  

Okay. And so in getting the message out to any of these new people that are out there, do you even have the support that you need for the number of people who may reach out to the organization

Ron  21:01  

I do now have like, we’ve got the support needed. We treat that for others, we actually encourage them to talk to each other in the groups. We have our leads, June is PTSD Awareness Month. So we are working very hard on making sure that information gets out there. Yep, we’ve even got our healing with horses retreat. Okay, that allows people to come over, we, it’s for a very small price, because we find people are very open to attending something that they have paid for. Yep. But if it’s inexpensive, they show up. They get to interact with the horses with each other, they get to experience a little bit of what it would be like to have counseling, art therapy, different things like that. So they learn about those different modes of healing.

Barb  21:56  

So why do you think that healing with horses retreat is so popular? I know you and I have talked about it before? A What is it about horses that are so calming? And when is the next retreat? And how would someone participate?

Ron  22:17  

Well, the next retreat, we’ve got the family one that is coming up soon, we’ve got one in Prince Albert. And we’ve got one in August. That’s for adults only. Okay. Yeah, July 9 is the family retreat where we get to bring kids ages six and up. Yep. And so what it is, is that when you get there, the horses, what they do is they mirror our emotions. So when we start to feel around those horses, if we feel like we’re concerned, we don’t want to go, you know, we’re scared of the horse, the horse will also pick up on that and we’ll stay back. But if we start to relax a little bit and start to release, the horse will approach okay. And it helps with finding symptom management with those horses. Got it?

Barb  23:04  

Okay, so do the therapy horses have some special training? Or is this very intuitive for a horse?

Ron  23:14  

A lot of it is intuitive, but there is special training the horses go through. Okay. So Equine Assisted Learning is the program that they’re taught. And so they learn how to respond to a person who’s going through that. Yeah. So that way, otherwise, a horse might rear up or whatever else, but a calm, very well managed horse will actually respond appropriately, and not cause something even more fearful.

Barb  23:43  

Exactly. We only have about two minutes. And I want to ask you two quick questions. So first, can you just talk to us also about your service dog? How you found a service dog or how you were, I suppose, matched with a service dog?

Ron  24:00 

Essentially, I was matched. This is currently my second service dog. But what it was is that I had been encouraged to try and find some kind of support that I could have with me 24 hours a day. And my Cert and a service dog was that the dog was provided by OSI-CAN. Okay, I was given some training in terms of how to interact with the dog and the different commands the different what to expect from the service dog. And now I’m actually going into a slightly different situation where the dog is actually a puppy. My other dog has retired. 

Ron  24:43  

And she’s actually enjoying life on a farm.

Barb  24:48  

Ah, okay. Real farm Ron Lee. Yes.

Ron  24:54  

Yeah. Yeah. Your parents say to you Is your kids happy?

Barb  25:00  

Exactly. Exactly. Okay, run late, we need to wrap up. So just quickly, please tell everyone where they can find OSI-CAN and what they should do if they or a family member if they believe that somebody needs some support. So tell us, please.

Ron  25:20  

Well, you can contact us at www.osican.sk.ca, or you can find us at OSICANrecover on Facebook. There, we have lots of information for support of how to support a person going through PTSD, what support we have available for them. And we regularly changed the information and brought updates along as well.

Barb  25:49  

Awesome. All right. Thank you, Ronley. I so appreciate you joining us today to talk about your story and talk about the support that is out there because with nearly 10% of the Canadian population impacted at some point during their life, there is a significant number of people in our community who need support. If you or someone that you care about needs support, please look up each of the contact details that Ronley just shared so you can get the support that you need. 

Barb  26:20  

If you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at Abovethefold.ca 

Barb  26:33  

I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Ronley @ OSI-CAN

ra.osican@cmhask.com

Ep. 101 Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

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Today’s guest has always been a little on the “artsy” side. Even in her youth, she was involved in art, dance and theater. It wasn’t until she moved to Outlook, Saskatchewan in 1983 that she found her passion.

Playing in the mud! OK, not quite, but playing with clay!

As she will tell you, she doesn’t go to “work” everyday, she goes to “play!” And with 250 vendors across Canada, she does a lot of playing…..

Susan Robertson is the owner, player and chief maker at Susan Robertson Pottery and the Handmade Gallery. 🍵

Tune in to hear how her “retirement project” is going! 🤣

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Our guest today has always been considered artsy. In her youth. She was involved in art and dance in theater. But it wasn’t until she moved to Outlook Saskatchewan back in 1983, that she found her passion. One of our guests, you’ve heard me say this before you still love to play in the dirt. But our guest today, she loves to play with clay. Remember that deep, that dark clay that we would play with his kids? Yeah, she actually makes her living off this, but we’re gonna let her tell you a little bit of the story.

Barb 0:34
So I would like to welcome Susan Robertson to the show today. And Susan, please kick us off by introducing yourself.

Susan 0:42
Well, I am Susan Robertson, from Susan Robertson Pottery. I have been a ceramic artist for over 35 years now. And I just moved to Broderick, Saskatchewan from Outlook big move a kilometer down the road and built a new studio, which is, as Barb will no doubt laugh through this, my retirement project. And my husband likes to remind me that I’m supposed to be retired. But yeah, I get to play in the mud all day. I don’t work for a living. I am really fortunate I get to play every day at work.

Barb 1:24
Exactly. You play for a living. So let’s back that up. Because you actually just told us a whole heck of a lot of things. You built this new studio and having been there, that studio is gorgeous. That compares to anything that you might see in a city. Nevermind that I’m going to head out to Broderick to Saskatchewan to see it. So tell us a little bit about the studio. And what inspired that build, especially since this is supposed to be a retirement project.

Susan 1:48
Well, we had a business in Outlook, as well as my pottery. And it was a small motel, and we lived in the motel as well. And we decided that, you know, we’re both thinking that we should retire. And COVID hittin that kind of went down the road. And then they announced a huge irrigation project. So we thought, well, perfect time to sell. But, of course, when we sold, we lost the motel and the studio space that I have. So we had to build elsewhere. And as my husband says, He knows that I would not be happy without a place to work

Barb 2:32
And play. A place to play!

Susan 2:35
Well, yeah. Yeah, laughing down. So we bought two lots side by side and built this space. And, you know, my husband said, build whatever you want. First mistake. I turned around and said, How about if I build what I can afford? And he said, Okay, and so we planned it. But in the planning, I also put it in a retail space. And he’s, you know, kind of shaking his head because, you know, like, Don’t you just want a place to go and play all day? And I guess it’s just not in my nature to sit? Well, it is definitely not my nature to sit still. And I always seem to have to be moving forward. And I think that’s because part of my philosophy is if you’re not growing, you’re dying.

Barb 3:28
Sure. Yep.

Susan 3:30
So you know, I added the Well, I had a small retail section, but it was just my pottery, whereas now I have a full blown Canadian handmade craft gift store. Yeah, so that’s, and so that’s why I’m so busy and working so crazy now, because most of what I used to do was wholesale. So I sell my pottery to stores all across Canada, but 250 of them. Okay. So now I’ve added this new dimension. And so now I’m learning all this retail stuff. And you know, and my husband just shakes his head and you go, exactly.

Barb 4:12
This is supposed to be a retirement project. So I think I met your husband very quickly in passing. But of course, I don’t know him well, and I have to say, I think he’s a very brilliant man who recognized what he needed to do to keep you happy. Because I have a sneaking suspicion if you were bored, you’d probably be driving him crazy.

Susan 4:37
Well, that’s what I say to him. I said, What do you want me to sit here and look at you all day, like, not happening? I love you dearly but

Barb 4:46
And that’s why you still love him dearly because you each have your own lives that are probably very full and rich and you get to do lots of things that keep you happy. So that’s a huge thing. Okay, tell me about this Canadian and handmade store that you’re growing. I didn’t even know that. That’s news to me too.

Susan 5:07
Yeah, well, if it is actually history, I’ve done so many things in my lifetime. I used to have a store in Outlook. And I had a stony little small studio, it was like 900 square feet on the corner of the two major roads. And at the time, it was only one stop where the stop signs were. And it was called A Wrinkle in Time. So I actually have retail experience that it was a Canadian handmade gift store. And when I moved from that location to my larger location, I decided that I didn’t want to spend time in the retail store. I just wanted to focus on the wholesale. Then when I moved back here, the wholesale is well, it’s not without its challenges, but it doesn’t present any new challenges, hey, and I’ve discovered that I need to constantly be doing new things. And I felt that re-inventing the Canadian gift Gift Store. Also, because we’re you know, Broderick is a town of 90, I think we’re up to 92 people now.

Barb 6:21
A thriving metropolis.

Susan 6:24
Yeah. So it’s not exactly, you know, conducive to local shopping. So it needed to be a destination store. And while a lot of people love pottery, not everybody loves pottery, but everybody loves, you know, a shot that they can come and find gifts for that are special and unique. So and in the process, I’ve gotten to meet a lot of really great artists as well. So that’s been a lot of fun.

Barb 6:53
Absolutely. How do you find your artists then?

Susan 6:58
All kinds of different ways. Some have been through other contacts. So for instance, I had a friend who had a new glass artist, she was formerly a ceramic artist. And she had a mentee that she thought I’d be interested in his work. Well, it turns out, I got her work and his work. Here now. I have gone to the Halifax craft DS Expo. And through it, I’ve met a lot of maritime artists, and they have some really interesting art.

Susan 7:35
Yeah, so one, one through their website that I found that she has these amazing cards, and I decided that I was going to buy them and then I read her story. And she is a disabled person who has Down syndrome. Like I was impressed with these before it was just oh my god like exams. I actually now I’m jealous, because, you know, here she’s producing this amazing work and, and of course, she has some help from her family and things but still like oh my god. So you know, other stores that I deal with I actually mentored by a woman out of nowhere, she is in Nova Scotia and she is a retail specialist. Okay. So she connects us with other retailers. And so as well as guiding a lot on how to run a retail store. It’s also how to source products and, and they said it in exchange.

Barb 8:40
Okay, let’s jump back to clay. Let’s just jump back there for a second. So how in the heck did you actually get into pottery?

Susan 8:48
Well, actually, I moved from Ottawa. I’m a city girl. I grew up in a city in Ontario 40,000 people and moved from there to Ottawa, and then moved from Ottawa to Outlook. And when I moved here, I left my family, my friends, and my job. And I had a 17 day old baby. Oh my god. Yeah.

Susan 9:09
Needless to say, I got cabin fever. And my husband said you have to get out of the house, you need to go do something. And he saw an advertisement in the paper. We used to have a pottery studio in the community. Go take pottery classes, you’ll love it. So I took my first class and absolutely fell in love with it. And I actually remember one of the other women who was a longtime ceramic artist, looking at me and going, you look like a potter. I thought I don’t know what Potter’s are supposed to look like, but apparently I do. Exactly. So that started me off. And then years later, our little motel was suffering through the 80s which everybody was Yeah,

Barb 9:57
Everybody was.

Susan 9:58
Yeah, and I needed to go get a job. So I did. And I worked for the Saskatchewan Craft Council as their marketing coordinator. And through that I got exposed to some of the most amazing work like, Oh, our would know. Yeah. The province has some of the most amazing artists and a lot of them are world renowned. We just don’t tell anybody about them. It’s terrible. Anyway, back to the story. So I worked for the Craft Council for quite a few years. And through it, through that exposure, it really motivated me to go and get some education. And so I took an applied Fine Arts diploma through SIAST, which used to have a ceramics program, and graduated in 1995. So I actually have a piece of paper to hang on my wall. Maybe I should find it. Because I’d always every now and then I go, Oh, yeah, I do have a degree or diploma.

Susan 10:59
And then, you know, meantime, we’re still working. And then I did the traditional, you know, go to craft sales, flogged my wares. And I had at that time, I had three young children. And there was one time I was gone for like nine weeks, I was on the road. And I came home. My kids didn’t know me, they were scared of me. And yeah, it was I said, that was not the life. I want it for myself or my family. Yeah. And that’s when I decided to pursue wholesale, which is not something a lot of artists and artisans have done. Because for a whole lot of different reasons. We could do a whole podcast on

Barb 11:45
Wholesale and retail. Yeah, absolutely.

Susan 11:48
So after that, I, you know, still did the occasional shows, but, you know, mostly wholesale, and then in the last probably five years, I don’t do any retail shows at all, I just do wholesale shows. So that’s where I am now.

Barb 12:07
Yeah. So let’s talk about that. Why are we such a well kept secret? Why do we work so hard to not tell anyone? What do you think it is?

Susan 12:20
Well, I don’t think necessarily, that it’s that we don’t tell anyone, I think that it’s really hard when like a lot of people are, they’re selling everything that they produce. So they didn’t have a need to go beyond their community beyond our borders, got it. The ones that have become internationally well known are generally ones who have gone the path of what we term one of a kind.

Susan 12:53
So rather than producing multiples of things, they produce a single vessel or object. And quite often, they are very expensive, and we don’t have those markets here in Saskatchewan. So then those people have to go outside of the province, they have to find other venues. And so they go national and then International, because that’s where the markets are.

Susan 13:24
When you’re producing by yourself. It’s you know, and I should, you know, state that I do have employees now, because there’s just no way I can do it all on my own. And for a lot of people, they’re just happy. They just want to make pots. And I guess that’s, you know, talking about Potter’s, but I think maybe that’s the flip side of it that most artists come from an artistic bent, and they don’t have a business background or business thing. Yeah. And that is a big stumbling block for a lot of them because they just want to stay in their studios and make things. Yes, exactly. Yeah. And I’m the other well, I shouldn’t say and the other way around, like I have this creative half, then I have this business and have, you know, grew up in a family and business. And so, you know, it’s almost ingrained in you and

Barb 14:20
So well, if you’ve 250 retailers across Canada, how did you build that network network? How are they finding you? And how the heck do you get ceramics from small town Saskatchewan out to some of these retail locations? Because how does that stuff not break?

Susan 14:36
And over the years, we’ve learned to pack very, very well yeah, I bet. yeah, the building the network it it actually all started because I was at a craft show in Ottawa. And this little woman went sailing by me. And next thing I know she marches right back to me and she puts her finger under my nose and cheek. I want to represent you. Oh, okay. Okay. And we have had over a 20 year relationship.

Susan 15:13
And, you know, it was just, I mean, I had been starting to do wholesale, but because of her name is Ryan Moffat and her company’s anything is possible. And she only represents Canadian artists. Okay. So, you know, she started taking me to the wholesale shows I had been going to some of the wholesale shows. That’s sort of where you start. And then, you know, you build a reputation for quality and good products.

Susan 15:47
And most, a lot of my stores have been buying for me for years and years. And, I mean, part of that is possible, because I’m constantly creating new designs, and I do custom work. So they might have something they specifically want, let’s say, a lighthouse in Nova Scotia, and they want me to reproduce their lighthouse. So I will reproduce, you know, whatever icon they want.

Susan 16:15
The imagery is very changeable. And in fact, my collection is very eclectic, because I have whales, and like, we’re a landlocked province here. We don’t have whales, we don’t have, you know, oceans. And so people are always surprised to find whales here. And it’s so well, it’s because in BC and the Maritimes they want whales, so I make whales.

Barb 16:41
exactly, that’s one of the things that I really like about your work is the variety of patterns, and then you can get everything to match. I’m one of those people who I like things to match. And you’d never know it by looking in my cupboards because it does seem like a completely eclectic set. But you know, having that special mug that matches, you know, the cheese platter, right, all these pieces, like there’s just something about that, and I don’t even know what it is, but it satisfies that. I don’t know that very square side, I suppose for my creative side something anyway.

Susan 17:19
Well, there’s a lot to be said for, you know, enriching your life with objects. And you know that that sounds weird, because I mean, really, let’s be honest, you can go to the dollar store. ceramic mug for $1. But it’s a mug. Yeah. Mine is a moment. It’s enjoyable. It’s warm, fuzzy. Yes,

Barb 17:45
It’s personal. When I select something from, from your patterns, like there’s, there’s something so personal about it. And it makes me want to put my coffee in it each day. Right? And so yeah, I totally, totally get it.

Susan 18:05
Well, we sort of our branding or logo or whatever you want to call it or, you know, we make people smile. That’s what we’re about. Like, nothing gives me more pleasure than when people come into the store. And they’re looking at my work and oh, look at this. And oh, you know, remember when we went on that trip? Doesn’t that remind you of that? And or, you know, they’re looking for a gift? Oh, my God, you know, and June will love this because she’s a bird person. Yeah.

Barb 18:39
So do you design the patterns as well? Or does someone else help you with that part of it? Or where did the patterns come from?

Susan 18:47
Well, they come from a lot of different places. Inspiration was really funny, I was just thinking about the very first, or one of the very first patterns I created was birch trees. And it was because I was at my sister’s house, and she’s a very accomplished artist as well. And she had done this painting of her backyard, which was all birch trees. And I just fell in love with the painting and I gushed over it and thought that I gave her enough hints that she should give it to me. And she did.

Susan 19:20
So I went home and I created a birch vase, which I then sent to her. And many years later, I’m at a show and I didn’t know I’m telling somebody this story and she’s standing behind me and she looks at me she goes, Well, why didn’t you just ask for the paint so that was you know, sort of the beginnings of it. But

Barb 19:44
S Susan, what do you think is next for you?

Susan 19:50
Well, actually, right, I got so many irons in the fire. It’s not even funny. And again, you know I’m supposed to be retired but the thing is River and Rail ArtVenture which you’re familiar with.

Barb 20:03
I’m very familiar with it.

Susan 20:07
Yeah, yeah, I have to give a shout out to Above The Fold, because they are the companies that we’ve worked with to develop this self driving art venture tour of Southwest central Saskatchewan. Fabulous June 25th & 26th. Here I go with my shameless self promotion.

Barb 20:29
Yes please. Yes, when it is, where it does and how many artists we have this year.

Susan 20:35
Yeah, it’s nine communities with over 60 artists, 30 venues.

Susan 20:45
And in west central Saskatchewan, so from Outlook down to do Tugaske. And you hop in your car with your friends, pack a lunch, or stop for lunch, stay overnight, and just go and see artists in their studio.

Susan 21:01
So people went on last year and had a really good time, and we’re expecting this year to be even better, bigger and better. Because even for myself, I wasn’t able to have people in my studio, partially because of COVID. And partially because we just moved in. So this year, I’ll be able to do studios, tours and demonstrations. And so give people a chance to understand more about what it is we do as artists and gain a greater appreciation for the work.

Susan 21:32
So then once that’s done, the next big project is Economusee. And this kind of ties into you know, the whole concept of artists not being known. And the Economusee is a project that started in Quebec, and their whole thing is to promote artists and artisans. Being able to live and work in their studios without having to travel outside to make a living, that people will come to them. So basically a type of eco tourism, you know, and the launch for my Eco tourism will be in September this year.

Barb 22:16
Ah, very cool. Where do people find you? How can they get to your studio and where might we find you on social media?

Susan 22:26
Okay, I’m located at one Kiley place. Broderick, Saskatchewan which is an hour south west of Saskatoon. Actually, I’m not quite an hour from now. Okay, it’s about 15 minutes and I am eight kilometers east of Outlook, major highways easy to get to and I’m right behind the potato barns which you might go. What’s that? So another reason to come here and find out.

Susan 22:57
And online I have shop.srobertsonpottery.com. And social media. It’s facebook.com Susan Robertson pottery instagram.com Susan Robertson pottery, and I try to be consistent. Yep. And on YouTube, Google, Google me. But I have to say you get a tour of the studio. But that’s the old studio. I haven’t done the new video.

Barb 23:28
And a new tour yet. All right. Awesome.

Barb 23:31
That is fantastic. Susan, let me wrap us up. And thank you.

Barb 23:36
Thank you so much for being here with me today. You know, it’s funny, you and I have talked, of course, dozens of times. But we’ve never really had the opportunity to talk about your business because we always have a full agenda when we are meeting so thank you for coming and sharing your story and telling us you know a few of your secrets and how how you’ve been able to be successful, as you say especially because that’s not what you were looking for with your family when you had three small children. So kudos to you.

Susan 24:05
Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about myself.

Barb 24:11
Absolutely.

Barb 24:12
If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at abovethefold.ca. And just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our shows.

Barb 24:28
I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl remember you were too hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Susan @ Susan Robertson Pottery

susan@srobertsonpottery.com

Ep. 100 Victor Roman from South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

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You know all those “pretty pictures” and amazing designs you see on billboards, websites and in magazines? You can bet our guest today was instrumental behind more than a few of them. Victor Roman is the creative juice behind many of Saskatchewan’s most infamous creative campaigns.

Tune in to learn about his journey from the social work field to a thriving career in marketing and design. As a professional, he values the balance of time with his young, growing family and working for an organization whose goals align with his.

Transcript

Barb 0:00
My guest today is going to tell us why pretty pictures aren’t the only thing that matters. He has spent years in the creative field working at some of the largest agencies in Saskatchewan, and for some of the largest clients are Crown corporations and our municipalities. But have you ever thought creative isn’t just pretty? There’s also a lot of strategic thinking that goes into it.

Barb 0:26
So I want to welcome Victor Roman to our show today. And Vic, start us off. Tell us a little bit about yourself, and how you got into creating these pretty pictures.

Victor 0:37
For sure. Yeah, thanks for having me, Barb. So as you mentioned, I’m Victor Roman. And I have kind of a weird history and a weird placement so I’ll kind of explain where I am right now.

Victor 0:48
So my primary role in my day to day job I work with the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation with their communications and marketing and their communications marketing specialists currently and by night my superhero dropped my Batman cape crusader. I run a small, very limited kind of freelance work that I call Toro Creative. Victor Toro, makes sense I’m a Taurus, got it got it got a ring in my nose. It’s, it’s a thing. Love it.

Victor 1:21
And and really to kind of zoom you back a long time until like, how did I get into working at Community Foundation in the nonprofit sector as well as still doing freelance creative, I’ll kind of just work your way back to when I was starting to figure out what I was going to do for university I kind of had two routes either wanted to become a social worker, and a youth worker, okay. Or I wanted to go into graphic design because I had discovered Photoshop when I was a 10 year old. I actually remember when layers were like a new thing. Yeah. Which is kind of crazy. Just as a kid, I remember thinking, oh, there’s layers. This is so cool.

Barb 1:55
But you know, he said, Wait a second, I have to stop you there. So 10 years old, and your parents were willing to spend the money on Photoshop? How did you do? Oh,

Victor 2:04
My older brother worked for a local newspaper. Oh, there we go. So I started to play with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe page mill and I would make websites that would never go online. But I started developing things just for fun, based on my hobbies.

Barb 2:19
Okay, I was gonna say you knew your parents buttons, if you could get them to spend that money then?

Victor 2:24
Oh, no, oh, no, it was, I was lucky to have it through a brother. And um, and when I, I ended up actually choosing to go to university for social work. And then getting lucky. And just based on the kind of work I had done in high school, I got to work placements here in Regina, at Squareflow New Media, when they were just a brand new company, a printing shop.

Victor 2:46
So I was one of their first employees. And I did that while I went to university. And what kind of happened was their company kept growing. As the years went by, and kind of by year three of university and working with them, I was at a point where I was actually making more money with him than I was going to be as a social worker. And I was about to have to take an unpaid practicum that I did not know how it was going to afford.

Victor 3:09
So it kind of gave me the opportunity as a kid, I’m gonna leap into this full time I started working with them full time. They kept growing and growing. Eventually, we split off into Square Flow for Web and Flowprint for print. So then I moved solely over to the print side at that point.

Victor 3:26
Beforehand, I was working on the front end web as well as all the print. And then after that, I became a print designer. Eventually. I think I was a manager of some sort. I came to remember my title. Yep. And then I just kind of hit a point that I took a leap of faith and I started to take on freelance work.

Victor 3:47
And then I did freelance work for quite a few people. That’s actually when I met Jim Aho, who I can’t remember if I did work through Brown, but I met him through that. And then I did work for Captive Audience and a few other places. And I actually ended up then working at Captive Audience for a couple of years. And for them I did graphic design and got really into branding and do a lot of really fun stuff because they do experiential marketing. So I was like, creating like custom entire custom displays for like SaskTel’s trade show booths and, and started to work on concepts for augmented reality and virtual reality kind of in collaboration. Wow, Talking Dog Studios at the time. Yeah.

Barb 4:32
And then that would have been one of the early sort of augmented reality studios and productions too, because yeah, yeah, so that wasn’t commonplace.

Victor 4:41
Yeah, it was really neat. They were kind of first on the ground Captive and Talking Dog did a lot of collaborative work for clients. It was really neat to be there. Like I remember getting the Oculus Rift set before it was released. Oh, playing with it and just like, yeah, it was really neat.

Victor 4:57
So I learned a ton of skills at Captive. And then after that, as I mentioned, I knew Jim Aho when at the time he was still with Brown Communications Group and he had kind of headhunted me. He had reached out a couple of times. And then finally, the timing was just right. Yeah, I ended up moving over there and started as an art director and quickly became a creative director. Wow, I spent a couple of years as the Creative Director at Brown.

Victor 5:25
And then, throughout all of this, when I quit school, I also became a big brother, mentor for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. And I volunteered for them in other ways too.

Barb 5:34
I know I have to ask one question there. Did you ever go back and finish school and do that practicum? Or did you switch directions or you just boom, jumped into the workforce and said, Hey, I’m making money and things are going good.

Victor 5:47
I just jumped into marketing, like, like a creative marketing role, where my portfolio spoke louder. I think then, yeah, any schooling was going to so I’ve never had the issue of getting work, because it’s like, well, everything I’ve done. Absolutely. Yeah. For my role. It does. And I actually, yeah, there was kind of a point where I felt like I, you know, had been about 10 years in the marketing industry.

Victor 6:11
It’s a lot of work, like no matter what, and I was a new parent. And I think becoming a parent really shifted my perspective as to what I am? What am I willing to do? Because now family is really important? How do I balance this, I just, I found it really hard to balance to be totally honest. And there was an opportunity with Big Brothers Big Sisters that opened up for their executive director role. And they actually, I ended up becoming their executive director and totally shifting industries.

Victor 6:41
And that’s what kind of led me to where I am now at the Community Foundation is they were one of the funders of Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I was part of their vital signs community network through that role. And when the pandemic hit, and they kind of gave me some insight into I wasn’t sure I was the right, Executive Director for Big Brothers Big Sisters, based on what I thought they were going to need now that the pandemic was a thing, right.

Victor 7:07
And a perfect role opened up at South Saskatchewan Community Foundation. And the timing just worked out really well that I felt like I needed to move here and give Big Brothers Big Sisters some room to kind of reassess what skill set do we need in this kind of new reality? And how can we get there? So I spent a busy amount of time in 2020, doing both roles. And then once I was done with Big Brothers, Big Sisters, I still volunteered and was constantly in contact to make sure they were in place until they got their new Executive Director. Exactly. So that’s kind of that, that’s my journey of like 14 years to how I have this kind of weird split reality. Exactly.

Barb 7:45
There’s this totally eclectic background that, you know, makes you who you are today. So how are you finding the balance now? Because do you have one child or two?

Victor 7:55
Almost 2. One 4 year old and then one on the way in September?

Barb 8:01
Oh, awesome. Okay, so if you found balance hard with one, what’s your plan to tell me about this balance? Because I have yet to find it too?

Victor 8:09
Well, to be honest, my role with Saskatchewan Community Foundation has given me that balance. It’s very flexible, we work in a hybrid model. So there’s work at home or work at the office. Like just the nature of my role, it’s easy to work odd hours. So you know, daycare, daycare drop off doesn’t go well, because you’ve got a grumpy toddler. It doesn’t matter because I can just work a little bit later, that sort of thing. It’s made a huge difference, to be honest. Yes. And another part of it too, and is that you know, either way, I’m working a lot of hours during the day. But what I found working in the nonprofit sector, just in general, that’s different than when I was working with ad agencies is that your work is so focused, like no matter what I’m doing, whatever I was doing Big Brothers Big Sisters was towards impacting youth in a positive way.

Victor 8:59
Now at the Community Foundation, everything is about connecting donors with charities to impact our communities in a positive way. And there’s a million ways you can do that. But you just always have this honed in on. And that was something that that’s something I think just mentally keeps you I think a bit more sane than in an ad agency because you know, in an ad agency, especially as the creative director, you’re on so many clients so your brain is just jumping from Okay, now I’m working with a telecom on how we’re going to sell internet to the next hour. It’s a goal now how do we sell powerline safety? And how do we get this messaging out and then the next hour is something totally different. Totally different. So by the time I get home, my brain is just like I need a rest.

Barb 9:42
Exactly. I don’t mentally exhausted.

Victor 9:45
And that experience is incredible. But it’s for my personal life situation. It wasn’t ideal anymore. Now that I’ve kind of become this parent and when I get home, I can’t turn my brain off.

Barb 9:57
Yes!

Victor 10:01
Yeah. So I just kind of saw, you know, for me, I felt to be a better parent, I needed to make a shift. And then to be honest, once I made the shift, and I just had that clear sense of purpose, I just feel like I’m in a role, I’d never want to leave doing this. And then kind of as a freelancer, the work I do, I get to choose because it’s work, I’m passionate about the work I want to do. And its clients I know are gonna resonate with. So it’s really nice from that lens as well. I get to be kind of a picky, picky designer for fun and then impact the community throughout the day.

Barb 10:36
Exactly. Okay, so knowing how you’re balancing this and because you and I have done a little bit of freelance work together, like, you know, where are you working, then after your four year old goes to bed? Like, where are you? Actually Oh, you are?

Victor 10:50
Okay. That’s, that’s generally what is that bedtime until I’m ready for bed, that’s when I do work. And on weekends, like, yeah, during the afternoon, my partner, they’ll take our son to the park or something. And I might just leave behind and say I’ve got a couple hours, I’ve got a project to work on. And I’ve been pretty good at it. I feel like I have the right workload we’re never run into. I’ve only actually, really, once I’ve run into a situation where I was overloaded, but never, never beyond that. So I’m just really careful not saying yes to everything and kind of I’m committed to the people that I do always say yes to.

Barb 11:28
That’s right. Yeah, having a small and select group of people that you work with on a consistent basis, which actually improves the quality of work. So I share that. So talk to me a little bit about how design contributes to those strategic goals. Because, you know, certainly I can think of many of the creative situations where I’ve been in, and the, you know, the top people often think, you know, it’s just about looking good. And you often hear so many opinions. We don’t like that color, we don’t like yes, well, there’s actually some purpose that goes into it. So talk a little bit about that purpose and how you get there.

Victor 12:08
Yeah, and actually, that’s a great point, I think one of the biggest challenges being a designer, is not knowing how to communicate the client through the path of where you ended up. If you just show the end result, the client has a lot of preconceived ideas. And you have this like, great grand journey of how you got there.

Victor 12:28
So then, what I often see is if a designer does that, they show it, they’re proud of it, they’re nervous to show it. And then the client hates it, because they just wanted the color purple, and it was blue or something like Yeah, so it’s really important to really break it down into the structure and like, almost look at it as like, how are these modular pieces? And how does everything work individually? And how do we bring it together? So often?

Victor 12:53
I’m always hesitant especially if it’s a new client to just say, for example, with a logo, a logo designer, bigger job, I never just like plop up a logo on screen and say, here’s the logo. Love it. Tell me about it. Oh, let’s go through the process. Okay, we had a discussion, we said these are, this is the personality behind your business. Based on what we already discussed, these are some colors that can represent that plus, this is a palette that kind of resonated with you. So these are the colors we’re going to explore.

Victor 13:22
But then even with that, I’ll show the logo in black and white. So you can see this is the design before we add the colors. Before I show the logo will show the symbolism and say like, Okay, this is going to your local Mark is going to be for example, we talked about it being about health. So there’s a heart and then take whatever your initial, so might be like, KB I’m just making up, things might show that and save. So for option one, this is what we explored. When we explore that, here’s how it can look black and white. Now here’s how it looks if we add color. Now here’s how it can look vertical or horizontal, here’s how it can look kind of everything and just build and build and build and then take and based on this, here’s kind of a graphic device that can work with it. Here’s something that we can use in the background.

Victor 14:04
And then after you show all those pieces individually, talk about the meaning of them, make sure they align with the kind of that initial conversation we had of what we’re trying to achieve. And always keeping that goal in mind. You have a lot more success. And then what I often find happens and then I get to the point, but then I show the creative applications like here’s how it would look on stationery or business cards. And by the time you get there, they’ve already gone through that journey with you putting the pieces together.

Victor 14:31
And often what you get is I still usually don’t get like, you hit it 100% on the spot and you got it but what you do get is a really constructive conversation. You go back and say this looks like usually it’s kind of like, Oh, this looks great. But this is why it doesn’t work for me or this. This looks great. But maybe let’s try a different shade of blue. The blues is just not quite right. And it becomes really useful.

Victor 15:00
It becomes a situation where I think the client is also in a better position and more comfortable to criticize it constructively, yes. And to actually go back and not just kind of end up at a wall where you have to start at point zero, but prep work to get there is so important. It’s almost more important than the design itself in many ways. Yes. Because if you can’t, if you can’t communicate your process in a clear, easy to understand way, it can be really hard to get some clients on board.

Barb 15:31
Yes, being able to communicate it clearly, and taking them on that journey with you. Because if you’re traveling the journey on your own, then you’re arriving at the destination on your own. And a big part of any, any creative person’s role is to bring everyone with them. Right? Not just show up and go, Okay, here’s what we’re doing. Right? That’s leadership at the end of the day. Okay, so that makes a ton of sense to me. Can you think back to let’s start with the easy one, tell us about a project that you worked on. And you don’t think about giving us, you know, details, because I know those can be highly confidential. But give us an example of a project that you worked on where everything just melded and came together? It was the stars aligning and telling us about one of those projects? What does that feel like? What Do you think?

Victor 16:22
I don’t know, I think that that happens often now just because of the experience. And because I’m often I’m good at screening a client and knowing like, am I going to be the right person. And just honestly, like, sometimes I’m not the right style, or whatever.

Victor 16:36
So generally, now I kind of end up in those situations, often trying to think of one that I think I was proud of because it was challenging that happened, it was when I was at Brown, and I had just become the creative director. And it was kind of interesting, because the previous creative director that was on this account, was kind of part of the reason why the client actually took the account. So when they left, I think the client, I don’t know if this is me assuming but there’s probably a sense of just like, betrayal kind of somewhere in there just being like, Well, now, it’s like we went from this really experienced person to like, Hi, I’m Vic, I’ve been doing this for two months in this role, and had to really prove myself, so I was super nervous. And it was an entity that had a lot of silos.

Victor 17:25
And I was presenting to five silos in one room, and trying to get five different people with clearly different directions onto the same path. And I didn’t do it alone, I had a lot of help from a client rep there that did fantastic. But we went into the presentation and gave them the options, kind of how I just explained to you really took them through like the full step by step process. And as a result, we hit it right on the head, and everyone agreed on the right option right away. In a situation where like, Everyone was worried it was gonna, it could potentially be hostile.

Barb 18:00
Exactly. So yeah, I can totally see that. What do you think made that situation? Was it taking them on the journey? Or what do you think was the crux of being able to make that work,

Victor 18:11
It was 100%, taking them on the journey and myself and the client rep on there and spending the time to be like, these are who’s going to be in the room. And this is what matters to them, and understanding the person behind it. And by understanding the person behind it, and understanding how they probably want to be communicated to, is going to have a lot more success.

Victor 18:32
And there’s quite a few situations like that, like there’s one client who and this just comes from experience of learning someone is once you learn someone, you know, it’s like, Okay, this one person really wanted to wanted me to kind of put together something that they can then take and present themselves or someone else wanted me to do something where I was very much straight to the point. And by being straight to the point that they were going to be confident with it. And it’s just a matter of like, yeah, every every client had a different approach, just based on understanding of the client. And that’s, that’s where you really get success. Don’t try to make people fit your mold, try to fit into theirs.

Barb 19:09
Into their mold. So when you can work, you know, face to face, you’re in an organization or you’re working directly with a client, I can absolutely see how that starts to come together. But because I know you do freelance and sometimes you get a sketchy email that says can you create this for us? How do you make that work?

Victor 19:31
I think if I was if this was 10 years ago, I think it would be a lot harder like I said now I think just with the experience like as a freelancer I almost don’t meet with anybody in person I do a lot of work that’s not even in province for what I do, or definitely not in city so I Just have a think the benefit of being comfortable on like a zoom like this and creating a connection like this.

Victor 19:54
So it’s always a video call like I don’t like to meet on some phone. I always like to read our persons actually, there’s so much more to talking than just a voice, you know, exactly, you feel like I understand a lot more based on a video. And it’s really the same process just without being in the same room to be honest. And if I ever have, if I get an email, and I don’t know what it is, like I just, I just hit my questions really quickly and easily and right away, send them back. And I’m sure you’ve probably had that for me too, with a couple of new clients where I’m just like, I just got to feel this out. I don’t know what’s expected. Let’s figure it out.

Barb 20:30
What do you do when somebody wants to meet? Do you have the flexibility at work that you can still meet in person? Or do you just say, You know what, I don’t do that anymore.

Victor 20:40
I’m very limited. Like, I think I’ve met with one person. And just with the pandemic, like in my specific situation, like we have a four year old, he can’t be vaccinated sort of thing. So he’s in a daycare where people don’t have that choice. So in any case, we just tried to be pretty low key.

Victor 20:58
So and kind of before I’d always gauge it on, okay, like, well, we’re COVID numbers out there really low, maybe we’ll go to a patio, coffee, or whatever. And there’s a little bit more of that now. But during the pandemic it is definitely like, easy to just be like, no, just, it’s automatically on Zoom, and then play it by ear if someone does want to meet, but I think I’ve only met with people maybe twice in person in the last year. And it was like the one with someone that I already know.

Barb 21:25
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That’s one of the things I’m seeing at this point is, you know, people are getting much more comfortable meeting in person, again, until this last month, these last couple of weeks. What used to be once in a while, is now a daily thing. And you know, as a small business person, if I can accomplish the same thing online, I’m going to try and you know, get it done online, because it saves me a heck of a lot of time and travel costs and buying that coffee, and, you know, eating that muffin, right. And so, you know, I’m a little bit torn. I’m like, we work with folks across Canada. And there’s only a small group that are local, who want to do this face to face thing. Right? Yeah. So yeah, sometimes I’m really torn on that. And I love personal relationships. But you know, I also see a lot of value in Hey, you know, being able to get a little bit more work done.

Victor 22:17
This is what I’ve noticed, too, because kind of two things come from this from personal relationships. I like this one client that worked with us in Saskatoon. I’ve never met her, but just based on our conversations, I would go for a coffee with her anytime in real life, like in non virtual reality.

Victor 22:33
So I think those connections can still be made, it’s just a little bit different. And again, when I’m not working with people locally, this is the only way to do it anyways. And I’m no one instance, I want to see where I’ve done something virtually. And I would never want to do it again. Now that there’s more of a chance, as we did with Saskatchewan Community Foundation, we did a little bit of not a rebrand, but more of like finishing our brand, it wasn’t really ever finished.

Victor 23:00
So we did a brand session kind of internally with staff and board. And normally this is something we’d have a boardroom, we’d have sticky notes around the room we’d be exploring together. And instead, it was like virtual sticky notes, virtual whiteboard. And it was all sitting in a zoom together for like four hours and sitting staring at a zoom call for that long is not good for anyone. And it’s, it’s different. Because your eyes are just arrayed here the whole time. Whereas normally you’d get up and go for a walk, you’d be looking around the room.

Barb 23:32
And talking to people having small interactions. Yeah,

Victor 23:36
So I remember by the time we got to, and I did kind of condense it into a quicker session. And by the time we got to the last part, I could just tell it’s like, oh, people hear their brains are fried, my brain is fried. So that’s the type of thing that I like, given the situation again, like I’ve done that one on one with people, and it’s easy through this, but in a group setting, I’d 100% given the option, I would never go back to virtual for that.

Barb 24:00
Wow, look at that. Vic, we are pretty much at a time. So before we disconnect, can you share with all of the listeners? How would they find you? I don’t know. Do you have any social channels or websites? Or is it just email? How would they find you?

Victor 24:14
Um, I’m gonna plug South Saskatchewan Community Foundation instead of my freelance work. And that’s simply because I’ll just kind of say I’m limited and I’m going to be more limited with this a second child so I’m not going to be expanding that at all are in South Saskatchewan Community Foundation is really where I’m focused on so you know if you’re ever interested in I guess, what a community foundation does how charities or donors can be supported. You can find us @sscf.ca You can look up South Saskatchewan Community Foundation on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and you’ll find this as well. And as I mentioned, like anything marketing communications goes through me there. That’s really where my main passion lies and everything else is kind of for Fun, so awesome. I highly recommend checking us out. We do a lot of work and we’re trying to be louder about it. And it’s important work in our community.

Barb 25:10
Exactly. Wonderful. Thank you so much. That was fantastic. And you’re actually my second guest from the Foundation. And so the more I learn about the Foundation and all of the different ways they touch our community, it’s actually pretty fantastic. So to Vic’s point, if you’re not familiar with the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation, please do visit their website and just learn a little bit more about them. Maybe there’s a way to get involved. Maybe there’s even a way to become a contributor. So please do check them out.

Barb 25:39
If you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live, or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at Abovethefold.ca.

Barb 25:51
I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Victor @ South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

victor.roman@sscf.ca

Ep. 99 Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas Subscription Box

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

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Moms come in all shapes, sizes and colours but what binds us together is our love for our kids and our commitment to doing everything we can for them. 👩🤰👩‍🚀

How about doing something for yourself, that will fill up your cup, to give MORE to your kids, family, spouse and/or partner? 💖

Enter the Stressed Out Mamas Subscription Box! 😀 [Enter code ‘secret10’ at checkout for 10% off!]

Faith Alyssa Peter dreamed up the subscription box as she cared for 5 children at home; from 3-year old twin girls to a 13-year old bonus son, she has her hands full! And now she’s added a thriving business to that list!

Tune in to hear about her subscription box which includes everything from laundry soap to razors to her viral TikTok “Did I Shave My Legs for This?” video! 🤣

Any Dads out there looking for a gift that keeps on giving? This is the answer you’ve been looking for! This is mom / wife approved and available across Canada. Check it out today!

Transcript

Barb  0:00  

If you are a mom, if you have ever felt stressed out, potty training, getting groceries, cleaning the house, and literally just finding your kid sometimes. Today’s guest is going to help you find calm once again. 

Barb  0:20  

Our guest today is Faith Alyssa Peter, and she owns a business called Stressed Out Mama’s Subscription Box. She gives moms that gift of relaxation that we all crave. So nevermind listening to me Faith, take it away, introduce yourself and tell me all about this subscription box. I can’t wait to hear about it.

Faith  0:47  

Well, Barbara, I want to first start off by saying thank you so much. This is a huge, huge honor for me and my little business. Wait a second, let me cause big business. Yeah,

Barb  0:57  

exactly, exactly.

Faith  1:00  

So I started my business about 18 months ago now. And I was looking to bring mom retreats home. Because us moms, we don’t get the time to go on those five fishing trips. Like sometimes our husbands or spouses do or we don’t get to go golfing or we don’t get to do all of those things. And I was thinking to myself, I told my spouse and he was so supportive. Yeah, go out honey, go for a weekend with your friends. And I said, I don’t have any buddies.

Barb  1:28  

So true. That wasn’t exactly true.

Faith  1:33  

Right. So then I thought, Okay, well, let’s do mom retreats. And then I thought to myself, Okay, if I was to do a mom retreat, well, now I gotta check off all the boxes, the babysitter, I gotta pack. I gotta make sure everything’s together. I got to make sure the house is clean. Because when the babysitter comes over, I don’t want them to judge me. And I thought, Oh, this sounds way more stressful to get to the retreat, than it would be for any mom to actually go.

Barb  1:56  

Exactly, yes. And then you spend the whole retreat worrying, what if the baby is sick? What if this happens? What if the dog gets lost? Right? How is that supposed to be relaxing?

Faith  2:06  

Exactly. So I have the opportunity to bring it home for moms with my subscription box. It is all Canadian made products inside the box, which is super exciting to come because supporting local is a great idea. But realistically, us moms don’t have time to spend hours and hours looking for something. So not only is it a retreat package, but it’s also an everyday essential. And what I mean by that is you’re gonna get laundry. So you’re gonna get razors, you’re gonna get shampoo, conditioner, sunscreen, things that you actually need in motherhood. But then I paired it with body scrubs, bath bombs, scrunchie, earrings, jewelry, so many different items to combine motherhood essentials, but still being able to pamper and relax yourself all in one.

Barb  2:53  

That is so cool. The thought of not having to run around to pick up my razors and getting scrubbed, especially for this time of year because like the, like pasty white flaky skin is like coming out of the woodwork right now. Right? Yes, it is brilliant. So, like, how in the heck did this one ever come to you.

Faith  3:18  

Um, I have always been passionate about spoiling myself. So when I first became a mom, eight years ago, I was fortunate unfortunate to be in a very domestic violent, abusive relationship. And after that, I decided I would never be put there again. I had that will in that power in that fire. So I started to pamper myself all the time. And I started to realize other moms looked at me like I was psychotic. You bought yourself flowers. You took yourself for a date? What is wrong with you? I was like, aren’t you supposed to? I’ve got it confused.

Barb  3:53  

You know what I love about that, though, faith. You were empowered to look after yourself. And that’s one of the things that we’re, we’ve got busy lives, careers, kids jobs, our own businesses, whatever it is, we our own self care tends to end up at the bottom of that list. And so creating that no guilt environment where it’s like, it becomes normal to look after yourself. Like we need more of that we need more women thinking like how do I find the time? How do I make time for myself? Right, brilliant.

Faith  4:35  

So then when I met my current spouse, he had two sons, so I got to have two bonus boys. So I became an instant mom from a single one mom to three. Okay, and I went, Oh, this is fun. And then we decided to have one more. That turned out to be twins

Barb  4:54  

One more. Yep.

Faith  4:56  

And living out in rural Saskatchewan. I realized supporting local was extremely difficult. It wasn’t as easy as going down to the local store and picking up something local, it became very hard for me

Barb  5:10  

Really see and I would have thought the exact opposite. I would have thought supporting local, especially in the smaller communities would have been really? Wow. Okay, this is fascinating to me

Faith  5:20  

Because it’s easy to go on Amazon and buy something, have it shipped to your Pio box. It’s not easy to go on a website and say I’m looking for Canadian made laundry soap. What mom, even if you have one kid, is going to type into Google. I want to find Canadian laundry soap. So it’s on Amazon, that it ended up done.

Barb  5:42  

Exactly. Well. And if you’re going on Amazon, it’s like, oh, the kid needs a new bathing suit because they outgrew the fourth one this year or new shoes or? Right. Exactly. It’s yeah. It’s constantly thinking about

Faith  5:56  

It’s just the simplicity of it. And being realistic. us moms, we need simple like yourself, Bob, we were saying before we jumped on the call. You know you have teenagers, you’re still thinking about what those teenagers need to get done. Yep. And you forget about brushing my teeth? Did I take care of myself? Something so simple?

Barb  6:16  

Well, the good news is with the teeth, like you can just kind of, you know, check with your tongue and be like, Oh, no, today, I didn’t do that. Right. You know, it’s so funny Faith. Because when I go to the gym in the morning is there’s lots of times that I don’t see the kids before they go to school. And so my spouse also works from home. And so you know, he has to get them out the door. But before I leave in the morning, it’s inevitable. K, don’t forget this. And he has to take his lunch today. And then she’s got this right. And I give them this checklist. And I know it’s going in one ear out the other because when I get home, oh, no, you didn’t take his lunch today. Okay, I’ll run it over to him. Like really? Right? Why do I bother? Right?

Faith  7:02  

Exactly. So with all that stress on your mind constantly, how are you going to say, Okay, now, I want to go on, buy a foot scrub, you’re not going to do that. So when it is shipped to your mouth on a monthly basis, you get these pampering items, you go, hey, it’s just sitting on the counter right there for me to pamper myself. I’m gonna go grab it, and I’m gonna get these feet taken care of. Yep.

Barb  7:23  

And we’re still going into that season. Ladies, you need to take care of those feet.

Faith  7:28  

Right? So I love coming up with my box names because me and my fiance. He has such a great sense of humor, and I do as well. So last month’s box was called a wooly mammoth. 

Barb  7:41  

Oh my god, god. Oh my god. That’s hilarious. 

Faith  7:45  

Perfect timing for getting into spring. So it came with razors. Shampoo and Conditioner, body butter. And then it came with heatless curls. All of these items have been made here in Canada. But like you’re never gonna get them right before spring and you’re gonna go put on your capris or put on your shorts and go oh, my legs. Right.

Barb  8:11  

Okay, we just think what was that last one? What would you call it? heatless curls. I’ve never heard that hurl.

Faith  8:16  

So they’re this cool thing that they clip into the top of your hair. And they look like basically a rope. But this is a rope made out of silk. So it promotes your hair not breaking. You wrap. I go. Not super damp, but like a towel dry down, wrap my head around it. And then at the end, I come out and I have these beautiful curls.

Barb  8:38  

Like waves and curls. Cool. Yeah. Oh, I like that. Like not doing the hair required. Take it out of these things. Boom hair done. I like that.

Faith  8:49  

right? So I always see on Instagram, all these trendy moms, you see these heatless curls and stuff. But when I go to look, I can only find US based products when I go on Amazon US based products. So I was so lucky to find a lady in Ontario called Laguna August and she makes some. Oh, I was like, Oh my gosh, this is so exciting. 

Faith  9:13  

But then it kind of clicked to me when I went looking and I went oh my gosh, they’re $35 ouch. Yep. Am I going to spend $35 compared to Amazon? That is $12. Oh, right. That’s a huge difference. And when it comes to supporting locals, that happens a lot. Where we go, oh, supporting locals is almost double the price. Can I afford that? Can I do it? But with this subscription box I purchase at wholesale so that you get the opportunity to have a box. Yeah, that is only costing $65. But if you’re gonna buy everything by itself it would be double or triple the amount.

Barb  9:52  

Oh, see, and that’s okay. So that is really smart. Because if you can get it wholesale and you’re doing All the homework for me, that’s a total bonus.

Faith  10:04  

Right? So subscription boxes are going to be, I think the new in thing here in Canada in the US, they are a lifesaver, because you have someone that does all the research for you all the work and takes on most of the cost for you just get to reap the benefits of having something shipped to your door. Exactly, yes, please.

Barb  10:25  

And so does the box automatically come every month? Or do I have to do something?

Faith  10:31  

No, that’s a great thing. So you can sign up for a monthly subscription. Okay, I have month to month, there’s no commitment, you can cancel at any time. There’s a three month option where you pay three months at a time, okay, or there’s a 12 month subscription. Sweet. 

Faith  10:45  

So the cool thing is, I have had dads whose wives have signed up month to month. And then she goes, Oh, you know, I’m feeling too guilty. I’m going to cancel. They go about one month, and then all of a sudden I’m getting a message or a Facebook or something going How do I sign her up? She gets me extremely stressed. I don’t know what to do at all. I know this box kit. Stop coming to my door. Please help me. Oh, oh, I know what you’re talking about. Let me set you up.

Barb  11:15  

Exactly. Oh, that’s hilarious. So but you know, you think about it. Like when you’re even when you’re posting on Instagram. Yes, women are your target. But men are probably equally your target.

Faith  11:29  

Yes. And for men, they get scared because I’ve asked a couple of them in my town like why don’t you sign her up for a subscription? Well, I’m scared. What are you scared of? She loves it. Mother’s Day birthday and Christmas? What are you scared of? Well, what happens if she doesn’t like it? And I said, if she’s loving it three months out of the year, trust me show love it all the time. Exactly. So a lot of men don’t even want to sign you up for this subscription because they’re scared. Well, what if she doesn’t like it? Well, now it’s on me that she hates this thing, and I’m gonna get in so much trouble. What should I do? So I always promote to the women that follow me, you need to tell them, you just say, hey, I want this. Get it for me. Are they gonna be too scared?

Barb  12:10  

You know, but that’s that, that brings up a really good point. Because yeah, our husbands are often unsure. And it’s really hard to help them understand that getting me something that you know, is going to be relaxing. How do you not like that? Right and not like it?

Faith  12:33  

Right and practical. Like, it’s not just relaxing, but it’s practical. So like your guilt of him spending money on you or taking money out of the family budget. It’s not really taking money or the family budget, because you’d be buying this stuff anyways. Totally. Yep. So like, there’s no guilt wrapped around this box.

Barb  12:52  

So you know, it’s funny, because as women, right, we’re looking at the household budget and this much for the kids and this much for groceries. And as you say, husband’s head off on their golf trips, their fishing trips, right? Do all this like guy stuff, which you know, I totally get and they need to do. But then when it comes to spending money on ourselves, we’re terrible. Now, I know I’m really generalizing. Because yes, I confessed. I might have just a small shoe collection. thing, right? Shoes and apps. Like that is my thing. Right? But yeah, if I’m, you know, looking at the budget, there’s no way I’m gonna go like, I need to go buy some leg scrub, like there’s no way that’s gonna hit the grocery list. Or be top of mind when I’m heading through, you know, any department store. So Exactly.

Faith  13:47  

Or like my biggest thing last summer was I put sunglasses into my box. And I was like, oh, wait a second. I think I buy my kids four or five pairs throughout the entire summer that might have scratched marks falling apart. And I like gluing them together just to make it through. Why am I not doing this? What is going on?

Barb  14:07  

Exactly? Do you know what the most hilarious part about that is? I just got new glasses. Today’s the first day with them. Um, but the point of my story is, when I went to get new glasses, I was like, you know, when’s the last time I got them? So I did call the eye store back and say, when’s the last time you had like, prescription for me? Was over four years ago. My kids have been through four pairs. This is like my first pair in four years. Like what the heck?

Faith  14:40  

Right? Something so simple that moms feel that we need to give up. Yes. And then we

Barb  14:47  

We don’t make the time for it. Right? Yeah, I gotta go get a new prescription. I gotta make the appointment. I gotta find time out of the workday. Like I gotta do all this stuff. Just to get glasses that look like you’re actually clear today for the first time. And who knows how long? Right? Right. And so yeah,

Faith  15:04  

we put it off until we get to that cycle of just beating ourselves up. I feel like as moms, we wait too long. So this box teaches you that you don’t have to wait any longer. You don’t have to spend the time. You don’t have to spend energy. I do it all for you.

Barb  15:18  

Yep. So how do you find the stuff that goes in the box? So you talked about this gal from Ontario? How do you find all this stuff?

Faith  15:27  

So usually, I just spent a lot of time Googling and researching and Facebooking, and all of those fun things. To find them. I planned my boxes about a year in advance, because what I do is if you follow me on social media, I always have a poll up there. So my followers get the chance to pick out things. And I don’t even think they realize what they’re doing sometimes, because they’re like, Oh, this is a fun guessing game. I like this, or I like this. Yeah. And then I take the majority of what everyone’s liking, and I put it into a box. And then when the ladies get it, they go, Oh my gosh, I’m so excited. I got this.

Barb  16:03  

So people don’t know what they’re getting before they get it either.

Faith  16:06  

No. So it’s like, a legit Santa Claus.

Barb  16:10  

I was just saying, like Christmas every month, then when that thing shows up.

Faith  16:15  

Right? So I always giggle because Santa is real if you’re listening, but sometimes he likes to tell us moms what he’s getting us moms. So we get a little disappointed as you get older, because Santa needs to make sure that you’re getting what you want. But I get to be that bet that fantastic Santa from when you were a kid and you don’t get to know what you’re getting until you get it.

Barb  16:41  

Oh, that’s even better? Because like you just you never know what’s coming. Right? Like there’s a surprise, it doesn’t matter how old you are. Like, there’s something about that little bit of surprise. Right?

Faith  16:54  

Right. And it’s exciting that when you go to your post office, I love my post office ladies like the one who actually started to subscribe, because she’s like, I always see you with these boxes. And you never tell me what’s in them. And I can’t open them. And you just leave a lot of my customers that say yeah, that actually happened with my post office too. They get so excited because they see each other month after month after month.

Barb  17:17  

So you know what? So that’s a really good point, because I’ve heard that from a number of local retailers trying to ship across Canada is almost cost prohibitive in this country. So how do you make that part work?

Faith  17:31  

So I actually offer my, my clients, I don’t want to say clients, I want to say friends, their customers, but they are my friends because when you sign up, I definitely become your friend. I offer a flat shipping rate. So I offer $12 flat shipping across Canada. That’s good mom guilt kicks in. And if my box is $65 plus another 30 to $40. On top of that, well now you’re feeling way too guilty to spend it. Yeah. And if it’s only an extra $12 on top of it plus your taxes. It’s like Oh, I’m getting a pretty kickin deal for this.

Barb  18:07  

For that price. You can’t even buy a good pair of shoes anymore. So, you know, think of it that way. I’m either gonna go buy shoes, or subscribe to this box. Like come on, dear. Which one’s gonna be better for him?

Faith  18:18  

Right And the crazy thing is if you were to buy from my vendors singly, you’re paying $20 shipping per item per item. So yeah, you get anywhere between five to eight items a box.

Barb  18:32  

Ah, so have you Okay, now this is totally contrary to everything you’re doing but it just popped into my head. And that’s how my brain works when it goes in so I’m gonna come out anyway. Have you ever thought about putting your subscription box on Amazon

Faith  18:47  

Wow, you just like to let all the goodies out of the bag. Oh, and one session don’t you!

Barb  18:56  

Not planned at all.

Faith  18:58  

Not at all. Yeah, actually, this month I’ve been looking into placing them onto Amazon. The only thing with Amazon as you then wouldn’t get the subscription you would just get a one time purchase box which still works great. And gets that awareness out there to everyone that even if you’re on Amazon, you can still try and support local

Barb  19:16  

Exactly. Why wouldn’t it work as a subscription because I know if I buy shampoo off Amazon I can have it show up monthly. So we have a subscription service.

Faith  19:27  

so then I would have to ship all of my products to Amazon warehouse. Oh okay. And I quite enjoy packing the boxes I have learned from opening my business. I’m a worker bee. My favorite part of this business is packaging the boxes.

Barb  19:42  

Okay, yeah, that makes sense. And then but does Amazon take a big cut of the box?

Faith  19:50  

Yeah, sadly they do. So that’s kind of the downfall of it. If I put my boxes on Amazon I will be making no commissions. I got it. I do understand that to get my name out there and to get people to recognize who I am, sometimes you just gotta take that little bullet to get to the big picture.

Barb  20:09  

And you would still get to do the shipping, right?

Faith  20:13  

I’m not too sure I haven’t looked too far into it. So they might charge different shipping, too, they might charge you for shipping. 

Barb  20:19  

Yeah, well, and what I was thinking is, even if you can get your card in there, right, and invite that second month where they get it direct from you, you might be able to turn that into some pretty good, and especially if there was, there’s a way to to do a price difference. So if you get it from Amazon, it’s this much. But if you get it directly from Faith, then it’s only this much. Right? Yeah, bring a few people back. Because yeah, just getting the awareness. It’s huge. It’s absolutely huge. 

Faith  20:49  

The great thing about me is that not a lot of people know about me, so all of my subscribers, like I said, they’re my friends, because we talk on almost a daily basis. And I love that. I hope as soon as I get super, super big, I’m still able to connect with everyone, because that was kind of the basis behind my box was to have a mom community as well. Yeah. So I have a great mom community on Facebook, where we have 700 Women in it. And it is so beautiful that we all just get to connect all throughout Canada, and we just love each other. When someone’s feeling down. We just boost her up. And it’s like, this is awesome. This is what I love to see.

Barb  21:25  

Exactly. So for your social channels, do you just have a Facebook page and an Instagram page? Or do you actually have a group where everybody kind of converges?

Faith  21:34  

Yeah, so I’ve got on Facebook, I have a business page and then I also have a private club. It’s called stressed out Mama’s club. And then, right, which is so unique, because everyone is a stressed out Mom, I don’t care where you are in your motherhood journey. Even I have found that some grandmothers still say, you know, I still worry about my 30 year old child.

Barb  21:58  

Oh, totally. Doesn’t matter how old they are. No, I totally get that. Yeah,

Faith  22:03  

Right. And then I have Instagram, and it’s just dressed up. Mama’s again. And then I also have tick tock which has been interesting, because I started to post about me using my products. And the other day, I posted a video of me shaving. And it went viral. And I went, why are you guys watching me shave my legs? Like, why is it interesting? I’m so confused.

Barb  22:29  

Oh, God, I hear that from so many people that use tick tock. It’s like, the things that I think will go viral? No, I got like a couple 100 things that were nothing. That’s what takes off. It’s like, what the heck?

Faith  22:43  

Yes. Right. Granted, I did that my legs grow for about six months. So they were quite hairy.

Barb  22:52  

Back to that wooly mammoth box.

Faith  22:55  

Exactly. And I didn’t know until I got these Razors that you’re not supposed to lift your razor off of your body when shaving. You’re just supposed to go up and down, up and down. And it will create less bumps. Okay, and less razor burn. So I was like, Okay, I gotta try this. But I want to make sure my legs are super hairy. Yep. To see if this actually works. And I was shocked. It worked.

Barb  23:18  

Wow, I had no idea. Yeah, I’ve always been like, bottom to top, bottom to top, bottom to top right.

Faith  23:27  

That’s how you’re taught? Well, that’s how I was taught at least Yeah,

Barb  23:30  

yeah, exactly. You watch your mom. And that’s what she would do. And oh my god, that’s fascinating. Okay, we have a couple of minutes left. But I have to ask you one more question. And then I want you to tell us how we find you. What is the craziest item that you’ve ever found that you put in the box?

Faith  23:48  

Whoo. That’s a good one. No craziest item as in pampering or as in realistic,

Barb  23:56  

just like, I don’t know, wild and crazy and wouldn’t wouldn’t necessarily think of in a pampering box.

Faith  24:04  

I think the laundry detergent really threw everyone for a loop. They were kind of like whoa, this is really awesome. I never thought of this as a pantry item. But it was Yeah. And then I think the other one would have been my mosquito spray. So you know, spray in a pampering box. People are like, Wait a second. How is this pampering? I’m like, do you enjoy getting bitten by mosquitoes? Because I don’t think this is the best Capri gift?

Barb  24:30  

No, I agree. But you know what, if you like not having to go out and get the laundry soap because you discover that you’re out on Sunday morning or not having to go out and actually find a location that has mosquito spray right now because everybody’s shelves will be cleaned off. Like I’m sorry, but to save me some time and I’m all in. Right so. No, I totally think those were awesome.

Faith  24:55  

I just loved when a dad had messaged me because he was like, I’m confused. I Thought this was like a pampering relaxing box. But she got laundry soap but I was like, Yeah, trust me. She’s gonna find it really relaxing.

Barb  25:09  

A little, you know? Yup. Rightly. Oh, all right, as we wrap it up here Faith tell us like how can folks find you? How can they subscribe? How can they learn about you and give us all the deets?

Faith  25:25  

Yes, so I am on Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok Stressed Out Mamas is how you find me on all three which is great. And then my website is www.stressedoutMamas.ca. And that’s kind of how you get started with me. It’s just fine. Yeah, and those socials are my website.

Barb  25:44  

Perfect. That sounds fantastic. 

Barb  25:46  

Faith, thank you very much for joining us here today on The Secret Life podcast. 

Barb  25:50  

If you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at Abovethefold.ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of the show just on our Facebook page. 

Barb  26:09  

I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember who worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Connect with Faith @ Stressed Out Mamas

stressedoutmamas@gmail.com

Ep. 98 Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Curious to know if Facebook & Instagram Ads are still working?

Or what targeting strategies a local business can use to attract more ready-to-buy customers?

Today’s episode answers that and more!

Leah Mazur has been working in digital marketing for 11 years, 6 of which were solely focused on paid social media advertising.

She worked as an analyst at Canada’s #1 Facebook advertiser analyzing millions of ad spend and as the Senior Director of Paid Social at a large Toronto-based advertising firm.

She got bit by the entrepreneurial bug in 2017, and started Loop Digital, to get clients the results they needed from their advertising spend.

Transcript

Barb

Our guest today has been working in digital marketing for about 11 years already. So I’m convinced just having had some conversations with her means she started when she was about 14. But six of those years were totally focused on paid social media advertising.

And you know, if there’s one thing that we all have in common as local business owners, there’s times where you just can’t get that algorithm to work. So hopefully, Leah is going to give us some real insight today.

She used to work at one of Canada’s largest Facebook advertisers, and spent her days analyzing millions of dollars in ad spend. And she also worked as the director of paid social at one of the large Toronto advertising firms. She’s got some real experience behind her in terms of what works, what doesn’t work. And I know she’s got some great information that she’s gonna share with us today, if you’re with us today. She started her own business back in 2017, and her businesses called Loop Digital. And all they do is paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram. Welcome to the show. Welcome to First Page.

Leah
Thanks, Barb. Thanks for the great intro. I’m really happy to be here.

Barb
It’s so cool to have you here. Now, I didn’t tell anyone before, but you and I have actually known each other for about let’s see my son’s 13. So about 13 years, because that’s when we first met when you’re at the university here.

Leah
Yeah, it was a bit less than that. 2013 was when I was in your class. I checked back on the date. So yeah. Oh, really? Nine years ago? Yeah.

Barb
Oh, so I was still teaching that. Yeah. It’s all just a blur when your kids are literal. It’s just a blur. So, let’s start with you, and Luke digital. So tell us a little bit about what you do in your business? And how do you support other businesses in growing?

Leah
Sure. So yeah, you’re correct. The only thing that we do is paid social advertising. So we do Facebook, Instagram. And we also do Tik Tok now as well. So basically, only the paid side of those platforms, though. So we don’t do any kind of organic posting for businesses or anything like that. Just when a business is ready to put some advertising budget behind their message, we will help them with planning their campaigns, setting them up creating ads, and then monitoring and optimizing and doing all the ongoing testing that comes with that as well.

Barb
Okay, so I think that right away brings up the question, do Facebook ads still work? We all heard the stories after Apple made the changes to their operating system. So does it still work? And what has changed?

Leah
Definitely, yeah. So most of my clients like they’re, you know, they’re all still succeeding with Facebook ads is definitely still possible. Ad costs have been rising. As long as I’ve been doing it, I think just every year more people get into it, and more people realize what a great opportunity it is. And of course, it’s an auction based system, which means that the more people there are bidding for those spots in, in, you know, in the feed and everything, the more the cost is going to go up.

Leah
So, costs have been rising over time, they’re going to continue to rise. And then with iOS 14, what happened was Apple made some changes to the operating system and how they allow Facebook to track people’s behavior after they click on an ad and so that reduced Facebook’s ability to be able to track and report on the campaigns as effectively.

Leah
And so that did cause a bit of a hiccup in a lot of people’s ad campaigns. It was kind of like, you know, q3 q4. Last year, a lot of people were kind of struggling with their ad campaigns. But Facebook seems to kind of have things under control now and it seems like things are back to normal. So that’s pretty good, but costs are definitely always going up. So that is definitely a concern but they still work.

Barb
So, you know, one of the things that I saw as an advertiser is the messages that I got from Facebook and Instagram were quite alarming. Like, they really wanted me to get worked up to get upset about these changes. And I mean, there’s two sides, right? Because the advertiser side, sure I was gonna be missing out on some potential customers. But then the consumer side, there was a bit of safety and security in there knowing I’m not going to be tracked and pixelated and followed everywhere I go. Right. And so what is the reaction that you’ve heard from most of your business owners or most of your clients around the changes?

Leah
Yeah, yeah, you’re right, there’s two sides. And Apple has really kind of positioned themselves as like, you know, protecting the consumer and, and considering the privacy for, for all of its customers, but it I mean, I’m, I’m sure that Apple is going to be rolling out their own, they’ve announced they’re going to be rolling out their own advertising. So really, like, I think that they’re probably going to be using a lot of the same data that they’re restricting Facebook from tracking, I think they just kind of position it as a privacy protection for their customers.

Leah
But I think it’s all just a kind of politics. But yeah, in terms of reaction. For our business owners, they’ve, you know, most of them are not super happy about it, we aren’t able to track our data as accurately in Facebook. Now, there are like, external tools that have popped up that have helped to add additional tracking for business owners. And now Facebook’s got like the conversions API, which makes things more accurate and everything but it’s definitely not as seamless as it used to be.

Barb
Yeah, absolutely. So when you’re talking to a local business owner, who, you know, they’re really just trying to get started, maybe they’ve never even done an ad before? Where would you suggest that they need to start?

Leah
Um, definitely start with a creative message. And what you want to say, this is really the most important part about advertising, I think a lot of people get really caught up in the targeting or the way, the settings on the campaign, or using CBO, or abo are different, like tactics like that. But really, the best place to start is just making a really good ad making something that people that your audience wants to see that they’re going to engage in.

Leah
So think about it from their perspective, what would be something that would be interesting for them and engaging for them? To that they’re going to want to click on like, how can you take your message and make it interesting to people and think about it from their perspective and make something that they are really going to resonate with?

Barb You have a really good quote on your website, and I forget how exactly it goes. But it said something to the effect of, you know, people will read a message because it’s of interest to them. Sometimes it’s an ad, sometimes it’s just a post. And it doesn’t have to be online, like we as human beings actually engage with content that’s offline as well, right now.

Barb
So it kind of walked me through that process. Because I do think that that’s a little bit different for a lot of advertising agencies, they tend to focus on you know, your audience and their age and this and that, where you’re really focused on the creative. So walk me through your process, how do you, how do you go about creating that? That great creative, and how would a business owner do that?

Leah
Mm hmm. Yeah. That’s really, yeah, what you said about, you know, people read what interests them. And I think that with paid social advertising, that is even more true than ever, because when your ad is showing up on social media, it’s going to be showing up like in the Instagram news feed in the Facebook newsfeed or on Tik Tok or whatever. It’s an interruption to people’s entertainment, right?

Leah
And so when you think about the context of where your ad is showing up, your ad is going to perform best if you make it blend into the rest of the content. So your ad should be, you should think of your ad like an entertaining Tik Tok video or like, Instagram reel or something like that.

Leah
And so thinking about making your content, like a piece of organic social media content, or making it similar to that kind of style is what really works well.

Leah
And yeah, yeah, you mentioned you know, traditional advertisers think about the demographics and everything. And I think we’re really, I’m really noticing a shift in marketing away from demographics and more towards psychographics. And thinking more about what is my audience interested in? What problems are they having? What desires do they have? Where do they want to be?

Leah
And speaking to those, rather than speaking to the demographics, and when you can do that you are actually creating ads that are going to really resonate with the audience, as opposed to previously, a lot of people thought of their targeting is happening, like, okay, let’s target, you know, 30 year old women in New York or something like that.

Leah
But now you can make an ad that targets someone who has a specific problem that speaks to that specific problem. And the algorithm will actually figure out who has that problem and show the ad to them itself. So as advertisers, we need to think less about those specific demographics and more just about making ads that speak to the right people.

Barb
At the right time. Exactly. And, you know, that’s something that we talk a lot about in order to find the problem. What problem do you solve for your customers, and, you know, problem or reward doesn’t matter which perspective you look at. Customers want something when they spend money, if they go for supper, the problem they want to solve is the fridge is empty, and they’re hungry. Or it’s Friday night, I’m way too tired to cook. And so I just want to go out and grab something.

Barb
So when you start to think about defining that problem, are you able to help businesses define their problem? Or do you find that by the time they come to you, they’re like, this is the problem we solve? How does someone you know wrap their head around? What problem can they solve, and then get that broader voice to folks?

Leah
Mm hmm. Yeah, I think a lot of business owners do have an idea of this. But I do like to really do a lot of research into it as well, because I think it’s so important to really understand it from the customer’s perspective.

Leah
So I think the best way to do this research is to look at customer reviews, testimonials, and find out what you know what the customers are saying, what did they get out of it? What was that process like, of going from not having whatever the business offers, to then having it? And how did that change their life? Yeah, so definitely going to the customers and getting the problem from them, as opposed to from the business owner and what the business owner thinks the problem is, because it’s not always in alignment.

Barb
You know, and I would even argue, in a lot of cases, I don’t think it’s in alignment, right? I use something as simple as you know, buying groceries. So it doesn’t matter where you buy your groceries, we don’t go and buy groceries, because we want to spend money on food, we go and buy groceries, because we have teenage kids that are eating us out of house and home, the fridge is constantly empty, and it’s too expensive to go out all the time. Right.

Barb
And so our motivations to buy groceries aren’t based on I want to, it’s a need to. And I think when we can start to think about our solution from that perspective, it really helps us get into the customer’s mind.

Barb
I like what you’ve said about you know, going read your customer reviews, what did they appreciate the most? For some of them, it’s you know, the ease if you’re a plumber, oh, goodness, they made it so easy. One phone call, they came, you know, they did everything.

Barb
And so sometimes it’s as simple as just making it easy for your customers to do business with you, the less friction there is the better, right?

Barb
So when you’re working with a local business or with a business who wants to advertise online, how do you counsel them in like, what’s the right time to start? So if Catherines with us today live? So Katherine called you up and said, Hey, Leah, we want to think about working with you. What questions would you ask Katherine first to see if she’s ready? Um,

Leah
I would start by asking like, where, like how customers are currently finding the business. And I always, I always want to make sure that the offer itself in the first place is attractive to people. Because advertising really only amplifies what you have already. Like if you have a business and an offer that people just aren’t interested in, and you haven’t tested and proven like the validation of your market, then advertising is only going to amplify what you already have, which is nothing so you’re going to get nothing from advertising.

Leah
So I always really like to make sure that the business has a good foundation already, that they’re able to get customers organically. That people are happy with the service and everything. Just to make sure that they have kind of like that foundation set. And then and then after that, it’s great if they have good assets, like, you know, testimonial videos, we could use anything like that for, for creating the campaigns. And then I think that’s pretty much it. I mean, advertising, you know, you can start early, even just with like a small budget. Yep.

Barb
And so would there be a different approach, let’s say for a local restaurant that relies 100% on foot traffic, versus maybe a dog trainer who works with clients online? So is there a different approach that you take? Or would, you know, maybe recommend a business?

Leah
Yeah, definitely. So a local business? I mean, you know, obviously, the targeting is going to be different, you’re going to want to target you know, locally in that region, because those are the people that are going to be able to, to go into it. And so in that case, I feel like our message needs to be a little bit broader and appeal to more people, because you’ve got kind of a smaller audience, right? You’re only targeting like one city or one neighborhood as opposed to targeting all of Canada or something. And yeah, and then it, if you’re, if you’re the dog trainer that can help anyone, then you can have more, I would recommend, like niching, a bit more so that you can figure out like, how you can really speak directly to one type of customer?

Barb
Yep, no, that makes perfect sense to me. And when you’re working with a client, depending on whether they are that online, online dog trainer, or you know, the local business, do you help them find the budget that might be, you know, the right budget? Or how do you determine that?

Leah
Yeah, um, budget. So for a budget, you want to work backwards from your numbers. So ideally, you want to understand what your target CPA would be. So the CPA is the cost per acquisition, or how much you want to spend to acquire a new customer.

Leah
So say the dog trainer, charges $500, for their, you know, dog training package, and they have a certain amount of costs, you know, software they have to spend, or whatever, in order to do that. Maybe it’s $100. So then, you know, they’ve got $400 profit, and for their time, they want to be compensated, like, say, 250. So then you’ve got $150 left to work with, that you can, you know, if they can acquire a customer for $150, then they know that they’re, they’re going to be hitting the numbers that they want to hit and get, get the margins that they want to get.

Leah
So then starting from that, $150, and you can work backwards from that you can run a test with data, you can see what your, what you know, cost per click is like what your conversion rate is like, and figure out what that CPA actually is. And then if it’s reasonable to be able to kind of do some testing and optimize and get it to that point.

Barb
Can you just say that one more time for me Leah? So walk me through that process? Because I think that was a fantastic explanation. Just walk me through that one more time, if you would.

Leah
Sure. So, um, so you need to figure out what, what is the price point that makes sense for you to acquire a new customer for on Facebook.

Leah
So once you figure out what that price point is, then you can have kind of like a goal that you want to get to, right. And so from there, when you start running ads, you can, you can, you can start collecting some data.

Leah
So for example, you’ll start learning what your, what your costs are on Facebook, what your cost per click is, if you’re getting say you’re getting like 100 clicks on Facebook for $1 a click, so you spend $100 and get 100 people clicking through and say you have a 1% conversion rate, so why not have 100 people actually purchases, then your CPA is going to be $100.

Leah
Because you’re getting you’re spending $100 to get 100 people to click through and one of those is purchasing, so you know that your CPA is $100. Right. So that’s kind of how you can look at the numbers and, and, and work backwards from where you need to be. And that’s how you can know if you’re successful.

Barb
Exactly. Do you find that the conversion rate for folks coming from either Facebook or Instagram are quite a bit lower than traffic that hits the website on an organic basis?

Leah
It depends and um, yeah, it really depends, I would say that it kind of depends on how long the customer has been nurtured for often, you know, someone might come from Facebook, and they’re not going to convert at that point. But maybe another month later they go and they Google the website, and then they go to it. And then they convert at that point. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s really from like, it’s really from the Facebook ads originally, right? So Facebook ad traffic, it? Yeah, it can be. It can seem like it’s not as engaged. Yeah, exactly. But you’re often like building up those relationships to nurture later as well.

Barb
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So you mentioned psychographics earlier, and I think about the dog trainer, psychographics would be a fantastic targeting tool, because we know who’s interested in you know, pets, and dogs and behavior and right, like, we can really pick those things, you’re a local restaurant psychographics probably have less influence.

Barb
And that might be where physical location, and even age fall into a little bit more. Because for some restaurants, you know, kids can’t even be there. So you have to be 19 and over things like that. And so is that how you differentiate when you look at a local business, the plumber, the restaurant, okay, it’s location based. Now we’re going to use more demographics, because, you know, even think about the plumber? Well, psychographics aren’t gonna matter, because we all have furnaces in our houses. Right? And so is that how you differentiate? Um,

Leah
I would actually say, no, like, the more and more I think that, I really feel like psychographics is just almost always the better way to go. Because even for that restaurant, I wouldn’t recommend limiting your demographic targeting any further, because you’re already limited by geographic, you’ve already got like, just only a neighborhood or a city that you can target.

Leah
And when the more that you limit, and the more that you restrict Facebook, the higher your costs are going to be. So if you’re targeting, say, you know, Regina, and I, in that case, I wouldn’t recommend, you know, targeting only people of a certain age group or something like that, because you’re going to limit your targeting even further.

Leah
And the Facebook algorithm, it’s, it’s very smart, it’s got billions of data points from, you know, the past decade. And so it really knows who, who’s resonating with that ad. And what happens is, as people start to click on the ad, engage with the ad, even it notices who’s like stopping there, scroll to look at the ad and read it. And it’s learning who’s engaging with that ad, and it will figure out the demographics on its own.

Leah
And if you limit your demographics, then, you know, Facebook might say, Okay, this restaurant mostly appeals to people in their 30s. But maybe there are some people in their 20s, that Facebook knows that they’re going to really like that restaurant just because of other certain interests that they have in common with those people in their 30s. So Facebook is able to find those outliers that might not necessarily fit into that demographic group. But in that way, you’re not restricting the algorithm from even being able to reach out to those people,

Barb
Right. So you might actually be able to target if you’re the plumber, you target based on maybe home ownership or something related to house and home. And the restaurant might look at interest, like sports bar, pool, those sorts of topics. So we could you and I have no idea what’s from that perspective, what’s available in Facebook ads, like if those psychographics would even be available. I did notice the other day, when we were in there for a client that they’re removing some of the demographic targeting, which I presume is just targeting that isn’t being used actively.

Leah
Um, yeah, actually. So in this case, with any local business, I really wouldn’t recommend any interest targeting. So I wouldn’t even recommend targeting, you know, based on, you know, like you said, sports bar homeownership, I would go totally broad. And this is something that I’m seeing working better and better and more and more broad targeting is what I would recommend, especially for a local business, again, because the location is so small.

Leah
You don’t want to restrict the algorithm any further than it already is. And so when I say psychographics, I’m thinking less of the targeting and more of like in your ad creative, really making sure that your ad speaks to the type of person that you want to speak to. So if you’re a plumber, you can speak to a problem that someone might have with their plumbing. And in that way, the ad will find the people that resonate with that problem.

Leah
So, the targeting more and more is happening at the actual ad level, because Facebook knows who’s responding to the ad and who’s resonating with it. And, then they’re able to find more people like that for you. So that’s why they’re removing a lot of the damage or a lot of the interest targeting. Because it’s, it’s just becoming less and less important to have that kind of targeting.

Barb
Okay, no, that makes perfect sense to me.

And that’s it. We’re out of time.

Thank you, Leah, for joining us today to talk about Facebook and Instagram and what’s working today and what’s not anymore.

If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live, or just reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at Above the fold.ca.

You can even submit questions in advance of our show just on our Facebook page.

I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and Googlegirl. Remember you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 97 Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Environmental engineers by training, Kim Baldwin & Carmen Johanson saw a huge problem with the receipt waste, costs involved and customer tracking of those receipts.

But they didn’t stop at the problem. They also have the solution!

PayTrail. An electronic receipt tracking tool for customers to get out of receipt jail for free, pass go on all the scraps of paper laying around put the power back into the customers’ hands on how they want to track their retail purchases.

Welcome Kim & Carmen! And many thanks to the @cultivatorsk for their tireless support of entrepreneurs.

To learn more about PayTrail or install the app, visit:
FB @mypaytrail
IG @mypaytrail
LI @paytrail
Tw @myPayTrail
🌐 mypaytrail.com

Transcript

Barb 0:01
Today’s guests are solving a $121 million problem, a problem we all have and contribute to. Each year in Canada, paper receipts are used to equal 130,000 trees 130,000. That’s huge. To put that in other terms, you could wrap around the Earth 100 times, just with the amount of paper receipts that are used in Canada in a single year.

Barb 0:36
We all do it. We collect receipts when we go to the dollar store. When we go to Walmart, when we show up at a local retailer, there are over 15 point 1 billion receipts issued every year in Canada.

Barb 0:52
So our guests today are going to take us down the path for how we can stop spending that $121 million. How we can stop slaughtering, killing those 130,000 trees, how we can start to solve this problem.

Barb 1:08
Environmental Engineers by training Kim Baldwin and Carmen Johansen saw a huge problem with the receipt waste, the cost involved and customer tracking. How many times have you had to take something back and you’re scrounging to find that receipt, they have the solution.

Barb 1:26
Their company PayTrail is an electronic receipt tracking tool for customers to get the receipt jail for free, pass go on all scraps of paper that are laying around and put the power back into the customers hands for how they want to track the retail purchases. So I’ve done enough talking, I’m gonna ask Carmen to go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the company.

Carmen 1:55
Hi, Barb, thank you for having me.

Barb 1:57
It’s a pleasure to have you here.

Carmen 1:59
Yeah, my name is Carmen Johansen. A little bit about myself is I’m originally from Stockholm, Saskatchewan. I went to the University of Saskatchewan. And that’s where I obtained my environmental engineering degree. Following that, I started working and soon realized that there’s a bigger problem here that I want to focus on. And that was receipt paper. Every time I would go to a till I would say oh, no, I don’t need my receipt, thinking that it just wouldn’t be printed. But that’s simply not the case, which I realized quite quickly.

Barb 2:35
And then mentioned, does a retailer still print it and save it for their record? Yeah, for

Carmen 2:40
sure. So retailers print receipts for their own records as well as they put one for you. And when they print one for you, regardless if you want it or not. It’s still printed. Can they just crumple it up and throw it in the garbage?

Barb 2:52
Oh, wow. Okay, I didn’t realize that. Okay.

Carmen 2:55
Yeah. Yeah. And I just got tired of seeing that. And I thought this is a pattern that shouldn’t exist anymore in this day and age. So I wanted to do something about it. And that’s when we started PayTrail. And I became a co-founder with my partner, Kim.

Barb 3:08
Excellent. Well, Kim, on that note, let’s have you introduce yourself.

Kim 3:12
Yeah. Thanks so much for having us, Barb. My name is Kim Baldwin, I like Carmen, a small town in Saskatchewan. I was born in Davidson, Saskatchewan. So a little more central than Carmen was down south. I also went to the University of Saskatchewan, which is where Carmen and I first met. And then I started working. And Carmen mentioned this receipt problem that she saw a couple years ago. And she just was like, this is crazy, how don’t we have a better solution?

Kim 3:47
And I feel like I really resonated with that. And as soon as she mentions it, like lots of the people we talk to about this problem, as soon as you say it out loud, you start to see it all the time. And so that’s what happened to me. And that’s where we created PayTrail.

Kim 4:03
So paytrail is, like you said, a platform committed to eliminating receipt paper waste. We partner with stores to allow their customers to directly transfer and track their receipts from the tills to a user account that is in the version of an app on your phone.

Barb 4:23
So take me back to some of those early conversations that you guys had. We all tend to talk about the things that bug us. But not everyone takes the step and says okay, I’m going to start to solve this problem. So how did you guys actually sort of make that leap? Find yourself knee deep in entrepreneurship? Take me back to some of those conversations. What did that look like?

Carmen 4:49
For sure? This is actually I love I wish this was a meet cute, but really, it’s our idea starting cute. So, um, it’s a really funny story. Actually. I knew Kim when I had previous conversations about this issue, you know, we would talk about this issue.

Carmen 5:06
And I feel like every once in a while you’re surrounded by a group of friends. And you have those who have a million dollar idea who have a million dollar idea that can, you know, pay for us all to keep living and none of us, none of none of us have to work. And I always would always say, Oh, I have an idea, I have an idea. And I would always talk about this receipt one.

Carmen 5:26
And Kim really believed in it. And it was just these funny situations where we talk about it every once in a while. And then after, again, this problem kept becoming so regular in my life in such a constant that I could see it all the time. I started really thinking a lot more about it.

Carmen 5:43
And then one day, Kim and I, because we do spend a lot of time together. We were at a gin distillery, just having a drink. And we were just kind of talking about it a little bit more. And I think I asked her right then and there. I was like, Do you want to pursue this with me? Yeah, I was. I was honestly just a shot in the dark. I was like, if any of my friends are gonna be able to do this with me, it’s gonna be you. So do you just want to try it? I don’t know if it was the gin talking. Here we are now.

Kim 6:15
Little did we know. A little did we know it was our first team brainstorming session at a gin distillery. Exactly. Yeah, the rest. The next day Carmen followed up and was like, Were you serious about that? And I was like, Yeah, I think we should do it. And then we started googling. Yes,

Barb 6:35
Exactly. Because then the googling starts and the brainstorming and the, you know, the notes on the napkins or any little piece of paper that you can find because your brain just starts to turn, doesn’t it? Are all these ideas percolating? K. So from that time from that, that, you know, conversation, the gin distillery to when it started to actualize what was the time period? Was it pretty quick? Or was it fair?

Carmen 7:00
It was pretty quick, I would say it was over the course of like a couple months or maybe a month actually not even that long. As soon as we had those conversations, we knew that we needed to talk to somebody in the space because we didn’t know anybody in the startup space.

Carmen 7:12
So we wanted to reach out to a couple of the incubators here in Saskatchewan, to kind of see from their perspective. And again, we just utilize any link to anybody we ever know. So Kim asked her dad, who knew another startup person’s father, K, and somehow we got a connection to a startup in Regina that we just requested. Like we have a meeting with you just to kind of ask about things like, what life is like and how it works and what we should do and who we should talk to.

Carmen 7:44
And again, just taking those leaps of reaching out to anybody to learn. And from there we Yeah, had a meeting with Hannah from a cultivator in Regina. And yeah, that probably was over the course of a couple of weeks. And then oh, wow, following. Yeah, I was really quick. And then following that Kim and I had our first full day session of just kind of mind mapping this all out.

Carmen 8:07
We sat at my kitchen table for probably seven hours just on our computers trying to, you know, Google, what is a startup? What do you need to become a startup? What is the pitch deck? Like we knew nothing, and we just took it all by storm. It was really an exhausting first day, but we knew we were in the right place.

Barb 8:26
Good. No, that’s super exciting. So that was Hannah from the Connexus. Cultivator. Right. Yes, yeah. And so are you a part of that cultivator? Are you a part of any of the cultivators at this point, or because you’re both still full time gainfully employed as well? So you’re trying to do both. So how do you balance that time then?

Kim 8:43
Yeah, so we participated in the cultivator Start Program, which was incredible. Like I think Carmen and I both agree, it really set us in the direction that we are still going. It taught us how to reach out to people, make connections and do customer discovery. It honestly just gave us so many tools.

Kim 9:05
And then we are not currently officially a part of any of the other cultivator programs. But we still are on the cultivator slack. We probably talked to Hannah from the cultivator every single day. And so yeah, we’re still very much involved in that community. It really becomes one of the greatest things about the Saskatchewan startup community is it becomes just like such a tight knit connection. And as soon as you’re in it, it’s like everyone’s there to help. Everyone’s working together. Like we’re all on the same team. And so we’re very, very much involved with cultivators. We love the crew over there.

Barb 9:47
Yeah, those connections that you create that network. I would guess that it’s invaluable because there’s almost always someone who has faced a similar challenge who can help you through any of your current challenges. Right.

Kim 10:00
Yeah, yeah, the amount of times that on the cultivator Slack channel, someone will just post in the general group and be like, This is what I’m looking for. I’m looking to solve this problem or I’m looking for a connection, who knows something about this topic, and it’s just a thread of responses like, hey, I can reach out to this connection, I can maybe help you. It’s incredible. They’ve really fostered a great community there.

Barb 10:26
And so are all the cultivators working together? Is that just the Connexus cultivator?

Kim 10:32
Just connect this cultivator there so there’s another incubator in Saskatchewan based in Saskatoon called CoLabs. Right? And they’re pretty connected to us, we have some connections. So seven shifts in Saskatoon. We have some amazing mentors who work there. And they’re very involved in CO labs. And because Saskatchewan is so small, it’s pretty, it’s pretty interconnected. Whether you’re a part of the CoLabs community or the cultivator community.

Barb 11:03
Got it. Okay, that makes great sense. So, where are you at right now? If I go on Playstore? Can I download it?

Carmen 11:13
Um, yeah, so right now, we actually are like, at this very moment, releasing our app to the Google Play Store. Hey, um, so that’s really exciting. That’s, uh, last night, we just had like an hour and a half long meeting with our developer, just, you know, finishing out some final bugs and discussing some, like, absolute last minute things.

Carmen 11:31
But yeah, we’re in the process of pushing that out. So that’s really exciting. And it’s a huge milestone for us. We have yet to be released at the Apple Store, that’s just kind of strictly because Apple is really well known for taking a very long time to go through that process.

Carmen 11:47
So we have a couple of weeks, or a couple weeks behind on the Apple app store front, but we are really excited. And yeah, we’re almost there. So it’s really exciting. And we’re really pumped up to really set it to everybody, which we will be kind of posting on our social media when that all starts, so.

Barb 12:03
Okay, and that was gonna be my next question. So when will you make the big announcement that it’s available for download? As soon as it’s sort of in both stores? And I’ll say beta tested? Or is that what this first phase is? Is it? Is it a beta test?

Carmen 12:18
For sure. So we have been lucky enough to beta test already in, I believe it was in October, November, we pushed it up to a few people, I think it was maybe a group of 20 individuals to utilize the app and kind of go through what bugs were major, what additional features were were people wanting and kind of narrow down and create sort of narrowed down what we’re looking for this app to be as well as you know, expand in the areas that it needs.

Carmen 12:44
So we were able to do that and have interviews with all of our beta users. And that’s where, and from there we created what we have today. I think we will probably like to wait, maybe one or two weeks after the apple release, just to make sure there’s no insane bugs or something wild. I don’t know, lights, your phone on fire? Who knows? We’ll just make sure nothing crazy happens. And then of course, we’ll do a major announcement probably, you know, realistically, one week or two weeks after it actually was in the store.

Barb 13:10
Awesome. So like a ballpark a month from now. It should be publicly available to everyone and your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, your cousin your aunt’s your uncle’s like they will be downloading to get it out there. Exactly. Yeah. So that’s the consumer side of it. How do you get retailers? Well, okay, let me rephrase that question. Are you hoping that consumers push retailers or retailers push Consumers

Carmen 13:37
I’ll start this Kim, if you want to add later, I, our plan here is for our user base to push retailers. So that’s why we’re really seeing this user app first, just to sort of get it out there to get traction to see a bunch of downloads happen. And then we can take that to our retailers and say, Hey, like we have this, you have this problem. And we have this solution. And we also have a community and we can bring that community to your store. And we can benefit you in multiple ways and you know, create that relationship. So that’s kind of what our plan of attack was when starting with this user app first.

Barb 14:13
Okay. And so let me just put on my retailer hat, which I am not, but if I’m a retailer, right now, I’m spending the money to get my til tape anyway. And so I presume that there’s a cost to be in the app, which, in theory, if I didn’t have to buy the tail tape, or even if I only had to buy half of it, I’m going to save money, I’m going to pay my fee. So do they pay like per transaction? Do they pay a percentage of a transaction? What does that look like? Because I presume there’s no consumer cost.

Kim 14:46
Yeah, yeah. So our revenue model model is a volume based subscription fee. So as a retailer, you sign up and you pay a fee kind of per month to be direct. We integrated with the platform. With that you’re right. So there’s a really tangible cost. In terms of just receipt paper, we based our initial pricing on approximately 25% of the receipt paper that the average retailer like small, medium, and large retailer are bending on receipt paper a month, it’s about 25% of that cost.

Kim 15:25
So with that is kind of you know, you, you want to have as many people using the paytrail option as possible, because every time you get a paytrail receipts, that’s one less piece of paper that you are both printing, which suck for the environment, but also you’re spending money on which sucks for you at all, on top of that some of the things that you can do through the app, when you’re partnered with us is you can push personalized ads through the app.

Kim 15:55
So we have a specific deals page, that right now is just kind of email marketing from retailers. But if you’re directly partnered with us, then we can kind of build feature ads and deals and discounts for you and kind of push those specifically for your store. And one of the things is because if people are using it every day, because most of the time, people get at least one receipt a day, they’re kind of opening up that app almost every day, and then they kind of see those deals and see your advertisements that you’re wanting to push.

Barb 16:28
Yeah. So how does the receipt get to my account? Do I have to give the retailer my email address? Or is there a QR code or a barcode that they scan and it then is connected to my account?

Kim 16:38
Yeah, so there’s a couple different ways Carmen and I’s goal through paytrail is really universality. We want it to be a tool that shoppers can have all of their receipts. And our vision for the future is that every single receipt is just directly transferred.

Kim 16:57
But we know that takes some time. And there’s some building blocks there. And so right now through the app, you can scan, you can manually enter a receipt, and then you can transfer it directly from the till using your PayTrail email. So when you sign up for a Patreon account, you just sign up with your phone number, and then your PayTrail email becomes your phone number out of PayTrail. com.

Kim 17:20
You can also change that and add an alias or nickname. So mine is Kim@mypaytrail.com.

Kim 17:28
And then at any retailer that uses that email option at their till, you can use that PayTrail email, and instead of it going to your inbox and getting lost and cluttered. And then having a bunch of marketing emails come through, it goes through the receipt directly to your receipt library.

Kim 17:46
And any marketing emails that get sent to that goes to your deals page. And then there, if you want to look at them, that’s great. You can look at them. And if not, then they’re just automatically deleted after a couple of weeks. And it really keeps everything kind of clean, keeps events. Yep.

Kim 18:02
Eventually when we partner with those retailers, which is what we’re looking at as our next step, we will be building out direct integrations to point of sale systems, which is that direct transfer.

Kim 18:16
So you think it might look a little bit different depending on the point of sale. But you think of you know, having an apple wallet card and scanning a QR code from that card, and then the til kind of knows this is the direction this is where I need to send this receipt based on the kind of the information that is being communicated in that QR.

Barb 18:40
Okay, um, no, I kind of lost my train of thought there. Because I realized, I also have one other thing that we have to talk about today. Um, but so when I look at the app, the Oh, look at my kids, my kids are teenagers, they never check email. So if these receipts were coming to their email, and would be a waste of time, I love that the phone number or an alias is going to sort of keep all of my information together.

Barb 19:04
And whether it’s my you know, power bill and my energy bill, or it’s the purchase of back to school supplies, the thought that it’s all in one place. For me, even as a parent, it’s like, Oh, my God, like so much easier. Is there also the ability and maybe this is a future thought to have that family account where you know, my husband’s phone and mine and the kids like everybody starts to tie together. So there’s one family account, everything’s together and it doesn’t matter if I’m taking my son’s shoes back or if he’s doing it on his own, that kind of thing.

Carmen 19:39
Absolutely. That’s a really exciting idea. I think that kind of plays into a thought that Kim and I have discussed which is you know, maybe having like group work accounts where where you’re, you’re with your team, you share receipts in case you know your project manager, whoever may be needs to approve them, you know, being able to see them into you know what, for anybody’s in that group is a really good idea.

Carmen 20:03
And that can absolutely be applied to families, which is a great idea. Creating those groups within the app is definitely something Kim and I want to do in the future.

Carmen 20:13
Right now, we’re just hoping it doesn’t, you know, crash and burn on the App Store. So you guys. It’s gonna be so great. It’s just, you know, one of those things that we’re definitely looking forward to doing in the future.

Carmen 20:26
Right now we’re kind of focused on single buying, being able to categorize what you buy, marking your purchases of warranty and putting in warranty dates, you know, putting notes or comments on things that you purchase, you know, maybe you said, Oh, I bought this for Kim for her birthday, in case you in case she ever asks, you know, oh, I need to return that, you know, being able to make those notes and comments. We’re kind of focusing on that right now. But definitely, definitely in the future. That’s a great idea. Okay,

Kim 20:53
We’ll see as well. Right now, you can export receipts, and then you can, like, email them to someone else, or text them or things like that, for Carmen’s example of buying something for someone’s birthday or something like that. It’s really easy to transfer them over.

Kim 21:10
But we do see eventually speaking to that, more like sharing within the app so you know, sending it to Carmen paytrail account instead of texting it to her if I have to send her seat. So yeah, if there’s, there’s a ton of very exciting, sometimes we have to narrow ourselves back in, because we just start talking about all of the things that we could add and all the features. And our developer has to be like, Whoa,

Barb 21:38
Exactly. And that’s like any entrepreneurial business, you have to prioritize. I know every once in a while I start thinking, hey, we could do this, we could do that. And my folks sort of bring me back in and it’s like Barb, you’re already complaining about, you know, how many hours and stuff you’re already working? If you start doing something else, it’s not good. So, yeah, prioritization, it’s a skill I never learned well.

Barb 22:03
Okay, so how in the heck are you guys balancing it all, because your developers are doing a ton of the code writing, I presume? You guys are the brains behind the operation. But you both shared with me that you’ve got some pretty exciting hobbies, and you love to get outside and do some nature. And, you know, I presume that you actually have family and friends, you need to see how the heck are you balancing it all?

Carmen 22:23
I think the key is this is a secret. This is a startup secret. The key to balancing it all is never sleeping. You just stay up all the time. And you never sleep. And you try to work off. Yeah.

Carmen 22:38
No, but in all honesty, I would say that is our biggest secret. There are two of us. Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know how solo founders do it on their own. They’re, they’re superheroes if they can do it on their own. I think Kim and I are able to balance that workload and kind of, you know, be able to split it up as to, you know, what we do best?

Carmen 23:01
You know, I focus on this, Kim focuses on that it’s been very, very manageable. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we do. We do stay up late, we do work hard. And we do have to sometimes prioritize, you know, PayTrail, what we’re doing our passion over, you know, those nights to go for drinks with friends. But I think we’re just very lucky that there’s two of us to push through this. And you know, two of us, we have somebody to lean on through it all. And I think that’s just a really good way to go about it. i Yeah, I’m not sure if there’s anything else to add, Kim.

Kim 23:33
I think one of the things like when we first started it, I think both of us had a lot of troubles, giving ourselves a break or realizing when we needed a break. And I think breaks and startup world is like an evening. It’s not like, Oh, I’m taking a week off. It’s like, I’m going to spend four hours just trying not to think about this thing. I think you realize that you found something that you love, and you’re passionate about when you cannot stop thinking about it.

Kim 24:02
But it’s important to kind of realize when you need to just allow your brain to have a break and put your phone down and take your Apple Watch off. Because if your phone is down, your Apple Watch is going off.

Kim 24:17
And so that’s one of the things I think as we’ve kind of gotten further and further into it, we probably both are better at communicating. You know, Carmen said to me a couple of weeks ago, I’m going to watch a movie tonight. And it’s just like, Okay, perfect.

Kim 24:33
Like I know that Carmen is just going to take a couple hours tonight and turn her brain off and just enjoy the downtime and I’m not going to bug her with things unless it’s like you know, I really need this kind of thing right away. And so, when it comes to balance, it isn’t always something that you can have 100% of the time but making sure you get it sometimes is something that’s important. That’s something we’re working on. But we haven’t necessarily completely achieved that. Yeah,

Barb 25:04
Exactly. No, I totally get that. Ladies, believe it or not, we’re basically out of time. And so can I get you to share? Like how to folks learn more? How do they find your social channels? And I guess, you know, mark your calendar, because you guys should be in the app store, buy about, the 23rd of March, or both app stores by boat the 23rd of March, give or take. And so yeah, give us the details so that everybody can find you.

Carmen 25:34
For sure, absolutely. So you can find it at www.my paytrail.com as well as on all social medias. We’re on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, of course, at my Paytrail. I yeah, I would say mark your calendars for the end of the month here because we have some exciting things coming down the pipe.

Kim 25:55
You can reach out to us like on Instagram, send us a message or LinkedIn send us a message. We are pretty quiet on social media as we kind of make our way through and make kind of quiet progress. And it’s really just working our way up to a big release. But you can still even though we’re quiet, you can still reach us on the platform.

Barb 26:17
And that’s it for today. Thank you to Kim and Carmen for sharing their exciting updates with PayTrail.

Barb 28:21
If you are interested in being part of their retailer program, or their consumer program, please watch for updates and releases on their Facebook and Instagram accounts. Retailers in particular if you’d like to be a part of their pilot program, just reach out to Kim or Carmen directly and they can give you more information.

Barb 28:43
Thank you for joining us today for the Secret Life.

Barb 28:46
If you’d like to be a guest you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at abovethefold.ca just a reminder, you can submit questions in advance of the show on our Facebook page.

Barb 29:02
I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 96 Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Today’s guest helps businesses show up in search results, get more leads & sell more products with intentional, Google 1st content.

Meg Casebolt is the founder of Love At First Search, an agency devoted to helping online businesses get found in search results & turn those new readers into leads, subscribers and sales.

Meg lives in Rochester, NY with her husband, 2 boys and 80lb pit bull. She has an insatiable appetite for s’mores, Broadway musicals and romance novels.

Connect with Meg @ Love At First Search
📧 meg@loveatfirstsearch.com
🌐 loveatfirstsearch.com
IG @loveatfirstsearch
Tw @loveatfirstsearch
LI @megcasebolt

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Today’s guest helps businesses show up in search results, get more leads and sell more products with intentional Google first content. Meg Casebolt is the founder of Love at First Search, an agency devoted to helping online businesses get found in search results and turn those new readers into lead subscribers and sales.

Barb 0:25
Meg and her family live in Rochester, New York. And one of her family members even joins us during the podcast, her 80 pound Pitbull. She has an insatiable appetite for smores, Broadway musicals and romance novels. But it’s not a conversation we had time for.

Barb 0:42
Today’s episode is brought to you by my very own, Get Found Digital Marketing. If you are a local business, or nonprofit who needs to attract more customers, more support, or simply make more time. Check out Getfound.live. Now on with the show.

Barb 1:02
So Meg tell us a little bit about yourself and your business.

Meg 1:06
I am the founder of Love at First Search, which is a marketing agency. We’re really focused on helping people to show up in Google for the most part.

Barb 1:16
wow. Okay, so wait a second, let me get this straight, you’re not telling people that they have to do all the things on social media and they can find new clients?

Meg 1:26
That’s correct. I actually also have a podcast called Social Slow Down, because I think that so many of us start marketing our businesses on social media because it is free, and it has a low barrier to entry and our audience is already there.

Meg 1:41
And then we get dependent on those social channels, because they’re built to make us dependent on them. You know, if you set up a Facebook page, then suddenly you have to post on that Facebook page at least once a day in order to please the algorithm gods.

Meg 1:57
And it can be very stressful. And a lot of those decisions about whether or not what you’re creating is seen are completely out of your control. And also, I think with a lot of social media channels, people aren’t really there to make purchasing decisions. They’re there because they want to be entertained. So we can market our business on these platforms. But like, the people are there for cat videos, they’re not there to buy.

Barb 2:22
Exactly. And you know what, I could be wrong. But I believe every social media company, if you look at the stock exchange, is actually an entertainment company. So their goal is to entertain you and distract you. Right? And so okay, if I’m going to think about finding my customers from Google, and I want to stay away from social media, which I always like to call social media, the equivalent of junk food from a marketing perspective. Because sure, it’s fun, it tastes good at that moment, but then it’s gone, you get absolutely no nutritional value from that junk food you just consumed. How you enjoyed it in that moment while you watched your cat video, but then it’s gone. Right? And so how do we start to build long lasting content that compound value for our business? When you look at Google?

Meg 3:13
Well, I actually want to disagree with you respectfully about social media, okay, I don’t think that it’s necessarily like the root of all evil, and it’s not going to do us any good. And it’s just sugar and dopamine in our brains. There is, I mean, it has been documented that social media does give you that dopamine in your brain. So there is definitely a correlation there between that.

Meg 3:35
But I like to think of it more like social media as a place to nurture the relationships that we already have, you know, if there are people who are already in a Facebook group, or we’re connected with them on LinkedIn, or they’re following us on Instagram, whatever that connection point looks like, they already know us, that’s a great way to get to know people who are already familiar with you.

Meg 3:57
So whether that’s commenting on their posts, or you know, DMing them and sending them some information. It’s a good nurture space. Right?

Meg 4:06
I don’t think that social media is the best platform for discovery. Okay, yep. And that’s the difference that I like to put in here is people aren’t going to, you know, LinkedIn and being like, Who do I know that’s a plumber, right? Like, your basements flooded. You go to Google, and like, this happened to me, right?

Barb 4:27
Very top of mind. It’s very timely.

Meg 4:29
I wasn’t like, oh, I have two inches of water in my basement. Let me go look for a hashtag about it. So I can find someone who lives across the country right away when I have a problem. I go to Google to solve that problem. And I’m much more likely to take action on that decision because I am actively seeking out a solution to my problem by being in Google.

Barb 4:53
Do you think it matters what kind of business you are?

Meg 4:57
I think that the types of things that people want or expect to find from you are different. I do think that almost all businesses can benefit from having some search traffic.

Barb 5:08
Okay. Yep, I think that’s very fair. So if I look at and so let’s, let’s build on that the whole idea that you can nurture relationships. If you’re on social and your audience, you can tell in your reach and your impressions, your numbers are high. But nothing’s happening. What would you say to a client? So I’ve got all these followers and you know, my videos are being viewed, but my bank account is dry. How do you help a client with something like that?

Meg 5:40
I think the problem is that if you, if you are focused on metrics that are not related to revenue generating activities, then you might be tracking the wrong things.

Meg 5:52
You know, it’s wonderful to have a lot of people who love you, it feels really great to know that you’re getting lots of engagement on your posts. But if people aren’t buying from you, then potentially either something is wrong with you’re a little bit off, not wrong, maybe a little bit off with your messaging and the types of information that you’re sharing with your audience, or you haven’t trained them to go to your website and check out what your services are, what offers you have, what products you’re selling.

Meg 6:20
So it may require a bit of a shift to your social media strategy to include more information about how people can work with you. Or you may want to diversify your marketing.

Meg 6:31
And as you were talking about a couple minutes ago, before, what, wait, no socials, not all bad, it’s just not ideal. It’s not the only way. Right, one of the things you were trying to get at Barb is you can create information that’s on your website, or that’s on a specific type of content channel like YouTube, like a podcast that people can find in a much more evergreen, long term way than what you’re creating on social media.

Meg 6:58
And so I think, you know, if you have a big social following, but you’re not making a lot of money from that group, either adjust the way that you’re talking to those people to retrain what to expect from you more, spend some time creating something that when people are searching for that solution, they find you.

Barb 7:18
Yes, absolutely. One of the things I like to say to the folks in my audience is that when we think about Google, customers are trying to solve a problem. You have a solution, they have a problem, Google helps you make the match. And so whether your solution is plumbing, or maybe your solution is executive coaching, anything in that spectrum, people are looking at it, they have a problem, we go to Google with a problem.

Barb 7:47
So while I’m talking with my folks, I always like to think about how do we build something that is sustainable, and helps you continue to grow investment in your business, the end of the day, when we’re done with our businesses, most of us hope to either sell them or have some value built up in there. Right. So how would you do it? What do you think about compound value in content? What do you think about Google, Google Content having value?

Meg 8:18
Well, I think that there’s a couple different benefits to having a strong presence on Google.

Meg 8:26
The first is probably the most obvious, which is if you’re getting traffic to your website, from whatever search engine of your choice, you know, 95% of your traffic’s gonna come from Google. You will also throw in Bing, Ecosia, DuckDuckGo, and all those right like, but, you know, having search traffic to your website, if you’re thinking of selling your business or trying to find a way to move along, that is an asset that has taken a long time to generate and will move even if you like, sell your website that will continue to go to the website if you don’t change anything.

Meg 9:05
So that is an asset that is incredibly valuable and can be monetarily determined what that value is. Yeah. And there are, you know, tools that will do that for you and say, if you’re getting this much traffic for these keywords, and you need to pay for that traffic, here’s how much it would cost.

Meg 9:25
So that’s right does add a monetary value to the assets that you’re creating. And I think the other benefit to you long term when you’re thinking about, you know, the overall value of your company, is the brand awareness and the authority that comes from showing up in those search results.

Meg 9:44
When somebody looks for something and they see you show up. They trust that Google has already done a lot of the research and the vetting to give the best solution that they can based on what you typed into that search box. People trust search results more than they trust, even like friends and family recommendations, a lot of times the research says that I don’t, I don’t always trust Google as much as I trust my friends and family.

Meg 10:09
But the research says yes, it is one of the most trustworthy sources of information. So if you’re thinking about when people are looking for a solution to their problems, they trust Google more than they trust, you know, Yelp.

Barb 10:24
Exactly, yeah. And I think there’s an expectation that the content on Google has already been vetted, so that we’re not getting the spammy content showing up in our search. If you think back to some of those first Google ads, do you remember how spammy those Google Ads used to be?

Barb 10:40
And I believe that to this day, that plagues the click through because we all click through on something that was just pure garbage. And so people don’t want to click anymore. And in fact, you know, I talked to many people who are like, I am never clicking on those ads. They are the worst ads, and they’ve changed so much. But people still don’t trust them.

Barb 11:02
And so I think Google actually hurt themselves a little bit when they started with those ads. Definitely. So what do you think? I don’t know, let’s just say top three? What are the top three things that people need to focus on? When they think about trying to get found on Google?

Meg 11:17
Yeah, I would say the first thing would be technical, it would be making sure that I’m gonna, I’m gonna throw three things into my first answer, BB. So I’m trying to break the rules a little bit. I would make sure that your site loads quickly, that it is secure, and not likely to be hacked, and that it looks really good on a mobile device.

Meg 11:41
And I want to talk about that last time a little bit. Google looks at the cell phone version of your website before it looks at the desktop version of your website. Yeah. So if you can’t navigate around it, or if you don’t, like when you go to order food from a restaurant, you have to like to scroll into the PDFs to figure out what exactly it is. That’s not gonna work. Yeah, Google doesn’t like that. Because people don’t like that. Yes,

Barb 12:05
exactly. And that PDF, that’s not readable by Google. So you’re actually not helping yourself, by having all of your content hidden away in that PDF, get the content onto your website, let Google actually read that content. And hey, when I’m looking for the best chicken wings in my city, now, you might come up because you’ve got chicken wings on your website, right. And that’s one of the things that I net, a lot of people forget.

Meg 12:30
And that’s the second thing that I was gonna say is make sure that the words that people are looking for are on your website. This is where we want to be really clear about what we offer and who we help, and not be so clever. Yes. And

Barb 12:47
focus on the words that the customer uses, not your industry jargon. If you’re a plumber, I don’t care about the bits and bytes, and whatever else might go into replacing my furnace, tell me in my language, that you can replace my furnace after hours on a long weekend on a Sunday. And hey, you know what, you’re gonna get my click. So is there still a third one?

Meg 13:10
I would say that since you know, a lot of the people that we’re talking to at our local businesses, I would say that the third thing that you want to do is set up your Google business profile, which used to be called Google, my business is the same thing.

Meg 13:22
But basically, your Google business profile is the information that would show up in your Google Maps listing. So that’s a free tool that you can use in order to make sure that you’re showing up on Google Maps so that people who are local to you can find you easily and understand where you serve.

Meg 13:38
If you’re a home based business, you don’t have to put your home address in so people can come by your house at all hours. Oh, yes, sir. Knocking on your doors to get around that? Yeah, definitely get that set up and start to use that to ask for reviews because Google pays attention to where your reviews are coming from. And if people have like, used their Google account to write a review to your Google business profile, it will mean more than if they post on your Facebook page with a reveal.

Barb 14:06
Exactly. Yeah. And I think the one thing I would add to that is because Google business profile is such an amazingly strong tool for local businesses, those same words that you wanted to use on your website to help customers understand the problem you solve, you want to use those in your Google profile on your posts in your description, you want to make sure that Google makes a connection between those two pieces, and that customers see you in those top three listings that show up in your search results. Now, where you are made, do you guys still have a three pack? And I’m hearing rumors about some larger snack packs or local packs being tested by Google? So do you guys have three right now or do you have more?

Meg 14:50
We still have three where I am. Okay. Yeah,

Barb 14:53
I’ve heard of it in a couple of countries. They’ve been testing 10 packs. And I’m like, wow, that actually feels a little bit overwhelming. And then what happens to your organic search results? Yeah, and businesses that should be there. So that makes that first page pretty darn long if 10 businesses still get to stay there. So I don’t know if that’s maybe in larger markets? I don’t know. I’m curious to see where that will go. Do you remember hearing the rumor last year that they were going to start to charge us for our Google Business Listing?

Meg 15:23
You hear that rumor? And then I think what they did instead is they did the local search ads. So instead of charging for businesses, now they’re allowing people to basically provide ads on Google Maps? Yes. But not everyone needs to pay for them. So similar in the way that there are Google ads on specific search pages, but not all of them. And, you know, I’m fine with it.

Meg 15:45
If people it’s kind of like, when you go to Disneyworld, and some people want to pay for the Fastlane and some people don’t like that’s all that it is, is you can choose to pay to go to the front of the line, but then you’re paying for every single click, whereas exactly organic folks are going to wait longer. But it’ll be a less expensive outing to Disney World than everyone still gets to ride the Matterhorn.

Barb 16:05
Exactly, yeah, no, that makes perfect sense. To me. That’s a very good comparison.

Meg 16:12
Clearly I have young kids,

Barb 16:15
yeah, no, don’t give them an IV using like the teenage comparisons, I’m one of the things that I find really cool about Google is you can get your website on Google, by doing the work yourself, you can get your listing into that snack pack or that local pack by doing the work yourself.

Barb 16:31
In both instances. Google’s not asking you for any money. Right? If I want to do something on most of the social media channels, other than run organic content that disappears within minutes or hours of being posted out there, I have to pay something.

Barb 16:48
And so in that way, I find that Google lets you build your business on their foundational rock, so to speak, at a much lower cost or investment. I don’t have to post to my Google listing every day, I don’t have to worry about, you know, creating videos, and no, I can and they might get more engagement.

Barb 17:09
But I don’t. I don’t have that sense of I have to or I disappear. Right? Where I find on social channels, I have to get a post out there, watch a real one for a week, I better get something out there, oh, I haven’t posted a video, I need to get a video out there. So there’s a lot of pressure that comes along with maintaining those social profiles, especially if you’ve created numerous profiles over time, right.

Barb 17:34
So when you start to think about the, I’ll say, the amount of work, the time the effort that goes into either maintaining your Google or maintaining your social, what’s your gut feel on what you hear from your folks about, which is easier and where they’ve had more success.

Meg 17:54
I would say that the amount of time that you’re going to eat, let’s put it this way, you’re going to spend time on your marketing, no matter what. And the platform that you choose to create first is your choice. But this doesn’t have to be an either or situation you can create for social and then copy and paste that and expand that into a blog post. Yep.

Meg 18:18
Or what I tend to recommend to people is to search first, create the evergreen content first, and then repurpose and distribute it out to social media. Yeah, so for my business, we start all of our content from YouTube, because that’s the most time consuming place where we can be spending time you know, like for me to sit down and record a YouTube video is going to take me 45 minutes, even if it’s only a 10 minute video, it’s going to take me 45 minutes.

Meg 18:52
But then once we have that YouTube video edited down to that whatever, 10 minute time slot, when we get it transcribed, we turn it into a video, we strip out the audio, we turn it into a podcast, we take excerpts from it, we put it on social media, we take clips from the video, and we turn them into reels, which we can then put onto you know, YouTube shorts and Instagram reels, you know, I take 45 minutes to create that we turn it into 10 or 15 different pieces of content and put it into a scheduler that can continue to push that out repeatedly.

Meg 19:25
Exactly. It’s up. The process doesn’t have to be to create the one thing and then create the next thing the next day and then create the next thing the next day and always be in a loop on it. Exactly. It’s possible to maximize like if you’ve heard of the strengths finder, one of my top five strengths is Maximizer.

Meg 19:44
Why create it 10 times if you could take one thing and turn it into 10 things.

Barb 19:48
Exactly. Yes. So I always like to talk about Google first content, create for Google first, whether that be YouTube or your blog, wherever that fits, and then start to create all of those secondary pieces of content, because different points are going to attract different customers.

Barb 20:07
Some are going to find the YouTube video and subscribe and follow along with your message. Others are going to prefer to sit down and read a blog post, right? It’s been transcribed. So it’s all those bits. And I’m just like you where I want to create for Google first. And then I can turn every blog post into 10 different social posts that show up, you know, over the next three months and bring traffic back to my website.

Barb 20:31
So something that, okay, you’re doing really good. You do it in 45 minutes, I probably do it in 90. Right, but you create the video, and it’s there forever, as long as it’s correct. And you know what, when it’s not correct anymore, boom, go in, hit the delete button, right and do the new version. Because if there’s one thing that Google does like to do to us, oh, we change the rules today, we’re just gonna change it up a little bit. So now we’re gonna do it this way. Right, one of the most common things that we see coming from Google.

Barb 21:02
So yes, I agree with you wholeheartedly. How can you create Google first content that helps you build and grow your business, attract new customers, and then think about those secondary uses for that content? Because the more you can push your content out there, people will see it, engage with it, and comments start to follow, right. And I think that’s a big part of how we start to attract more customers into our space. Now that describes our process. Meg, you and I are marketers. And so our brains are hardwired to be like, Hey, how do I get my message out there? But what if I’m a plumber? How do I take that same process? And make it my own? How? What do you want me to show on YouTube? Don’t show me changing a furnace filter? Like, what do I do? What do you think?

Meg 21:54
I would say that a lot of times, especially if you’re working in a local market, one of the things that you can do is have, you know, case studies and conversations with the customers that you’re working with to tell their stories. The benefit of doing that is that you can also if especially if you’re working in a local market, say, you know, I helped Meg had a Meg’s house in Rochester, New York had a flooded basement, and we were able to dry it out within 24 hours and save the, you know, the priceless foot painting that her grandfather made, and get that dried out.

Meg 22:31
You know, like by telling the stories, I think that can especially be an amazing way to do it in local markets. Because it’s not some anonymous person around the internet. It’s this person in this town who Hey, actually, I know her, especially in smaller towns, you know, everyone, and if somebody has given their permission to share that story, then you trust it even more, when you see a face that’s recognizable to you, even if it’s just like, Oh, I saw her in the grocery store. Right? It doesn’t always have to be your best friend. Exactly.

Meg 23:03
Have a, you know, acquaintance level relationship with somebody that’s going to benefit you as well. So it doesn’t always have to be, you know, here’s how, Hey, your basements flooded. Let me show you how to fix your sump pump. No. That’s not how to is not always the best solution. That’s right, telling the story, developing trust, explaining your process, explaining the benefits of working with you all of that can go really far.

Barb 23:31
Yep. And when I think about what you’re describing, that’s Google’s know, like, and trust process, right? People have to get to know you, they’re gonna come to like you just like our friendships, right?

Barb 23:42
We didn’t meet our best friend and go, Hey, you’re awesome. Let’s be best friends and get to know the person you found those common experiences with, you found common ground, you’re like, hey, you know, I kind of want to hang out with you a little bit more. Right. And so you move through that process where you go, now, I trust you, I know you. Now I want to be your bestie.

Barb 24:05
And it’s no different when we think about that customer journey, to get to trust where somebody is going to actually spend their hard earned money with you have to have built that relationship. And that is where he will say that, you know, you can build it all on Google, but by being there very regularly with social media that helps build that relationship. Right. And so I think that, you know, being able to move customers through the spectrum, that’s one thing that social media can help us do is move through that process, right?

Meg 24:43
Like trying to mute myself because my dog has decided that this is the time that he needs to hit him scratch. Oh, and scratch sorry. This is real life, right? Like,

Barb 24:55
Exactly, yes, we might be at the tail end of COVID but this is still a real life reality podcast.

Meg 25:02
Since 2013, this has always been my real life. Exactly, you make a really good point, which is that it can take a while for people to trust us enough to buy from us. And I also like to point out that SEO is just the introduction, right? People don’t need to go back to Google to remember who you are, they might continue to find you if they continue to search for new things and trust you more every time you answer one of their questions.

Meg 25:28
But I like to think of it when you’re saying like, we’re, we’re starting to develop a friendship. It’s like when you get to us, when you when you’re on Google, when you’ve used SEO to get onto Google, you’re just swiping right, it’s just getting the first date. Yeah.

Meg 25:43
And then it’s up to your website, to get the second date and the third date and to figure out how to get that person’s, you know, email address, so that way you can keep in touch with them. And then it’s social media’s job to continue to grow and email marketing is so important to continue to grow those relationships, I think even more so than social email is going to be the thing that helps people decide to buy from you. So don’t think that SEO is the end all be all solution. SEO is an introduction to new audiences.

Barb 26:14
Yes. And I think that’s a great analogy. I like that SEO becomes the first date. And once they hit your website, you know, are they swiping left? Are they swiping right? Like what do they want to do with that relationship? Right? And that the power is entirely in your customers hands. So it’s your job to make sure that you’re serving the content to the customer that they’re looking for. Right? Is that a fair statement

Meg 26:36
Your job, that you’re helping them qualify whether or not they’re a good fit for you?

Barb 26:41
Isn’t it? It’s okay, as a business, to not be a good fit, right? It’s okay to prequalify your customers and say, Hey, here’s who we work with x, we don’t work with you. And that’s okay. It’s not something you see a lot, but it is okay.

Meg 26:58
It’s just as important to know who you don’t work well with as it is to know those that you do work well with otherwise we’re in to carry on this metaphor. Otherwise, we end up going on a lot of first dates and kissing a lot of frogs. And for those of us that are, you know, running businesses that aren’t traffic based that are relationship based, we would rather get to really great relationships sooner by not spending a lot of time on, you know, discovery calls that are people who are not a good fit. Let’s let them go find someone else. That’s exactly it. Release them to go find what they need. Exactly.

Barb 27:33
Yes, I hear you make believe it or not, we’re already at a time can you share with folks how they would find you? I know it’s the fastest 26 minutes of your life.

Meg 27:44
Yes, please come over and find me at loveatfirstsearch.com. Or if you’re a podcast listener, go into whatever your podcast of choice is, and search for social slowdown. That’s my podcast to talk about finding ways to market your business without being dependent on social media.

Barb 28:00
Awesome. All right. Well, thank you to everyone for joining us today for Secret Life. Thank you Meg for popping in talking a little bit of Google and a little bit of social. And just sharing a few of your secrets around how you support your clients. And what you’re seeing is working out in that Google space.

Barb 28:17
If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page @Abovethefold.ca.

Barb 28:28
Just a reminder, you can even ask questions in advance of our live shows.

Barb 28:33
I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and GoogleGirl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 95 Karen Kobussen from CanBall Game

Karen Kobussen

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Karen was born an entrepreneur, but didn’t realize it until she was 45 years old when she took the leap and bought a failing business in an industry she knew nothing about and turned it around into a profitable venture with her daughter as her partner.

Since that time, Karen Kobussen has started 3 other businesses, with failures and mistakes just as common as the wins and successes, which has made for a wild roller coaster ride on her entrepreneurial journey!

It was also during this time that she realized a family member had a serious substance use problem, and she became a vocal advocate for evidence based resources that support families to move from helplessness and hopelessness, to understanding and empathy through kindness, compassion and science.

Through sheer determination, a handful of ‘ignorant bliss’ and a massive amount of willpower and fortitude, Karen creates opportunity in every moment, and tackles her life and business challenges head on… with both the wins and losses contributing to her personal growth and her humble nature.

Connect with Karen at Canball Games:
📧 canballgames@gmail.com
LI @kkobussen
Tw @KarenKobussen
FB @karen.kobussen
IG @karenkobussen

Transcript

Barb 0:01
Our guest today is a born entrepreneur, but she didn’t realize it until she was 45 years old when she took a leap and bought a failing business in an industry she knew nothing about. She turned that business around and made it profitable with her daughter as her partner. Since that time, Karen Kobussen has started three other businesses with failures and mistakes, just as common as the wins and successes, which has made it a roller coaster ride on her entrepreneurial journey.

Barb 0:34
It was during that time that she realized she had a family member with a serious substance abuse problem. And she became a vocal advocate for evidence-based resources that support families to move from helplessness, and hopelessness to understanding and empathy through kindness, compassion and science. Through sheer determination, and a handful of ignorant bliss, as well as a massive amount of willpower and fortitude, Karen created opportunity in every moment and tackled her life and business challenges head on, both with the wins and losses contributing to her personal growth, and the growth of her businesses. With all of that, welcome, Karen, such a pleasure to have you here. Oh, hi, Barb.

Karen 1:31
Thanks for having me.

Barb 1:33
It’s an absolute pleasure. So you do have to kind of start with the story. Three businesses since the age of 45. And because I can see you right now, but no one else can. I’m guessing that 45 was about six months ago. So you’ve been busy for the last six months.

Karen 1:49
Yeah. Thanks, girl. So cute. Um, yeah, no, it was a few years ago. Um, it’s actually crazy how time flies like when you just said that? And I’m like, man, it does feel like six months ago. But it and that roller coaster have been just to go on ever since. So yeah, it’s been a few years. But wow, what a ride.

Barb 2:10
Exactly. So tell us a little bit about each of the businesses. I of course know Kanwal because we’ve had a chance to talk about Kanwal before. But let’s give everyone else just a really broad landscape for the businesses that you’re involved with.

Karen 2:23
Yeah, I think so. I’ll maybe just go in chronological order. That’s kind of the easiest thing to do. Yes. So I actually used to live in Regina. I live in Saskatoon now. And I was working on a contract for a company down there back in the 2000. And aughts. I don’t know how everyone says that about 2005-2006. Okay. And a girlfriend of mine invited me out to Regina beach for the weekend, and I had never been there. And I thought, oh, man, that would be so much fun.

Karen 2:50
But honestly, we’re gonna get a little personal here today, Barb, I hope that’s okay. Yeah, absolutely good. And anyway, she invited me out to the beach for the weekend. And I thought, oh, man, that would be so fun. But so here I had a little problem personally, I have kind of really weird chicken skin on my legs. I’ve always called it my chicken skin.

Karen 3:12
Okay, and so I had a really hard time shaving my legs, even as a tean youth in a team. And I was very, very, very self conscious about that always my whole life very, very, I lacked so much confidence in my ability to wear shorts or a bathing suit, and I just almost never did. Okay, so anyway, that’s how this whole story gets started. And yep, kind of interesting.

Karen 3:36
So, my coworker said, Oh, my goodness, I said, I can’t go. And I sort of told her why such, you know, very sheepishly, and she said, Have you ever been sugared? And I said, I don’t even know what you’re talking about. Yeah. What is that? Yeah. And she just didn’t even let me answer. She picked up the phone. She called her girl who sugars which I had no idea. Yeah. And made me an appointment right then and there and said, basically, you’re coming with us go get go see this girl right now. Yep.

Karen 4:08
So I’m okay. So like half an hour later, I have this appointment, I jump in my car and drive to east Vic I get into this place. And this girl picks up this big gooey glob of paste. And she places it on my leg. And she kind of rubs it in and then she kind of pulls it off and all the hair is gone.

Barb 4:30
I just happened

Karen 4:31
It was such a cathartic moment. I almost started to cry. I was like what is happening right now and why am I just finding out about this? Yeah, now. So that was my first experience with sugaring.

Karen 4:46
I was so blown away and like literally the confidence in my appearance and my body came back instantly Barb it was oh, I believe it. It was bonkers. Yep, so anyways, so that was in 2006 I continue to get sugared. In Regina for a couple years, I was actually driving from Saskatoon to get sugared in Regina when I moved back because I couldn’t find anyone here.

Karen 5:12
So then finally I said to my girl in Regina, Hey, can you find me someone in Saskatoon that does this with this particular brand. And so she did her research and she said, yeah, here’s a girl’s number called the girl up. So now we’re in about 2008. Can I meet a girl here in Saskatoon, I start getting sugared. And then, and I’m like, her biggest fan, right? And I’m telling everyone, Italy. Yeah. And I helped, like, so I had a lot of business experience, just from my work. I was working with the industry association, membership based Industry Association. And so, um, you know, just talking to people, I’m a natural extrovert.

Barb 5:52
I can’t tell it all actually.

Karen 5:54
just came very naturally to me if you can believe it, but yet on the inside, I was super self conscious of confident body shape, you know, ashamed person. So this really helped me and I thought we are doing so much more here and just this treatment, this service. Like it honest to God, it just blew me away. And that’s what so that’s why I said when I sent you some of those little points for that introduction. Yeah. Like, I mean, the minute it happened to me, I’m like, Oh, my God, who needs to know about this? How can I help? How are we growing this? And it wasn’t even my business.

Barb 6:33
Yes, exactly. At least not at that point in time. Exactly. Yeah.

Karen 6:38
So the girl who had been sugaring here, um, she, she wanted to open her own salon. So I was like, Yeah, I’ll help you like, what do you need? What do you need? What do you need? So, you know, just making connections sourcing supply chains, doing different things like that for her doing some social media back in the day, which was completely different.

Barb 7:01
Changed last week, never mind if it was a year ago. Yep.

Karen 7:05
Yeah. So she started her business in about 2012-13. Somewhere in there. And then all of a sudden, probably within about two years. She got married, she got pregnant, she got divorced. And oh, the personal upheaval of her personal life at that point in time. She just couldn’t manage it all anymore. Yes, exactly.

Karen 7:26
And her business started to fail. And I didn’t want to see that happen because I was such a disciple. Yes. So in 2016 while my daughter then I said you should learn how to do this. I think that you’d be really good at it. And she did. And she was okay, so I had her. I still have my friend even though she kind of wanted an exit strategy. And I bought her business for $10

Barb 7:50
Oh my goodness. Oh my Wow.

Karen 7:55
Right. And what I didn’t realize is it was in a big place and it was so deep into debt. Yeah. I bought all the assets and all the liabilities, okay. And, and I thought, Oh my God, what did you? What have you done? Yeah, what have you done? You’ve literally set yourself up to go bankrupt. Oh, my goodness.

Barb 8:15
Okay. And so did she have a physical space store front or just inventory?

Karen 8:23
Yep. Huge space full service salon. You know, everything: hair, Pedi, Mani, massage, laser, like everything ever. Okay, so So but I mean, I didn’t go into it blindly. I looked at the books. And it was kind of interesting her income statement for I think that would have been her fourth or fifth year in business. But it was like pedicures zero. Medicare’s zero gel nails zero. Then it was like sugaring at $85,964. And I was like, I know, right? I know. So I just knew it was just inside me. It absolutely was the thing. The thing that Brilli busted me out of my shell was yes. Skin for the first time. Mm hmm. I can’t even explain to people how that felt.

Barb 9:25
Why and you I have a hard time imagining it because I’ve never tried sugaring to me, it’s just a bunch of goop that’s gonna pull the hair off and like her like wax, so I can think

Karen 9:39
And so the other thing that when you spoke in your, in your intro about that creating opportunity, you know, that that’s just another thing that’s very natural to me. So we, so I just look at her books, and I look at the place she’s at and don’t think that I ripped her off by paying $10. She still worked with me. Okay. You know, I mean of our X number of clients, you know, 90% We’re still her clients.

Barb 10:05
Right? Exactly. Oh, plus you actually bought her all of her liabilities and her debt. Right. And so she was debt free and died. Yes, that’s a huge value right there. So

Karen 10:16
and you know, it was a little bit of a little bit. It was certainly probably more than generous, but it was just a burning thing inside me that I just wanted. I basically needed to share this experience with everyone in Saskatchewan.

Barb 10:34
Exactly. Well, let’s get back to that business. I don’t mean to cut you off. Let’s come back to that one. But let me tell you about the other two as well.

Karen 10:41
Yes. So I was feeling pretty good about myself back then. And, um, my. So almost at the same time, my husband and I decided, so my husband had been in the printing industry for 30 years, okay. And we knew that that was kind of dying. And his company had come to him and said, hey, you know, we, we don’t know how long, much longer you’re gonna be here. We’d like to retrain you in something. Oh, so you have a suit? Because, you know, we weren’t that old. Right? We were like, yeah, like, in our late 40s. Okay. Uh, yeah. So, we thought about what we want to do? And we’ve seen some, we’re, we’re collectors of things and stuff like neat. Like

Barb 11:27
sports collect art, okay. Yep.

Karen 11:30
Well, when you hear the business, you’ll understand what we do. So we ended up buying a laser engraving machine. Okay, so we have a laser engraving business. So this machine is massive. I always joke that, you know, 45, 48, 50 people are buying both quads.

Barb 11:51
You guys bought an engraver?

Karen 11:51
And I’m like, Yeah, but just your boat and your quad. Does that pay you back? Exactly. make you any money?

Barb 12:00
Yep. Yeah, exactly.

Karen 12:02
And so you know, yep. So we bought a laser engraving machine. And then my husband actually went down to Texas to learn it. And because that’s where they’re manufactured. And just learn, learn, learn, like it was just all this learning curve. Like, for me in my real first business with the with, with the salon and the sugaring side, and then my husband and the laser, so we both got into businesses we knew nothing about okay.

Karen 12:28
But it was just this opportunity in this passion. And so the things that we can make on a laser engraving machine, like coasters, and we can engrave coffee cups, so now everyone in my whole entire circle of friends has, you know, an engraved travel mug.

Barb 12:48
Yeah. So like a coffee like ceramic or coffee, like stainless steel.

Karen 12:53
Like yeah, like a, like a powder coated like a blue God, tumbler, you know, for water bottles and whatever. So just funny things on them and whatever. So we started off with that. And we didn’t really know how to sell it and we didn’t really know what we were gonna do. But then what happened was, so I have this full service storefront, salon okay. 5000 square feet. It was ridiculous. And I’m slashing everything. Like everything is gone. Yep. So we had a spa room, a pedicure room and this big space and we put our laser engraver in there. Yep. So okay, cool. Now, we’re all one big happy family. It was a lot of happy family time there.

Barb 13:39
No sarcasm at all in those statements.

Karen 13:45
And, yeah, so the laser engraving, so then, you know, everything just progressed. On the sugaring side, I reached out to the brand that we represent Alexandria professional, okay. And I had gone into contact with the CEO of that company. And she was absolutely delightful. And then we and then I became a distributor. Okay, yeah. So now I have a western Canadian distribution. My daughter became an educator and actually flew to New York every year and, and the CEO of the company trained her to teach because it’s not easy to do.

Barb 14:21
No, not having the skill is one thing. To have the skill to teach is another thing. Totally. Yep. And so that’s where your course came from. Because you actually have a course that came out of the work that your daughter does as an educator as well. Right, right.

Karen 14:37
Yes. So we offer training, we offer distribution, wholesale distribution, and the neat thing about that is, as we train more people we train, we are training our customers, because we’re very brand aligned, okay. And because there is a difference in the formula There’s lots of lots of different products on the market. But it’s kind of like the difference between going to, you know, a beauty supply or your hairdresser, right and buying that shampoo, as opposed to going to Walmart and buying that shampoo.

Barb 15:14
Right. Okay. Right.

Karen 15:15
So we obtained the distribution, we have the education. We have Western Canada from Manitoba West. And so we do. Yeah, so we train people in this. And what we do, though, it’s so cool, because what we do is, especially during COVID, we’re helping people who may just want a side hustle. Yep, it’s extra money, they can do it at home, they can set up a neat little space. In a spare room. We’re helping women, that feeling of gaining that confidence. Yeah. Is what we try to instill in every single person that we train.

Barb 15:51
Exactly. Yeah, it’s absolutely huge. And, you know, the beauty industry has come a long way in terms of how women are portrayed. But there is still one hell of a long way to go. Because you don’t see a single magazine in a stand when you’re checking out for your groceries. That shows a middle aged woman who’s you know, carrying that spare tire and, you know, has lines cuz she hasn’t slept decent for a week. You don’t see that?

Karen 16:22
And my thing is always do chin hair, girl. Oh, we all have them. Yeah, come and see us. We’ll help you. I promise you. This is who we work on. We have significantly increased our male clientele.

Barb 16:38
Oh, that’s dragging chests.

Karen 16:41
We do their ears. Eyebrows. nape nose. Men’s noses. How

Barb 16:48
Do you know and know? You just

Karen 16:50
sugar. Oh, girl, I have no sugar. It’s fantastic. It doesn’t even hurt.

Barb 16:55
Oh my god. Okay. Yeah. Okay, so there was a third business, the teaching or is there still? Of course, no. I know. The third business. Yeah,

Karen 17:05
So that’s all under one umbrella. Okay, we did the sugaring got that all going? Got out of debt. It was a good day when that happened. Yeah, I believe in your engraving machine. But now. So we got rid of that space, that big, huge space. Okay.

Karen 17:18
And now we got to take the laser engraving machine home. So we’re a home based business? Yep. You know, it’s not the most ideal situation. Then, and through it all, as I mentioned earlier, I’m dealing with my other daughter, having some substance use issues, and having to, like, drop everything, to, to find her or to help her out of a situation she may have gotten herself in.

Karen 17:48
And you know, that’s really where and then plus sort of discovering new, different evidence based approaches to substance use and how to do it differently. So I’m learning all this. I’m growing this business and trying to get out of debt. But I got my but here’s the thing all along, too. So I have my daughter, I have my husband, and I have my dad. And I have my step mom, right. And everyone is coming along. And what do you need? What do you need? What do you need? Like, just picking up so and that wasn’t even like, planned? And that’s also part of that roller coaster where, you know, there were just some of the lowest days in those early days. And it was like, what am I done? Like, what? What have I got myself into? Yeah, why? Karen, you left a $100,000 a year job? To do what?

Barb 18:50
Yep, exactly like to run around like a chicken with your head cut off. But have more fun than you had ever had the entire time. You were in a corporate role. I’m guessing. Yeah.

Karen 19:03
I can have fun in a prison town. So there’s a little bit of that. Okay. However, I think I have the ability to share my vision. And my vision is my vision now, right? And to share that vision, share that opportunity, share the synergies that I want to create with other people. That’s really where it was right. Okay.

Karen 19:28
Then I also have the times where I’m like, curled up in the fetal position in the bathroom crying, because I’m like, can I make my mortgage payment this month? Yeah. And that’s very real. Right. And I think and I think entrepreneurs need to hear that new entrepreneurs, especially, I think, I think you need to know that when you’re backed into a corner.

Karen 19:51
It doesn’t mean you have to, you know, drop down into that corner and stay there. You just need to start thinking around the things that are holding you there. And think of it thinking out thinking out thinking, oh, yeah, so anyway, so then. So deal with all that kind of get this kind of, I think kinda because it’s never, you know,

Barb 20:11
never, always changing. Yeah, it’s

Karen 20:13
always changing. It’s always moving forward. And I got to kind of get things to a place like, okay, we can breathe now you can breathe, right? Then I got in 2020, not COVID related. I got crazy sick. I of course did not go to the hospital for, I don’t know, six days probably should have done that a little bit sooner. Okay. And when I get to the hospital, they are like, Oh, you need to have surgery immediately. And I had four surgeries and ended up having to remove my colon. Oh, wow. And I was in the hospital for 27 days during COVID. So no, but honestly, girl, it was really peaceful.

Barb 21:07
Why did they take your technology? Wait, how can that possibly be peaceful? No colon in surgery COVID. happening? How can I…

Karen 21:15
because there were no visitors. There were no visitors allowed? Oh, I suppose Yep. Right. And I couldn’t go out. Like for the first couple days I was there before they did the app started to do the actual couple surgeries that they did to me, I could I could still manage to get myself outside so people could come visit. And we would sit outside and visit it in the middle of summer. It was beautiful outside. But after that it was nothing. So like three weeks no people. And honestly, I didn’t. I didn’t think about my business really once.

Barb 21:46
Oh, wow. What a relief that must have felt like to be able to walk away. And I presume your daughter kept it going and your husband kept it going. And yeah.

Karen 22:00
And here’s the thing with CanBall. So CanBall Okay, so so just literally two months before that happened yet we I ended up going to or there’s our family is also huge, huge, huge sports fans. Like we literally have two TVs in our garage and we’re, you know, screen and screen watching two or three different games at a time and streaming one on the computer and whatever. And the baseball season was canceled.

Barb 22:31
Oh, yeah, it would have been okay. Yeah. 2020. Right.

Karen 22:33
So we were devastated. And I looked at our laser engraving machine. And I was like, oh, no, I know what happened. Someone tagged us in a Facebook post. And there was this version, this homemade baseball game on an old cutting board. Yes, stick-ins for batters and marbles for marking the score and I and someone’s akitas to better can you make this nicer? And I was like, Of course we can. Yeah.

Karen 22:57
And so we came up with CanBall. Okay, and we posted it in a private Facebook group in April of 2020. After we had done a few iterations of the design, we sold like 65 across Canada. Yep. And we were like, Man, this is awesome. So we worked on the design, I thought, well, maybe we should do something with this.

Karen 23:17
So that was April 2020. May 2020. I reached out to marketing guy No. And I’m like, hey, what do you think of this? And he goes, That’s awesome. Let’s do all the things and stuff. Yeah. And then in June I got sick. And then I’m in the hospital till July. So Campbell took a very slow entry into the world. Exactly that baby that you’re in like 40 hours labor with.

Barb 23:40
Yep.

Karen 23:42
And then I went on to 2021. So we did very well in 2020. Without any real packaging without any real marketing strategy without any financing. We bootstrapped the whole entire thing. And then in 2021, I got connected with st at the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority and was invited to become part of their love local box. And then I went on to present at the Go money pitch competition, which I won.

Barb 24:13
Awesome. Oh, God Powerball that.

Karen 24:16
I came in second, but I still think I won because of 80 applicants. I came in second. Okay, so that’s a win. Yeah. And from that, we just got a ton of exposure and now we’re heading into 2022 and we’re ramping up for hopefully baseball season the players are locked out again this year, which might actually be good for us again, because if there’s no baseball and we might sell

Barb 24:38
directly, then you sell a ton of baseballs.

Unknown Speaker 24:40
Exactly opportunity, all the opportunity. Exactly. Oh my God. And that brings us up to today.

Barb 24:48
You seem to have a very unique ability to see opportunity. For some people. They have to see it on a piece of paper the numbers have to jive, but you really have that gut instinct ability to see an opportunity. So can you talk to me a little bit about, you know, what does that feel like? How do you maybe refrain yourself? And sometimes it doesn’t go as planned. So let’s have that conversation too.

Karen 25:18
Yeah, good point, you know, it is very difficult to have just to see things, the potential and the possibility and the future of things. And honestly, Barb, I’m just a person who believes that, when you see the future, you can create that. Right. So what you’re seeing are things that are like, Oh, we could take this, and we could go here, and we’ll just make it happen. Like, it’s just not a question for me. And that is not very well received by many people. And it’s been especially challenging in my world. Because the people that I work with are my family.

Barb 26:04
Oh, yeah, that adds a whole new complexity, doesn’t it? Right.

Karen 26:08
So I get a lot of Oh, Karen, you’re so extra. And, okay, that’s never going to happen. And right. And I and I love my people don’t get me wrong, but it absolutely. Is. There, it can be a wall. And it’s not because they’re doing it on purpose. They just don’t see it. Yeah. Right. That makes sense. Yeah. So I still get carried away. Often, and you know what, that’s why it feels very inauthentic to me to not

Barb 26:44
be carried away and have a big picture. So who brings you back? Your parents, your daughter, your husband, who pulls Karen back?

Karen 26:51
Um, I don’t think they pull me back. I don’t allow that to happen as much as they just like, throw a wall up in front of me. Okay. Yeah. And there are so many variables. Like, I think my daughter now of all of the people so yeah, like, my dad’s just kind of a grouchy old man. Um, but he gets it.

Karen 27:14
He doesn’t really pull me back. He kind of shoots me this look, you know, like the dad look. Yeah. Yeah. Like the eyebrow kind of goes up. And he was just kind of under his breath. Yeah. Hello, grant. And then I’m like, man, you’re smart. You can do it. Yeah. Because my dad actually designs all of our games for cannonball. So we don’t. Yeah, we have a football game.

Karen 27:35
And we have a golf game in prototype right now. And my dad’s actually the one who will play baseball. It’s just the game of baseball on a board. So it is yeah, there’s nothing there. But for football and golf, there’s nothing like it on the market at all. Okay, you’re nothing. So my dad designs all that gameplay and he is a master at tournaments like setting up because we have like a family golf tournament and all different kinds of keys a master like setting up like round robin play. And then, you know, a side wins and beats like, that’s his job. Wow. So if I have a crazy idea and vision, he’ll grunt and groan and give me the dad look. But what he’ll do, he’ll, he’ll try to get there.

Barb 28:18
Exactly. As soon as you plant the seed that I bet his wheels start spinning. And he’s like, Okay, I gotta figure this out. Right. So yeah, I can see where that comes from.

Karen 28:28
Yeah. And my daughter is the one that’s okay. She calls me Karen. She’s called me Karen since like, she was six. I don’t know, I think it makes me think it made her feel cool. Back in the day. And actually, we meet people now. Or we see people now that we’ve come in contact with in the past, they’re like, Oh, my God, I didn’t know you guys. That was your mom. Like, they just think that we’re friends.

Karen 28:52
But anyway, she has gotten better at kind of letting me have that. You know, that wide open ability to just talk things out and see things through. And then when she’s in the mood, I guess it’s a good point. Um, and then my husband, he’s just, he’s not really visionary. He’s the operations guy. He’s the maker of things. So once so on the CanBall side and the laser engraving side. You know, once I have an idea, or what my dad has no idea. He will sit very quietly and very patiently and bless his soul. We I don’t know, I don’t know. I think you work with your husband too Barb.

Barb 29:32
I do. Yes. Yep. its ups and downs. And yep.

Karen 29:38
Yeah. And I learned a long time ago. I’m just like, Karen, I need to just you need to walk away and let him work. Because we work at different paces. We work in different ways. He has a different method. I would be like Boom Boom Boom. Yeah. And I just know that if I want the quality of work that he’s able to produce, we leave each other alone. So it’s all been a learning curve. And believe me in the beginning It was not this pleasant.

Barb 30:02
Yeah, it’s not no, in the beginning, you’re learning how you fit in a whole new way. Yeah, marriage was ever invented to fit. And then you kind of get a groove and something changes in the business. And so you’re feeling some stress, or maybe you’re feeling too comfortable, or like everybody just starts to flex their muscle.

Barb 30:24
Because in the workplace, you know, maybe you had somebody who helped you, or, you know, maybe you had a real boss that you reported to? Well, when you’re just working together, there is no boss. And so who makes what decisions? And how does stuff get done? So an entirely new world, and, you know, I kind of believe at this point, if you can build a house, build a business and stay married, like, pretty damn good nowadays. And I like each other, like still like each other talk to each other, you know, want to be seen in public?

Karen 31:01
Yes. You know, that’s interesting, when you said that about having a boss and, and, you know, I have always said to people, you always kick the crap uphill, right? Whenever I was in, in my previous line of work, I was basically almost in charge, but I still had a boss, and then my boss reported to the Board. So but I would always tell people, if you have a problem with somebody, you just say Karen said, right, I had no problem taking that heat, that flack that concerns that complaint, whatever it was, and I still don’t, but the difference is, you’re right. I don’t have anyone I can’t Oh, can you just blame? Can you take it up with it? That guy’s No, it’s me. Yeah. Clearly said, Oh, yeah. So I gotta stick by that. And it’s a very challenging environment, like you said, when you work with family? Because, you know, you’re not their boss. I mean, I might, kind of but I’m really not, we’re partners more than that. So yeah, you know, I will have to say, though, on the flip side of that, you can’t just fire them?

Barb 32:12
No, I know, you have to work it out. Exactly. You have to figure out, again, how you fit because you each bring strengths. And whatever the the two of you are missing, you have to fill in the gaps with either other family members, people, you hire, whatever that looks like,

Karen 32:33
right. And that is probably the single biggest growth. I used to think I had a problem communicating with people after not doing my job, I was like, not I’m, I’m the boss, I hire people who are better at what they do. Like, right. So if I hire a marketing person, yes, because I don’t, I’m not doing it. I’m not micromanaging you. I trust that you’re an expert in your field. And you’re going to do the marketing. Exactly. Right. Yeah.

Karen 32:58
But when you then you have your own business. And you and you know, you can’t afford I can’t afford to hire all. Oh, all the people that I had working for me at my job. Totally. Yep. So now I become that person who has made, you know, I’ve made so many mistakes. But it’s, and this really sounds cliche, that Oh, but you learn from your mistakes. Well, no, but you really do. Mm hmm. Right. Yeah. But they’re still failures, and they still hurt. Yeah. And they can still be embarrassing, and they can still make people mad at you.

Barb 33:34
Right? It can make customers mad. Yeah, it’s financial losses for the business, suddenly, they have a very different impact when it’s your business. Right. And that’s, I think, one of the interesting dynamics when you have spouses, because one person might make the decision, but you’re both going to feel it.

Barb 33:52
And suddenly, that’s the family bank account, not just, you know, one person’s check or the other person’s check. Right? And so, like, how do you guys manage that? How are you? How do you make these decisions? Understanding that, you know, there’s always a risk of failure? Maybe you develop a new game? Maybe you do something with your online course, whatever it might be? How do you manage those failures?

Karen 34:19
You know, I, honestly I would I, I’m going to go back to what I see as the future and the possibilities, that is that I’ll just create that right. And I strongly believe and I’m not saying this to be like an egomaniac or pat myself on the back.

Karen 34:37
But I strongly believe that a number of the failures have occurred when I have stepped down or away because of so when I come up against that wall of Karen, you’re so extra oh my god, that’ll never happen. That’s not even possible. Right. So then I stepped back and I let myself believe that Yep. And that typically has been the time of failure. Ah, yeah. Okay.

Karen 35:05
So if I, it, you know, in retrospect, because obviously I analyze every day, okay, what, what? Not every day, but you know how this year how are we doing six months, whatever. What did we do last year with this? What did we do last year with that? And I’m always looking for that opportunity and I’m always creating the path to get there. Yeah.

Karen 35:29
And when I haven’t listened to my true self, when I haven’t listened to my heart and my mind, and my gut, yeah, that’s where shit goes off the rails. Okay. Yeah, like. But I also have to be cognizant of the fact that not everyone’s going to agree with me. My way is not the only way. Yep.

Karen 35:56
And I have to respect that of other people. But I think we’ve, it’s a balance, it really is. It’s about balance. It’s about me, like, like, I learned now, that if I see something, and I’m like, Oh, that’s a great idea. I’m gonna just I’m gonna, I’m not going to tell you guys like, I’m just gonna go put a few feelers in the other direction. Yeah, right. Yeah. So. So I need to, it’s I don’t know, it’s like, it’s trial and error it is. And, um, but I’ve learned that I’ve learned when to push forward, when to maintain status quo, and when to actually retreat a little bit. Yeah.

Karen 36:37
But I also know that for my own sense of purpose, and value and authenticity, that I’m not a retreat person, so I’m going to move forward, but I’m just going to maybe go a different way and not to upset the egg cart, if that makes sense.

Barb 36:52
No, that makes perfect sense. So have you by going through that process? Do you find that you’ve really learned what every one style is? And what I mean by that is, when we make decisions in our business, my expertise lies in the marketing area.

Barb 37:11
And so I will often say we need to do this, we need to that Dion doesn’t care. He doesn’t care what we do. If he trusts me that if I say we need to do x, then we go and do that. His style is much different. He will stop, pause, contemplate research, and just think about it for a period of time that drives me batty. I’m looking to just make a decision and let’s go. Yeah, right. Yeah. So have you seen that in your family where everybody’s got their own style? And they need to get there in their own time?

Karen 37:51
Um, oh, definitely. We, you know, we wouldn’t be where we were if, if, if we had all just decided that we couldn’t, that we just hate each other’s guts, and we couldn’t work together.

Karen 38:03
And, you know, we would have just folded everything right. So that in and of itself is a testament to how we can work together and how we can share the common vision. But like I said, it’s not all happy go lucky roses. And, you know, yeah, off the moms like it’s, it’s hard work, man. It is hard.

Karen 38:30
And it doesn’t even matter about family like everyone brings their own special unique value to our our, our collective many businesses. I am not a sugaring practitioner. I am not a sugaring educator. Yep. I can’t do any of that. But my business is based on teaching other people to sugar so that I can sell more products.

Barb 38:52
Right? Exactly right. And that’s so when you look at everything you’re doing from a business perspective, the engraving and cannonball, like that all kind of fits together. And then sugaring and your daughter and educating that kind of fits together. So in some ways, you’ve created businesses that, you know, we’ll continue to support you know, that second and third generation whether they decide to, you know, keep the cannonball piece once your husband’s not able to do the engraving, that’s a whole different thing. But, you know, you’ve got two very distinct like, there’s, there’s no crossover between these two businesses.

Karen 39:32
No, other than we’re all related. And again, going, you know, back to the time, I was very passionate about sugaring, just from a confidence perspective, and that’s what I wanted to share. And then on the laser engraving side, that was just what my husband thought, hey, that would be cool.

Karen 39:52
And we got an opportunity to get some training paid for. So you know, we kind of fell into them almost accidentally. Exactly. but it’s the ability to see that opportunity and see what the potential could be. I actually, this year, one of my I know, it’s also cliche. One of my New Year’s resolutions was, I want to work with a coach, ah, because I don’t when I do get extra, or when I do if my daughter listens to this, she’s gonna be like, Karen, I don’t sound like that.

Barb 40:30
Oh, God, don’t worry anybody to my podcast, he knows me, they’re

Karen 40:34
gonna share the crap out of this thing. But anyway, uh, so I decided, You know what, I need someone. And it’s a good point you make about when you’re in a work environment, and you have a boss and the name of whatever, but you have someone also lifting you up. Right.

Karen 40:54
And so that is also where like, again, the lowest of lows in this entrepreneurial journey and personal journey over the last number of years. Yep. The highest of highs, but the lowest of lows, like I’ve never experienced before in my life. Yeah. And, um, who’s there? I don’t have a boss, like, who’s there to come to me and say, You’re a valued member of our team. And we need you and you are this and this and this. And this. And I don’t really need that kind of coddling. But honestly, when you’re late, like I said, when you’re lying on the bathroom floor curled up in the fetal position, crying, it would be nice to have someone come in and say, You’re doing a good job.

Barb 41:34
Yep, come on. And you know what, you know, what I would add to that is, it’s one thing to have a supervisor say that to you and support you. But it’s another thing to have a team to have a team around you so that when you fall down, they can pick up the pieces.

Barb 41:50
Because when you were in hospital, it stopped. Yeah, when you do something else, it stops. And so that’s, that’s one of the most, I don’t know, frustrating, challenging, stimulating even aspects of owning a business. What if I stop? What if I can’t? Right? And if your whole business hinges on you, a huge risk and a huge pressure on each of us? Very much. Yeah. So have you guys had that conversation? Because that brings a whole new level of failure, possibly, you know, to the

Karen 42:31
Yeah, for sure. I mean, succession planning is always top of mind, especially after I got sick, like, didn’t really know the outcome, prognosis, whatever. I have always been interesting enough, my whole life has been very, very much I’ve been involved in professional personal development type of things. Never had a coach, though, this is a new experience for me.

Karen 42:51
So I’m very excited. But I’m just, you know, on leadership development, business planning, I’ve been a member of tech Canada for a little while. That was an amazing experience. And the one thing that has always stuck out to me in all of the years that I have listened and learned and, you know, researched and done all that, a fellow said once. Leadership plus leverage equals legacy. And l three, leadership plus leverage equals legacy. Yep.

Karen 43:27
And for that, I almost could not start this business or go into this business. Just for myself. It had to be about even if I had to bring everyone with me. Yeah. Because exactly for the reason you just said. It. I’m not doing this. So it just ends one day, you know? Yep. I’m doing it. And you know what? It might morph. But what if we sell Campbell? What if we sell it to Hasbro? Oh, do you know anything about Hasbro? Can you just call them up and be like, Oh my God, my girlfriend invented this.

Barb 44:05
Yeah, exactly. You have to see this! Yep.

Karen 44:09
You know, but like, so there’s always that kind of stuff. But it’s always about, everyone’s got to come along for the ride. And if you’re not alone for the ride, then you know, then you’re probably then you’re not. I love you. You’re part of my family, but you just maybe don’t. This isn’t your gig.

Karen 44:26
But the sugaring was always about my daughter, the laser engraving was always about my husband and the CanBall was always about the whole family. Yeah, so yeah. But um and leveraging who you know, resources who do you know who can help you with this?

Karen 44:44
Look at what SREDA had done with what I had done in the SREDA last year, not just me. There were a number of entrepreneurs involved in both projects, the love local box and the Go money pitch competition. You know, Have you ever seen a video of the winning if you ever look at it, so it’s neat.

Karen 45:04
So I, the guy that won first place, was so cute. And I was like, so there’s mean him standing. And I felt like I was at the Miss America Pageant. Like, where did he announce the runner up and then you just automatically know that the other person won. And then he got first place, but I got second place, but I grabbed him and hugged him and I was just like, oh my god, I’m screaming and crying. And he’s like, he was like a little well, he has a PhD first of all, he’s a very brilliant man. Yeah. Possibly from you know, maybe like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or something. And I could just look at his face when I saw the video. I’m just like, he’s looking at me going okay, crazy white lady like,

Barb 45:46
and I’m just thinking to myself, hey, wait a second. That means I won, come you’re celebrating he’s thinking you’re confused.

Karen 45:53
Yes. So you know, again, ups and downs, craziness, this and that. Just probably enough to make you puke. Somedays. But then enough to make you like, you know, want to just pop champagne and light fireworks, like, honest to God, it has been the craziest ride of my life this last like almost 10 years. And okay, bring. What’s What’s tomorrow? Let’s do it tomorrow. Now, let’s do it again. No,

Barb 46:21
good. Okay, so believe it or not, we’re out of time for our back to back episode we’ve already done to 25 minute episodes. And so here’s what I do think is you need to tell everyone who’s listening, how they find all of your businesses if they want to get a mortgage triggering if they want to understand CanBall. So give us the coordinates and tell us how to find all these businesses?

Karen 46:43
You bet. So for sugaring, we do have sugaring practitioners all over Western Canada. So the best way to look that up is to go to learntosugar.ca. Okay, that’s our website for that, that also has all the details about education and our educators. And you can see some contact information there. And you can call me from wherever you live. And I will find you someone.

Karen 47:06
And then for CanBall, we have an online store, you can take a look at that. And think that videos on there of me crushing the winner of the SREDA thing, and that is canball.ca. Okay, and some pretty cool information there.

Karen 47:22
And, yeah, we have a laser engraving business, but we don’t really advertise. But if you need a coffee mug made, or somehow something else, you can just reach out to me through one of those other platforms, and we’ll come up with something real fun.

Barb 47:34
Okay, that sounds awesome. So canball.ca, you can actually order online and you guys ship it throughout North America or through Canada,

Karen 47:42
Canada.

Barb 47:43
Okay. So shipping throughout, and shipping is just added to the price, right on your website. And having played the game. So I told Karen the story. We got the game for our birthday. And we left it sitting on our counter. So you can imagine we’re a family of four, and we’ve got this kitchen island. And we just left it sitting there as we played. And so we would walk by in the morning when we’re having breakfast and we’d play an inning.

Barb 48:11
And we come back at lunch and we play another inning and we’d sit down at the table for a while and we play a couple innings. So it was like this process that happened over a number of days. And my son got totally ticked off because I was kicking his ass and he didn’t like that. Nobody, all those years of baseball apparently pay off even though I’m just rolling a dice, right? So it’s just that’s how the dice rolls.

Karen 48:35
It’s super fun, super simple. It is. They do get real mad when they lose, but then just play another game. Exactly.

Barb 48:43
And the beauty was like, it is just the game of baseball. And it’s so hard to wrap your head around. It’s like your tea, but it’s baseball and it really is. So anyway, here’s my testimonial. Totally, totally love the game. So I’m just gonna quickly wrap this up and I’ll get you to hang on for two seconds.

Barb 49:06
So if you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or leave comments on our Facebook page in advance of the show.

Barb 49:17
I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and #Googlegirl. Remember you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 94 Wilson Acton

Wilson Acton

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Wilson is a builder. A people builder. An organization builder and a community builder.

In addition to being a serial entrepreneur and 4x tech start-up founder, Wilson has an extensive background in mergers & acquisitions, capital markets, venture building and multi-generational experience in agriculture.

Wilson is also actively involved in the community through his roles on multiple advisory and community boards, including KidSport Calgary and Alberta IoT (Internet of Things).

Catch up with Wilson at:
📧 wilson.acton@alco72.com

LI @wilsonacton

Tw @wjacton

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Okay, so Wilson Acton is our guest today. And Wilson is a builder. He’s a people builder, an organization builder and a community builder. He’s been a serial entrepreneur and a four time tech startup founder. So like many of us that are here today, Wilson has many things on the go.

Barb 0:21
There’s one commonality between all of the different folks that we’ve had in our programs and that we tend to work with. We all have multiple pieces on the go. So it’s actually kind of funny to watch. Wilson has an extensive background in mergers and acquisitions. And Wilson, if I remember correctly, you’re actually a lawyer by trade, correct?

Wilson 0:42
That’s correct.

Barb 0:43
Yeah. That’s kind of what I remembered. So you worked in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets venture building, and somewhere along the way, discovered that being an entrepreneur was much more exciting.

Barb 0:55
He’s very involved in the community in Kidsport, in Calgary, and Alberta’s Internet of Things, which he’ll definitely have to tell us about. So without further ado, Wilson, please introduce yourself and just kind of give us a little bit of story. How do you go from being a lawyer wearing a suit to mergers and acquisitions to tech? Like, how the heck did that happen?

Wilson 1:18
Yeah, it’s, uh, you know, much like life. It’s a winding path, you know, pleased to be here. They are me. On today. Yeah, it’s, you know, I actually recall, when I was departing my law practice so I was a, you know, a partner with one of the biggest law firms in the in the country had been there for just well, actually two weeks shy of a decade and had done all these transactions across a host of industries from infrastructure, oil, and gas, satellites, even car dealerships, you know, you kind of you name it. We bought and sold and financed it.

Wilson 1:56
And, I was having a good conversation with a friend of mine, who was also a client, and it was gonna be a tough conversation to say, you know, hey, I know, we’ve worked together all these years, but I’m out, I’m leaving you. So you know, best of luck. And, and he said, Well, what took you so long? As somebody? I said, What are you talking about?

Wilson 2:14
And he said, Well, the only reason we like working with you, we’re not the only reason but what the main reason was, you are an entrepreneur that just happened to be sitting in the lawyer’s chair, and you brought the legal tools to it.

Wilson 2:24
And so, you know, a lot of people say, Wow, what an about shift to leave law, you know, big law, and in the end get into, you know, the entrepreneurial game, and the reality was, it was actually kind of big law. That was the odd thing out in the middle, you know, before law.

Wilson 2:42
I was farming in the Moose Jaw area, my first degrees in agriculture from the U of S. You know, been, you know, grew up there and been in agriculture there on both sides of my family for I’m actually the fifth generation and through that, you know, start spun up a number of entrepreneurial ventures, including, while I was in law school, I started a construction company in Calgary, so you mentioned, you know, multiple things on the go, I was swinging a hammer in Calgary, you know, nights and between classes, you know, going to law school, at least most of the time, and still trying to farm in Moose Jaw. So we were covering some ground.

Barb 3:21
Oh, no kidding. Holy. That’s a Yeah, that’s having a ton on the go.

Wilson 3:26
So sucker for punishment.

Barb 3:28
So okay, so you sit down with this client? And you’re like, Yeah, we’re, I’m leaving law. Did you totally leave behind? Or did you still do some practice? Are you just totally like, where did you go? When did you leave law?

Wilson 3:44
So yeah, when I, when I left law, stepped into the, you know, first tech company, you know, in a, in a rapid series of four, and that business by the name of whipcord, it was in the data center space.

Wilson 3:56
And so I actually joined, what were clients, they had actually a business that helped them exit a business, probably about two years earlier, and they were getting to restart. And so, you know, they were focused on data centers and, you know, a really interesting market. There’s the huge kind of Google’s telco, the telecoms and Amazons of the world.

Wilson 4:20
But like, in a lot of things, there’s kind of this space in the middle, you know, the small players and and, you know, is there an opportunity to own a pretty interesting asset there and grow it and scale it and so that the goal behind that business originally, actually was to be very acquisition focused.

Wilson 4:38
So buy a lot of data centers, think of it like a real estate play where, you know, people just keep buying more real estate and rent it out. It’s the same kind of premise, just our real estate was digital. Yeah. And so, you know, you never really leave the last stuff behind, you know, as part of what I’m saying is you bring those tools you bring those skills, you know, Whether it’s trying to buy and sell businesses, trying to build them, you know, form, you know, big commercial relationships.

Wilson 5:06
Law is these, you know, tech law practice around m&a, you know, is really kind of strategy negotiation, you know, how do you kind of put these pieces together? How can we create wins. And so, you know, very transferable into the, into the business sphere, and, and that, you know, first business in the datacenter space, which we’ve since accident, you know, merged into another business, but that’s now called whipcord. Edge, you know, very, very interesting on where it’s going, you know, following that same directory, continuing to acquire, and, you know, and then you just kind of keep building up on, on those, those tools.

Barb 5:45
So we were first introduced to you by someone else who met with us, Scott Love, and he has a business here in Western Canada as well. So Scott refers to you as a business coach, then you’re a lawyer, then you’ve worked in these tech startups. So, like, helped me understand how these pieces come together? Where is that nucleus, that merger of all of these different pieces that you have on the go?

Wilson 6:17
You know, it’s for sure. And it’s funny, I never thought of myself as a business coach. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever been referred to as one until I heard you and Scott call me that.

Wilson 6:29
So, you know, it caused some internal reflection of what I am now? You know, I don’t, I don’t know. But, you know, I think that maybe to step back, like, the coaching of the people is, in my opinion, and doesn’t mean I’m right.

Wilson 6:45
You know, my view is, in technology businesses in particular, the people are so crucial to the likelihood of success, the ability of that business to grow, that you can’t help a business grow, you can’t think about growing a business and doing all these great things, if you’re not thinking about the people, and you know, a very kind of seasoned investor was investing in one of the companies I was helping.

Wilson 7:14
And this is, you know, a little while ago, and after the deal was all done, you know, we were having a conversation of, you know, why did you come into why did you come into this technology story, which was very bleeding edge, and, but also very early stage earlier than they normally would, and came in with, with great conviction, like, within, you know, a few hours of conversation, they were in for big bucks. And, and I remember him saying to me, like, Listen, you know, he’d come out of the mining world, and he said, these smells have come out of mining.

Wilson 7:48
And, and made lots of money over the years, including in real estate, and all sorts of things. And there’s a mantra in real estate, which applies to mining, right?

Wilson 7:55
In the, in the value of the business, it’s all about location, location, location, okay? In technology, the value of the business is all about people, people, people.

Wilson 8:06
And, and to me, that was, you know, I joke, people call them aha moments, I call them like, a frying pan in the face, because it just kind of gets you like Looney Tunes. And these things hit and they resonate. And, that was one of those moments. And so, you know, because it really kind of tied a bunch of pieces together. And so, you know, what do I do?

Wilson 8:24
You know, I help b2b technology businesses grow, you know, with strategy and and, you know, how are we going to execute? What do we think about growth? And depending on the stage, there’s kind of different aspects to it. You know, also think through kind of the investment strategies, how does that work? And then ultimately, I bring my m&a tools to the table as well.

Wilson 8:45
And so whether that’s time to exit, or maybe they’re looking to buy something themselves, or whoever that looks, but, you know, twisted through all of that, is people, companies don’t buy each other people, you know, a company’s an employee, well, they just use another company’s by people.

Barb 9:05
Right? You’re buying a company because of the intellectual knowledge that’s there. Very seldom are we buying a company because of the, you know, the automations, or the machinery and stuff like that.

Wilson 9:16
Well, even if you are, you know, it’s a person who’s made the decision to do that the same as, even in b2b sales. Companies don’t buy stuff. People inside companies buy stuff.

Barb 9:29
Yeah, exactly. People do business with people. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so, um, you know, if I, if I look at most of the folks that we work with, they’re somewhere in that growth cycle between the middle and growing, so very few are right at ground level. In order to grow Absolutely.

Barb 9:54
You either need people or you need to partner with people and in fact, that’s one of the things early lessons that I learned in my business, is as soon as I started partnering with people, then I really started to see growth, because instead of me trying to do everything for the folks that I was working with, it was like, hey, I’ll do a you do B. And look, there’s more for all of us.

Barb 10:18
So that partnership concept absolutely took off. So how does or how do you coach? Or how do you phrase, you know, finding those right people growing those people? And, you know, maybe taking, you know, that early moldable employee and helping them become a really high performer? What would you say to me, to create those high performers?

Wilson 10:46
Well, you know, I think there’s a couple of key ingredients, and, you know, to pull kind of that high performer out of somebody out, you know, I think it’s in everybody.

Wilson 10:56
And, and, you know, I came through the world of sport. I did a lot in sport over the years and can continue to do so you mentioned, you know, on the board of Kidsport. And so that’s something that’s close to my heart. And, and the reason I raised that is, if you step back and think about, like, what was that very, the best sports team that you were ever on.

Wilson 11:18
And it doesn’t have to be high caliber, it could have just been like, the neighborhood kids who got around and played shinny everyday after school, but it was just so much fun and great for whatever reason, right? Well, if you kind of stop and you think about it, and you really start to dissect it, I believe that there’s some key elements.

Wilson 11:35
And there’s a there’s a, I’d have to find it. But there’s a book about this. So I’m looking around to see if I can see the title on my bookshelf, but it’s, it’s basically, you know, to help develop people, they have to feel safe, right?

Wilson 11:50
Like, they have to be willing, you have to be willing to push and expand and fail. And that’s okay. You know, you need to have a shared fate within the team. Like, if, if everybody comes together and gets it done, but, you know, really, Barb’s the only one who gets the win out of it, well, it kind of waters is up, waters it out, right, like the soccer team, they all win, or they all lose, like half of them don’t win and half lose.

Wilson 12:15
So there’s an element of that. And like, you can even keep boiling this down to like functional units within the organization, like the four people that are working on this project, you know, they’re in it together, they win or lose together, and you can transfer that into compensation and feedback, all sorts of stuff. Yeah.

Wilson 12:31
And so you know, that kind of safety coupled with that shared fate, I think, is a really important thing. And, and, you know, a lot of people are talking about diversity these days. And, and I, you know, I want to be really careful with the word because it’s now been loaded up with so much stuff. I’m not talking about kind of genetic diversity, or kind of physical diversity.

Wilson 12:56
I’m talking about thought diversity. And so, you know, the safety allows the thought diversity in the room, you could all look exactly the same. But if you’ve got different backgrounds, you know, I grew up farming outside of Moose Jaw, and somebody else know is from whatever an oil and gas family in Calgary and someone else is from, you know, North a PA or whatever, like, everyone’s bringing a different set of experiences in Yeah, so they’re going to look at the problem differently.

Wilson 13:21
And, and no one has the market cornered on good ideas. And so you don’t know how you’re going to solve this problem. But you’re all working at it together, you’ve got a shared fate, you know, you kind of you know, a bunch of these pieces, you know, it’s safe, it’s okay to be wrong.

Wilson 13:38
And there’s an element of, you know, for all of that to happen, also communications a huge part and, and I don’t just mean communicating, yeah. But the openness and the safety in it.

Wilson 13:48
And so, this book, I, you know, I wish I could remember the name, it’s like innovating teamwork or something like that. It is, you know, it talks a lot about pairing meaning, you know, there’s a meeting the group meets, and then afterwards, you know, back in the before times, to have you would walk off by yourself on the way back to your desks and talk well, you know, what its own so say, Well, you know, Susie said this or, like, you guy stop all that, because that murders trust, right? Like, yeah, if you’re talking about if the two of you were talking about Susie, behind her back, and, you know, dollars for donuts, that you’re talking with two other people about each other, right, and it just kills the trust system.

Wilson 14:28
And so that shared fate and that trust also is, you know, voicing both the constructive people and, you know, sharing the successes as a group, right? On the soccer team if the goal is doing poorly, right, like the whole team standard error at the timeout, while the coach has kind of a pep talk with the goalie. Yeah, it’s nothing hidden. Exactly. It’s gonna pull it all out in the open because it’s about building trust. If you don’t have trust in a similar customer relationship you don’t trust, shared faith You know, and safety, then you’re not going to get very far.

Barb 15:04
You know what’s really interesting to me, and you’ve made me think about some of my own sports analogies, without telling you a great big long story, because I’ll bore everyone. I coached my kids baseball team one year, and we won the championship.

Barb 15:16
Now, I don’t take any of the credit for that. I totally credit the kids. But one of the things I saw when we came down to that final game was the two teams showed up. And you know, let’s say there were 17 kids on a team at that point in time, our 17 showed up, we had probably got 34 parents like we were there in droves.

Barb 15:35
The other team purposely showed up with 10 kids, their 10 best players showed up, right. And we saw that I was dumbfounded. As a coach, I was absolutely dumbfounded to see that. Another coach would do that. In fact, I was ticked right off so I went to my parents, and I said, What do you want to do? Like they have stacked their team to win tonight.

Barb 16:02
And they’re like, Nope, we’re playing everybody. And we won, right, it totally, totally paid off. You could see how it hits me, right, until you see how some people step up to the plate. It’s the big moment, right, and that’s what matters.

Barb 16:19
So being able to recognize that in your people, this is who you know, steps up to the plate when we’re down to the time crunch. This is who, you know, we can count on them to be consistent. And so knowing your team is just so important, right? Being able to identify those unique, I don’t know, nuances, right? That we all have.

Barb 16:43
So I think whatever the book is called but but there’s something to be said there for, you know, John’s a guy who’s gonna go up to bat and he’s gonna bring us home every time and, you know, Peters, the guy who’s gonna show up and, you know, pitch or cat or whatever, right, but being able to identify that.

Barb 17:02
So when you’re looking at a tech company, and and, you know, for the most part, our audience is local business. So when I look at that tech environment, that local business environment, you’re, you don’t necessarily know everybody’s nuances, maybe you’re not on site with them. Maybe your team is virtual.

Barb 17:21
So how have you found in your own experience that you’ve been able to, to get to what each person’s strength is? Because I agree with you, everybody can be that home run hitter? How do you find that moment? Right? How do you find that in a person?

Wilson 17:39
Part of it is them finding it? Right, like, you know, I was a, you know, when I was in operational roles, and now you know, helping, you know, operating teams, I can’t be there all the time. You know, stuff going on, I’ve got meetings, you know, my kids get sick, so you get stuck doing that, you know, whatever it is.

Wilson 18:02
And so, you know, it’s not really about me finding what it is, and you it’s, it’s about you. And so, you know, I need to create the environment, kind of think of it as I need to give you all the tools for you to succeed, you know, people use the bus analogy, right, we got to put all the people on the bus, the, you know, the tools, you can describe it however you want.

Wilson 18:22
But the point is, you are the only one that can ultimately drive that bus or pick up those tools. And so, you need to kind of find that meaning, which is why I think actually the safety element, and the trust element is so important, because it’s the other people on the team that can help, you know, can help Andrew find his spot.

Wilson 18:45
And, and, and, Andrew might be, you know, stop restocking the back warehouse, right, and like, Park tech company versus traditional whatever, like Andrew might be, you know, sweeping floors and stocking shelves. And, and that’s, you know, that’s fantastic, right?

Wilson 19:01
And, because if the shelves aren’t stocked, and the floors aren’t clean, then, you know, Suzanne, who’s the top salesperson who sells $4 million dollars a year of whatever’s on those shelves, you know, can’t can’t get the product out the door, it doesn’t look right for the customer, right? Like it all comes together.

Wilson 19:21
And so, you know, having that pride and leaning in and going for it. And then, you know, ultimately you have to, you have to communicate, you have to talk to them, you have to spend time, you know, with with people, you know, do you take the time to and to truly listen, not, oh, let’s have a one week 30 minute check in and you just update me on all the things you’re working on. Like no, no. That’s not getting anywhere. Like Exactly.

Wilson 19:44
Tell me what’s going on in your life is your dog sick, like what’s, you know, moms had a heart attack and you’re not talking about it, but it’s weighing on your mind, like all these types of things.

Wilson 19:53
And so, you know, there’s an element of that and that was building the bond. That’s what builds trust and that’s what brings it in And then you can continue to work up from there.

Wilson 20:01
And the last point that I’d like to clarify is, I’m also not a, I’m not a big believer, although it may not sound this way. I’m not a big believer just throwing people at the problem.

Wilson 20:10
Like, I also don’t think that’s the solution of, hey, we want we’ve got a bunch of work to do, we’ll just go hire a bunch of people. Okay. That’s probably not right. In fact, if you know, more likely, it’s how do we use what we have better? How do we be really intentional about where we hire? You know, maybe part of this is, you know, you know, there’s other tools we can get, there’s other technology we can get? You know, we don’t need a second Suzanne to grow revenues, perhaps we just need to focus Suzanne, exactly where she is just like dynamite. Yeah, and let’s, and let’s peel some of the other stuff out of her out of her plate. And that’s how we can actually, you know, enable her to be better.

Barb 20:50
Yeah. Yeah. And that makes very good sense to me. Definitely. So some of the other companies that you’re working with, you know, we talked to Scott already, do, you have a handful of companies that you’re helping through this growth phase. And if someone were to knock on your door and say, you know, look, Wilson, we want to grow this thing and just blow the doors off. What does that look like? How, how would you help someone with me, like me? Who has this, you know, digital marketing course? And like, hey, you know, we want a million people through this course. Which I don’t? Yeah, which I do not. But if the question were there,

Wilson 21:26
yeah. First off, yeah, there’s, there’s a stack of companies that I work with, and they’re not all, you know, I’m, I’m careful to say that I work with b2b technology companies, not b2b software companies. Because not all are in the software space.

Wilson 21:42
So, you know, Scott over it started, or they’re very much in the software space, you know, awesome to me, you know, I know, they’re kind of making waves in the Saskatchewan market and becoming a bit of a household. If you haven’t heard of them, look them up. There’s another group that I’m working with by the name of MG live, they’re also in the soccer space. Totally different from Store to Door, or they’re involved in the video live streaming of amateur sports.

Barb 22:07
So that’s Tanner’s company, isn’t it?

Wilson 22:09
Yeah. Tanner. And, and the group, they’re so you know, really interesting technology, really interesting kind of value proposition, they’re really excited about that one. And so helping them, you know, it’s even earlier stages than Store to Door are kind of near the end.

Wilson 22:25
You know, there’s, there’s another company in the ag space that I’m working with, that is almost on the other end of that spectrum, you know, double digit million revenue every year, they’re kind of doing their thing. It’s a technology business, but very much a, you know, industrial bricks and mortar kind of, you know, process sort of thing.

Wilson 22:45
And, and that’s kind of their question is how do we take this to the next level? Like we’ve done, you know, phenomenal job getting here, kind of now? What? Yeah. And, and so you kind of see them across the whole landscape.

Wilson 22:56
You know, I’ve got another one who’s currently going through an m&a discussion, meaning, do we just sell this thing? And what does that look like? And sometimes that happens, because someone calls and says, I love what you’re doing, I want to buy it. And sometimes that happens, because, again, we’ve been at it for 20 years, we’ve had a great run, you know, it’s time to move on to the next thing, we think it’s time to kind of crystallize value for shareholders.

Wilson 23:19
And so I’ll get involved with that into the spectrum. So kind of it depends on the business. But ultimately, the common thread is, you know, how can I add value?

Wilson 23:29
And, and, you know, you could have built, let’s use the kind of industrial process company for a minute, you know, they’ve done an awesome job getting there. Well, if I can help them add value on going to that next level, I’m happy to do so. But maybe I can’t, and that’s okay.

Wilson 23:47
And, and, you know, so be it, you know, what do you need me for if you’re already doing an awesome job, or maybe I can add value, because hey, we can look at this, you know, we can unlock other ways of raising capital, we can, you know, expand international markets, we can kind of do all this other stuff. And so, it comes back to when someone comes in.

Wilson 24:05
You know, I always dig in, and, and sometimes it annoys people because I dig in for quite a while. On the why, okay, right. Like, why are you calling? Right? Yeah. Why do you want to in your example, why do you want to get a million people through your digital marketing? You know, of course, what and what are you trying to achieve? Why are you doing that? And really drive into that?

Wilson 24:26
Because I think often, either people get in love with the idea of, well, I want to be a billion dollar company. That’s good. But why? Like, you know, you’re already making 2 million bucks a year, and you’re not working that hard. And you go skating with the kids every Thursday, like, do you really want a billion dollar company? Because you’re not gonna be skating with kids every Thursday? Like so? Think about it? Yeah.

Wilson 24:48
So maybe you do, right, like because maybe the quest is not like this is my bucket list item. It’s like okay, well, let’s go for it. But really understanding the root of why What are you trying to achieve? Because if we’re kind of chasing the wrong thing, and it’s not aligned, one point or another, the wheels are gonna come off. It’s just, it’s just human nature.

Barb 25:10
Exactly. So I’m curious if people are choosing between growth or sales, which percentage goes which direction?

Wilson 25:20
I guess I’m not sure I understand it. So meaning, what do you mean between growth or sales? Yeah. So

Barb 25:24
If I’m going to sell the company, or if I’m going to grow the company, Oh, I see the percentage of people who choose each.

Wilson 25:31
Oh, you know, I’d say in this environment, right now the majority are going for growth, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. And I think that’s ultimately where most people start, like, even if they want to sell Yeah, well, let’s grow it. So I can sell it for more. Like, that’s kind of where it starts. Yeah.

Wilson 25:49
And, and I’ve often found that that journey of let’s grow it. Yeah. So I can sell it more often to help bring clarity to the Okay, well, why, like, ultimately, if you’re just tired, and you need to go off and do something else? And, and, you know, whatever, Dad has cancer, and you want to spend time with dad? Yeah, well, well, putting your foot on the gas and trying to grow the game for three years, isn’t going to achieve your goal, right? Because you need to go spend time with dad.

Barb
And that’s it. We’re out of time already. Thank you for joining us today. Wilson. It was a pleasure to meet you. Learn a little bit about your business and learn a little bit about your approach to building people, building organizations, things like that.

If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at Abovethefold.ca.

Just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our show just on our Facebook page. I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and #Googlegirl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 93 Carla Browne | Real Property Management

Carla Browne

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Are you ready to meet a real-life mogul? A real estate mogul!

This lady knows the ins and outs of real estate, investment, ownership and the rental market from having spent the last 20 years in the day-to-day, hands-on world. But that’s not where her story ends – it’s where it all began!

Not only is she one of the top 100 influencers in the future of Canadian real estate.  She has vision; she has passion. And she excels as a leader who strives to see others succeed.

Carla Browne is the President of Real Property Management Canada, a Canadian company providing rental, building & tenant management and marketing services.

Catch up with Real Property Management:
Facebook @RPMProfessionals
Instagram @RPMProfessionals
LinkedIn – @carlabrowne
Website – saskpropertymanagement.com

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Our guest today is our first ever mogul to join the show. A real estate mogul. This lady knows the ins and outs of real estate investment, ownership and the rental market from having spent the last 20 years or more in the day to day hands on world. But that’s not where her story and it’s actually where it all began.

Barb 0:20
This lady is the whole package boys, but she is taken. Not only is she one of Canada’s top 100 influencers in the future of Canadian real estate, she has vision, she has passion, and she excels as a leader who strives to see others succeed.

Barb 0:37
Carla Browne is the president of real property management Canada, a Canadian company providing rental building and tenant tenant management and marketing services. I truly can’t do this description justice. So without further ado, welcome, Carla.

Carla 0:54
Thank you so much for that Barb. Wow, I hope I can live up to all of that.

Barb 0:59
You’ve already exceeded it.

Carla 1:02
When people introduce me and they talk about like the 20 some years because then people are like already envisioning how old is this woman?

Barb 1:10
Oh, no experience, ages just a number. But But explain this to me. So how does one business? Do all of this? Like that’s a broad product and service offering. So how does this actually work? Tell us a little bit about the company and then of course, yourself.

Carla 1:29
Okay, so real property management, the company I work with the franchisor right now Real Property Management Canada as their president, I also run a franchise in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Carla 1:41
And that’s where I started with the company as I started out in the franchise world and continue to run that organization. So when I say I know the business inside and out, I definitely live and breathe it every day.

Carla 1:54
And Real Property Management is the only franchise property management company in Canada, we specialize in residential single family rentals. And it is an industry that is just growing beyond belief right now across Canada, it’s it’s a super exciting time to be in any kind of real estate investment, property management, rental housing provider, any anything that’s linked to that, which is there’s so many different ways that that could actually go when you think about all the things that we need in our day to day.

Carla 2:27
And what we do is we attract individuals who are looking for business opportunities, or maybe already own a property management company, or in that real estate space that see the synergy between the companies that are looking for a way to really get into this industry, but want to alleviate some of the pain points because we have figured out a lot of foolproof bulletproof processes and systems.

Carla 2:51
And through the use of the technology and a lot of that proven process and marketing can make life much easier on the day to day. So when people think about property management, often often Barb they think about fixing fixing leaks and toilets and going to doors and collecting rent. Yeah. And that’s not what we do at all. We are here to proactively manage the asset for the investor and create a very safe environment for any resident or tenant who’s coming on coming on board to live with us.

Barb 3:23
Wow. Okay, so you’re talking about single family homes? Ballpark, how many doors across Canada? Would you have?

Carla 3:31
You’re just right now, with we have 17 offices across Canada. We’re fairly we’re fairly new. I call us an emerging franchise right now and in the Canadian Space, and we have about 3500 houses or units, townhouses, condos that we’re that we’re managing right now.

Barb 3:48
Yep, that’s huge. And so what do you predict the growth will be like in the next, I don’t know, three to five years. What are you expecting?

Carla 3:55
I expect that our office base this year will go from about 17 active we have more than that. But seven what I call 17 really active getting going businesses to we will double that this year. And in three years, we will be about 100 offices across Canada.

Barb 4:13
Nice. And are you coast to coast right now? Are you still sort of reaching those borders?

Carla 4:18
We are very present in BC, Alberta. We have the office in Saskatchewan, of course we have one office in Quebec, and we have a few offices in Ontario. So we are pretty much coast to close. But we have lots of room for expansion, lots of territories that are available for people to come into.

Barb 4:34
Okay. So let me see if I can kind of paint a picture. So if I’m, maybe I even own a couple of homes that I rent out. And so I do property management as part of my service and maybe I helped a couple of other folks at the local level with their homes. Someone would reach out to you thinking Hmm, maybe I can expand my property map management portfolio, not necessarily do I need to own more homes, it’s expanding that portfolio from a service perspective to, as you say, the investor who actually owns the house, then Correct?

Carla 5:15
Correct. And we do see that often where someone just really has a love for that for this industry. So they themselves are an investor. But as as an investor, as soon as you start getting a number of properties under your portfolio, it becomes, it becomes a full time job to do this properly, the tenants now tenant, the tenant profile has changed a lot over the years, their expectations have really changed.

Carla 5:38
Technology has blown up this space, like it has in any industry, I’m sure from any business owner that you speak to these days, and COVID only accelerated that. So we by using technology, it doesn’t make sense for an individual investor to invest in these pieces of technology themselves from a financial perspective.

Carla 5:56
So they can use the power that we have of that buy down from a franchise and are putting this into their business lives. And then that start to expand that if they want to make a business model out of it.

Carla 6:08
So that’s one thing. And then the other thing I just want to touch on that you touched on where if somebody is doing this for themselves and wants to like expand to maybe do it for friends and family, multiple provinces in Canada are regulated.

Carla 6:21
And it is you actually have to hold a property management license through the provincial regulator in order to be collecting rent from others other than your own personal property. And I won’t get into it province by province, because it’s the there are some differences across the board. But that is the norm in most provinces.

Carla 6:39
And people don’t understand that. So lots of times, it’s like, I’ll just help my buddy out. And I’ll do all the rent collection and all of this, but it is actually a very regulated industry, which is good, because it adds a level of professionalism, which I’m really, really passionate about making sure that the profession stays professional. Yes.

Barb 6:57
You know, that was good. Yeah. And that’s one of the things that really caught my eye in your profile. Because when I think back to our professional history, you have always always been on the top end of the profession. And what I mean by that is, like, there was no slouch on your end, in terms of you always made it so professional. And as an industry, it’s not always what we think of when we think about the rental market, the real estate industry, some of those sorts of things. So turn your passion head on for me for a few minutes. And, and tell me, you know, how are you seeing that changing? What are you doing personally or professionally to start to raise that that bar?

Carla 7:44
Yeah, well, I’ll even talk just from like my franchise, my franchise here in Saskatchewan. It’s something that I talk about, with my team all the time, and that and how we present ourselves to anyone who’s contacting our office.

Carla 7:59
And it’s that level of professionalism and professionalism. It doesn’t, I guess it doesn’t take much to be professional, which is kind of mind blowing, because people look at it like you have to do so much. It’s like caring about your client, respecting who they are. Communication is probably the biggest part of it is that, you know, we have a rule in our office that every email and phone call is responded to within so many hours, even if we don’t have an answer, it’s all these little things that we bring to the table.

Carla 8:27
And so and then by putting in a lot of processes and systems, we now create what I call a very consistent client experience. So you know what to expect from us. And that’s what we’re trying to gain by by putting these in all of these offices across Canada. So by automating a lot of the workflows, you can achieve that so that you can have a very consistent experience, because what we do know in Canada is that people don’t always invest in their backyard.

Carla 8:52
So you might be in Ontario, looking at Saskatchewan or Alberta. So maybe you’ve bought a property in Ontario, and you’re using real property management, now you’ve bought a property in Saskatchewan and you’re using real property management, well, we want that we want you to feel the same no matter where you go.

Carla 9:08
And the way you do that is by creating a consistent client experience and trying to professionalize the industry. So we’re extremely transparent, our owners know exactly what we’re doing, why we’re charging it, what they’re going to see on their statement every month. There’s there’s nothing to hide here. And it really shouldn’t be people are willing to pay for a service if they see the value.

Carla 9:28
And they can see that we’re actually helping them through this, this investment. And as you know, my I entered into my professional life on the real estate side. So I’ve always believed in what the real estate asset can do for people. And it is the one investment that will never go away and it will always grow. I mean, there’s ups and downs like anything, but it’s not usually as volatile as any other type of investment that you make.

Barb 9:51
Right, exactly. So when you talk about the client experience, do you see yourself serving the investor and the tenant or is it primarily the investor? And the investor continues to serve the tenant? How does that work?

Carla 10:07
Yeah, that’s a really good question because people do get caught up in that. And this is probably one very unique part of our industry is that we have this two sets of clients, the investor is always our first client.

Carla 10:17
That is who we’re here to protect, that we want to increase the value of their asset and protect it. Those are the you know, the two main things that we’re doing. But we do that by finding high quality tenants. And in order to find high quality tenants, you also have to provide a very high level of service to them as well. So they matter.

Carla 10:36
We want to make sure that houses are clean, that they’re safe, that we listened to their concerns that when they have maintenance requests, we’re responding to them, it doesn’t mean we give them everything they want. But we make sure that we are responding and listening to them.

Carla 10:49
So it is definitely to clients investor is where I mean, they’re the ones essentially that are paying us it’s kind of funny to say it that way. But they’re the ones that get us the business, right. So you need the product from the investor in order to service the tenant. But we feel our tenants are very, very important to us. And we do want to create an exceptional client experience for them.

Barb 11:10
So do all of the tenants even know who owns the building they’re living in or do many of them just know you.

Carla 11:18
Most of them just know us. And the reason being is that an investor will come to us because they want to be hands off. They were very, I used to say this in the real estate world. So this will be this will be something you heard in my century 21 world is that we’re full service.

Carla 11:32
So we take the property from the investor, we do the takeover inspection, we do all of the advertising, we do the move in the move out the showing the vetting of the tenants, any any requests that come in, coming in through our portal. So an owner is literally hands off, going into their portal once a month, seeing what their Owner Statement look like getting any communications from us, and the money is just deposited into their bank account to simplify the process, I guess. So and from a tenant experience as well, they like that, because they like to know that there is this middle person that’s kind of looking out for them.

Carla 12:08
So when they do have something that’s going wrong, they’re not relying on possibly an investor who doesn’t want to spend any money, they can rely on us to help mitigate that and help to try to make sure that their their, you know, their concerns are being looked after. Okay.

Barb 12:23
And that makes much more sense to me. Because when I think about an investment, whether it’s my, our RSP, right, I put the money in, I’m going to manage my statement. But it’s but I’m not doing anything on a day to day basis. So this makes rental home ownership or rental property ownership, almost that exact same experience where I make the initial purchase, I’m still paying off that mortgage over time, but it’s being managed in the same way that a financial planner would manage that investment for me.

Carla 12:57
Yeah, and the space has changed so much. So it’s really interesting that you brought that up, because I do think that the time is coming where owning real estate asset or a part of a real estate asset is going to be just as common as buying an RSP that you are going to be able to buy into an asset group.

Carla 13:17
So we see this, you know, with REITs, and bigger corporations, but I think just anyone, an individual person will be able to say, You know what, I have $100 or $500. And I’d like to put it into a real estate asset, there’s going to be a way that they can do that.

Carla 13:33
And those assets could be owned by a number of people. So not just what you’re thinking is a regular joint venture, and they will be able to then contract companies like ours, to do the management for them and help provide the statements for those owners. So I see, I see, when I look at technology and what it’s doing this space, I really think opportunities are endless.

Barb 13:53
Okay, yeah, that sounds very good. Okay, so let’s kind of continue down that vein. How does someone even get started? As an investor, I already have a mortgage, how does someone get that second park property? Get the financing for it? Like, can you give us any of that kind of background?

Carla 14:15
Sure. Well, because our company is part of the Charlwood Pacific Group. The Charlwood Pacific Group is a family owned business business based out of Vancouver that owns the rights to real property management, Centum Financial Services, and Century 21.

Carla 14:30
So we have what I call the the Circle of Success. So by talking to any one of us on any of those brands, we can start that investor cycle for you and start to get you to understand what you need to know.

Carla 14:44
Now if you’re just if you’re just like, just thinking about it and you want to know like, what does rental prices look like? How do I cash flow? If that’s your strategy, I want to buy something as a long term investment. I want to create some kind of a legacy for my family. Those are conversations you could have with you could start with at the property management level so that we can kind of guide you and what might you might want to look at.

Carla 15:06
There’s several organizations in Canada that people can also go to, for a lot of resources. We are a trusted partner with the with REIN, which is the Real Estate Investment Network of Canada. And so we’ve worked very closely with them, they are, they are investors from all across Canada, I don’t even I think their membership is up to like 2500 people. And they have some very regular educational sessions and sessions where people can kind of meet up, what we know is Investors love to hang out with investors.

Carla 15:36
So like anything, so you can kind of learn and, and glean from them. So but I would say first call us. Um, but if you’re really serious about getting into it, then it’s something to definitely look at getting some more education so that you understand what you’re buying, because a lot of people think that they just buy a property, getting 1400 or $1,500 for rent, and now I’m, it’s, I’m laughing, there’s so much more that actually goes into it.

Barb 15:58
Well, and you know, it’s interesting, when you and I started talking about having this podcast, that’s exactly what went through my mind is a rental property sounds good on paper, but the time and effort and work that has to go into it to maintain it sort of a client do the repairs, all of a sudden, as you said, it starts to feel like a second job. And you know, you’ve got kids and you’ve got activities.

Barb 16:23
And you know, I kind of get why sometimes there’s a breakdown in communication between owner and tenant, because the tenant wants something fixed today, you’re at work, then you’ve got hockey for the kids until you can never get there. So I can absolutely see how the service that you guys offer helps bridge that gap. Can you think and I’m asking you this question kind of off the top of my head. So I might catch you off guard a little bit. But you have to have heard and seen some pretty crazy stories in your years. So what stories sprung to mind right away when I asked that question, because I can see a pretty good smile on your face.

Carla 17:01
Yeah, well, first of all, I think I’m a highly I’m definitely a feeler on the spectrum if on the personality spectrum, so I do definitely feel for people. And I have seen a lot of crazy things come our way. I’ve seen a lot of tears from investors coming in.

Carla 17:21
And a lot of that really stems around. They’ve gotten themselves into a situation and rented to somebody who they thought sounded really nice. That ended up not, not not working out not paying rent damaging the property, they don’t know how to get people out. And it becomes super emotional, because this is this.

Carla 17:42
This is this property that you bought, as as you recall from from our past life together. We were involved in what is the biggest transaction people make a house purchase. Exactly. And so this property lots of times becomes very, it’s very emotional. And I always say I can remove the emotion and just worry about protecting.

Carla 18:03
So to me, this is a it’s a business transaction. I’m protecting the investor. And I can go through with trying to help them through the eviction, but lots of tears, lots of damaged properties. And you see those ones on the news.

Carla 18:16
And I always think that could have been avoided like Don’t make it sound like every renter is a bad renter. People often in Canada now rent because they choose to rent this is not because they have to rent, we know that more than 30% of the Canadians across across this whole country right now are renters. That means one in every three houses is an investment property. Yes.

Carla 18:39
And it’s and people make this choice. So I think renters get lumped into this bad bucket as well as, you know, the landlords that don’t do any work on properties also get lumped in. And it’s really not like that, that’s the minority. But probably the the stories that I that I see that are there, I’m smiling, but it’s heartbreaking, because it’s very, very emotional for some of them when they walk into my office and the tears are streaming and they don’t know what to do. And you want to help them and sometimes you can and sometimes you can’t.

Barb 19:11
Yeah, well, and you know what, you made a really good point. They’re the stories that make the news, the stories that make social media, those are the stories that didn’t work out. And it’s unfortunate that there are a percentage of them, but all of the other stories that are working that have long term tenants that you know have gone smoothly.

Barb 19:31
They don’t get any press because where’s the story in that? Right and so yeah, it’s like anything else it’s you know, the the stuff that sells and gets attention is the stuff that maybe isn’t the greatest of news and I don’t know how we ever became hardwired that way as a society but we certainly do tune into it.

Carla 19:52
Yeah, no, probably never changed. It’s not exciting to tell somebody how smooth things went. That’s there’s there’s no sensational ism in there. So Yeah, people don’t necessarily want to listen to it.

Carla 20:01
But it is it’s usually very a very smooth, smooth transaction. And I mean, our office runs into the the odd one as well, we had, I’ll tell you a short story, we had a tenant not too long ago that was telling us she was in a lower level of one of our properties.

Carla 20:17
And we had tenants up above, and she was telling us how, you know, they had she, they broke into her network, and that they were doing all of this and it was like, I was like, mind blown, what she was telling me and I, I was actually, I totally bought into it, I would have to say, I would say my staff didn’t buy into it, but I think I got a bit emotional and, and my, my need to help people was there.

Carla 20:39
So I really wanted to put her into another property. And my staff was like, no, like, we need to work on a different solution. And I think you probably know what that solution is that I’m, I’m talking about. So even though I feel our vetting and our screening is very, very rigid, the odd one does get through, but we deal with it right away. We just don’t let it go on and on. And on. As soon as something seems too good to be true. Mm hmm. Yeah, it is.

Barb 21:04
Yeah, too good to be true, or something is off. Right. So you’re a feeler, I don’t know what I am. I think that’s intuition. Because I get that gut sensation. Or I’m like, you something just feels off here. And right away, then my guard will be up. And you know, I just look at everything twice before I make any kind of decision. Sometimes it’s worked for me sometimes not so much.

Carla 21:28
Yeah, it’s so true. I always say when investors will ask how we vet our tenants, and I always say, Well, you know, we want to we want obviously be screened for income, what’s their income we screen for past history.

Carla 21:42
So that would be landlords or character references, things like that, we screen for credit, because we need to know, we need to know these things. Not if someone has bad credit, isn’t necessarily a bad renter. But we know that those history, things are usually going to repeat themselves.

Carla 21:57
And there’s, and we want to make sure it’s just not a slight bruising of the credit, I like to say, but then there’s that gut check. So when my property manager meets them, and like you’re saying the intuition, or the gut check tells us otherwise, it’s actually more important than the other three things we just read on paper. Yes.

Carla 22:14
And you have to, and you learn that with experience. So I’m lucky that I have staff that’s been with us for a number of years, that can help us through that, and we understand if it’s, if it’s just a story, or not, yeah, the pieces of the paper kind of backup the stories what I always say.

Barb 22:30
Exactly, the process you just described is just like hiring an employee. Everything can look fantastic on paper, but then you have the conversation, or you dig a little deeper, and all of a sudden, there’s nothing underneath. Right? And I think in a lot of cases, you know, we don’t dig deep enough, because we’re busy. We’ve got a million things going on, we look at a LinkedIn profile. Right, and then we don’t go any further. So the process that you’ve developed is probably similar to, you know, when you do bring on franchisees and things like that.

Carla 23:02
Totally. Yeah. Yeah. I think by nature, we want we want maybe it’s a Saskatchewan thing. We want to trust people, right? We want we want to see the good in people, or at least I certainly do. Yeah. So so yeah.

Barb 23:15
No, that’s awesome. So just really quickly, we’re almost at a time I can’t believe how quickly the conversations go. But give us a quick lowdown like, how did you get where you are, Carla? Because if I’m a young real estate agent, or if I bought my first property, like you’ve really climbed the ranks, how what advice would you share with somebody, you know, thinking about the industry or thinking about investing?

Carla 23:41
Yeah, I would say, if you have a vision, don’t be scared to try to get it. We had as you know, a top office in the century 21 system, but I always saw this need, where I lived for property management for quality professional property management. And I had this I had a vision. And that’s really all I decided that I was going to step forth and do so know who you are and what you want. And don’t be scared to step out of that box and go get it.

Barb 24:08
Yep, that’s awesome. That is absolutely fantastic. Just before we do wrap up, how can people either learn more about you? Or if they are a home, not home owner, a rental property owner? How do they find you? How do they contact you?

Carla 24:25
Sure, you can find me on any social media platform. LinkedIn is probably the best one to find me out. So you can find me just simply Carla Browne with an E a color with an E. And Real Property Management also is on every platform as well. That’s an easy way to find us are simply going to realpropertymgt.ca our website. If you are interested in franchise opportunities, there is a franchise button there that you can simply click and we’d be happy to send you some information and get in contact that way.

Barb 24:56
Okay, well that sounds fantastic. Carla, thank you so much for your Today, it’s been an absolute pleasure talking with you. You know, one of the things that’s always interested me is that idea of a rental property. But I’ve never gone down that path because of the thought that it could be, you know, a second, third or fourth job. And so now you’ve definitely given me some good food for thought and my poor husband will be Oh, God now what have you done!

Carla 25:21
Good, good. Well, I’m, and I’d be happy to have those conversations with you, too. You know that so much for having me on the show Barb. It was great to reconnect with you. And hopefully, hopefully the listeners learned a little bit about investing in real estate.

Barb 25:35
Yes, I’m certainly did. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live, or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at Abovethefold.ca. And just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our show just on our Facebook page.

Barb 25:56
So I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and #GoogleGirl. Remember you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 92 Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Donna Ziegler leads the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation team as its Executive Director.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

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She understands the importance of stewarding relationships between donors and charities and the importance of philanthropy in building community. Donna holds a Master of Communications from Royal Roads University, and is a Associate Certified Coach. She’s worked in the charitable and non-profit sectors, and served as an elected school board member for two decades.

She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Canadian Association of Gift Planners, International Association of Business Communicators, and the International Coach Federation. She has 3 grown children and 4 grandchildren and she enjoys taking her furry friends, a labradoodle and maltese poodle, on daily walks.

Want to catch up with the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/sscf.ca/
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-saskatchewan-community-foundation/about/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/SouthSaskFDN
Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBb_d5OplUCmzAkIH8y807g
Website – https://sscf.ca/

Transcript

Barb 0:00
Today’s guest is the head honcho of the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation. What the heck is a community foundation? You know, honestly, until I started talking to Donna and her team, I had no clue. But boy, has it been a steep learning curve for me.

Barb 0:16
Donna has been with the foundation for about three years. But she spent the majority of her career in either the charity or the nonprofit sector. This is a busy lady folks, the fact that we pinned her down for 25 minutes to talk to her, like, Wow, I feel so important right now. So first off, Donna, thank you so much for being here.

Donna 0:37
Thank you so much for having me. I’m glad to be here.

Barb 0:41
Absolutely. I can’t wait to learn more about you and the foundation. Now of course it is you’re such a busy lady, you are a so actively involved in the community, the coaching Federation, the Association of Fundraising Professionals, tell me a little bit about what drives you what keeps Donna going on a daily basis.

Donna 1:03
So really interesting, thank you for asking, I am a lifelong learner. So I like to keep up to date on what’s happening in community, what’s happening in these organizations, the ones that, you know, I find, for me personally, to be interesting along with my career. And so I’m always looking for opportunities to learn and to understand from others, and then to help others as well, if I know something that I can share with them. So I like being involved. And I, you know, I think that it’s helped me throughout my entire life. But I’ve always been like that. And I hope to pass some of that to my kids too. They become capes.

Barb 1:46
That is fantastic. When I read through your bio, when I was getting ready for our show today, the word that jumped out at me or the word that came to mind to describe you, you are a contributor, you look to give back to your community, I suspect your friends, your family. It’s how you’re driven, isn’t it, Donna?

Donna 2:06
Yes, that’s very interesting. I haven’t thought of it that way. But I do like to not just myself, but I like to offer it I have something to offer. I like to help others and help them understand help me community. It’s just the way you’re built. Sometimes I think and perhaps the way you’re brought up, or you know, so you just kind of have that innately that desire continue to pay forward.

Barb 2:33
Yes, absolutely. So let me ask you this question, then. How do you balance your time, because I know for people, other other friends and family than I know that direct giver by nature, you also have to find that balance so that you can recharge. So how do you do that? How do you balance?

Donna 2:52
Really good question Barb. And lots of times, we don’t even like to think about that. Because it actually puts you into a zone that you have to slow down and think about how you’re recharging. But what I do know is that if you do not recharge yourself, you’re not good for others.

Donna 3:10
And you don’t you know, you’re showing others that it’s important to take care of yourself so that you can be that person for other whether it’s community or people or family. So I really like to look at I’ve always looked at work life balance to I, you know, I like to I like work, I’ve always liked work.

Donna 3:37
But I know that family life is also important. And so I really try to balance those pieces. I don’t think my children would say that things are done by because it wasn’t for my husband, we’ve always made sure that we were present. Yes, one for sure. And, you know, because I have a good support system, and was able to engage in community. And that really matters as well.

Donna 4:06
My husband helps children all the time. And he’s coached and you know, and I was able to follow a few of my dreams, which was going back to school and work and different things. So you learn how to balance I love enacting mindfulness into my day, being grateful, you know, using a journal to to learn about yourself and the things that you’re grateful for. It completely slows down your day, especially in the morning. And it yes, it makes you more mindful of what you’re doing.

Barb 4:44
Yes, absolutely. I actually took a mindfulness class from from a local business here. And when I started the class, I was kind of thinking yeah, I don’t know like, but by the end, I loved Oh, Joanne did such a wonderful job in that class. And we actually did a retreat at the end at the university. And I remember walking around, and being able to enjoy kicking water in puddles. Like I hadn’t since I was a kid, like, how cool is kicking water, and I had no kids with me. So I like got tic tic. And it was awesome. Right?

Donna 5:28
So, you know, we don’t take enough time. We’re busy, right? That is that word. I don’t even like that word easy. But if you can press in the things that you’re doing, yes, that’s most important. And I remember once I was with somebody, and they said, I was talking to my inner function, and I said, Oh, they asked me how my week was going. And I said, this is about 10 years ago.

Donna 5:54
And I said, you know, I just can’t wait for the week to be done. It’s been a long week, he looked at me. And they said, Not Ever wish a moment away? Yes. Take the time you need present with it. Others would, in a in a second, I want to trade you places. That’s right. So you know, that’s what I’ve learned. You enjoy where you’re at, and be present with what you’re doing.

Barb 6:24
I don’t know where I first heard that. But when my kids were little, and we had to at the same time, we had an infant and a toddler because we we had a child and we adopted a child.

Barb 6:36
So we were instant parents literally just add water. And we were parents. But I remember thinking, I didn’t want to wish time away, because I knew inherently how precious that time was. And and I still have to remind myself of that now that they’re teens, sometimes I do. Okay, I can’t wait till we get through this phase.

Barb 7:01
But I was so cognizant of it when they were little, because that time is so precious. And it goes so quick. I know, every new parent hears that, that the time goes quick, and it doesn’t seem like it. But a former supervisor of mine said to me one time, the days are long, the years are short, and I thought that was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Right? It absolutely resonates.

Barb 7:30
Yeah. Okay, so we were to talk about the foundation, because here we go down my rabbit hole. But tell me about the Community Foundation. What exactly is a foundation? I know you’ve been around for years. And in fact, there are foundations across Canada. So it’s an entire movement. So just kind of give me the skinny on how the heck this all works?

Donna 7:55
Absolutely. So the basic mandate of a community foundation is to improve the quality of community life, right where you live. And so we’re a charitable endowment organization. And so we’re for the betterment of community forever. So you know, that there’s probably an over 5000 Charities, public, private.

Donna 8:28
And so there’s so the thing with the Community Foundation, there’s 191 of us, across Canada. And so the Community Foundation is really here to the betterment of community to facilitate the conversations with donors, and have that intent, you know, that is that very important conversation about what the donors goals are, what they you know, what they hope to leave behind?

Donna 8:58
What kind of a legacy would they like, so facilitating that conversation with experienced staff members, we are not accountants or estate planners or financial planners, but we can help you in your in reaching your goals, if you want to, you know, on those side of things, so it’s really about facilitating the conversation with donors about their philanthropy. Right.

Donna 9:22
And then it’s them understand what the community need is because the Community Foundation does local research, right? We have vital signs. We have surveys, church charity surveys, you know, we really are connected at the grassroots level or at the ground level with what’s going on in community came so it helps us share that with donors come to the location because they really don’t know where to start.

Donna 9:54
They know they want to help impact. They know they might want to leave a legacy where they started their business. Notice, or they think they will after I’m gone, I’d like to leave a percentage of my estate to five charities or whatever. Yep.

Donna 10:07
So that we are able to facilitate those conversations and help them understand what the community need is, which charitable organizations might be affiliated with their, their field or area of focus. Okay, so we were really connected, we’re connected to the charity and nonprofit world. Give them some information, don’t give them advice, but we give them information so they can make a decision.

Barb 10:36
Right. So in my mind, if I was a philanthropist, and I had the funds to leave behind as a legacy, I could come to you. And, and, and to me, that feels more comfortable. Because if I knock on charities door itself, it almost creates an expectation that, you know, oh, great, Barb’s gonna, you know, leave us in a will or something like that. Or maybe it’s even, you know, a during life donation, where by talking to you, I can make that more comfortable? Possibly I can, you know, spread the wealth, so to speak. Is that a fair statement?

Donna 11:13
I think that is the thing with the Community Foundation, too, is that we don’t compete with charity, we’re actually kind of if you think about an umbrella, we kind of art that umbrella we give back in 2020, we gave back nearly $10 million. Wow. Get to 225 organizations and charities, and nonprofits. So but our job is really to facilitate the conversation to figure out what the needs are in community. And then how do we try and have more impact?

Barb 11:51
Exactly. And I love that where you live? You work you live you? Yeah, you’re facilitating those conversations? Absolutely. Can you give us some examples that we might be familiar with that are, you know, prominent in the community.

Donna 12:07
So one, I want to talk to you just about One really good example. And it sounds, it’s about an individual, in Arcola Saskatchewan, because they are so scattered. So we have an individual there that will wander to his community. He grew up there, his parents grew up there.

Donna 12:27
He really wanted his legacy to be in that community. So he set up a fund with South Saskatchewan with the direction that the interest after because we preserve the capital and return the interesting income so that they can give back to charitable organizations forever.

Donna 12:48
Okay, and so we fund, and we talked about what was of interest to him. And then we, you know, we made sure we talked to the municipality, that they are qualified donors. So we can give, we can give back the money to the Qualified Domain, who can address the needs of the donor, he wanted to give it back to the local rink, the cemetery, the church in town.

Donna 13:17
So we facilitate those calls, so that they can give it back, right? If they choose to. We have some donors who no longer live here, but they want to give back to the communities that supported them. Where they had their business, where they they raised their children? Yes. Oh, so that’s kind of, you know, those are the legacy pieces that people, businesses, individuals, corporations actually do it as well.

Donna 13:44
So there’s all kinds of interesting ways to keep your commitment or to give a commitment to your community and to grow communities need finances. in perpetuity. Yes, you know, they’re always going to need money for the roof, or the, you know, there’s always ways to use resources. The nice thing about when you set up a fund is that it’s in there, it’s there, a downside is there for perpetuity forever. So the interest and income will go back to you know, whatever the field of interest or the area of interest is for the donor, forever.

Barb 14:25
Right, you know, what, that that really spurred something for me, Donna, because when you think about being able to make an impact, being able to make your mark on something that’s particularly important to you, and, and have that sense of, of making a difference of creating a better future, in whatever area that interests you, sport, recreation, health, right like that is really a unique opportunity then to work with you So what does that process look like? Does somebody just call you up and say, Hey, Donna, I got some money you want it? Like, what does that look like? What does that sound like using? Probably not like that?

Donna 15:10
Sometimes, you’d be surprised. We really, like facilitate a conversation. Absolutely, you know, we would certainly help them. And we will also, you know, we don’t want, we might not be their solution.

Donna 15:26
So we try to express what we do, and how we can help them. And if they’re, if we’re the right fit for them, right. So you want to make sure that you are able to provide the, you know, the information, or provide the services that a donor wants to get.

Donna 15:45
And if they want to donate directly to one charity, we tell them, you probably unless that charities not going to be around in 1015 years, which may might be the case, you know, we really advise them if we are the best choice for them. Right. And I think the thing with, with donors to that if they start a fund with us, and let’s just say they want to give back to a specific charity, there’s always options within their funding agreements that if that charity ceases to exist, what are some other areas?

Donna 16:18
Or what are your case we sent, you know, if the money goes to a charity that is of similar interest, so we always follow through with the donor. So it’s not just kind of a one conversation. We actually feel we might have multiple options for them. But we really want to a little get to know the donor a little bit and understand where they’re coming from and what their goals are.

Barb 16:44
So in a number of cases, are you also working with second generation, maybe even third generation family, who still continued to be active in managing the fund and things like that?

Donna 16:55
Yes, we are, we have, we have a few families that have multiple generations in the funds, and it’s growing that ideology, and giving back and creating community for today, but also for future generations. So you know, the funds that sit at the foundation, or they feel they’re invested in community, they will be there forever. Great. So thinking about the next generation, and how does this look for them, and ensuring that there’s resources that can go back into community in the future? Yes.

Donna 17:45
So that’s why we kind of we focus on long term gains payments for the long term, we want to help community forever. Yes, the endowed model works in that sense, we do both we do have some non endowed, which is almost like a flow through to help immediate capital needs or whatever that might be. Right. But we are really here for blocking you know what and helping generate.

Barb 18:15
So one of the things that just kind of clicked for me as you’re talking, um, when the when the funder was supporting the municipal level, it doesn’t have to be a charity can be a charity, a nonprofit, a municipality, in terms of how funds can flow from those endowments. You must have a ton you probably have as many different ways that the funds flow as you’ve had donors over the last 50 years.

Donna 18:43
Well, you know what, all our funds or funds have to go back to a charity. Oh, they do. Okay. Yes, thank you. So but or qualified donee. So municipalities are a qualified donee. Nonprofits sometimes work very closely with a charity. And so, you know, they are they have an agreement perhaps that they work but our funds because the donor receives a charitable tax receipt. Okay, their donation the money has to go back to a charity. All CRA rules, ensure that, that that’s the way it goes.

Barb 19:23
Okay. So just for my own understanding, then how does that municipality fit under there under that charitable rule with CRA?

Donna 19:33
Because they are qualified donees. All municipalities are qualified donee. And your lots of times maybe, you know, individuals don’t want to give back to a city or something you want a project that is going to so they often work with us if they have a fund towards a project, perhaps that the city or municipality might be working on It’ll give him a little bit more assurance, I guess that in our, you know, our letters or grant letters, etc, that the monies will be spent in a certain way.

Barb 20:10
Okay, that makes much more sense for me so many other things. Yeah, go ahead,

Donna 20:15
I was just gonna say the other important piece to a community foundation is being able to address some emergent needs right in the community.

Donna 20:23
And so while we do this research, in that area around, you know, we do charitable surveys, we do our vital signs, community network meetings, we do our vital signs report, we get to know the pulse of the community and what’s going on, we have charities calling us when they’re in dire straits, we kind of know, we know what’s happening on the ground.

Donna 20:44
The important piece here is that we are trying to grow our South Saskatchewan community vital fund, where that money helps emergent needs, we run out, kind of like a competitive grant for the after an application process of what’s going on.

Donna 21:02
And according to the research that we have, right now, I know there’s five different areas that we’re looking at. People apply for it, but we know that they’re critical points in the community, where people need versus or charities need resources to grow that.

Donna 21:19
Because well, it’s important to, you know, help keep up different, maybe buildings or cemeteries or we also know, help improve the quality of life for people today that are running into, you know, issues, and charities are trying to help them whether that’s homelessness, poverty, you know, racial discrimination, whether it’s, you know, there’s a whole variety of issues that are going on, we try to focus with our community funds, and help those emergent issues, help communities work together on those emergent issues.

Barb 22:00
And did you say that there’s five areas that you’re focusing on the vital fund?

Donna 22:05
Well, so we have two years ago, before COVID, we did do 50 vital community conversations, because it was our 50th anniversary. Okay.

Donna 22:15
And, you know, we we booked at, I think there was 2000 people attended. Or I don’t know, sorry, I don’t have the numbers in front of me probably around 56 different conversations.

Donna 22:29
And all over south Saskatchewan. And so the information that he said that they’re number one indicator, is that they need to belong. People need to belong in the community that they’re living in.

Donna 22:42
And what that means to individuals will be different, depending on feeling or looking for the emergent issues that came up right across Saskatchewan. We’re sustaining rural communities came to make, right. And then drug abuse and addiction, safety in communities. how safe do you feel racism, racism towards new immigrants and indigenous people?

Donna 23:10
And homelessness and affordable housing? Yeah, those are the five issues. So then COVID hit, and we couldn’t, we were struggling, everybody was pivoting trying to do it. And then we aligned our granting last year on used to be called Smart and Caring fund.

Donna 23:31
We align it for those five issues. And we added a COVID lens wanted this new COVID. And so we we ran that competitive grant. And I think there was about $60,000 That went back into community on for those issues. And then you know, so that’s what we tried to do with our research. And then so this will ask us, you know, so what are the issues today? Yeah, don’t ask us. What are the issues today? And we’ll say these are the issues because of our research, you know, or wants to support or help with that. community funding? They do.

Barb 24:14
Awesome. Donna, we are just about at a time today. Can you let folks know how they would find information about the charity? Sorry, the foundation, whether it’s your website, your social channels, how do we find out more about you and make that phone call if there’s some funds to contribute?

Donna 24:30
So the best way would be to check out our website SSCF.ca and their contact information on there. You don’t really give us a call asked for a meeting. You know, we can sit down and we can chat over email or virtual or we can set up an in person at some point. So we really just, you know, we’re we’re having conversations with people and we really look forward to it. The staff love what they do. And we really do feel like we’re making an impact.

Barb 25:02
Oh, you are the impact that you are making is tremendous. Absolutely tremendous. So thank you so much for taking the time to be with me here today. It’s been a pleasure to put a name and a face together and take a look at all these credentials and say, Hey, like she’s just an everyday person that you can chat with. And she laughed and smiled through the whole conversation. So that was fantastic. Thank you.

Donna 25:28
Thank you so much, Barb.

Barb 25:29
Absolutely.

Barb 25:30
If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live, or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at Abovethefold.Ca. And just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our shows on our Facebook page.

Barb 25:49
I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 91 Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Video Transcript: Ep. 91 Scott Love

Barb 0:00
So our guest today is Scott love. And he is the owner of store to door, a new business here in Saskatchewan that many of you may have heard about. But Scott’s a bit of a serial entrepreneur with a passion for local and a real knack for business. So he started his first business when he was 18 years old and spent the next number of years in the franchise and food space.

Barb 0:24
His franchise includes everything from Subway, Panago pizza, Starbucks, lots of names that we all know and probably frequent on a regular basis.

Barb 0:35
But no task is too small for Scott, he decided that his next gig and the gig we’re going to talk about today is taking on the likes of Amazon when it comes to local delivery. So without further ado, Scott, please speak and you will pop up onto my screen and let’s chat. Let’s hear all about it.

Scott 0:56
Cool. Well, thanks, Barb. Thanks, everybody, for having me. And I look forward to discussing some of these local challenges that are going on in our local economy. Like Barb said, I’ve been in business for about 25 years now.

Scott 1:10
But like, mostly in the food business, and, you know, learn most of my ups and downs in that business. And, you know, when COVID hits back, you know, early 2020, I saw this big opportunity for brick and mortar retail and local retailers, you know, in our local economy, specifically, that they’re going to run into a ton of challenges, getting their product out of their doors, and into people’s hands.

Scott 1:40
And I could see the rise of companies like Amazon just you know, doing a, you know, an okay job at it. But everybody’s skirting around our local, our local retailers. And that was super concerning to me.

Scott 1:53
And that’s where, you know, this idea started. And, you know, we knew we had to move quickly, we knew we had to get it off the ground. I had tons of time on my hand because all my other businesses were closed. Okay. So I, you know, hunkered down and launched Store to Door late 2020. And, you know, we’re 11 months later, or 12 months later. We’re seeing some really great things coming from it. And we’ve helped a lot of businesses in those last year.

Barb 2:20
Yeah, I bet. And in fact, you’re in northern Saskatchewan. You’re actually in Alberta right now as well, aren’t you?

Scott 2:27
Yet we’re in Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg.

Barb 2:32
So let’s just talk about the logistics for a second is it local delivery city limits city product, or is also is there also some, you know, Regina, Saskatoon, intra delivery,

Scott 2:44
We do stay within our local area around the local retailers. Majority, you know, we do deliver to Emerald Park, Balgonie, Pilot Butte those types of areas. And in Saskatoon and kind of bedroom communities, we don’t enter delivery between city to city that would be hours away. What we really focus on is getting our product from the retailer’s door to the clients that were in one direct route, versus going through distribution channels and that sort of thing.

Barb 3:15
So I have to think that there’s some pretty sophisticated technology behind where the drivers go, how they get where they need to go in an efficient manner, things like that. Did you have access to that technology already? Or was that part of your development?

Scott 3:30
So a little bit of both. When we first started, we needed to prove the concepts, we used a third party product to be able to do that. And since then, we’ve built our own products in house. Here in Regina, we have a group of engineers that work on our team that have built this platform. And we continue to build the product out and perfected as we continue to go.

Barb 3:55
Take. So yeah, you’ve got a lot of technical pieces. And then how many drivers do you have, if you looked at your fleet size, right now?

Scott 4:02
I’m currently, we’d be over a hundred and in our fleets, we really rely on the gig economy to be able to backfill that, you know, flexibility. This is a driving gig that you can make quick, easy money. It’s not really there for you know, the eight hour worker, because it’s a very grueling job, to be delivering, driving, picking up and all those sorts of pieces. But it’s a good way for people to supplement your income. And we’ve seen a lot of success from that.

Barb 4:34
So I think gig economy so a lot of university students, part time workers, things like that, I presume,

Scott 4:40
Yeah, retirees are a big market for us. You know, and just yet anybody that’s looking to make some extra money that can fill it in around their current career. That’s where we see a lot of success from it.

Barb 4:53
Yeah, yeah, I can totally see how that would work then. So tell me a little bit about the process. So why buy something online? I really have no idea how it’s getting to me as a consumer, but somewhere you get involved. So how does that handoff happen?

Scott 5:09
Yep. So there’s two ways that we do it. The simplest way is through integration.

Scott 5:15
So for example, if you’re using Shopify as an E commerce platform, potentially as your local business, which is, you know, doing the whole transaction, we integrate on the back end of Shopify, and when they select Local same day delivery, it would shoot that information across to us.

Scott 5:33
So that we have all the important information like their phone number, their address, the name, that sort of thing. And as soon as that product is ready and fulfilled, it will be tagged in the back of Shopify, and let us know that it’s ready for delivery. And we would send a driver to come pick it up.

Scott 5:52
And we encourage the retailers to kind of bundle their packages. So we kind of assign or work with them with different pickup times, so that we can pick up more at one given time, so we can have a better productive route for our drivers. Pay them more, but also, we can pass on some savings to the retailer as well, because we’re picking up volume versus just one off deliveries.

Barb 6:13
Exactly. And is the cost for delivery, you’re obviously charging the retailer, or most retailers passing the cost off to the customer, or do many absorb it, or do you even know?

Scott 6:26
Yeah, it’s a little bit of both depending on the industry.

Scott 6:28
So for example, in the pharmacy industry that we work with a lot, they absorb the cost.

Scott 6:35
In retail, a lot of cases, what it is depends on what the cart size that they’ve made purchase. And so usually, if it’s $50 or more, maybe it would be free delivery, and they absorb the cost.

Scott 6:46
But if it’s less than $50, they would pass the cost on to the client. So it’s a little mishmash of both.

Scott 6:53
But you know, to be honest with you, I think this industry requires us to be able to align and charge people a little bit for delivery. I don’t think it’s the responsibility of the retailer to constantly be absorbing that. But we have to do that collectively, because it’s all over the place. And some sell, hide it in their pricing. They, you know, gather it in other places. But you know, as an industry, I think that needs to change, and we’re starting to see it in the pharmacy industry. Now, you’re going to start to see some charging because they can’t continue to absorb that cost.

Barb 7:26
Yeah, exactly. It’s a pretty high cost. So when I compare to something like Amazon, and you know, I kind of envision that you’re sitting on your couch one night, you come up with this idea, and it’s like, hey, I’ll take on Amazon. It’s not something that a lot of people, you know, quite think about. Yeah, they wanted that one off, so kudos to you.

Scott 7:45
Thank you. And, you know, I, the inspiration came more from how I can help local retail, right, if you know, Amazon, yes, is the big juggernaut over to the side. But that’s, you know, we’re really just there to be able to, you know, pass on and be a part of what they’re doing in our local economy.

Scott 8:04
And it was super concerning to me that, you know, people could be closing their businesses, if they didn’t get out to these clients in some form or fashion, that was more the objective than really to compete with Amazon. That is just kind of what has happened, because of what we’re doing. But it’s really to help these local businesses.

Barb 8:21
So when you were doing your homework, did you do a deep dive into Amazon’s business model? Because so often, Amazon stuff is delivered for free. It’s just buried somewhere. What did you learn?

Scott 8:35
That’s right. Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, these big companies or any company, I mean, you’re not doing this for nothing. There’s always a way to make it work, you know, membership models, or whatever it is that they use to be able to supplement and, you know, make their income.

Scott 8:53
There’s just so many different ways that they take from the retailer. And that was one of the biggest things, you know, me being in the food business, dealing with, you know, Sips and Ubers and DoorDash is, you know, it really bothered me of how, you know, they would say, it’s going to be X amount of dollars. And then next thing you know, it, you know, I’m basically, I’ve lost everything in order to make that transaction.

Scott 9:16
And we wanted to make sure that it was very transparent and flat fee driven. So that if you’re a retailer, you know exactly what you’re paying for that delivery, and there’s no other charges coming along.

Scott 9:27
And I think in Amazon’s case, it’s still the same thing. You know, if you’re a retailer for Amazon, you’re getting jammed with tons of different fees to make up for that delivery as well. So, you know, that’s something that we really are really concerned about, and want to make sure that we’re super transparent with our retailers.

Barb 9:43
You know, you bring up a really interesting point because I don’t know partway through COVID. We’re approaching that two year mark. Partway through COVID. There was a bit of an outcry in terms of how much to skip the dishes and some of the other delivery companies were gouging from that purchase to the point where consumers said, forget it, we’ll we’ll deal directly we’ll pick up, right people actually kind of revolted from that. Did that change at all? Do you know? And did that impact your decision making?

Scott 10:16
Well, it was a driver to how we created our pricing model. But I don’t think it’s actually gone anywhere in terms of reverse in that industry, specifically, it was Skip and Uber. I know that that’s an industry that’s growing at a crazy pace.

Scott 10:32
I think they’re expecting it to grow, like another couple 100% Over the next year. You know, it’s just, I think it’s accessibility people, you know, there’s one big thing that people just can’t buy, and that is time.

Scott 10:45
And I think, you know, if we can, if somebody can save them time, they’re going to take advantage of it. But I want to make sure that these local retailers, or whoever we’re working with stay in business, because they’re ultimately our feeder of our business.

Scott 10:59
So we can’t jam them and take everything from them, because you’re just gonna, you’re just gonna kill them. Right. And I think some of these other companies, they think there’s all this margin in food, or there’s this margin in retail goods, there isn’t.

Scott 11:13
And we can all attest that, it just kills the bottom line. But if it’s kind of you’re damned if you do or damned if you don’t in situations specifically COVID, what other alternative did you have? And they took advantage of that. And I want to make sure that we as Store to Door don’t do that. We’re partners, we want to make sure you succeed. But we also have to succeed as well.

Barb 11:33
You know, that’s a common sentiment that I’ve heard, when it comes to some of the delivery companies, food establishments don’t feel like they have a choice. If they’re not on the app, if they’re not using the service, then the customer doesn’t even consider them, because they’ve completely forgotten about them.

Barb 11:52
And to skips credit, you know, people go to the app, what’s in there, they place their order, they don’t even go looking elsewhere. So are you starting to see something similar with retail? Where if delivery isn’t available? Or if delivery charges aren’t clearly stated? Customers go elsewhere? Or do you hear much from customers? What’s kind of your ear to the ground on that?

Scott 12:16
You know, one of the key things that we wanted to make sure is that we weren’t a third party marketplace. Because of that specific reason, you know, all these retailers worked so hard with their marketing budgets, you know, building customer relationships, and being able to pass that off to a third party marketplace, to make that customer now vulnerable to be taken by another brand. Because their prices, maybe 50 cents, or $1 cheaper.

Scott 12:42
We just didn’t want to do that. And so what we did is we actually, white labeled our product. So all the branding, and everything is, is the company that we’re working for at that given moment.

Scott 12:53
So if it’s Bella Chic here in Regina, specifically, when we do a delivery, it’s Bella chic communication all the way through it door to door, we’re not there to build our business brand. We’re building, we’re there to build your business brand.

Scott 13:09
And I think that’s something that’s really resonated with retailers. Is that Yes, I do not want to put that I’ve worked so hard for this customer. I don’t want to make them vulnerable and out there to be taken away from me. Because I need to be part of this thing that everybody’s saying I need to be a part of. And I think that’s one of the competitive advantages that we have. And we’ve been able to give to those retailers.

Barb 13:31
Yeah. So okay, that’s a really interesting point. I actually have a delivery coming later today. And I’m quite sure that it’s you guys. But in fact, I don’t know, as far as I know, I made my purchase from my retailer. And yeah, I have no idea who actually shows up with my product. But I did contact my retailer this morning and said, Hey, I’m gonna live between 11 and 12. Can you not ring the doorbell? Right, right. It’s those little things when you have dogs where you’re like, Oh, no. Things you don’t think about? Yep. Okay.

Barb 14:08
So that’s actually a really different approach, not having that common marketplace. Because there’s a number of folks who even locally do have that, here’s our marketplace, you can buy through these folks, and it gets delivered. So you guys really change that up?

Scott 14:24
Yeah, and the thing is, every time you touch somebody else’s hand, there’s margin to be taken away from that in that retailer, right? So less, less touches, more opportunity for that margin, the stay in Sask for that retailer, and less points of contact because that’s where errors happen. I mean, we have errors, you know, we’re human where you got human elements or business. But at the end of the day, less touches means less opportunity for failure. So, you know, I think that’s a really important piece as well.

Barb 14:53
Yeah. Absolutely That kind of makes me wonder like Where would this system break on you?

Scott 15:01
But really what brakes on us are the biggest challenges throttling up and down with our driver capacity with volume, you know, expectations. So because a retailer in one day could have 20 orders or packages, we don’t get any foresight on when that’s actually going to happen. It just happens for them, there’s site all of a sudden gets traffic, they sell, they do a sale, and they need this product out.

Scott 15:28
So, you know, maybe that retailer didn’t do any deliveries three days prior, and all of a sudden, they have 20 that day. Okay. So that’s kind of the biggest challenge, but we have human beings. And that’s why we don’t rely on our tech 100% is because we have to have human beings dispatch this and make sure that these things are being addressed. And we’re on it right away.

Scott 15:48
And they’re located here in Regina. They’re doing the job every day, every hour that we’re available, to make sure that we do get these things out in the time that we’ve, you know, we’ve said we can do it for so yeah, that’s how we that’s the biggest challenge that we have.

Barb 16:05
Okay, yeah, that makes more sense to me then. So you guys aren’t touching the food industry at this point? I presume?

Scott 16:12
No, not in the you know, prepared foods. We do. Working for a boutique grocery is what I call them. And so local and fresh, for example, in Regina is a company that delivers grocery and frozen items for them.

Scott 16:29
We do you have meal prep companies that prepare, you know, frozen products, I guess and we deliver for them. But we don’t do any delivery specifically for any fast food restaurant business. We just let those guys fight that battle over there. And we want to make sure that we’re because we can’t really guarantee to get it done in an hour. It’s pretty hard to do a lot of logistic challenges around that. And we just didn’t want to get in that realm.

Barb 16:55
Yep. Yeah. Okay, that makes more sense to me then. So tell me about your I’ll call it customer acquisition process based on everything you’ve told me. If I was a retailer, it sounds like a no brainer to me. What are the obstacles or is your growth trajectory, just straight up at this point?

Scott 17:14
It is straight up at this point. So but we have onboarding capacity, we have a whole team of sales and lead generation that are, you know, basically working in different market places, going, you know, really surrounding some of our key retailers that we work with making sure that we’re you know, touching them saying, hey, who can we help in your local neighborhoods, you know, referrals and that sort of thing.

Scott 17:41
We can always take on more, and we continue to on a daily basis. You know, we say it’s a no brainer, but you know, in a lot of cases, maybe a local retailer, you know, they’ve been delivering their products, and they feel comfortable doing that.

Scott 17:56
And what I say to them, in most cases is that, you know, if you go spend an hour outside of your business, you know, what could you be doing in an hour to build your business rather than out there just driving around? Let us do that for a minimal fee. And you spend that hour on building your business and probably, you know, making three, four or five, maybe 10 times what you paid me to do that delivery.

Scott 18:19
So you know, that’s kind of the feedback and that we like to give. But, you know, when the retailers are onboard, they feel that they can really validate that point. Because once they do see the value in what we do, they can just turn around, they’re building their business.

Barb 18:36
Exactly. It’s interesting that you say that, because one of the things that I often see from local business owners is we don’t put a value on our time. And so whether I’m driving around doing deliveries, working in the office, or heaven forbid, just relaxing, there’s a value to that time. And it’s so easy to say, Oh, well, you know, that’s just my admin time, but we have to put a value on it. Because time is such a finite resource. And it just disappears. Right? It absolutely disappears.

Scott 19:09
Totally. And I you know, from my experiences, typically, if I would ever take anything or deliver something in any of my businesses, it was never just straight to the clients. And then back. In most cases, I would go to Staples, or I would go to wherever, you know, and next thing, you know, and I’m gone for an hour and a half.

Scott 19:28
And that’s, you know, and you know, on average, I kind of look at it and say like a typical business owner, that’s probably, you know, they should be netting out, you know, anywhere from 75 to $100 an hour is what their time is worth. Well, that’s a huge amount of money that you spent on a delivery that you could pay somebody $10 to do. You know, so yeah, I agree with you 100% And it’s something that took me a long time in business to really understand the importance of value my time. And once they realized that it just made me that much more productive as well.

Barb 19:59
People think I figured it out yet to be honest, God, there’s so many times that I, why am I sitting here still doing this? Like walking away?

Scott 20:07
Yes, no doubt, it’s hard. I mean, we only want to do the best for ourselves and, and try to save money and all these sorts of things. But sometimes you have to really understand the return on that investment and make sure that you understand what that calculation is because you could be wasting time on some things that definitely could be done differently for you.

Barb 20:26
Exactly. One of the obstacles that I expected that you would mention, but you didn’t was that some local businesses aren’t set up for E-commerce, e-commerce purchases, or, you know, they might still be doing the phone. If they’re not set up. If you’re talking to a retailer who is not set up. Is that where the line between you and the retailer happens? They have to be connected to e-commerce and then you can take over note you’re shaking your head. What does that look like?

Scott 20:57
We recognized that real early in our, in our business and building this piece of tech is that, you know, that was our initial plan, ecommerce integration, simple. Once we started talking to retailers and actually getting out into the fields, 95% of local businesses do not ecommerce setup, or even have the ability or have the funds to do it, because it’s not cheap, it takes time, takes money and that sort of thing.

Scott 21:23
So what we did is we actually built a portal that they can manually, it’s like three lines, you know, it’s their cell phone number, their address, and the customer’s phone number or the customer’s name. And they can do that in our portal, and dispatch and deliver it to us within 15 seconds. Okay, and it’s all trackable there in that portal, they can see where the delivery is, what you know, what’s the status is that if it’s been delivered, what’s the delivery notes are proof of delivery of it, the picture signature, Id scan any of that sort of stuff.

Scott 21:59
So they have that all their fingertips. And we see that specifically in the pharmacy business, they do not have ecommerce, right. So they use our portal, we also have CSV upload. So if you’re doing, you know, massive amounts of deliveries, and you don’t want to type them in individually, we can upload a CSV file for them, and have that done as well. So we came up with a solution. And that’s, I would say 80% of our businesses are using that portal versus integration.

Barb 22:26
So lessons learned, what lessons learned, would you take away at this point already, even though it’s only been a year?

Scott 22:36
The biggest lesson is, you know, you have to, you have to listen, listen to your marketplace, listen to your customers, they’re going to tell the story of what we need to do to satisfy them and do it right. You know, things that we assumed as important to the retailer wasn’t necessarily a case specifically, like we just discussed E-commerce versus, you know, ability to do non e commerce. These are all things that we had to do by listening. And, you know, we also have to be vulnerable and understand that making mistakes. is Okay.

Barb 23:10
And that’s it. We’re out of time. Thank you, Scott, so much for joining us today to talk about Store to Door and the expansion you’re seeing across western Canada, as well as everything you’re doing to support local businesses.

Barb 23:25
If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live, or find us on social media at abovethefold.ca. We’d love to have you on as a guest in 2022. So drop me a note and we’ll see you next year.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Scott Love is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for local and a knack for business.

He started his first business when he was 18 and spent the next number of years in the franchise & food space. His franchises included well-known names like Subway, Panago Pizza, and Starbucks.

No task is too small for this entrepreneur; he decided his next gig would be taking on the likes of Amazon at the local level with Store to Door. Let’s hear how it’s going!

Connect with Scott @ Store to Door
https://www.storetodoorcanada.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Storetodoorcanada
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storetodoorcanada
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/storetodoor

Ep. 90 Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Video Transcript: Ep. 90 Mark Heise

Barb 0:18
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for being here. The first thing we’re going to do this afternoon, it’s just after lunch. I’m going to do a really quick introduction for Mark. And He is here so then we will be ready to go. Good. Mark. You’re there. All right.

Well, welcome to everyone. Mark nice is our guest today. And Mark is a president of Rebellion Brewing. Rebellion Brewing is a local craft brewer here in Regina, Saskatchewan. And, you know, I think their tagline says it all. Be a rebel and drink great beer. And on that note, Mark, I’m gonna have you open up your mic and introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about rebellion and your history because you do have quite the rebellious history.

Mark 2:05
Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah. Lots, lots, lots. Um, thanks for having me. I hope folks buy this fun and enjoyable. And I hope I can talk about all sorts of things. And so I hope I talk about things you want me to talk about? So if not, just ask the questions, and I will try and just go down that rabbit hole instead.

Um, yeah, I already get off the beaten path when you want to know that history or this or that. I can ultimately tell you, I’m from Regina born and raised. I went to school at the U of R. I took business school. And I worked as an accountant, and then I transitioned into IT. After a few years of being an accountant, I worked in IT for 17 years.

Okay, and those were all great. I learned a ton of skills focused on a ton of different things. But I really enjoyed brewing beer. I enjoyed beer just as an enthusiast as a teenager. I thought it was pretty cool. And I always like your different stuff. I love weird, different music. I will like weird different foods. I just always want something a little bit different, I guess. Yeah, I guess that’s kind of how I see it as destiny to end up running Rebellion Brewing, I guess.

But yeah, so I started home brewing just over 15 years ago. And I really love that I love spending all my free time doing that, like anything. If it’s a passion, that doesn’t feel like work, so do I. And you know, I know a lot of folks that enjoy hobbies as hobbies, and they don’t ever want to turn that into a business. I was pretty worried about that when we decided to open a brewery. Okay, but I enjoy every single day of it. I get up. I’m excited.

I get up way too early. I don’t know about you, folks. But yeah, if you wanna, if you do want to chat with me, tech messaged me at five in the morning, I’ll probably it’s probably the best time to catch me. Because then I end up doing this stuff all day.

Barb 3:56
Exactly. So let’s just back up there. Okay, so teenagers like beer, no surprises there. I don’t think we know too many teenage boys that don’t like beer. But like, what made you sit on your couch one night and go? You know what? I bet it could make a living off making beer. What made you and your partners come to that conclusion because I know, a ton of people brew in their basement, but they don’t pop up as a brewery and especially when it gets to be pretty well known.

Mark 4:23
Yes. So I wouldn’t say our story’s a whole lot different than a lot of other breweries. There’s now over 1200 craft breweries in Canada. But for us at the time, we seemed like we were pretty good at making beer at home. So we figured we do everything. So we should open a brewery. And you know, at that point, we oh, we only officially opened just over seven years ago.

So we started thinking about it about eight or nine years ago. There’s very few other breweries here. And as someone that travels, you know, around North America, you can see that crappier exploding everywhere else. So it seemed like there was definitely a good opportunity and a good time.

And we didn’t we certainly didn’t know anyone else here in the province that knew more about beer than us other than folks that already were running breweries. Okay. So that seemed to make sense. And, yes, I was reasonably successful in IT, but it wasn’t super rewarding. Honestly, I still make way less money doing this. So my wife absolutely encouraged and supported me on this. But some days, it’s kind of hard when you kind of look at what I used to make versus what I make now.

Barb 5:25
Mm hmm. Yep. But there’s something to be said for life satisfaction.

Mark 5:31
Yeah, again, I have zero. I do have zero regrets. And we’re gonna be okay. So yeah,

Barb 5:37
Exactly. Okay, so tell us a little bit about your journey. So you guys sat on the couch tonight? You said, Yeah, we’re gonna do this. Now. I agree with you wholeheartedly. There was a pretty significant trend until you were caught in that wave. What happens though, with all say, the big dawgs, those national players, you know, how do they take to a craft brewery? Do they really even pay any attention? What does that look like?

Mark 6:04
Well, I can tell you right now. I mean, we were talking about it yesterday in the office. I know. I know. It’s a fact that some of the big brewers offer deals to bars and restaurants and event centers, some of them do. And the stipulation is that if they’re going to give that, that offer to someone that they cannot carry Rebellion beer.

So clearly, we’re viewed as a threat. And I know about it, because some owners tell us about it and tell us that they refuse the deal. So that feels kind of good. But yeah, so when we started, you know? Yeah, I mean, those folks, they’re very, they’re, they’re some of the biggest companies in the world. They have massive marketing budgets and throw their weight around and are exceptionally good at what they do and are interested in losing market share to little twerps like me. Exactly.

Barb 6:52
Well, when you look at the traditional beer drinker, like they’re loyal, they are super loyal to their brand. And so you know, even to find a crack in that armor so that you can get them to try, you know, a rebellion somewhere along the way. What do you think, like, how did you find that crack in the armor? Because I mean, you guys have a huge loyal following now. So where did you find that crack?

Mark 7:19
I’ve got these three things, but you probably have the loyal following, because it makes me think of another one. But number one is that younger people really care about the businesses that they buy from and support that really resonates with them. And so we try to carve out a place where we want people to know that we are local people, we are independent. We do care. We do sponsor stuff, we do give money to charity, we’re active in the community, all that sort of stuff. So that was number one.

We knew that that would resonate with you, whether you like beer or not. We have tons of people that are like they say, I don’t drink a drop of beer. I think your business is the coolest business in Saskatchewan. Yeah, that’s that’s pretty. That’s pretty. That feels pretty good. Exactly.

Yeah, number two would be the explosion of social media in that, you know, you don’t have to buy radio ads and newspaper ads and hockey ads, which we can’t afford. And we’ve never bought it. But I can shoot my mouth off on social media and say crazy things. And that gets people’s attention. So how about that, right? Yeah.

And so that really worked. And I know I’m already blanking out on what my third or fourth one was, in terms of the loyal following is that, you know, again, we want it yes, it’s a, again, to get people’s attention, we want to really stand out.

And I’d seen a few other breweries that opened before us. And a lot of them have already come and gone and closed. And I asked people about them now and nobody remembers them because they were not memorable. And that’s why they failed. They were honestly trying to duplicate a big, a big brewery style beer, just at a smaller local level. No one cares, it’s just noise, you just pass it off. It’s viewed as almost inferior, right? Or a cheap knockoff.

Whereas we were very clear, and especially at the start, we were very abrasive. And we made really crazy weird beers that were super strong. And yeah, like, we were, we wanted to make it very clear that we were completely different from everything else. Right.

And, and, and I knew that we would, um, I knew that if we did that, it would start out with a very small loyal following. And it was me and my nerdy beer friends. But because my nerdy beer friends appreciated what we did so much. Yeah, they wanted to tell their other friends and they would and they become your ambassadors, which doesn’t cost me a cent. Yeah. As opposed to radio ads and you know, as I know, some of you folks run your own business, if you can get that type of a reaction. That’s strong. Word of mouth, grassroots marketing. You can’t, you can’t beat that.

Barb 9:44
No, no, I agree wholeheartedly. So what’s your and also your beer statement? Now? How do you define the beer you brew?

Mark 9:53
How do I define it? Well, the Canadian brewing awards defines it as the best beer in Canada that was brewed this year.

Barb 10:02
Yeah. Okay, there we go. That’s a good definition.

Mark 10:04
I’ll take that. So we always knew we were gonna brew really great beer. And we do and and you know, when we brew a variety of styles, and so a lot of people, they’ll kind of be sheepish and be like, Well, honestly, Mark, I didn’t like that last one you did?

I said great, I don’t care. I’ve got 12 more new ones. And I’m pretty sure you like one of them. Yeah. And so it’s kind of this fearless thing of, we’re just going to make all sorts of different beers, we’re going to make them really, really well. And we’re sure that you’re going to find one that you’ll enjoy. So just trying to be really plain and really, like straight and narrow. Yeah, not gonna play that game.

Barb 10:38
So how many brews, how many beers are in the lineup right now?

Mark 10:42
I think we have five year round beers that we make year round. And I mean, in our Taproom right now, I think I think we have like 16 different beers you can try right now.

Barb 10:51
And so do you see that number growing? Like if you’ve got five that are year round? Do you see that being 10 year round? Where do you see it going?

Mark 11:01
Honestly, so in beer, one of the phrases that used to be used was rotation nation. And now the new phrase in the beer industry is the promiscuous consumer. So everyone wants to try a little bit of everything. Okay, so the idea of what we would call core beers are waning. And in fact, most breweries, their core beers are declining, and sales are actually seeing an increase this year, which is really interesting. But yeah, you’ll probably just see more and more of those quick, little seasonal type products. And, you can be really agile and creative. And, you know, when I mentioned that promiscuous customer, people want more and more, which, you know, is kind of what I put, I like trying weird, different things. So I can’t be upset that I now have a customer base that wants the same.

Barb 11:49
Exactly, yeah, that makes perfect sense. And, you know, if I look, even in our own house, I have one that I drink, I drink the lentil. And that’s really all I drink. But my husband every time we’re there, he tries something different. Right? And so he is very much that consumer that wants to try this in the other. And the seasonal, I think, is fantastic. Because again, he was trying different things. You know, each time we were buying in the summer to go up to the cabin and things like that.

Mark 12:15
Yeah, we tried to really market desperately for that for those demographics, right. And I mean, I could go into all of that. But yeah, we really try to focus on that. So you know, if you try to just be everything to everyone, you’ll probably fail. And if I explain what we do, it’s probably still too confusing and complex, but we we compartmentalize and have specific beers with specific marketing and whatnot and graphics

Barb 12:39
for different markets. Yep. Yep. Okay, so, um, you talked on social media, and I have to remember exactly how it went. But you just finished off some trademark work where you actually headed down to the states. Can you tell us that story?

Mark 12:54
Yeah, so we, we, it took us a long time to find a name. But I would just say on the name when you mentioned our tagline is be a rebel drink great beer. What I really love about that is that it is not that. That is an external facing slogan. It’s about the customer.

The customer can be a rebel and drink great beer. Hey, look at Mark, I’m the rebel and I make beer. It’s not about you. And anyone can be that anyone can be a rebel. Just drink rebellion beer, and boom, you get that tag. You’re a rebel, you’re the coolest person around.

So yeah. Again, I really like how that works. But in terms of trademarks, again, I’m really having fun business stuff that everyone loves to talk about is we settled on named rebellion brewing. And there was another brewery that used to have a rebellion lager in Ontario.

And they hadn’t brewed it in about 10 years. So they still had a trademark. But trademark law is that if it falls out of common use for seven years, someone else can claim it. Okay.

And so this was a large multinational brewery actually based out of Japan that owns that trademark. So we, again, I guess we were rebellious from the start, because we didn’t even literally just incorporate and we filed the trademark saying we’re stealing this name away from this giant company based out of Japan. And so they had 90 days to respond. On the 89th day their lawyer phoned us and he tried to intimidate us and give us crap and say that we weren’t you know, we’re very good industry players. And this is going to come back to bite us and all this.

Anyways, we just did. Well, thank you very much. No. So we thought that we were done. But it turns out, I then learned that in the United States, there are other breweries that are using that trademark. And it does give them some precedents in other countries to learn more about that.

So unbeknownst to us, another brewery had filed in the US for rebellion about 6 months before we did. So yeah. So we had to go in between smaller breweries. So we actually just went down there and met with the President in person.

And he said, Yeah, we can work out a deal. You’re just nice guys from Saskatchewan, like, nobody cares. And then he retired. Before it all got finalized, and then their league, their legal team was like, no, no, we need to pay us a bunch of money if you want us to walk away from this. Yep. So then that was years of fighting over how much money we should pay them, Oh, God.

And then another large brewery in the US, they started selling a rebellion beer here. And we sent them cease and desist letters. And while they didn’t really agree with that, they ultimately withdrew from the market because they couldn’t sell their beer here. So that felt pretty good. Again, another giant, giant publicly traded brewery in the US.

Barb 15:47
Oh, wow. You know, and so you think about it, you had that conversation sitting on the couch, and yet, you’re gonna start a craft brewery? Did you envision any of this being part of it?

Mark 16:00
Well, yeah, that’s the crazy thing. Like I say, we knew everything because we had won some metals as home brewers. Right. So yeah, I never imagined I would be spending this much time on intellectual property, and especially in a seven year battle with three other breweries over our names.

Yeah, but it’s as passionate as I am about beer learning. This stuff blows my mind, too. I just, I’m personally wired. I love learning about things and getting into the details, right, and then figuring out a strategy to hopefully win. Or if you realize you can’t win at it, well then figure out something else. Right.

Barb 16:34
Exactly. Are you the only one of the partners that’s full time in the business? Or is everybody full time in the business?

Mark 16:40
No, there’s just me. So there’s four partners, all equal partners in the business, self funded, but well, initially self funded, obviously, to do what we’ve done. We’ve had to get some loans along the way. None of us are independently wealthy. But yeah, I’m the only one active in the business.

Barb 16:58
Okay. Yeah. So you’re a pretty, I don’t know, vocal spokesperson on social media when it comes to supporting locals. Was that always you? Or was that you that evolved by being the President of the brewery?

Mark 17:14
Yeah, I’ve always kind of had that idea. And I love the whole support local thing. I try to put my own spin on it. So even before we opened a brewery, I was writing for some blogs and stuff around food and Saskatchewan and this and that, and what I was, again, just observing in other markets, or if you traveled to BC, I mean, if you go to BC, people are so proud of everything. They grow there, whether it’s the wine or the apples or anything, there’s that pride. Yeah.

And in Saskatchewan, it dawned on me whether it was a local restaurant or a local food product, or honey or like, whatever, no one knew no one cared. And it was everyone kind of had that. Almost like an inferiority complex that, you know, nothing good comes from here. Or, you know, you need something imported from Europe, like, you know, Heineken or something. That’s a fancy beer. Yeah.

I mean, this is junk that they ship over from Holland. In fact, they don’t even ship it anymore. They brew it here in Canada at a plant here and slap a label on it to make it look fancy.

Okay, so that really bothered me about 10 years ago, and I was like, This is nonsense. Saskatchewan is awesome. We need to quit feeling sorry for ourselves. I also even steam for my grandparents, they have that real hard working, you know, Saskatchewan mentality and to never brag. And you know, because otherwise, you’re a jerk, and you’re just cocky.

But as a business and as a marketer, you have to be loud and proud, otherwise, they’re gonna forget about you. Yep. And so I tried to balance that I know, I still offend some people that think I’m a jerk, and too arrogant and too cocky. But I really try to celebrate the farmers and celebrate our partners, and you know, our next door neighbors that open up a cool business and be genuine about it. No one pays me to do those things. I talk about stuff that I truly like and truly enjoy. Exactly. Its authenticity.

I think it resonates, I think it resonates, yes.

Barb 19:08
Anything that’s authentic, people are typically gonna engage with it, and being able to create that office authenticity, because if you’re forcing it, right, I know we’ve got one of the folks here with us today who, you know, the thought of having to go live on social and be all bubbly and you know, bouncing around and she said like, that is so not me. And I’m like, Yeah, I hear you like not doing it. For some people. It works for other people. You know, it doesn’t. She’s waving at me now.

Mark 19:37
I wish I had some tips and tricks for that. Again, I can tell people I was an accountant. I still have that mindset and like I don’t want to see anyone. I don’t want to talk to anyone in high school in English. When you have to get up and do an oral presentation. I would take zero I would, I’d ask I’d find out from the teacher how much that counts towards my final grade and I do the math in my head. So as an accountant, I’d be like, yeah, if I take zero on this, I can still get an ad. Though I’m good, I’m not gonna speak.

And the only way I got so the only way I got over that was that again, I just knew that if my business was going to be successful, someone had to speak up, someone had to be loud. And I just was like, Well, no one else could speak better than I can about how I feel about my business. So I literally just forced myself to do it.

And it’s very, I hope, I hope I’m speaking Okay, today, what I can share with you is, once this is over, I spoke at the hotel Saskatoon weeks ago at the Tourism Conference, and I spoke for an hour. And I had to go and sit in a corner for half an hour, because it absolutely drains me. I hope I come across as exuberant and friendly and this and that, but it’s actually I have to work really hard at it. So yeah, this mentioned that to say that I can I totally relate with other folks that feel uncomfortable about it. And I wish I had Tips and Tricks other than we’ll just just do it. And it’s easy. It’s not easy. It’s really, really hard.

Barb 20:54
You know, Mark, if I put those pieces together, yes, it’s hard that first time, but when you talk about something you love, you can talk forever, right? When it’s something that you know, you know, to inside out and backwards, you’re knowledgeable, you’re confident, then the hardest part is, you know, pushing that go live button or that play button or that record button. So the rest comes so much easier.

And you know, I’m kind of the same, like, I’m not big on it. And I’ve shared, you know, some of my bloopers with this group, because I’ve had more than my share. But that’s what gets you comfortable with it. Because it’s real. Right? Like, absolutely. When the radio station started falling apart. That was as real as it got. And yeah, people can relate, because we’ve all had those screw ups. And then you just kind of go from there.

What kind of like, what are the lessons learned? If somebody came to you and said, Mark, are you thinking about starting a business? What can you tell me? What lessons can I learn? Are you going to share with people?

Mark 21:59
That’s a tough one, I do look back, I don’t know, if I I don’t know, if I have any real strong regrets, I think maybe, obviously make some different decisions. What I actually tell a lot of people, though, to be quite honest, is that I think you have to be a little naive, and a bit of a dreamer.

Because if you actually, if you knew what you do, now, a lot of people would have never opened my business. I don’t feel that way, I still would have done it. But you kind of are so naive. You just kind of fling yourself into it and be like, well, just I’ll just figure it out.

And that’s, I’m not, again, I’m not saying that that’s, you know, the recipe for success. Just throw caution to the wind and hope for the best. But I know that where I was at in my career, and with my partners, as we all will have quite an extensive professional careers, at least with different skill sets, you know, engineers, architects, business, people, accountants, IT, I did a lot of project management, so that some of my other friends, and so you can draw those skills and be like, Okay, well, even though we know nothing about the beer industry, we can probably apply a lot of those skills.

And so in beer right now, and just in general, you see a lot of young entrepreneurs, and I love that energy. And I love that excitement. And a lot of them are very, very successful. But I know it’ll stump them really struggling because they don’t have that strong background to rely on that skill set to say, Hey, I was in this situation before, maybe it was I was troubleshooting. The government email system that I used to be responsible for, and how did I fix that? Okay, well, now I know, I can use those same skills to figure out how to fix this broken tank or beer that’s gone bad or something, right? Yep.

Barb 23:42
Yep. You know, and there’s, there’s something to be said, If only we could have the energy of 20, but the intelligence of 40 and put those two together, right. And that’s where you see some fantastic teams that really excel and I think yours is one of those, you’ve got some life experience. But then you’ve got some people who are really smart when it comes to many of the other pieces that you need to talk about because is it just the four of you that have anything to do with brewing anymore? Or have you hired a Brewmaster? Right, like, Are there other people in the business now that are better at helping you grow?

Mark 24:21
So that’s probably one of the key things is, we were all home brewers. But I haven’t I haven’t brewed beer in six years. So we’ve been open for seven. So I have a team of six people that brew all of the beer, six full time staff, which, in terms of craft breweries here in Saskatchewan, that’s by far the biggest team that does that. I still have a little . I still love getting engaged in the recipes, but at the same time, I like to let them come up with some of their own recipes. I’m usually just gonna provide feedback or you know, determine the costing or profit margin on a beer and that sort of stuff. So I kind of play that role more than anything.

Barb 24:59
The accountant side of you!

Mark 25:01
Yeah I don’t I don’t, I don’t turn the wrenches or anything anymore. Sometimes they do. They just need someone to cover for a coffee break on the canning line or something. It’d be super fun. I log on and hang out with them. And they get their music plan and yet can beer for half an hour and take off. So.

But again, that was a very deliberate thing. I knew as much as I love brewing beer, I knew that there were other roles that had to be done within the company that only I could fill. And so yeah, so we knew we knew right from the beginning. And we hired some very competent technical skill brewers to do some work for us. They also happen to be friends that I knew in the industry from previously.

And so yeah, I mean, we’ve in my I mean, I hope people feel the same about their own company, that they’ve got the absolute best people working for them. I think we do. And so I guess what I was saying with that, too, is you have to if you’re planning to be more than just a single person business, you have to understand leadership and skills, and how are you going to empower and grow and all that sort of stuff.

And so that’s why I mean, that’s why I let them make a lot of those calls and decisions, because I can’t be there. I’m talking with you guys right now. So I can’t make the call on what to do with whatever beer is going on right now.

Barb 26:13
Okay, exactly. Does your canning happen at the same location as the brewery?

Mark 26:18
Yep, we can all have our beer on site, we do everything. We do everything ourselves, we have quite a large canning line, we were able to expand, we did that about three or four years ago. That also means I don’t have an office or lunch room or a bunch of other things anymore. But hey, we can get canned beer instead.

Barb 26:35
Exactly. Yeah. Do you guys have that whole building? Or is there still somebody in the other half?

Mark 26:40
No, we have the whole building there on duty. And then I actually have to lease office space? Just on Broad Street here as well. So we have about eight people working at that location as well.

Barb 26:53
Got it. Okay.

Barb 0:00
And that’s it. We’re out of time. I want to thank you for joining us today on The Secret Life of entrepreneurs. And thank you Mark from Rebellion Brewery, who we’ve learned so much about.

Thank you for coming in and talking about your approach, your marketing, your willingness to have that loud message. Your support for local is appreciated by so many.

If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at Abovethefold.ca.

And just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our live shows right on our Facebook page. I’m your host Bob McGrath, local business owner and GoogleGirl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Tune in to learn more about Mark Heise, President of Rebellion Brewing, a local craft brewer in western Canada. Rebellion Brewing’s tagline, “Be a rebel; drink great beer” says everything you need to know about the brewery and their product. It’s just damn good beer from seasonal hops to gluten-free lentil options and a traditional pilsner.

Imagine sitting on your coach one Saturday night, likely after a few too many wobbly pops, and deciding to take on the national brewers. The big guys. With big budgets. That’s exactly what Mark and his partners did; take on the big guys.

A few years later, Mark can look back with a silly grin and say, ‘yup, we did it.’ Rebellion Brewing jumped into the marketplace at a time when craft brewing was attracting customers in droves.

And that’s just the beginning of their story. Suffice to say western Canada has a lot of rebels.

Connect with Mark @ Rebellion Brewing
https://rebellionbrewing.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebellionbrewingco
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebbrewregina
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RebBrewRegina

Ep. 89 Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Video Transcript: Ep. 89 Brendan McGuire

Barb 00:02
Welcome to today’s episode of The Secret Life of entrepreneurs. Today’s guest is going to talk dollars and cents. And as my 14 year old said to me probably a couple of years ago now, isn’t money, really what makes the world go round mum? And I thought, wow, at 12, she already had that insight. So Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union joins us today to talk dollars and cents as a local business. Brendon. Welcome!

Brendan 00:32
Barb, thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure to have you here.

Barb 00:35
So start off by, you know, tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at Affinity credit union.

Brendan 00:40
Well, I came over to the financial world, I’m going to say 14 years ago now prior to that I was a broadcaster, which is one of my first loves. And I just love talking to people and communicating with people. And then I wanted to learn a little bit more about personal finance. And I moved over and worked for a charter bank for 11 years and realized, you know what, this isn’t so complicated if you just take the time to sit down and learn it and talk these things out. And I’ve always loved communicating with people and customer service. And in 2018, pretty well, exactly three years ago to this episode, I decided I wanted a new challenge. And I took on my current role with affinity Credit Union, as they call this a small and medium enterprise specialist. And now my title is business advisor. But it’s effectively the same thing we deal with small businesses, you name it, farmers, restaurant owners, any kind of retail owner, property owners, anything commercial, we do it and it’s been a fantastic learning experience and a great challenge.

Barb 01:44
So okay, let’s talk a little bit about the difference between that bank and credit union, because having been in the banking environment, was it a culture shock for you? Or what was some of the very first things that you noticed? When you like, from an employee standpoint? Like, what’s the difference between the two? Really?

Brendan 02:02
You know, I don’t have anything bad to say about charter banks. I mean, I have a lot of friends who still work there, I enjoyed my time working there. But I personally prefer the credit union approach. When you think about the flowchart of who matters with the charter bank, number one, it’s the shareholders. Number two, it’s the profit margin or the bottom line there, sorry, the shareholders and then it’s, the customers come in second.

And then number three, you know, the employees at the bank. With the credit union, it’s all about the members, there’s no shareholders, there’s no dividends that have to be paid out. And everything is very local. So for example, decisions are made out of head office, when I worked for the charter bank, all of the decisions would be made out of Toronto, and Toronto doesn’t exist in their mind it sometimes when you watch them do a newscast, you’ll watch their weatherman go over the weather map, and he’ll talk about BC, he’ll talk about Alberta, he’ll scroll right over Saskatchewan, talk about Manitoba, etc, etc.

So sometimes when you’re talking about, let’s say, for example, you know, a small farm or an oilfield company or something out in a small town, they’re not really all that sympathetic toward what the lending needs are of this business or the viability of that business.

Whereas if you’re accountable, locally, which our head office is based in Saskatoon, it’s a whole different ball of wax. So I found a big, big difference. One thing that I kind of had fun with early on was, I’ve always done podcasting for the Regina Red Sox, their webcasts? Yeah. And I’ve always loved their organization. And I approached the team President Gary Brotzle about, hey, is there a way maybe you could partner with affinity credit union, and he said, we would love to partner with affinity credit union, I took it to our head office or marketing team, they loved the idea. And we were able to strike a partnership. Yeah. I don’t know that that ever would have happened when I was working for the charter bank. So that was certainly a bit of an eye opener for me as well.

Barb 04:06
You know, and, without knocking the banks, I think you give them too much credit, because I don’t think they would have even heard that proposal, the Regina Red Sox would mean nothing to them. And I think that’s the biggest difference between a bank and a credit union, having the decisions made here. There’s been numerous times in my own corporate career and then even as a small business owner, if a decision has to be made in Toronto, our numbers don’t make sense to them. The fact that we have a population just over a million, like them, that’s nowhere near a viable market for a business. And so they crunch those numbers and they say, oh, there’s no way this business is going to make it. So I think you know, the good old Saskatchewan mentality that we’re pretty hardy here and you know, we do whatever we need to do to survive definitely.

Brendan 04:53
Especially the industries here like agriculture, I think especially because agriculture is a very specific industry very different from pretty well all other industries. And I’m not sure in southern Ontario, they have the same grasp of that as the people making those decisions locally do.

Barb 05:08
No, absolutely not, I actually went to university out in southern Ontario. And yeah, it was, it was different, totally different than what I had grown up with here in Saskatchewan. And not better, not worse, just different. And if you’re going to stay there, if you’re going to work there, you just have to be prepared that you, you know, fit into that culture. And, and it wasn’t my thing to, you know, compete that way and stab your buddy in the back just because there was a job. So here I am, and I’ve never looked back. It’s been a very good experience. Definitely. Okay. So you know, let’s dig in a little bit here. Brendon, I, the hope from our show today is that we want to be able to provide a little bit of guidance to local businesses, when they’re thinking about either a starting meeting, financing needing the basics, you know, your business accounts and things like that. Or you know, you’re growing, you’re expanding, you’re looking at changing up your foi or your financial institution. So someone comes in to talk to you, what do you say? How do you help them through this decision?

Brendan 06:13
That’s a great question. So if we get them in all stages, so sometimes we get somebody who just comes in the door with, Hey, I’ve got an idea, what do I do next? Other times, we get people who come in the door and say, I’ve got this, this and this, what else do I need to do, and it really depends on which stage they’re at, I would say if somebody is at Ground Zero, for lack of a better term, we need to see the business plan.

And the business plan is critical, especially for a startup because we don’t have any historical projections, or sorry, historical financials to go off of. So we need future projections. And these projections need to be well written, well presented, they also need to be well thought out and rationalized.

And so what we do is we quite often partner with square one, Saskatchewan, that is a great nonprofit service that is available for all entrepreneurs, and, and Futurpreneur as well, although that is only available to entrepreneurs under the age of 40. And so those are a couple of services and resources that we encourage people who come in the door to us because they can help them refine that business plan. And that’s always the number one thing.

Typically, we like to see a cash flow projection for the first three years. And the big reason why we want to see that is because if we’re not putting together a loan that makes sense, on the surface, at the very beginning, we’re not only putting affinity credit union in a bad spot, but we’re putting the member in a bad spot.

And it would be very irresponsible of us to allow somebody or facilitate somebody to take on a whole bunch of debt, and not having a clear cut path as to how they’re going to pay that off. And then, and then on top of that, we will also have a look at prior earning history just to see what somebody has to fall back on.

Should things maybe not go so well. Or if they plan to keep working while the business is operating. And also we do get a net worth statement and we run a credit check, which is important. Just to have a look, see, you know, at the end of the day, I actually think that’s a big difference.

That’s another difference that I found with working in the credit union system than what I noticed when I worked over at the charter bank, the charter bank, if your credit score wasn’t like close to average, or above average, it was like Sia, you’re out the door. Okay, with the credit union system, it’s a little different. I mean, we have to do our due diligence. So if someone has a long history of delinquencies or issues in the past, we have to figure out a way that they can get started in a very responsible manner. And we have to be very careful if we’re going to lend to that person.

But at the same time, we’re open minded, we’ll have discussions and in a lot of cases, someone’s credit score might not look so good. Because of something that happened in the past or maybe a one off. I even know on my own personal credit bureau about a decade ago or so there was an item marked as in collections.

And I had no idea I called the place. They said, Oh, no, no, that’s marked as paid. And I had to jump through a whole bunch of hoops to get them to notify Equifax and everything else. So I think from that standpoint, I think that’s a big difference between banks and credit unions as well. We’re a lot more open minded and sympathetic toward that.

Barb 09:35
Yeah. And you’re gonna take the time to support the member and help them where I think, you know, a large financial institution like one of the big banks, they’re just gonna say, No, you’ve got problems here and off you go. So as a credit union, you have members, you have members on the personal side, you have members on the business side. are the folks that you work with on the business side, do they have to be a personal member as well?

Brendan 09:58
They do not. We encourage Because the more stuff they have with us, the easier it is for us to offer them discounts and also to, to service their account, it’s a lot easier to service someone’s account on the business side if we have all of their personal stuff with us as well, in terms of seeing what’s happening with the business, and on the personal so to answer your question, I took the long way around there. No, there’s no rule there. But we definitely encourage it. And we believe it leads to a better member experience for them both on the business and personal side, if they have entered everything under one umbrella.

Barb 10:31
Yes. And if I put my own credit union hat on, and I’m not a member with Affinity with a different credit union, but if I put my hat on, it’s a heck of a lot easier when things are in one place, whether I’m going in for personal and going in for business, I can do everything in one fell swoop. So again, we all pay for convenience, right? So when you talked a couple minutes ago, we talked a little bit about lending and looking at that whole picture. For some small businesses, when they get started, I’m assuming that not everyone needs a loan to get started. Maybe I’m naive about that. And there’s a significant, you know, portion that does, but just kind of tell me about that startup picture. And what does it look like when a member or customer comes in and says, Brendan, I’ve got this bright idea. And here’s what I need: it could be as simple as a bank account could be much more complex and look like a loan. But tell me about that experience?

Brendan 11:26
Yeah, no, for sure I’m having them come in is a very exciting time for them. Because you can tell this is not a business that they’re talking about, this is a dream that they want to get started. And that’s what’s really exciting about it, because it could be as simple as the service that they get, like, you know, I always argue the thing that credit unions can really hang their hat on and usually will really hang their hat on and especially affinity is service at the end of the day, you can look at 20 Different lenders.

And once in a while you’re gonna find somebody who might grind a little bit lower on pricing with affinity, we’re very competitive with our pricing. But the thing that will knock anybody or I guess knock out of the park, certainly with any charter bank, is the service level, because it could be as simple as someone coming in and talking about how they need to structure their business, and who needs to have access to business online banking? And what kind of access? What level of access do they have? How do we track who’s got money coming in?

If I’m just opening a personal account for Barb, that’s pretty simple. When you’re opening a bank account for business, that’s a whole different ball of wax, because you’re determining who has access, who’s allowed to have access, who can sign who can view, what kind of payments can they make, etc, then sometimes it’s just as simple as having that face to face meeting to really hash out what they’re looking for. And so I think at the end of the day, there’s no better feeling than helping somebody get financing for that startup business, when you see that business go up, and they’re happy, and it’s operating successfully. But at the same time, like you said, it doesn’t necessarily have to be financing, where the service comes in, and to make that dream, or the system that they need to get their enterprise started a reality.

Barb 13:25
Yeah, you know, one of the things that I most appreciated when I had to set up all of my banking for the business was, you know, you get all this information, and well, do you need this package or that package? Or what do you need? And I’m like, I have no clue I’m starting, I have no clue if I’m going to do one transaction a month, or 1000. And so the number one thing that I found was I needed flexibility. And if I wrong sized myself, I needed to be able to get back out of that, so that I could write ties myself. And I think that, you know, those are the kind of decisions. They don’t they don’t impact the success or failure of the business. But they’re the things that you can get stuck on. Or, you know, find yourself being kept awake at night, because I don’t know, there’s just so much when you’re getting started that you don’t know, right?

Brendan 14:19
I would throw in there, too, that does impact the success of the business because the amount of time that you’re spending on small things, impacts what you can put to other things, what is the 80/20 rule, we spend 80% of our time on 20% of the stuff that we need to get done.

Barb 14:36
Exactly 20% of the activities that are going to help us earn revenue. Yes. It’s funny that you say that we’ve been having that conversation a lot in our business lately. Because we’re small, there’s only four or five of us and you know, trying to get the stuff done. The more I spend on admin, the less I spend with students in our get found program or you know, with clients and getting work done. So, yeah, I’m trying to do a little bit of offloading. And everybody else is feeling the delegating thing.

Brendan 15:06
I enjoyed the episode that you had with the fellow from Virtus because with so many of my members, you know, they’ll ask me advice on what they should do. And, you know, the advice that I can offer is very limited more to just financial services, there’s a lot of advice I’m not qualified to give on how to run their specific business, but I like to tell them, do not cheap out on admin, and do not cheap out on accounting, bookkeeping. You know, those are things that will absolutely keep you up at night and drain all of your time. Unless, of course, I mean, if you have a CPA designation, or you have some sort of accounting designation, play to your strengths, you know, do things that you’re good at, that you’re proven to be good at, and outsource all the other stuff? Yes, exactly.

Barb 15:57
You know, one of the things that I often talk about with my clients is, building that solid foundation makes everything else in the future so much easier. Where you’re right, if you’ve cheaped out on this, that or the other, all of a sudden, you’re, you know, needing a whole bunch of website fix, or you’re, you know, needing to get a different accountant, because things didn’t work out for you. I have a visitor coming in behind me here. Oh, very cool. Yes. Okay, so, um, you said the word dream. And you know, as a business owner, absolutely. I have a vision for what, what I want my business to look like that dog doesn’t want to leave. I have a vision for what I want my business to look like. And I expect most people do. There’s times where I know you have to say no to someone and it’s their dream. How do you do that? How do you try to steer them in another direction? So they can, you know, maybe have a different dream? Or at least finance that dream differently? How do you do that?

Brendan 17:00
I’m glad you asked that. Because one thing, again, another difference in working at the credit union when I worked at the charter bank, you might call me up and apply for a loan we’ve never met before, I’ll be on the phone with you 20 minutes max. And if it’s a decline at the end of it, it’s oh, sorry, we can’t help you see you goodbye. Okay. It’s really, really easy for the lender, not such a great experience for the customer.

In the credit union world, it’s very different. I mean, we do get some requests, obviously from people who don’t necessarily have their financial services with affinity. But after our long, thorough review, we are able to say no, but there’s a lot of requests that we get from people who are already existing members, maybe on the personal side, maybe they have a business, but as their account manager, I’m still accountable to them going forward.

So if I have to give them a no, it’s not just a quick conversation. And that’s that, you know, they can come see me face to face, and etc. So you’re a lot more accountable to the members in the credit union world. That is one of the biggest challenges I think that any lender faces is how do you say no to someone? And I learned early on that if you just say no and you walk away, that customer is liable to be upset and unhappy with the experience. That’s right. If you articulate why the answer is no, and what can be changed to get to yes, that makes a big difference, as long as you’re rational, and you’re detailed, and you articulate it properly. So for example, let’s say I get somebody who comes in the door, and we just can’t help them because they don’t have the risk tolerance to take on this enterprise. I always try to identify some kind of roadmap to get them there. So for example, do you have a family member?

Do you have a friend who would maybe partner with you on this, somebody who could give a personal guarantee who would vouch or something of that nature, because at the end of the day, I’m a big believer that there always are solutions, at least 95% of the time anyways, and they may not even be realistic solutions for some, but at least if you if you present the reason for the decline fairly. And you also present the solution that’s out there, you’ve at least provided them with some kind of a roadmap and an understanding as to what stands between them and their dream.

Barb 19:26
Yeah, exactly. You know what I like about how you present that. So I talk with my students all the time about solutions. And when you start to think about anything you’re working on as having a solution. You know, maybe a son who wants to start a business can go to mum for financing, or for help with financing or as you say, co-signing the loan, things like that. I remember a number of years ago, I had friends who had, I want to say signed over their parents house as collateral for a loan. And of course I think we all know where that was. Went it didn’t turn out. So like, is that still a thing? You know, are people allowed to turn over someone else’s property with their permission to, to hold as collateral on them alone? Or has that changed?

Brendan 20:16
You can, you can do that. But you better be very responsible if you’re going to do that. You know, I’ll give you an example. I had one member come in and had a business that was failing. We had granted several loans, and some of them on the basis that we had a government guarantee to support the loan. Okay. And, you know, that’s another thing that credit unions do a great job of, I think, is partnering with government entities that can help different organizations that will provide grants, loans, etc.

But this fellow was coming in, and he kept re approaching us on the basis that his mother owned a lot of property and had guaranteed loans for him in the past. And so I didn’t end like I mean, his mother was, you know, in her 70s, maybe early 80s. So I didn’t bother calling his mother to verify this, I said, Look, you’ve got my number. If your mother wants to guarantee this for you, she can contact me, and we’ll talk. So I think if you’re getting into those kinds of situations, just be very careful that whoever’s involved, number one understands what they’re turning over. Yeah.

And number two, that if this goes sideways, this is not going to put whoever is putting up property as collateral in a serious bind. If if you have an uncle who’s worth millions of dollars, and he has a small cottage that he’s willing to pledge because he wants you to have your dream, that would be a lot more acceptable than maybe someone’s mother who is on a fixed income, and has their house paid for and putting a lien on that property. You know, so it’s, you know, again, I took the long way around there, there’s no direct answer to that. But you better be very careful if you’re going to allow someone else to put up their property for someone’s enterprise that looks risky at best. And, and in the same token, if the enterprise doesn’t look good, and we don’t have some level of confidence that this loan is going to go, well, we’re not going to grant the loan strictly on the basis that there’s collateral there. It’s a major, major problem for Affinity or any other organization to have to seize collateral. And we’re not really in the business of doing that, unless absolutely necessary anyway.

Barb 22:37
Exactly. Yep. So without putting you on the spot too much. You may have already thought about this before we did our show today. So can you tell us a story or two about, you know, a business that maybe you financed them, and it didn’t work or a business that you didn’t finance and it really worked? Can you share a couple of those stories? Obviously, you know, keeping lots of information private?

Brendan 23:00
Yeah, for sure. I remember we did finance one business that we had good confidence in, and the business seemed to go okay. But then there was a marital breakdown. That happened. Yeah. And so things went sideways, and everything went delinquent, etc.

And, you know, I’m sitting there thinking about this, like, what could I have done differently? Should I have done this differently? And the answer that I came up with was, well, I, we did the best with the information that we had at the time.

And it made sense at the time, and Sometimes life happens. Yeah, nobody expected COVID-19 to have, um, you know, so you just have to always look at your process, think about the fundamentals about your decision making, and the system that you utilize, and you want to be constantly reviewing that, because one of the great hallmarks of a credit union is that we can customize things.

It’s not a one size fits all type of setup, but no, I have seen that happen. I would say I have two examples where I’ve granted the funding. And on one of them we’re having challenges with and on the other. They’re making their payments, but they’re always a little bit late.

And that was more of an example of somebody who, you know, they were very, very pushy. They were very, very aggressive. They had an accounting background, and I maybe rushed it through because of the fact that I thought this was a slam dunk, and the business plan was okay, but what I should have looked at was just how pushy they were to get the money, they needed the money yesterday kind of thing.

So I think that’s another thing to be mindful of, especially if you’re a lender is just because someone is putting a lot of pressure on you to push a loan over the finish line. That, you know, don’t ever be swayed by that there could be a reason for that, that could be a sign of financial duress that maybe they are under. And you always want to be very, very objective at every loan application that you look at. And as far as somebody who we didn’t finance who did well, I can’t think of any examples. And again, my commercial lending career is still fairly young. But we did have a member who I was very, very worried about.

Barb 25:24
Right, exactly. Brendan, we have totally gotten carried away with time. So we are actually working overtime. So I’m gonna do some special editing to the radio version of it. They’re done that Yeah, exactly. You know what, honestly, it’s like the hardest part for me. I’m like, what, I have to stop talking already.

Brendan 25:24
And we even thought about D marketing at one point. And their business has actually gone very, very well, since then. So it was another helpful reminder that it’s okay to not give up on a member either. And me. And when I speak about D marketing, that’s another thing. That’s a big difference between the charter banks and the credit unions as well. There’s a lot of D marketing, where if the charter bank sees that your financial statements are not doing well, and they’re worried about this account, they will demand that you hand the keys over with the credit union and will still review the account. But if it’s not going well, most of the time, rather than demanding someone turn over the keys, we try to hammer out a solution.

Barb 26:30
Brendon, any final comments before I wrap us up today?

Brendan 26:33
No, other than just, we love dealing with young entrepreneurs, even people who aren’t yet entrepreneurs, and even people who just want to talk about being entrepreneurs, or need help with their banking or their financial services. What we do come see us at any one of our affinity credit union locations in Regina, Saskatoon, or elsewhere in the province. We’d love to help.

Barb 26:54
Awesome, and how would folks find your website and social channels? If you know them off the top of your head?

Brendan 26:59
Yes, yes, we can be found. We have our own Facebook page, we have our own website, we have our own contact center, we get a lot of requests, people who call into our contact center, and are routed that way. And if you want to speak with me directly, just ask Brendan. And we’ll take it from there.

Barb 27:17
That sounds good. Thank you so much, Brendan, for being with us here today, talking about Affinity Credit Union and talking about the difference between the big banks and a local credit union, where decisions are made and you actually get to know the people that you’re working with and build a relationship. It’s a lot harder to say no when you start to build a relationship with someone. So thank you for really appreciating those tidbits. If you’d like to be a guest on the show. You can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live, or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page @Abovethefold. ca. And just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our live show when live actually works. I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and GoogleGirl. Remember you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

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Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Have you ever wondered how to select a financial institution for business banking? Or what factors are most important to consider?

Maybe you’re curious about what the benefits of working with a credit union are? Or what questions should a business owner ask, before setting up accounts and financing?

Stay tuned, we’ll be discussing all the ins and outs of banking with a Credit Union on today’s episode.

Connect with Brendan @ Affinity Credit Union
https://www.affinitycu.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/affinitycu
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/affinity_cu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Affinity_CU
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/affinity-credit-union

Ep. 88 Tyler Clark from Prairie Benefits Solutions

Video Transcript: Ep. 88 Tyler Clark

Barb 0:01
Coming up on our episode today, we’re live with Tyler Clark from Prairie Benefit Solutions.

Barb 0:08
In today’s episode of The Secret Life of Entrepreneurs, we’re going to talk about employee benefit plans. And I know you’re gonna need a fresh cup of coffee for this conversation. But if you’re a local business owner, this is a very important conversation, new employees are looking to understand the benefits that they will receive. And if you’ve got employees who are younger, then these are super important issues to them. So benefit plans come in all shapes and sizes, and Taylor’s going to tell us the ins and outs and how to understand what we might want to consider as a business. But here’s the part that’s particularly important to me. It’s tailored to your business. So before I, you know, steal all of his thunder Tyler, welcome. Thank you for being here.

Tyler 1:01
Thanks, Barb. It’s good to be here.

Barb 1:03
It’s an absolute pleasure. So start off, just tell us a little bit about yourself and pre benefits solutions.

Tyler 1:09
But yeah, I worked for pre benefits where basically We help business owners set up employee benefit programs, we are a group benefit consultants that work with a variety of different insurance companies. But something that makes us a bit unique, is we have the exclusive advisors for the chambers of commerce group insurance plan here in your Regina and surrounding area. And maybe we’ll talk about that program later. And then we also do life and Disability Insurance planning. So we’re just, you know, great big hits at parties, right? We love insurance, you know, and specialize in insurance, so hopefully your audience doesn’t fall asleep on me.

Barb 1:52
Exactly. And you know, if nothing else, there’s probably a couple of tips they can get for their next game, a Trivial Pursuit in here. If Google’s on hand, okay, so let’s start there. So an Employee Benefit Plan versus a personal or private plan. So I could go to you and say, Hey, we want a business Employee Benefit Plan. And I can also buy private insurance from you. Did I understand correctly?

Tyler 2:17
Sorry, the personal insurance would be life insurance and disability insurance. Okay. Um, yeah, so, not not quite, we don’t we don’t sell personal plans, like Blue Cross, GMS. That’s something you could get as an individual. Okay, but we just focus on that business market for the health and dental side of things.

Barb 2:36
Okay. And are all of the group plans that you do through that chamber plan? Or are there a variety of different plans that you support?

Tyler 2:44
Yeah, the majority of our clients are through the chambers plan, but we do work with other carriers when it makes sense. So this the small and midsize Bart market, it really makes sense that that chambers program, it just has cost stability, and it provides a lot of value for what you get.

Barb 3:03
Okay, so let’s start there. Why as a local business owner, why would I want an employee benefit plan? Why can’t my employees just go get private plans? Or you know, why? Why do I want one?

Tyler 3:16
That’s that’s really good question Barb. So there are a few answers to that. Let’s just stick to the kind of three that come to mind number one is you care about your employees right , they’re part of your family and you want to provide protection for them if something happens and not only protection for them, but their family as well.

Tyler 3:36
So that’s what a benefit program provides is, you know, catastrophic coverage and ability to go for the just preventative maintenance type of things like your massage or dental that people probably wouldn’t go to until they had pain in their mouth or a significant back issue or, or that kind of thing. Right? So that just helps their Yeah, their health and well being.

Tyler 3:59
Number two, it’s smart spending. So if you’re a business owner, and you’re looking to compensate your employees a little bit more than last year, well, your options are you could give them an additional salary bump in their salary. But when you do that, you’re paying into all the government benefits. You have your workers comp, your UI, your CPP, and then the employee is also getting taxed on their additional salary. Right. So that is an option. That’s fine. But Your other option is you could set up a Benefits Program.

Tyler 4:30
You’re as an employer as a business owner, your component or your portion that you’re paying into it is a business, taxable business expense or tax deductible business expense. Okay, and then you don’t have to pay into the government programs like the CPP II, W CB, and then, yeah, the employee isn’t getting taxed as well.

Barb 4:52
Okay, so let’s take a step back. When we talk about an employee benefit plan, what do we most commonly see In a benefit plan.

Tyler 5:02
Yeah, and you address it on the front end, Barb, you said there’s lots of different plans out there. So some of the common ones, especially for someone who’s maybe just setting up a plan to start just getting into it, you’d see, there’d be a life insurance benefit. And then health and dental.

Tyler 5:19
So in the health component, you’d have prescription drugs, and then paramedical services. So what that means is your massage Cairo acupuncture, there’s a list of different specialties there. And then medical emergency travel insurance, when you’re out of the country, you’re traveling, you’re covered for any medical emergency. So those are kind of the main pieces of a health plan. And then obviously, dental is fairly self explanatory.

Barb 5:43
Exactly. So then how does it get customized by business by employer by employee, whatever it is, how does it actually end up getting customized?

Tyler 5:53
So I mean, there are other things that you can add onto a plan, there’s disability, short term disability, long term disability, critical illness, there’s employee assistance programs, that gives them access to counseling, there’s dependent life insurance. So there’s a lot of different things you can add.

Tyler 6:11
But in the midst of a Benefits Program, you can actually also change the amount so let’s use the health benefit. For example, maybe it’s $300 per paramedical specialty, so you have 300 for massage, a separate 300 for acupuncture, well, you could bump that up to 500, do you want it to be covered at 100% or 80%? Were the the employees paying a portion of that. So there’s a lot of different things that you can determine, based on what you want to provide and your budget ultimately, okay.

Barb 6:43
So you know, even having this conversation, your head starts to swim a little bit, because this is totally your world, like you get this stuff. But how does a business owner then start to make the choices? Do they need to think about their budget upfront? Or do you typically put budget options in front of them? You know, do lots of employers structure it? So the employee pays a portion of the cost and they pay a portion of the cost? How does a small business owner actually get started? What’s kind of that first impetus?

Tyler 7:18
Yeah, no, no kidding. And I know, for some people insurance is intimidating, right? Because maybe I don’t understand. And that’s totally fine, you really want to make sure you’re working with someone who specializes in the group benefits space. So here’s a stat for you. 50% of the plans that are sold each year are sold by an advisor that only will sell that plan in that year. So

Barb 7:44
Like one person only sells one plan in a year.

Tyler 7:47
Yeah, so 50% of the sales in the marketplace in Canada will be sold by an advisor who’s a generalist, you know, they might do finance, insurance, and then benefit, they’ll sell one one Benefits Program kind of thing.

Tyler 8:00
When you work with the benefits specialists, they’re going to, you know, obviously, they see a lot of different things in the marketplace, you know, they’ve seen a company like yours, they can give you some feedback here, you know, for your typical company, yours, your industry, this is what we’d recommend. And then yeah, we’d ask some questions. What is your budget? What, why? What made you reach out? And sometimes it’s like, I don’t know, I just want to explore Well, that’s okay, let’s educate you on some different options. And if you have no idea what you’re looking for, we will show you a few different options. And then we can always tailor it from there.

Barb 8:35
So do very many local business owners go to their employees and say, you know, we’d like to put this together, we’d like your feedback, before we go down the path, because what’s important to me as a business owner might be entirely different than what’s important to, you know, an employee who’s in their mid 20s. So do you see that kind of feedback? Or is it pretty much driven by what the employer sees as being valuable?

Tyler 9:02
I would say a bit of both Barb. Like, I know, sometimes we’ll get into conversation with a business owner, and they don’t want to initiate a program. Like we find something that fits their budget for what they’re looking to provide, but they don’t want to initiate it unless they get the employees to go ahead with it.

Tyler 9:22
So then we’ll go out and present and make sure they know what is available to them. And then other business owners are just, Hey, I know this is a value to them. I want to provide it, you know, and maybe the employee doesn’t have as much of a say, but they definitely appreciate it. I mean, if an employer comes in and says hey, I’m gonna provide a benefit program, most people are okay with that.

Barb 9:47
And so when an employer is looking at those benefit plans, do they often do they often come to you with a budget number then is that kind of what they’re thinking when they get started?

Tyler 9:59
Most People are just wondering how much does it cost? You know, because it’s like, I’ve never looked into it, you know, what does this look like? So some, some might have a budget, maybe it’s more an internal thing, that they have an assumption. And then as we go through and kind of determine what they’re looking for, and once they see that number, it helps, you know, that confirm, okay, I can afford this, or, okay, that’s a little bit more than I was expecting, expecting, what can we do to kind of drop drop the price? Or maybe it’s, hey, I was expecting way more, let’s upgrade the benefits, right?

Barb 10:39
So when you do have employee participation, like, you know, kind of conversation ahead of time, are all employees required to participate? Or does that depend on the plan, then.

Tyler 10:53
It does depend on the plan depending on the size of the organization, we always recommend 100% participation, it’s just a lot easier to administer the plan that way. You know, I know, some carriers might say, or sorry, insurance companies might say, we can get up to 75% participation. So we need a mandatory 75%. But if you rate at that line, and then you hire somebody in the future, and they don’t want it, all of a sudden, your benefits program is no more. So a lot of times when people are poor, or employees are pushing back saying I don’t want access, I don’t want to be on a benefits plan, it’s because they have spousal coverage or coverage elsewhere.

Tyler 11:35
And that’s totally fine, they can actually still participate in the program, they would just opt out of the health and dental because they can prove they have coverage elsewhere. So there’s still a participant, they just would opt out of the health and dental because they’re covered elsewhere, if that makes sense.

Barb 11:51
So I just want to think that through because if you opt out, your spouse has coverage. If you participate in two plans, then you you can actually claim to two plans as well, if I recall correctly, you had to claim based on the person whose birth date occurs first in the year, or something crazy like that, but you can actually claim to two plans, you just claim once and then claim a second time based on whatever is not reimbursed, right? Yes. So would employees opt out then because they’re having to, like pay part of the cost? Is that why they would opt out?

Tyler 12:28
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Or, you know, their spousal plan is really great. And there’s not a need for additional benefits. So they’re like, I don’t need it. Right.

Barb 12:38
Right. Yeah. And I guess, you know, if your spouse’s plan is like, 100%, everything, you know, it kind of starts to feel like what do we need that second plan for? Okay, no, that’s really interesting. So talk to me about the reasons that a business wouldn’t choose to have a benefit plan. And Can everyone participate? like are they automatically approved?

Tyler 13:01
Okay, so let’s go on the second piece. How it typically works, again, different insurance companies are different. But typically, to get approved, you need a minimum of three participants. So let’s say a business owner, and two employees would be kind of the minimum to get coverage guaranteed without providing any medical information.

Tyler 13:25
When it comes to the Chamber’s plan, which does make it a bit unique in the marketplace, we can get coverage for one person firm, so solo entrepreneur, or even a two person firm. So yeah, that’s the first question or second question, then you asked, Is there a reason why someone wouldn’t want a benefits program? Is that? Yeah, I mean, maybe it’s cost.

Tyler 13:48
I know, sometimes it’s Yeah, everyone has spells, especially here in Regina, you know, you have a lot of government employees. So a lot of spouses will have coverage. So maybe you’re working in a business of three people. And you know, all three have spells Oh, coverage already, maybe there’s not as much of a need, you know, or a priority to get a benefits plan. So that would be two that come to mind.

Barb 14:15
Exactly. But do you hear from a lot of your business owners that when they’re recruiting new employees, they get that question about a benefit plan, no matter how big they are?

Tyler 14:25
Yeah, I mean, we get a lot of people to reach out and initiate a benefits program because they lost a key employee because they went somewhere else with the benefits plan or they’re really having trouble hiring people because they don’t have a Benefits Program. So yeah, it’s proven that Employee Benefits Programs attract and retain your employees.

Barb 14:48
Yep. And so when you think about the plans and the variety, do you see changes on an industry by industry basis, or, you know, is it just really Dependent?

Tyler 15:02
Yeah, I would say both like, one of the things we are seeing is, you know, as the younger generation comes in, they want more flexible spending. So there’s something called that health spending account, which is growing in more and more popularity so that basically, as a business owner, you can say, Okay, I’m allocating, let’s say, five $500, for this calendar year, and you can use it for any eligible health and dental claim.

Tyler 15:29
So obviously, for the younger generation, they love that flexibility. Versus maybe you’re under a typical or traditional Benefits Program, you’re just okay, I only get $300 for a massage, but I want to spend 500. So that’s something that is coming more and more into the market.

Tyler 15:48
And we’re seeing it as a top up to the existing Benefits Program. So maybe you have that traditional structure, but you want to provide some additional flex spending, adding that on, and then some people, maybe their affordability for a traditional plan isn’t there, but they still want to provide something. That’s where that health spending account is. Yeah, gaining more and more popularity?

Barb 16:10
Exactly. And if I understand correctly with the health spending account, the employee can actually use it for anything that fits in that bucket. So whether it’s mental health services, physical health services, right, so there’s, there’s a ton of flexibility.

Barb 16:24
And from an age perspective, you’re right at 25, you might be interested in something completely different than you’re interested in 45. One of the things that we’ve really discovered through teaching the get found digital marketing program is we work directly with business owners and business structures are probably almost as varied as their health and benefit plans are.

Barb 16:48
So every business has a different structure from, you know, the owner is an employee or the owner just collects its dividend. Like there’s so much variety out there. So you talk about groups of three or more. And so if the owner is, does the owner have to be an employee? Like let’s just kind of think through? Who is eligible for some of these plans? And then, as you said, the chamber plan, you can have as few as one, but what is it? I guess, what does a business owner need to have in place to be able to even get started?

Tyler 17:24
So I think you’re asking what is that eligibility that minimal eligible eligibility requirements. So when it comes to the majority of benefit programs, you have to be working a minimum of 20 hours per week, and you have to be receiving some kind of income from the business.

Tyler 17:42
Now, as a business owner, you might say, Well, I don’t want to provide benefits to all my employees, you know, maybe you consider somebody to be part time who’s 20 hours a week? Well, that’s fine. It just has to be a minimum of 20 hours a week, and then whatever line you draw, where it’s this is my full time employees, right?

Tyler 17:59
That’s where you would, you know, make that available to all of them. So yeah, for a business owner, maybe like you said, there’s lots of different structures out there, maybe it’s a business owner who’s, you know, has a different job, and they’re just almost like a silent partner, they wouldn’t be eligible for the benefits program, because they’re not working. Maybe that minimum 20 hours a week, maybe they’re not drawing an income, you know, there’s a few different things that come into play there.

Barb 18:28
But I think what you just said there is really important because, you know, you and I have had some conversations about our structure. And because we still have ownership collecting dividends, we would still be eligible for a plan. Yes. Right. And I think, for a lot of the funding and benefit programs that are out there, aside from health and dental, if the owner isn’t collecting a wage, then they’re not eligible.

Barb 18:55
So my guess is that because there are funding programs out there, where they’re not eligible, you know, as soon as you hear that, no, you can’t do something, you tend to apply it to everything else. And so I suspect there’s business owners out there who, you know, they’ve never even thought about it because they’re not eligible for a whole bunch of things.

Barb 19:14
And you know, just for example, you can’t contribute and shouldn’t take Can’t you don’t receive the benefit of contributing to an RRSP. If you’re collecting dividends, your seed CPP isn’t growing if you’re collecting dividends, so there’s a number of things like that where, you know, as the business owner, you kind of go, Okay, I guess the dividend is supposed to provide that benefit.

Barb 19:36
And that’s, you know, those are some business decisions that, you know, everyone kind of makes along the way, right. So where do you see this going? Like, are you seeing online competition? Do you find that most of your customers are, you know, once you’ve been able to build a relationship with a customer, they’re a customer for life? Where’s the industry going?

Tyler 19:59
Yeah, I think with every industry things are shifting and changing. Yeah. And I’m curious to see where it goes. Like I said, I think that Flexible Spending will continue, like, people are looking for more flexibility. So I imagine the traditional insurance companies will continue to adapt and change things to make things more attractive.

Tyler 20:22
But what we’re finding is Yeah, like, like you said, once people connect with us and become a customer, yeah, they’re staying with us. The only people that really leave are those who maybe go out of business, or maybe they sold their business and now transition into retirement. So yeah, it’s, it’s, uh, yeah, I guess it’s, it’s working, it’s creating that loyalty, that relationship? And, yeah, just, yeah, there’s not not a lot of changes going forward, once you’re in that, in that, having that relationship. And, and going from there. So.

Barb 20:57
So you know, it’s funny, I think of it as changing banking. So if you decide to change your bank, like it’s a ton of work, right? Similar to, you know, changing your benefit plan, when you’ve got the benefit plan, and you’ve got the online access, and you’ve got all the pieces, it’s just so much work to try and make that change. Right. Okay, so So can

Tyler 21:22
I speak to that for a second? Barb? Yeah, um, so that’s one of the things we are seeing in the industry is a lot like the big insurance companies out there. So you know, you can get a benefit from lots of different companies. And so it’s a really competitive market right now.

Tyler 21:39
And there are a lot of these big companies that are just trying to buy business, so they’re giving significant discounts to get your business. So you might get five quotes, and there’s one that just seems Wow, that is so cheap, I’m going to go that way.

Tyler 21:53
What happens is, you know, we’re not going to get too complicated for your audience. But your pricing is determined by how much the plan is used. So you know, in a year or two years, what you’re gonna see is no longer that discount, you’re gonna see that significant increase, and now all of a sudden, you’re no longer happy. And now you’re going through the process over and over and over again. Yeah.

Tyler 22:16
So that is something that I am seeing in the industry, and maybe speaks to some of your previous questions. So that’s why it’s really important to ask, okay, how is this priced? What does this look like in a year? What does this look like in two years? You know, you don’t always want to take the lowest cost, because there’s a reason it is low. So Exactly. Yeah, I thought I just mentioned that based on what you just said there.

Barb 22:39
Yeah. And that’s a really fair point, which actually brings up one more question, and then we’re going to be at a time. But what has the COVID impact been has been COVID. Now included in benefit plans? What happens if I travel? I don’t know if that’s a 62nd. Question for your novel, what has the COVID impact been to two plans

Tyler 23:00
For the coverage itself? So I’ll just speak to the Chamber’s plan, just because the majority of your audience will I imagine be small midsize business owners. It hasn’t changed at all. Our travel insurance hasn’t changed at all. It’s not COVID dependent, you know, if you get COVID if you’re in Mexico or whatever, doesn’t matter.

Barb 23:21
So it’s only if you’re not vaccinated, double Vax, none of that matters?

Tyler 23:25
Nothing’s changed the whole entire time. So it’s so interesting. As things open up in our country, people are traveling more. We are getting calls from people double checking, because some people can’t believe that that hasn’t changed. So yeah, exactly. Yeah. So we’re thankful to partner with an insurance company? Yeah. takes care of people for sure.

Barb 23:47
Okay, no, that’s cool. So we are wrapped up. So tell people how they can start their journey. Learn more about you, but start to do the research. You know, like, what are they going to search on Google to learn more about employee benefit plans?

Tyler 24:03
Sure. So I guess you can find us, you can find us or on our website, www dot pre benefits.ca. We are on Facebook to search up pre benefits there. Yeah, I think if you’re googling stuff, you just look for someone who you can tell does employee benefits all the time, that’s what they specialize in.

Tyler 24:25
There’s not many of us that just do employee benefits. And I would just recommend going to someone who, you know, does it all the time and knows what they’re talking about?

Barb 24:35
Yeah, yeah, I agree. It’s kind of like our industry. If you’re gonna hire somebody to build a website, make sure that that’s what they do not website and sell employee benefits. You know, to put those two together. Okay, awesome. Thank you, Tyler.

Barb 24:52
We are already out of time. It’s amazing how quickly this time goes. So thank you for being here with me today. And sharing Little bit more about what a business owner might want to think about when they’re looking at employee benefit plans. Because unless your business is somehow tied to insurance, it’s a pretty uncomfortable topic. So thank you, Tyler.

Tyler 25:16
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Barb 25:17
Absolutely. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at BB at above the fold dot live, or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page @abovethefold.ca. And just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our live show on our Facebook page.

Barb 25:36
So I’m your host, Bob McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Ever wonder what the benefits of providing a benefit plan to your employees are? How important is it to provide a benefits plan as a small business and how much will it cost?

The fact is benefits plans come in all shapes and sizes, and they can be tailored to suit each business and their current needs. It’s a hot topic and one that tends to be full of misinterpretations and assumptions, but we’re ready to dive in.

Join us with special guest Tyler Clark from Prairie Benefits Solutions as we navigate the murky waters of employee benefits plans and insurance coverage.

Connect with Tyler @ Prairie Benefits
https://www.prairiebenefits.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prairiebenefitssolutions
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prairie-benefits/about

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Ep. 87 Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Video Transcript: Ep. 87 Craig Reed

Barb 0:03
And it’s time for Episode 87 of The Secret Life of Entrepreneurs with a very special guest, Craig Reed from Virtus group.

Barb 0:12
Craig is a partner with Virtus group. And they provide advice in terms of accounting, tax, business advisory services for small and medium sized businesses, entrepreneurs across a number of different industries. So today, we’re gonna answer all those burning accounting questions and come on. I know that’s the stuff that keeps you up at night. So let’s go, let’s take a deep dive into the world of a chartered professional accountant, and find out what that world looks like. Craig, welcome.

Craig 0:46
Thanks very much for having me.

Barb 0:49
It’s a pleasure to have you here. So just quickly, tell us a little bit about, you know, Virtus group in your role with the company.

Craig 0:58
Okay, well, Virtus group is an independent accounting firm, but that I just mean that we’re more of a regional firm. So we’ve got offices in Regina, Saskatoon, and a satellite office in St. Vance or Saskatchewan based and that’s where we do most of our work. Our clients of course range from doing business in Canada to across the world. So we have resources we tap into from that, but an independence means we’re not like a national or international firm, that’s part of those things, but we are part of an alliance that helps us access those resources.

Craig 1:22
So we’re at about 125 people between our two main offices are Regina and Saskatoon and and so as you said, at the top, our clients range from a gas station to an egg employment dealer to nonprofit organizations of significant size. So we’re just like the Saskatchewan economy in terms of the client base we represent because it’s everything that we do we egg oil, and gas, all the rest of it.

Craig 1:44
So personally, I deal a lot with I focus on owner managed business, like entrepreneurs, and I deal a lot with restaurants, real estate construction, and professional sort of intellectual sort of doctors, lawyers, marketing advisors, all that sort of stuff. Yeah.

Barb 2:00
So you must see quite a bit of elasticity in that industry. Then when one goes up, the other is going down. You know, is that or do they go kind of up and down at the same time.

Craig 2:09
It’s interesting, like in 2020 egg and pumpkin dealers and egg producers had a really strong year. And so they were a little bit immune from some of the COVID impacts. And so, real estate has its cyclical, it’s always up and down. And particularly Home Builders had a bit of a lull in 19. And then 20, it was like nothing’s happening, and now they’re going good guns again. But then the supply chain issues and construction businesses are also causing its own issues there. So it’s, it’s, as you say, like this Saskatchewan economy is largely driven by oil and gas and agriculture. And so a lot of stuff does trickle out of that. But it can be a little bit counter or a little bit operating in different sorts of sequences and cycles, for sure. Yeah,

Barb 2:49
Yeah. And so just as a firm, do you find that because you’re in a wide variety of industries, that you’re able to level out that client intake and outtake or churn.

Craig 2:59
Yeah, we’re, we’re always healthy things grow. We’re always trying to grow and, and we generally do achieve that through sort of organic growth for the most part. But it is interesting, because through 19, and 20, there was a lot of sort of a slowdown. So our specialty work was slowing down, like advisory, tax planning, that sort of stuff.

Craig 3:18
But the ongoing engagements like that, that you need to come to your account every year to get your financial names textured done that was growing into sort of a pace, so but in 2019, we did sort of have a little bit of a stagnant year like we’re we’re mostly flat just because of the economy a little bit slow. But yeah, we were lucky in that way that we’re sort of diversified. Where we’re not as concentrated are risks. So we don’t have the same ups and downs that other businesses might have in terms of how their business flows.

Barb 3:42
Exactly. So talk to me a little bit about why a small business owner would hire an accountant, and what are the benefits that they would receive?

Craig 3:52
How much time do I have?

Barb 3:54
25 minute clock.

Craig 3:57
Okay. But I would just say that no matter what question you ask an accountant, the answer is generally going to be It depends, right? We always say it depends. We want to get more of the background for it. And that’s what they’re doing a tax question. Can I deduct this, that sort of stuff. But there’s sort of a priority period, I would say, with accounting. So at the base level is sort of are my financial statements correct, and accurate and timely, because they tell us a story about what happened. I love financial games, because they tell me what happened last year.

Barb 4:25
Exactly. It’s history right? Where most business owners are very focused on the future.

Craig 4:30
Exactly. And this is why annual financial statements like you’ll engage an accounting firm to do your tax return and maybe get to the bank at the end of the year. It’s somewhat less useful because we’re always in the rearview mirror. And sometimes it takes, say, three months to get the records in and I’ll get the work done. So with accounting information, it’s always sort of this, this, this healthy tension between the timeliness the more timely it is, the more useful it is.

Craig 4:52
But the less accurate it is when you’re sort of like you can think about your own business in your month and you might have everything captured properly, and so on. The reason we want to get a financial statement accurate and timely so we can make decisions for the future.

Craig 5:04
Well, that’s what we really want to focus on with it. So at its base level, sometimes it’s just as simple as a business owner that doesn’t necessarily, they can’t necessarily trust that their bank account. Well, my cash account is low, but my sales are really high. What the heck is going on? Did they have Nestle connecting the dots to my receivables are way out of line, I gotta get that in track.

Craig 5:22
So that’s the first layer that comes with that sort of accounting, making sure my finance statements are telling me what I think they’re telling me and Can I do something with that? Exactly. Then there’s obviously tax compliance, which we all love. Right, Barb? I think nobody loves it.

Barb 5:35
I can’t wait to have that conversation every year, Craig.

Craig 5:39
I appreciate that. I appreciate that. So some of that stuff. aside just

Barb 5:43
A second before you jump in. So teasing aside, yeah, okay. Tax Compliance, like that’s the stuff that good sleep is made of, but, like, talking with you guys, I mean, there has to be a savings element there, right? And so if you’ve done things, right, if you’ve set things up, right, structure wise, it should save me money in the long run. So like, talk to me about that. So if tax is that next element? Okay, how does hiring an accounting firm help me save money on tax then? Right?

Craig 6:13
Well, in general, there’s no magic Voodoo stick that we can use that we don’t have access to some mystical tax deduction sheet that other people don’t have, necessarily. But in general, you’re going to be able to deduct anything you’ve incurred for the purposes of earning income.

Craig 6:27
And so that because there’s a broad range, but where we get involved with the compliance side, it’s more about making sure we’re not incurring penalties or late filing charges, things of that nature. But it’s also about sort of planning opportunities in terms of Should I take wages or dividends, should I there’s certain times where there’s opportunities where if you’re taking large sums of money out, maybe there’s a different way you can do it to have it taxed at instead of a dividend as a capital gain, there’s an the tax rate difference, there could be as much as 16%.

Craig 6:52
So there’s some savings opportunities that are there. In the long run some of the opportunities we had available to us in 2018, they changed some tax rules, that limited income splitting amongst a family, but it’s mostly related to making sure that our fares are structured the right way, so that we can incomes but to the extent that it’s possible, that we can defer taxes as long as possible by housing when the corporate group, while at the same time we have this risk mitigation issue, it’s sort of creditor proofing in case like most businesses have some sort of an element of risk to them, where your assets are at risk if you get sued.

Craig 7:25
And so that’s sometimes that’s why we incorporate, right. And we might use a holding company to have some assets or things of that nature. But general tax savings, sometimes it’s more that we’re preventing you from doing something just outright wrong, or, or having it done taking more income out than you necessarily need to because your general rule of thumb is always to leave as much in your corporate group as possible. Because we’re putting that tax bill off down the road, you can use those dollars to repay debt sooner or or just earn income through investing that sort of thing.

Barb 7:52
So you did touch on, you know, you might take a dividend, you might take employee employee wage, just quickly touch on, on what typically works best for different types of businesses, or how you make that decision, or I guess, advise you don’t make the decision, but advise different clients on what direction to go.

Craig 8:13
Yeah, some clients want me to tell them what to do. And they don’t really want to think that I try to avoid it if I can, but sometimes I step on their foot and I say this is the right answer, but it is my typical canned answer.

Barb 8:24
Board table, then you can reach across.

Craig 8:27
When I nod my head and talk to foot, you say Yes, Mr. Mr. Simpson, but the typical accounting question still comes into play here. It depends, right? So wages, we’re getting RRSP contribution room, we’re paying into CPP and your company has to match that and pay in as well.

Craig 8:43
And then as an owner, you’re generally gonna be EI exempt. So that’s somewhat neutral. But it also helps you with childcare deductions, because you can deduct those against your wage income dividends, you don’t get RRSP contribution room, but you don’t have to pay into CPP on that amount. And it doesn’t help you with childcare. And it can also be harder to say go buy a truck at the finance office because they don’t see a T4 that says I’m an employee.

Craig 9:04
In general, whether we take dividends or wages, you’re going to pay about the same total tax corporately and personally just in different amounts. Dividends are paid in the corporation first and then get a lower amount personally. But certain people want RSP rooms, certain people don’t care, and certain people want to avoid CPP and have to pay on both sides. And so I am really accustomed to personal preference. First we want to understand what your goals are, and then we can figure out the tax from there is Yeah, okay.

Barb 9:32
No, that makes sense. I think I interrupted you because you were kind of working your way through the pyramid? Oh, yeah.

Craig 9:38
Well, um, yeah, I like to. And I also want to say that the pyramid is is is a combination of your external accounts, like our firm I play that role, or any level also staff on hand so the larger enterprise gets and the more resources you have, the more you’re able to take some of those accounting priority pyramid stuff into your own house and say you want to pay An external firm for that.

Craig 10:01
And so we get those, we want to get that foundational layer of financial payments, tax compliance, and they’d be the tax sort of planning and prep structuring. It evolves from there into all say, sort of advisory services that are similar to, let’s say that profits are a little bit low.

Craig 10:18
And we want to do a little bit of a plan around how we make our profits? How do we improve our profits, most of that’s going to be on controlling your costs and sort of having a plan around how I get my team organized to reduce waste in certain areas. And that’s not a magical thing that an accountant does, we just have a bit of a financial background.

Craig 10:35
So we know that but always like, as a business owner, look at your biggest line items, because those are where you’re going to find the most opportunity for success and sort of cutting costs or making it more efficient, I’ll say. And I would say like one of the biggest benefits that entrepreneurs get from dealing with an external accountant is that as a business owner, you’re kind of on an island and you know, heavy is the head that wears the crowd sometimes and having someone that confidentially, you can go talk to that seen a bunch of different business owners in different industries and see how they’re dealing with stuff.

Craig 11:03
And just having someone that you can confide in and talk about what you’re struggling with and what your goals are that that is really powerful. And it’s one of the things that I like most about being an accountant is I get to interact with different people. Yeah, I get to help people in a way that some and get to learn so much to like, I’ve learned more from my clients, probably than I’ve provided to them through the years. But it’s really gratifying to have that in place for sure. Yeah.

Barb 11:28
So if a business owner is looking at hiring a firm because for lots of folks, especially when you’re small, you outsource you hire an accountant, or maybe you have a bookkeeper. And maybe you’re incorporated, maybe you’re not but what are the key questions that you think someone has to ask when they’re looking at hiring a firm? Or even hiring a CPA? Like just hiring someone? Yeah,

Craig 11:50
I have to plug CPAs chartered professional accountants because I am one and so and I’m also not allowed to speak ill of any other CPA, it’s like part of our thing. But I equate accounting sometimes to buying garbage bags, you know, sometimes you get what you pay for, right?

Craig 12:06
And, and so if you, if you go by that falls out, and then you go clean up, and you still gotta go buy new garbage bags, right? So the messiest situations I’ve been involved in my career are ones where they didn’t have the resources internally to do their accounting, right.

Craig 12:21
And my own line is counting is only boring if it’s done right. And so most of my life is spent in interesting situations, because it’s not that complicated, but it just takes time and effort sometimes. So it always comes back to it depends what do you need? And you want to ask them certain questions. So you think about what you need, what you might need from the candidate.

Craig 12:40
If it’s just as simple as I need, I need to know if I should incorporate or not, then often that’s just a phone call to someone and they’ll do exploratory, I often do that I just have a half hour conversation, sort of explore the options and give some advice and then they can choose to, to continue or not, but it’s um it’s sort of understanding who the firm is that you’re dealing with, like, how long have they been around? How big are they? What types of services do they offer? And then also, what’s what’s not crucial, but has some uses? Do they have relevant experience in your industry?

Craig 13:10
So, for example, I work with a lot of dentists. So if I’m talking to a new dentist, I know I understand, you know, the high hygiene has been an issue the last while because they have to get the seal off. So you can actually use the drills, because aerosol, all that crap.

Craig 13:22
So there’s things that someone that works in your industry will just know right off the bat. So it’s always useful to have that. But it’s not it’s not a deal breaker, but useful. So most, most entrepreneurs that they deal with, when they’re starting out, they’re doing the books themselves, they’re doing the the accounting themselves, so that they can save on cost, because you’re starting out and it’s just it’s expensive to hire an external bookkeeper, our role can have that encompassed in it.

Craig 13:46
But most of the time, what I do personally is more on just annual financial statements than that. So fees are always a thing, like, that’s why I brought up the garbage bank thing, because, but it is important to understand what the fee level is, and how you will be billed for all of those sorts of things. And probably you’d be you’d be well served to interview a couple accounting firms and not just go with the first one, you know, unless you’ve been referred to them by someone you trust.

Barb 14:09
Right? So in most cases, you know, if I was to approach you to do business, do I end up with a primary contact? And is that what’s common? You know, if I went to some of the national firms, you’re going to have a main contact? And I’m guessing in a national firm, you’d especially see some churn because there tends to be some pretty high turnover.

Craig 14:31
I can’t comment No, you can’t. I can’t um, and certainly every accounting firm is experiencing retention issues right now across North America. It’s a bit of a problem we sort of pride ourselves on having a better ability to have that retention because Same thing with my banker, I’ve had seven different bankers on my account for the last two years.

Craig 14:54
And so every time I turn around, there’s a new person showing up in my online banking but that retention The reason it’s important is because that person understands your business. And knowledge of my business is really crucial in us being able to deliver good service. So in general, with our firm, at least you’d have a partner on the file and a manager.

Craig 15:10
And then I’d like to joke that it’s a bit of a pyramid scheme, because we’re structured in a bit of a pyramid format. I liked it more when I was a manager before I became a partner. I still kind of enjoy it, because it’s a little bit of fun. But then I remember that one. Yeah, remember that one? Yes. It’s not like, I won’t, I won’t besmirch pyramid schemes on here necessarily, but so like behind the scenes will generally have a younger person that’s just that’s they’re working towards their designation that will do most of the like the heavy lifting work manager sort of guides them and helps them do the right thing, and then review their file to make sure it’s correct.

Craig 15:41
The partner is going to have sort of that last level look to make sure I called the carbon filtration process to make sure everything sort of done accurately and correctly. And that’s also where the level of sort of planning structuring advisory comes in. And then we would generally but generally, we would like to have two people sr, on each file. So that says, I’m on vacation, you can call Rene, in our example, right? And have a conversation, get someone on the horn.

Craig 16:05
Every firm will be different, though. So it is that’s a good question to ask, as you highlight like, how does that how do I how do I work with a sole proprietor, you’ll get a very personalized experience with that one person. And so that has, everything has its pluses? And it’s minuses, right?

Barb 16:18
That’s absolutely, yep. And you know, I think one of the things that’s important because you referenced it already is building relationships. So when you’ve got somebody, you can pick up the phone and call, you’ve got somebody you can send an email to, it just, it just moves things along that much more quickly.

Barb 16:35
And I don’t think it matters what industry you’re in, you can be an accountant, you can be a car salesman, but when you have a relationship with someone, and they actually understand your needs and your situation, ideally, it’s gonna have a much better outcome, right?

Craig 16:51
Well, for sure. 100%.

Barb 16:52
So when you’re starting those relationships with someone, do they usually start early in the business life? Do you guys tend to find that you’re talking to clients when when they are more mature, and now they need to, you know, get a little bit more serious about business, or when does that relationship typically start for you guys,

Craig 17:12
For our firm, we would tend to be a little higher price point than then a sole proprietor or two partner firm, we have 17 partners between our two offices right now. So we’re a little bit larger.

Craig 17:25
And so of course, we have a broader range of services. And then our price points also, obviously a little bit higher. So we tend to spend less time working with brand new business owners and ours is more when you’re higher up the priority period, you just need a little bit.

Craig 17:39
So you need evaluation engagement, well, my accountant doesn’t do that, then they might come to us and meet and that maybe has an entryway or they need to reorganize the corporate structure or, or that sort of thing. That’s where we get more involved. So but I have in my career helped anyone from someone that is considering starting a business or buying a business at age 23. Very young, which kudos to them, because there’s no harder job than being an entrepreneur to someone that’s already sold their business and has millions of dollars in their holding company that’s just sort of trying to maximize their planning and doing things like trust and estate planning at that point. So it kind of covers a full gamut. Our firm particularly is a little bit more towards mature businesses then say incubator style kind of things. Yeah.

Barb 18:21
Right. Exactly. Okay. No, that makes perfect sense to me. So you referenced the changes that happened to I guess, is it tax law here back in 2018? Or is it just that well, what is it actually that changed?

Craig 18:34
Well, the legislation changed. And so financing, and the government actually changed legislation, and CRA enforces it. And so sometimes CRA tries to, we’ll call it, put their own spin on it and decide what the law means.

Craig 18:46
And we sometimes take issue with that, of course, but in 2018, prior to that, we use things like family trusts, we could split income amongst a family. And the rules were perfectly legitimate to allow that. And so in a husband and wife situation, the wife is the main business person, you could split in could be the husband.

Craig 19:02
And the reason you split income as the tax brackets, higher amounts of higher house, so we get equal, we’re paying less taxes a family, and any team they limited that so that’s mostly off the table now until the main business owner is 65. And then it’s back on the table. So it still is important for spouses to be involved in their own shares of the business together. But it’s a longer term benefit than it is an immediate benefit.

Barb 19:26
Okay. So can you and I don’t even know if this was ever possible? like can you give shares to family members? Or do they have to be adults? No.

Craig 19:35
Well, it’s actually an interesting thing, though. Whenever you’re transacting with family members, the related parties are how it’s termed in the Tax Act. You have to transact at fair market value. So you can’t give what you let’s say you didn’t want to get the money from them. You could give them the shares. If your shares are worth a million dollars you can give them to your child or your husband, but you will pay tax on that transaction on that million dollars and you’re not getting any cash for it. So you have to be a little bit careful. Right?

Craig 20:00
And actually transacting within a family business and succession of a family business is like the most gratifying thing I’ve ever encountered in my career like dealing with like the founder of tourism, the kids, but that used to be much less tax advantageous.

Craig 20:13
And there’s recently this bill C208 came out like he received Royal Assent over the summer, that it basically gives you the same tax advantages in terms of transitioning your business to your kid that you get by selling into an arm’s length party.

Craig 20:26
Because they wanted to limit it way back when I think just because they assume that we’re going to be crooked and not transacted fair value with their family members, which, in some cases, perhaps that assumption, yeah, it’s probably the general. Yep. But it’s leveling the playing field so that it’s easier to sell your business to your child and get capital gains exemption and share sale, and then you can still buy the shares to a holding company. So they’re going to amend those rules. And hopefully, they’re planning to do it November 1. So it’s kind of timely, but it’s opening up more options in terms of transitioning a business within a family. So these tax rules are constantly changing. So we have to always kind of keep abreast of them. For sure. A fun part of our job is learning and staying on topic.

Barb 21:05
Well, and and I think to me, that’s where there’s a value in hiring an accountant, because you’re going to keep up all in on all of that stuff. Just like I keep up on Google. Right now, I don’t expect you to understand Google, and I’m certain that you wouldn’t expect me to understand accounting, a really quick personal story. I always enjoy math. Oh, I was good at math. I got my A’s, right. Then I took accounting and University and I was like, What do you mean, one in one or two anymore? Like, what are you talking about? About? No. And of my dreams of No, I never had dreams of accounting Don’t lie. Never.

Craig 21:41
It’s actually a profession Barb? I don’t know.

Barb 21:46
Do you know that when I was working on my Masters, we had to do corporate finance that I enjoyed, because I could make sense of it. But balance sheets, incomes, like burn, get it? Now, interestingly, our son is just hitting his teen years, he’s 12, turning 19 next month and is quite good at math. And over the summer, you know, he would hear us having business conversations out at the lake and at home and things like that.

Barb 22:19
And like he started to ask some really good questions. He’s understanding, you know, interest in finance and saving versus loans. And, you know, like, he’s really starting to, to make some sense of these concepts. Last, we thought, Oh, my God at 12, I wouldn’t have a clue. Like, let me do my math homework for my textbook. So I’m like, huh? And he does like he likes his math. So maybe you want to talk to him there maybe? Well, for you,

Craig 22:48
I got into a county because I was good at math. And I didn’t want to be a lawyer. It seemed boring to me. Sorry, lawyers. And I didn’t think being a doctor was great, because it’s like blood and everything. And then there was a dad on my brother’s hockey team that was a CA, a chartered accountant. And he seemed to be the wealthiest dad. I’m like, well, this seems like a good option. That’s how I got into accounting actually way back when Yeah.

Barb 23:09
Oh, isn’t that interesting? Craig, we only have a couple of minutes left. So if folks who are in the audience or listen to the show later are interested in reaching out, how would they find you? And what can they expect in that first reach out?

Craig 23:23
Well, obviously we have a website Virtus, group.ca, and everything on but the firm is on there. And every accounting firm has basically the same website, so don’t get too excited on that front.

Craig 23:34
And my email address is on the website and all that contact information is there. In general, when we’re meeting with a new client, we have a sort of maybe an hour long meeting to determine if it’s a good fit. So it’s got to be a good fit for the client and a good fit for our firm, because certain types of things.

Craig 23:48
Depending on when the work falls, all those sorts of things it’s got to be, we’ve got to create a win win situation, that sort of stuff. So in general, it’s going to be a phone call, or an in person meeting, depending on all these COVID rules, just to see if it’s a good fit and what what they’re looking for and what we can offer and and sometimes it’s like if you go into the restaurant, you didn’t even know that was a thing.

Craig 24:07
And you want it on the menu like that, that is that that can happen. But most of the time, a business owner will have a certain idea of what they need. And so it’s a nice thing to sort of talk that through. But in general, when you’re talking to accountants, we always like to get a little bit more notice to be more proactive. Because when something’s already happened, it’s a little too late to plan appropriately. Instructor with the assault. Right?

Barb 24:26
Exactly. Yeah. You can’t fix it now that it’s done. Yeah.

Craig 24:30
Certain times you can but most of the time, you can’t. That’s right. Okay.

Barb 24:32
Fair. See, you can go back in time and fix things. Excellent.

Craig 24:37
Well, yeah, not back in anyway. Oh, we’ll leave it at that. We’ll tease that person. Maybe maybe I have regrets. Yeah,

Barb 24:44
Exactly. Craig, is there anything else that you’d like to share with folks?

Craig 24:48
Oh, I don’t know. I guess I just, you know, in my career, I’ve been in business for 20 years and sort of, I’ve learned a lot from say Doug MacKillop in our office and others that have mentored me through the years. It’s been so gratifying and The things that I really enjoy are working with business owners and working with our people up and coming that are better than I was at their age, for example, like Renee, in the example, Barb works with you, obviously she gets stuff done a lot better than I did. So I just want to make a plug for any young accountants out there that are considering getting in the business, oh, boy, it’s a good business. And it offers a lot of great rewards. It’s like a lot of things you get out of what you put into it. But it’s so gratifying to work with entrepreneurs, because they are doing so much good stuff. And it’s so interesting all the time. That’s how I would frame it.

Barb 25:31
So yes you know, I think that’s a really good way to phrase it being in that entrepreneurial environment. Like it’s just really interesting all the time, because things are changing, right?

Craig 25:42
There’s an energy to it, that I have way more respect for entrepreneurs now, after 20 years than I did. as a 25 year old accounting student. I just didn’t. I didn’t quite get it until you’re sort of running your own business that you understand some of the issues and the importance of it.

Barb 25:57
Yeah, exactly. Awesome. All right. Well, we are at a time so Craig, thank you for being here. This was very insightful. And you know, I certainly encourage anyone who does catch the podcast at a later date, to reach out to Craig, if your business is at that point.

Barb 26:13
One of the things that I can say personally that I have found to be most valuable in working with an accounting firm is just the advice and the someone at the end of the email. So when I’m stuck, when we’re not sure what direction to go, or what something means that we get from CRA, just being able to send an email and say, hey, what in the heck is this? Yes. Excellent.

Barb 26:41
All right. If you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live, or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page above the fold. ca. And you can even submit questions during our live show, which I’ve been watching on the right hand side of my screen, Craig as we were chatting, and you did get a couple of hearts so you never know.

Barb 27:06
I am your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you work hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

It’s time for Ep. 87 of the Secret Life of Entrepreneurs with special guest Craig Reed from Virtus Group! 🎙️

Craig is a partner with Virtus Group and provides accounting, tax, and business advisory services for his many entrepreneurial clients across a variety of industries.

We’ll be answering ALL of your 🔥 BURNING 🔥 accounting related questions (I know you have a lot of them 😉)! So join us as we take deep dive into the world of a senior Chartered Professional Accountant and what his role looks like as a Business Advisor.

Connect with Craig @ Virtus Group
https://virtusgroup.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VirtusGroupLLP
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virtusgroupllp
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VirtusGroupLLP
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/virtus-group-llp

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 86 Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

We’re talking with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching about branding for local businesses.

✔️ 𝐻𝑂𝑊 do you create a recognizable brand in a sea of noise?
✔️ 𝐻𝑂𝑊 do you build and maintain your brand?
✔️ 𝐻𝑂𝑊 does a local business build a brand that is relatable and engaging?

The truth is branding is so much more than a few colours and a logo. It’s about developing systems, processes, and templates that will allow you to grow your business into a brand that people will buy into and follow.

Connect with Daria @ Boost Strategic Coaching
https://www.boostcoaching.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/booststrategiccoaching
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booststrategiccoaching
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daria-malin-33266076

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Video Transcript: Ep. 86 Daria Malin

Barb 0:00
Good afternoon. I am super excited today to introduce Daria Mallon. She is the founder and principal with boost coaching. She’s not about the fluff. So there’s so much, you know, fun and nice to do stuff in marketing. But what I really enjoyed with her is like she’s down to business. What do I need to do to sell more stuff?

Barb 0:24
Daria, welcome. And you know what, even as I say that, am I pronouncing that correctly?

Daria Malin 0:29
You are Yeah.

Barb 0:30
Okay. Perfect. So welcome. And please just give us a bit of a brief introduction.

Daria Malin 0:36
I’m Daria Malin, my company is Boost Strategic Coaching. And I work with entrepreneurs to help them gain clarity and confidence in your business development and marketing strategy.

Daria Malin 0:47
Often as entrepreneurs, we feel like we’re the best kept secret. And it’s often just because we don’t know how to effectively connect and make an impact with the people who really should be buying from us.

Daria Malin 1:00
And so I work with entrepreneurs as well as professional service providers who want a copilot and some actionable steps and tools to take your business sort of from crickets to conversions is sometimes what I say if you don’t know how to connect with your with your best prospects, meaning the ones who really should be buying from you the niche markets that are the best fit for what problem you solve, then that’s who that’s who comes my way.

Daria Malin 1:27
And I spent 16-17 years in advertising and sales. So I bring to the table, a bunch of restarts where I built my business from zero to full capacity, and an understanding of how advertising works and how to sell.

Barb 1:44
So you and I talked a little bit, just an email before we were making arrangements for our session today. And you know that that how, how does a local business? How do you make a dent in the noise that’s out there? What’s your take on something like that?

Daria Malin 2:02
I want to start by, I guess asking people if they can answer the question, what is a brand? Because when we’re talking about making a dent in business, really what we mean is be branded so people buy from us, right?

Barb 2:15
Yes, I know, when I think about a brand, it’s the feeling that the customer receives when they interact with my business. And ideally, they would receive that same feeling, whether they interact with me on social media, in person, through a video, whatever it might be.

Daria Malin 2:39
I always suggest that your brand is simply what people are saying about you when you’re not in the room. Or the story people are telling about you when you’re not in the room.

Daria Malin 2:50
Ultimately, your brand is what you’re known for. Yeah. And I’ll often use the example of Coca Cola, if you just saw the Coca Cola logo by itself, and they’ve never done any marketing. It would mean nothing, just a red and white words and background.

Daria Malin 3:06
But coke decided that their story is coke brings joy, right? That’s their brand. And so for generations now they have told that story over and over again through Santa Claus, polar bears, singing on a hill, you know, being at the Olympics, all the things that they’ve done, to reinforce coke brings joy, and even the red and white Santa Claus that we know and love became popular because of marketing by Coca Cola before that there were tall, skinny sandwiches in green, and all sorts of different sizes.

Daria Malin 3:43
But they brought all of this to their brand to reinforce that one story coke brings joy. So to come back to the question, how do you build your business? Or Yeah, how do you? How do you build your your brand? You have to figure out what you want that story to be first, what do you want to be known for?

Daria Malin 4:03
Yep. And I usually suggest people figure out first, who do you want to serve? And what main problem do you solve for that group of people or for those groups? And so that’s where you start is Who do you want to serve?

Daria Malin 4:18
If you haven’t figured out first who your target audiences are, then you’re trying to be everything to everybody, you won’t end up being anything to anybody because your messaging will miss the mark. And also, if I told you tomorrow, start targeting everybody with your marketing, like how would you do that? Right, and nobody has the budget to do that.

Barb 4:37
Okay, so let me challenge, I agree with you. But I want to challenge that thinking a little bit because one of the one of the toughest things I find in local is there’s lots of bars, there’s lots of coffee shops, there’s lots of dog trainers. So how do I who lts say I train dogs, okay, I trained dogs. I now need to differentiate myself. How do I find that story?

Barb 5:02
Who do I want to serve? I want to primarily serve families who get a new puppy. And families who are experiencing separation anxiety, how how do we kind of go that next level? And say, Yep, you are my potential client, but you’re not. And how do I start to get the message that message through?

Daria Malin 5:26
Well, that’s so I think, and you already mentioned two different target audiences there, right? One that is just families with a new puppy. They don’t want the puppy to ruin their furniture and their lives and keep them up at night.

Daria Malin 5:40
Kay, but a separate group, you’re saying that people bring in dogs, because of separation anxiety in their life, and a dog helps to feel like to?

Barb 5:49
Oh, no. What do you mean by that? It’s the dog that has separation anxiety, okay. So when the owner leaves the house, they get quite upset and will destroy property in the home.

Daria Malin 5:59
Yeah, so that’s a different problem. Okay, then your new puppy kind of thing. But generally, I will suggest to people don’t just pick one target audience. So you’ve already listed two. And so for any business, if I said to you just pick one niche market and and target it forever, everyone would be like, You are crazy, because I’m letting I’m saying no to 90% of the people out there.

Daria Malin 6:24
So I never suggest one, I always suggest people choose three niche markets to focus on. Yep.

Barb 6:32
And so we call them ideal customer avatars, that ICA.

Daria Malin 6:36
There’s a little difference, I would suggest. So the avatar is a really good tool that you need to do to picture that person and write your marketing message, too. But when I talk about a niche market, I talk more about a group of people. Yep, that there, it’s a big enough group that there’s enough business for you there at least for a third of your business, but small enough that they talk amongst themselves.

Daria Malin 7:00
They gather in similar places, they have some commonalities, so business so so word of mouth can work for you among them, but it’s big enough that new people will always be coming into the niche. So okay, so I would say that within each of your three niche markets, you should then write the avatar, who’s the ideal in that group?

Daria Malin 7:19
Okay. So they’re kind of a little bit different. But yeah, they’re there. They’re part of your plan. Yeah.

Barb 7:25
Do you define a niche market the same as you would a target market, then?

Daria Malin 7:29
Yes, yeah. Okay. Exactly. Same thing, because I think people know, yeah, then we’ll call it target market. So I suggest think of three target markets and a really great exercise to do that. Now knowing the three elements I mentioned about target markets, big enough that there’s enough people for you small enough that they talk amongst themselves or could be, you know, reached in groups they gather, but big enough that they’ll always replenish themselves, right, all of the target markets you can think of for your business, some that you’re already working with some that come in all the time, others that you know, should be buying from you, but you just haven’t done anything with them yet.

Daria Malin 8:04
Then look at the list and pick the top three that stand out the most, okay, that they’d be most excited, you’d be most excited to work with. Or you already have a lot of business there, but you feel like there’s still more that can be done. pick those top three, and then I suggest you don’t don’t feel like you have to marry them. We’re just dating them.

Daria Malin 8:26
Okay, so sometimes we choose a date and it doesn’t work out for whatever reason, right? Yep. So I suggest set a 90 day timer and start to net nudge those three target audiences? Hey, to see can I find them in groups? Do I understand what they need? Are they picking up what I’m throwing down? Do I know people there that can be championing me within the group? Okay. Yeah.

Barb 8:50
So in that 90 days, let’s pick a lady’s clothing store in that 90 days, what am I going to do to make sure that I’ve thrown down everything that I can, so I can, can genuinely measure at the end?

Daria Malin 9:05
So you’re going to start by just figuring out what those women are coming. So say your ladies clothing store, you have your young professionals that are trying to look professional, without breaking their small budget, you’ve got the mature women who want to still look good, even though they don’t look the same as they did 20 years ago.

Daria Malin 9:25
And you have the you know, the the moms in your neighborhood who happened to shop, those are just random three target audiences you could potentially have for that clothing store. Okay.

Daria Malin 9:35
So in that 90 days, what do you do to really test that target audience so, so, think to yourself, make a big list of what it is that you think that they’re looking for what is most important to them, okay, you know, fit versus style, you know, classic pieces versus trend, whatever it is right?

Daria Malin 9:56
Then fill in the blanks by talking to some people in that knee. In the target audience, and then create messaging specifically for that target audience.

Barb 10:06
That basically uses their exact words and language to say, you know, you told us classic, you told us fit, right? And so that’s when you start to focus on. In that retail environment or, like in the bar, coffee shop, that kind of environment where traffic, you know, is quite important. Is there also value in working in those type of questions? very naturally. So you know, somebody comes into the store. Hi, welcome. You know, what brings you here today? Or, you know, like, oh, how did you hear about us? Is there value in asking those types of questions, so that you hear over and over again? Oh, your Facebook, or I saw your live video, whatever it might be. What do you think about that?

Daria Malin 10:53
Yeah, well, I think definitely use your existing customer base to keep learning about your customers, right? I always I don’t love I don’t put a lot of trust in the How did you hear about us? Because Okay, I would rather you learn from your clients, what’s important to them? What brought them in? What did they love about the store? You could even say, What do you wish could be a little different? Or what would make your experience even better, like those kinds of questions.

Daria Malin 11:22
But to test your advertising, I always recommend just only add or change one thing at a time, right? Then see how the change looks in your traffic in your types of people coming in, you know.

Barb 11:36
Exactly, very similar to the typical AB test, where you do one thing here and one thing here, yeah, but you can only test one variable at a time at a time.

Barb 11:47
Okay, so how does that local business that’s trying to do all of their marketing on this wonderful shoestring? How do we start to make some of that stuff happen? Yep.

Daria Malin 11:57
So you’ve chosen your target audiences, you have created messaging for them. Now you’re going to figure out I mentioned watering holes, that’s step three, like so I’ve I walked through this, these four steps with all of my clients, we pick our three target audiences, we develop compelling messaging for each. Then third step is we figure out where those watering holes are meaning those physical or virtual spaces where groups or clients hang out. Okay.

Daria Malin 12:24
And then the fourth, which we can talk about in a bit is we build champions to send us referrals from the three target niches but so step three, how do you start to get the word out, find where your people are, either in person where you can spend time or virtually social media, Facebook groups, all those things.

Daria Malin 12:44
And just commit to doing something consistent even one thing consistently, okay, there is a group of your of your target audiences there. So you may find a watering hole, one for each of your niches. And do that year round. So if you’re, if it’s a networking thing, or like it’s more of that b2b, and you’re in direct sales, you want to build visibility and credibility somewhere, look for place like networking groups or events where you can be in front of them at least once a month, and then put it in your calendar and never miss.

Daria Malin 13:19
Okay, do same thing all year round instead of helicoptering into a whole bunch of different ones.

Barb 13:23
Yes, exactly. Seen once. Right? Yeah. So the other obstacle that I think I see local business bump into quite often is time. Yeah. How do you find that time?

Daria Malin 13:37
So first, we have to think, why is this important? And in order to like, we’re busy, because people are coming in, right? So if we don’t do anything to keep people engaged in coming in, we’re not gonna help, we’re not gonna have this problem anymore. We’re not going to be busy Exactly. Suddenly, we’ll have time on our hands, we’ll have time and we don’t want time.

Daria Malin 14:02
We need to first remember why it’s so important to be engaging with our markets. So figure out what’s the best use of your time as the principal or the head of your business, but don’t be afraid to delegate some of the busy work even finding images and editing them and scheduling that stuff. Like it takes a lot of time.

Daria Malin 14:23
It does the best use of your time as the owner of the business. It’s three one of three things is it going to gain you new clients, serve your existing clients or grow you professionally?

Barb 14:39
Before I go too much further, Does anybody else have questions specific to to brand and building because all of us have an existing business? You know, we have the logo, we have the colors. Daria any thoughts on how you how you exemplify and amplify that so you know Here’s my color palette, here’s my logo. But it really means nothing until you put a personality or some characteristics behind that, right?

Daria Malin 15:10
Yeah, well, I mean, just think back to the Coca Cola. It’s, it’s a commodity product. It’s literally a fizzy drink. And they have made it into a feeling. They’ve made it into a whole culture. In fact, so much pop culture stuff comes from them. Each local business and brand can be their own mini version of Coca Cola, right? Yes.

Daria Malin 15:31
And so just the fourth step in what I always, like I mentioned, I walk with my clients through over and over again, fourth step is building champions. So besides deciding what you want to be known for deciding who you want to serve, and developing messaging for each of those three target audiences, also think who are big fans of yours who have influence over those target audiences, who can help spread the word on your behalf. So I call those champions.

Daria Malin 15:58
And so that’s a little bit more than just saying, Hey, can you help me tell more people about me? Like that’s, you know, do me a favor, right? Um, when you’re building champions, in order to have good champions, we first look to be good champion. Yes.

Daria Malin 16:14
So if you can write down two people that represent each of your three target audiences who are fans of yours, you if one of them’s your mom, no judgement? Like that’s totally legit. Oh, absolutely. Right.

Daria Malin 16:27
But if you can think of a couple of champion potential champions in each target audience, have a conversation with them, figure out how you can champion them, and then ask them to champion you in return. Yes. And so building champions can be part of that brand building, it can help spread the word on your behalf, amplify it. So again, b2b in direct sales, you’re going to be relying mostly on your direct relationships, your network, your champions, referrals, right?

Daria Malin 16:56
If you’re in retail, restaurants, etc. And you, you’re too busy to go networking, we’re not, you know, yeah, that’s when advertising comes in more. So you need to reach a high volume of people and ask them each to do something small, like come in, you know, you need high volume, you need high traffic, exactly, then you’re gonna think, then you’re gonna think more about media advertising, social media, advertising with consistency and frequency.

Barb 17:20
Okay, what about confidentiality, because for some of our members, they’re in a business that they need to be able to respect who people are, and even having others know that they’re accessing that particular business.

Daria Malin 17:38
So that I’ll give you an example of one that comes up. So for that you could be a divorce lawyer. Mm hmm.

Daria Malin 17:46
Yeah. You’re not going to want to just go hang out with a bunch of people and be like, hey, you think your marriage is gonna fail soon? Like, it doesn’t work that way. That’s not an easy group to target. You would rely a lot more on your champions. So you would think Who else would somebody in, in marital crisis go to?

Daria Malin 18:09
And you’re going to talk to those people and build champion relationships and say, when they are ready, I serve this group of people. So you could talk to counselors, you could talk to clergy, even you could talk to financial planners. Think who did these people go to?

Daria Malin 18:28
Who do people go to when they think that they need help with their marriage, their or their marriages struggling or whatever? Maybe before they’d ever call a lawyer, who else could you build a champion relationship with?

Daria Malin 18:41
Another example is, I have worked with somebody who does specialized medical therapies for young children with a specific condition. There is no good way to just reach out to families who have children with this condition, right? So she built relationships with school counselors and special ed teachers. And she built relationships with family doctors, and she built relationships with all those different people that would also see these children and she got to say, I do specialized therapy with these children.

Daria Malin 19:16
Yeah, that complements what they complements but enhances what they can get from public health. And and that’s where all appropriate 100% of our business came from came from.

Barb 19:25
So I just want to touch on that because maybe it was my initial understanding. When I first heard the description around champion. I was thinking of champion as being you know, my, my best customer then champion me, champ, champ. Oh, there we go. Thank you. that’s a that’s a word. Yeah, but no, you’re actually meeting like, like businesses, pure businesses that will champion each other.

Daria Malin 19:54
Exactly. It can be people who have never bought from you, but they’re a fan of what you do. They know What you do, so if you can empower them by saying this is the need the target audience that I am looking to serve, and this is my messaging to them, then they know Oh, I know sp and so and I know five people that need exactly what you’re doing for this, you know, this is the problem that they have this exact problem. I will send them your way.

Daria Malin 20:19
So yes, champions do not have to be actual clients. And like you can sometimes because I don’t, I do not disclose any of my private clients. I never ever say who they are. But I would say, without using your name, do I have permission to use this sentence? in marketing, right? And then they say, sure, and then I would just, you know, call it private client, or whatever is that if they saw their wording, I’ve asked their permission, but I’m still not saying what industry they’re in or what their name is. Exactly.

Daria Malin 20:49
But you can also say, thank you for this wonderful feedback. May I use this and in marketing? And are you comfortable with me using your first name only or first and last name? Like you can ask? Yes. But absolutely, you can keep people confidential. 100%. And you can be working with champions who are not actually direct clients of yours.

Barb 21:08
Okay, that makes more sense to me. And I certainly see, you know, Daria M. and there’s a review tonight. So who knows I if you if you google me like there’s like dozens of BB McGrath through the US. Anyone? Totally.

Barb 21:24
Daria, was there anything else that we were going to talk about that I haven’t asked you.

Daria Malin 21:28
You mentioned that you want us to cover what activities are likely to have the most impact on building a brand.

Daria Malin 21:34
And I guess just to just to clarify whatever activities, you’re choosing the tactics or the tactics or the tactics, be consistent. Look for ones with where you can build frequency.

Daria Malin 21:47
People need to see if you need to build visibility. And credibility follows, then profitability follows.

Daria Malin 21:53
So you know, it’s if you’re buying media advertising, you know, is it a billboard on a high traffic spot so that people see you twice a day, at least? Or is a radio ad? Or is it a TV ad, you know, versus a newspaper ad in a quarterly periodical, not to say that doesn’t do anything, it just has a totally different purpose, right.

Daria Malin 22:12
So if you’re looking to build a brand, you’re looking for frequency consistency, if you commit to something on social media, whatever you commit to make sure you’re present every week, and you can look online at what the frequency should be for Instagram, what the frequency should be for LinkedIn, like they kind of what you can get that easily. Yes. And then if you’re networking, it’s better to pick one networking group and be there consistently, like I said, then go to different ones each month or go once and skip for six months, right? You know, because then you don’t build that visibility and credibility.

Barb 22:45
One of the things we do so often see in local business, if you have a person who’s doing marketing, in many cases, you know, that person might love Instagram, get the client you’re looking for is the 45 year old mom who’s on Facebook. Yeah. And so when you pick that one thing that you’re going to do consistently, just make sure that that’s where your customers are not just where you want to be. And because the hazards.

Daria Malin 23:11
Yeah, a fisherman doesn’t eat his own bait. You’re not meant to be the audience. But it’s true just because you like that platform. If that’s not the watering hole where your clients are, where your target audiences are that’s not where you should be spending time. Yeah, exactly. Awesome.

Barb 23:35
And that’s it. We’re out of time. Daria, thank you so much for being with us here today. This was a fantastic conversation. And I really appreciate the insight that you were able to share the ideas, and especially the colloquial language that you use, that’s everyday language for the rest of us.

Barb 23:57
I get what a watering hole is. That is a fantastic analogy to help me, as a business owner, make that correlation between where do I find my people. So thank you very much for sharing all of that.

Barb 24:14
If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live, or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram pages at abovethefold.ca.

Barb 24:28
And just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our show. So every week on our Facebook page, you’ll see that we post about an upcoming guest. So if you’d like some like to ask some questions to that guest. All you need to do is post your questions right on to the Facebook page.

Barb 24:50
I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 85 Bill Thorn from the Regina Humane Society

Video Transcript: Ep. 85 Bill Thorn

Barb 0:00
Have you ever thought about adopting a pet? Maybe you’ve had to make that difficult decision to surrender your beloved four legged friend? Well, whatever the case, our guest today can help answer some of the toughest feline and canine questions.

Barb 0:18
Welcome, Bill. Bill Thorn is the director of marketing and public relations for the Regina Humane Society. And he’s here with us today to navigate those murky waters of pet adoption and surrender.

Barb 0:32
Now bill, I’m going to welcome you so please say hi to everyone.

Bill Thorn 0:36
Hello.

Barb 0:38
And then I’m going to give you a little bit of information on CJTRs 20th annual radiothon, which is on now and runs until October 7. So radiothon is that week-long festival of special programming, and a fundraiser for the community radio station. And this year, we’re hoping to raise $20,000 in celebration of our 20th anniversary.

Barb 1:01
So if you’d like to donate, you can also receive a limited edition gift. Donations of $100 we’ll get a limited edition t-shirt that’s only available to radiothon donors. And I have one of last year’s t-shirts from when I donated and it is a fantastic shirt. So I’d really encourage you to do that.

Barb 1:23
If you’re donating $25 you’ll also be entered into a draw for some special prize packages that feature some pretty amazing products from local businesses. So just for example, some of the prizes in the package include The Cure kitchen and bar, Vintage Vinyl Hemp Emporium, The Optical Shoppe, Bushwakker Brew Pub, Pacific Fresh Fish, Cathedral Pet Shop, Keepaway Gourmet, Above the Fold Digital Marketing (that’s us), Neutral Ground, Regina Folk Festival, Cathedral Social Hall and JDs Sausage Supplies.

Barb 2:03
So celebrate local voices and culture by streaming tuning in and pledging your support to 91.3 FM CJTR for Regina community radio during radioTHON 2021. You’d like to make a donation, you can call 306525727 for extension 102. Thank you.

Barb 2:27
And Bill back to you. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the Humane Society.

Bill Thorn 2:33
First off I want to say people should support CJ tr they are wonderful Humane Society supporters as well. And we work with them a couple of times a year. So hopefully things go well.

Barb 2:40
I appreciate that. Yeah.

Bill Thorn 2:42
So as I said, my name is Bill Thorn, I’m the director marketing and Public Relations at that you’re joining me in Saudi and and I’ve been there for about six and a half years, and basically responsible for making sure that everybody knows about what’s going on at the Humane Society in all our different areas, including our dog training program and our education outreach programs. And it’s been a wonderful experience to work there. And lots of really wonderful people are there. Our volunteers, the people that adopt our supporters have been fantastic to get to know and it’s been quite an experience over the last number of years.

Barb 3:15
And I think the Humane Society is responsible for a heck of a lot more than just adoption. So tell me a little bit about your role in the community because I think you’re actually a pillar in the community in terms of the role that you serve.

Bill Thorn 3:28
Well you know, you’re quite correct in that we’re very much a part of the community and like many others when I first went there even you know, what people know the Humane Society for is our adoption program primarily where people can adopt cats and kittens and, and other some small critters as well, rabbits and, and so on and so forth.

Bill Thorn 3:49
But we also play a number of other roles. And one of them is, you know, we provide impound and bylaw enforcement for the city of Regina, we also enforce the Animal Protection Act of Saskatchewan, which is the act of provincial legislation that protects animals from neglect and abuse.

Bill Thorn 4:07
I mentioned our education and outreach programs. were part of the safety community in Regina, where, you know we have a mandate to work with children, adults, people that are new to the community to help them understand responsible pet ownership, safe pet ownership. We work with the Saskatchewan health authority on a program called the dog smart, which is a bite prevention program every year and in Regina there’s the last statistic I had was over 600 dog bites per year in Regina, and those are just the ones that are reported.

Bill Thorn 4:42
That would not so it is a bit of a problem and most of those bites actually are to children. One of the things we teach kids at a very basic level is how to interact with a dog that you don’t know in particular, but even when you do I mean they’ll want to go give it a big hug around their neck. Right at the most level, and you see a lot of kids get bit, get bit on the face.

Barb 5:04
So from there sorry, Bill, you actually just touched on a Really? I don’t know, personal things for me. But is it usually the family pet? Or is it a stranger dog,

Bill Thorn 5:16
I don’t have any hard statistics on that. The SHA would, okay, they’re the ones that track that stuff. But often it is a known pet.

Bill Thorn 5:27
You know, one of the basic things we do, and we, we go into schools, and we have resources available for teachers that they can take out. And we’re also developing an entire curriculum right now that we hope to launch in early 2022. for teachers that can help teach not only how to interact with animals, but also some of the basic human, what’s the word I’m looking for things we want people to do to feel empathy, respect for other people and things.

Bill Thorn 5:52
Understanding that, you know, people are different animals and are different from how we all live together. And that’s a very foundational part of our education, and outreach programming. You know, we’re all in this together kind of thing, just, you know, it’s not just COVID it’s exactly everything. Yeah, and so we, you know, those are the underlying values in, in, in our programming, and I think we’re gonna see some pretty exciting things coming out in the next couple of years for sure that we’re working on right now.

Barb 6:21
You know, the dog bite thing that really hits me personally, because I had a family member who got bit by the family dog, and it was total fluke, he was quite young, he got too close to the dog’s face or startled the dog, the dog was under the table. I was there when it happened.

Barb 6:38
But I was also quite young. And so you know, to this day, I have that recollection of what happened. And I’m sure if my own kids were telling the story, like I hound them to get out of the dog’s face, because they’re still an animal.

Barb 6:55
And no matter how much we love them, and know, no matter how attached they are, they’re still an animal. They’re still instinctively there. And so yeah, I think that’s a fantastic program that you’re building. There’s the cute and fuzzy, warm, fuzzy side of the Humane Society.

Barb 7:13
And then there’s some hard stuff that you have to do when it comes to bylaws and animal enforcement. And when you look at the rule you play in, you know, I talked about being the pillar in the community, when you look at that role, I don’t think people understand how that rule works. And so you actually have legal responsibilities you have, can you just describe that a little bit for us?

Bill Thorn 7:39
Yeah, absolutely. With respect to bylaw enforcement, that’s with the city of Regina. And that deals with things like animals at large, defecation complaints, that kind of thing. And, you know, animals not being on a leash, and so on and so forth. We always prefer to take an educational approach to things you know, we’re not there to hand out tickets, that certainly can happen. But it’s difficult to, to enforce, we have, I believe seven officers right now. And that’s, you know, for the whole city, and they’re not all working the same day, because some of them, you know, we do like to give them the day off,

Barb 8:11
Everybody gets once a month, you know,

Bill Thorn 8:13
And we simply can’t be everywhere at all times. And so we try to take an approach of educating people, and I see it all the time, even in the park by my own house, where I see animals off leash all the time.

Bill Thorn 8:24
And, and even though, I can honestly say that I haven’t seen too many of those dogs cause too much trouble, they’ve actually been pretty well behaved. Here’s the problem. People see your dog off leash, it’s running around, it might not be getting into trouble. But hey, if that guy can have his dog off leash, why can’t I have my dog off leash as well. I don’t like having to drive down to the off leash Park. It’s much more convenient for me to walk down the street in the park, and let my dog chase the ball.

Bill Thorn 8:54
The problem is, sooner or later, and it’s not a matter of if it’s a matter of when your dog is gonna get off a leash that has no business being off the leash. The park by my house, there’s young children, there’s rabbits, there’s animals, there’s ducks, there’s geese, there’s all kinds of things to stimulate that dog.

Bill Thorn 9:12
And sooner or later, someone is going to get bit. And hopefully it’s not too serious. Believe me. I’ve seen people that have been bit. I’ve seen dogs killed by other dogs, cats killed by other dogs.

Bill Thorn 9:25
And that’s the problem. It is not part of the solution. It is the law for your dog if it’s off your property, and it’s not on a leash. Yeah, it’s considered at large which is against the city by law. Period. Exactly.

Bill Thorn 9:37
So you are breaking the law, but perhaps even more importantly, you’re putting your dog at risk. And the safety of others at risk even though your dogs great the bylaw is not your dog must be on a leash unless it’s a good boy or girl or it’s never done that before first thing you know people that have their animal bite another animal boy, she’s never done that before you Exactly, is the first time.

Bill Thorn 10:02
So I would really ask that people do take that into consideration that is not always about your dog, you know, a dog off leash that shouldn’t be could also attack your dog for you. And believe me that happens too.

Barb 10:13
One of the things I saw not too long ago. And this is a little bit of a moment of pride for me. So my son is in grade eight, and he asked me on a lunch date, and I was all like, whoo, I like I want good luck, like my kids asking me on a lunch date.

Barb 10:25
And so given the fall that we’ve had in Saskatchewan, we went to the park, we went and grabbed lunch, sat down, and we had one of our dogs with us. So our dog is fear reactive, when he gets scared, and he’s just little, he’s 35 pounds, but he could still, you know, do some pretty serious damage pretty quick.

Barb 10:44
So we’re sitting there having lunch, and there’s a woman walking through the park with two dogs. She’s on the phone, not paying any attention to her dogs, and both dogs are off leash.

Barb 10:56
So we’re watching her come around the backside of the park, and I’m keeping a close eye on her because I know that our dog has that fear of strangers etc. So I’m watching pretty closely, we’re getting closer, they’re getting closer. And like, it seems like she’s watching her dogs, but not doing anything to stop them.

Barb 11:15
So it finally got to the point where one of the dogs was within six feet of our dog. And I had to yell at her across the park, very politely to get our attention to get our dogs out of there before we did have an incident. Because with her dogs being off leash and mind being on leash, like it’s gonna blow up fast.

Barb 11:39
And I just thought like, what are you doing, Lady great, your dogs are wonderful. You don’t know my dog from a hole in the wall, you don’t know that he doesn’t despise other animals. And I was you know, I was really frustrated by that, because my son is watching this, and you’re trying to really manage this well to teach. But like there was no managing, she wasn’t paying any attention. And you know, if she happens to be listening to you might recognize the story. But I just thought, Oh, come on, like your own dogs are important here.

Bill Thorn 12:12
Exactly. And I can absolutely relate, I have a very reactive dog. And a lot of people think well, that’s just bad training. And I can tell you that the dog I have was taken from this moment at birth, in fact, it was down the side of a highway with three littermates and two were dead. Already. For those in the June sun.

Bill Thorn 12:31
The dog was never taught to be a dog by its mom, and my wife and I have been that surrogate mom, and worked with her. She’s 12 years old now. But since the day we got her as a young pup, and she’s come a long, long way, but she’s never going to be 100% and that’s the other thing, you know, we take her for a walk in the park. And because people you know, don’t feel the need to follow the rules and keep everyone safe.

Bill Thorn 12:53
It also lessens our enjoyment of the park and lessens our dog’s enjoyment of her walk. Because she gets all ramped up, because she’s fine with other dogs. I mean, he still reacts, but a dog off leash running, she’ll go nuts.

Bill Thorn 13:07
And there’s just it’s that movement. And it’s that, you know, seeing that dog and it completely destroys our enjoyment of the park and the park is there for everyone to enjoy. And they can if they follow the rules, I mean, it’s our job to make sure we kind of watch her with reactivity.

Bill Thorn 13:21
Well, you know, they also chase the animals and I love the animals in the park, the ducks, geese, yeah. and whatnot. And again, you know, if everyone just keeps their lease, their dog leashed. Everyone is able to enjoy the park as much as they can and stay safe. And that’s still the most important thing. Exactly. Yeah, no, I agree. I can’t stress that enough. It’s a safety thing.

Barb 13:43
So during COVID I mean, we saw so many people adopting pets. Are you guys at the tail end of that now where you’re seeing some of those come back into the shelter? Or what are you expecting as COVID hopefully comes to a close here in the next number of months?

Bill Thorn 14:02
Yeah, you know, that’s a question I get asked a lot. And I would love to be able to put this to bed right now. People are not bringing back the animals that they adopted during COVID. They are not that we wouldn’t. I mean, we do get animals returned for a myriad of reasons and that there’s not a COVID thing.

Bill Thorn 14:19
The number is very, very low. But it does happen. And there’s very legitimate reasons why sometimes things don’t work. But we have not seen that in any way shape or form of people bringing their animals back. It may happen in some places, I don’t know for sure. But we have not seen it here at all. So you know, if your animals that we adopted we’d know because they’re microchip, we have a record of the animal. And as I say, well we do get the odd one back now and then I don’t think we’ve had one case of you know, a COVID pet coming back because oh COVID job and now we don’t need the animals. You know, it’s a bit of an urban myth. I think it could be true somewhere but it’s not here.

Barb 14:56
You know, and I don’t even know if from an urban myth standpoint, that was a You know, when I, when I would hear the stories about people adopting during the pandemic, I thought, yeah, but if your life was too busy before to have an animal, and then we go back after, and everybody’s gonna go twice as hard. So that was more of a, for me more of a fear thing like, Oh, you know what’s gonna happen?

Bill Thorn 15:16
Yeah, I mean, the adoptions were strong, we adopted less animals last year than in 2019, and less animals year to date, and we have this year, so it didn’t mean the numbers were down, but the intake of animals was also down, you know, we were able to, you know, because we were uncertain what our resources would be, we had some staff that were working at the shelter through COVID.

Bill Thorn 15:37
We didn’t know what was going to happen with fundraising and donations. So we made we, you know, buckle everything down and tried to, you know, just really provide our core services well, but still be responsible. And, you know, so we work with the community, and they were wonderful. on, you know, if someone had an animal they wanted to surrender, there were times we said, okay, we’ll take it, we can’t take it today.

Bill Thorn 15:59
If you can hang on to the animal for another week or so we’ve got a bit more room and resources, then we’ll be able to do that. And we did see, you know, what, what happened is oftentimes in those situations, by the time it was time to bring the animal in, the person who found their own solution, they found a new home for it.

Unknown Speaker 16:17
So it avoided a lot of animals needing to come into the shelter at all that really didn’t need to. And that was a direction that we’re already going in. It’s a concept called capacity for care where you don’t want to exceed your capacity to care for animals.

Bill Thorn 16:32
And that’s not just space, space, of course, but finances, human resources, and, and other things that, you know, you want to make sure that animals that are in there getting looked after the way they should be, and the animals that don’t need to be in the shelter, are not in the shelter, and how can we avoid them coming in, so that we do have those resources for animals that truly do need The Humane Society.

Bill Thorn 16:35
The community has been great in working with us on that, and understanding and, you know, seeing that, that can be a problem. Because if you get too many animals, and, you know, I’ve said, I don’t care how big a building, you’ve got how big a bag of money you’ve got, there’s always going to be a limit to the the animals, number of animals that you can properly care for, in any given time. So we want to make sure we never exceed that. And the community was good at looking at this.

Barb 17:23
So one of the things that you talked about there was capacity, and your building isn’t necessarily the only capacity, you also have that human capacity. So from a staffing perspective, and from a volunteer perspective, any sense for, you know, how many volunteers you have that are keeping you running, and I know right now your numbers are going to be a little bit skewed because of COVID.

Bill Thorn 17:42
Yeah, typically pre COVID, we had about 800 registered volunteers with the Humane Society. But I would say that 80/20 rule probably applies there were about, you know, 20% of the volunteers that are registered are doing 80% of the volunteering, we have a wonderfully dedicated core army, we call them sometimes the volunteers that play critical roles in, you know, shelter operations, they do laundry, that kind of thing, but they’re also out when we had events, working with that office support that kind of thing.

Bill Thorn 18:11
So that’s a very important thing. But, you know, the capacity for the building itself is limited. You know, our veterinary staff, you know, things are too busy there, they get exhausted. We’ve been here a lot about that in the people world lately, and it can happen in the animal world, too. So you know, those things are important elements to our capacity. And, you know, we we manage that quite well, I think, been a bit different last year, for sure. But it’s something that is important.

Barb 18:40
So you must have somebody on the paid staff team that then manages the volunteer side, if you’ve got 800 volunteers.

Bill Thorn 18:49
Yes, we do have again, we’re seeing some shifting roles, but we have a person that is responsible for managing our volunteer program, we have no software and stuff that helps manage that. Again, it’s not that our volunteer program is largely still suspended due to COVID.

Bill Thorn 19:04
But when it’s open, our volunteers can go online, there’s different activities they can do, they can schedule themselves in. And we know that Sally’s coming on that day to groom cats, or to provide enrichment, which is, you know, toys and that kind of thing. So that they’re, they’re happy and stay healthy when they’re in our care.

Bill Thorn 19:20
It’s a pretty good system. Sometimes we also put specific calls out if we’ve got an event happening or something like that, where we need some help. Another example would be office help when we’re sending out a lottery appeal or something like that to stuff envelopes, and things like that. But yeah, we do have a coordinator that makes sure that’s all the way it should be.

Barb 19:39
You know, it’s interesting right before COVID hit, I had been on the website looking at the volunteer information because my kids were really pestering for a second animal. So I said well, mainly getting involved with the Humane Society is a way to appease some of that. And then COVID heads and the whole thing went out the window but I want to say one of my kids was old enough because she was 13 or 14 But my son wasn’t because he wasn’t 12 yet or something. So there was something else that was going to be a barrier for us. Needless to say, instead, we did end up with a second dog. And our lives are very full. Now there is no, no evening that doesn’t involve sitting and staying and fetch. Yes.

Bill Thorn 20:20
Yeah, no, it is, you bring up a good point, it is a wonderful way for people that if they’re, you know, not sure if they’re ready to adopt an animal, or they know they’re not, but they still want to have something to do with animals or a volunteer program is a great way to do that, where you can still have that interaction, our foster program is something to that’s very important to us, where people can take an animal into their home that it might be too young to be adopted, it might be recovering from surgery or an illness or something like that.

Bill Thorn 20:48
And, they can have that animal in their home, a caregiver and guardian for that animal, but only on a temporary basis. And it’s something that is completely up to people how often they can do it, or how long they can do it. Fostering can last from a day to a few months, depending on the situation. And people only take on what they’re able to, but it is a program that does allow people to support the Humane Society and its work, help animals, but not necessarily have that lifelong commitment that they’re not sure they can do.

Barb 21:17
That’s right. Yep, that 15 and 20 year commitment that you have with an animal? Absolutely. I’m losing my train of thought, oh, behavior. So you know it, we’re really focused on the beat on the animal side versus the business side in our conversation today. But what happens when you get an animal with behavioral issues? When three activity minds get reactivity? So it’s not uncommon?

Bill Thorn 21:41
No, no, it’s not. And I see it now that I’m much more well versed in it having gone through the experience with my own dog, I see it in other dogs all the time. And before I would have missed it, and I think a lot of people do, they just don’t see the subtle signs of an animal.

Bill Thorn 21:56
Every animal is going to be different. And you know, there’s no blanket answer there. But if you do have an animal, you’ll most likely be trained. You know, there, we have a dog training program at the humane society that has a number of different courses that people can take right from being a puppy, you know, even to like things like agility, sports, but reactivity, leash reactivity, or if your dog’s you know, who’s taking who for a walk here.

Barb 22:22
Exactly. We did that in class.

Bill Thorn 22:24
Yeah, exactly. And they can help. And it just gives you some systematic ways of, you know, speaking to the dog in a language that the dog understands, they don’t speak English, they might get their name. But there’s other ways that you need to communicate with them, so that they get it and you can go on our website, just hit dog training. And there’s all kinds of information there that hopefully will help.

Barb 22:45
Exactly. Okay. But we only have a couple of minutes left. And one of the things that we didn’t talk about was your new building, can you just really quickly talk about that, and as a member of the community, when might we see that building actually become a reality,

Bill Thorn 23:00
You bet that building is in the design phase. Right now it’s been a 10 year project getting up to this point, and it’s going to be at 4900 Parliament Avenue in harbour landing, our current building is literally falling apart, it is not a good tool to help us do our work, the new building will be a destination, it will have human hospital level biosecurity, we will be able to save and work with animals much, much more.

Bill Thorn 23:23
It’s called the Animal Community Center, because it will be that there’ll be public new space, it’ll be a place where you can go and just, you know, really just immerse yourself in the animal human bond and celebrate everything that it means to have a pet and families the word that we use an awful lot, and I think people are going to love it. We are in a final design stage right now. We still have some money to raise for it. But hopefully, hopefully we’ll be breaking ground sometime next year, and people will start seeing some.

Barb 23:51
Excellent. So just before we wrap up, how can folks find you? How could they donate if they’re so inclined? How can they volunteer once that’s a thing again?

Bill Thorn 24:01
Yeah, well, first and foremost, our website reginahumanesociety.ca has got pretty much all the information that you might need. You can. We’re not taking volunteers at the moment, but we will be hopefully again soon. COVID loosens up a little. But you can buy lottery tickets, if that’s what’s going on.

Bill Thorn 24:16
Register for different programs, dog training, it’s all there. We’re also on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We’re starting to dabble in tik tok a little bit, but we’re not quite deep into that yet. But certainly, certainly Facebook. You know, we’ve got 30- 40,000 people following us there. So that’s a great way that we get some information out. So if you want to follow us there, you’ll be able to you’re right on top of everything that’s happening.

Barb 24:39
Awesome. Okay, so I would vote for Tick Tock. I love Tick Tock. I don’t know what it is about the platform. Maybe it’s because I don’t use it for business, but I love it. Yeah,

Bill Thorn 24:50
Yeah, I’m still an old guy. You know, I try to get used to some of these things. I look at it, I don’t know. But, you know, we’re dabbling. You know, we certainly want to make sure we’re talking to all All of our stakeholders, regardless of their age, or whatever so we’re trying to hit some of the different areas that appeal to maybe different groups and stuff too. So

Barb 25:10
Awesome. Well, Bill, thank you very much for being with me here today. I know I’ve learned a number of things about the Humane Society in terms of the role you play in the community, your responsibilities, and even some of the programs I had no idea until we took a training class through you that you had dog training available. So I think it’s great that more people have that opportunity to learn about what you do.

Barb 25:34
If you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at abovethefold.ca. You can even submit questions in advance of our live show on our Facebook page. So I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and #Googlegirl. Remember you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

On Ep. 85 of the Secret Life of Entrepreneurs we have Bill Thorn from Regina Humane Society!

Ever thought about adopting a pet? 🐶🐱 Maybe you’ve had to make the difficult decision to surrender your beloved four legged friend.

Whatever the case, our guest today can help answer our toughest feline and canine questions. We’re talking to Bill Thorn, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the Regina Humane Society. He’s here to help us navigate the murky waters of pet adoption and surrender.

Connect with Bill @ Regina Humane Society
https://reginahumanesociety.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reginahumane
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reginahumanesociety
Twitter: https://twitter.com/reginahumane
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/regina-humane-society/about

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

October 2021

The latest updates on Google My Business.

This post is part of a continuing series of monthly updates on the #1 search tool used by ready-to-buy customers. For all the updates, or to see additional information, read Attract More Customers with Google My Business.

Connect GMB to E-commerce

After announcing a new Shopify integration to streamline its Google Shopping connection earlier this month, Google is now expanding its third-party shopping partners, with WooCommerce, GoDaddy and Square all soon set to join the platform’s eCommerce integrations.

In addition to this, Google is looking to stay in touch with the next phase of digital product discovery, through the expanded use of AR (augmented reality) for item listings and promotions.

Given the popularity of video content more broadly, the integration makes sense, and it’ll be interesting to see how Google incorporates these new options into search and maps – which could make Google My Business listings a much more significant consideration for eCommerce in the near future.

Say Goodbye to Shortnames

Google created shortnames, or shortlinks, to make it easier for businesses to provide a direct link to Maps (directions) and the Listing (Review requests, Offers, etc). After a brief existence, shortlinks are being retired.

If your business created a shortlink, it will continue to work.

If you did not create a shortlink, the option will not be visible and you will be unable to create a new link.

Find a Recycling Location

Google is launching an initiative which will help people find places where they can drop off their junk or materials they no longer need so that it can be processed and recycled.

Google Maps is introducing new tools which will help people to find out where they can dispose of their used materials so they can be recycled properly. Verified businesses which will be accepting recycling material can use Google My Business to let people know the type of materials like clothing, electronics, batteries, hazardous waste, glass, plastics which they will be accepting for recycling.

Easier Editing of GMB

Business owners can now add their local service offerings (e.g., eyelash extensions, leak repairs, ground wire installations, etc.) to their GMB profiles directly from Search. And, beginning next week, local businesses will be able to schedule Google Posts from directly within Search.

In order to update your GMB profile from Search or Maps, you must be logged into a Google account associated with your business. To update your profile from Search, type in your business name or “my business.” To update it from Maps, tap on your profile picture followed by “Your Business Profile.”

*For restaurants.* Restaurant owners can now add menu items to their GMB profile from Search and Maps. Google is also rolling out the ability to add and update ordering options (i.e., pick-up or delivery) from Search — that feature will be arriving in the coming weeks.

In addition, restaurant and service business owners can now enable online bookings through their GMB profiles from Search. To take advantage of this feature, business owners must sign up with a Reserve with Google partner.

Local Opportunity Finder

Google launched a new tool called Local Opportunity Finder. The tool is designed to provide local business owners with tailored recommendations to improve their visibility on Search and Maps. Business owners can simply enter the name of their business into the tool and Google will provide a list of resources, such as how to respond to reviews or tips for uploading photos.

Local GMB Search vs an Informational Search

In the split second it takes for Google to produce a search result, one of the most important, and sometimes frustrating aspects of the result, is intent. Google interprets the searchers intent into four moments – Know, Go, Do and Buy.

Searchers early in their buying journey want to ‘know” how to do something while later in the journey, right before purchase, is a “buy” moment.

Customers searching for a local business (plumber, restaurant, retail) are more likely wanting to buy, thus Google provides local results via GMB listings.

From an SEO perspective, the rules are the same.

*Google affirms that the SEO for content is the same:*

“It’s essentially the same. We don’t do anything different with regard to these different kinds of pages. But rather we try to find the content on the page, understand how it’s relevant and treat that appropriately.”

Site Manager User Role to be Retired

After October 24, 2021, the Site manager role will no longer be available in Google My Business. Anyone who manages your business as a Site manager will be converted to Manager. Managers are able to make additional changes to your Business Profiles on Search, Maps, and other Google services. If you would like to remove any Site managers from your Business Profile before his change occurs, you can manage who has access to your profiles by heading to business.google.com.

Til next month!

Ep. 84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Video Transcript: Ep. 84 John Vuong

Barb 0:00
Today’s guest comes from a very long way away. But we’re excited to have him on the show today, because we’re gonna have a great conversation about what in the heck is Seo? It’s something you hear me talk about on a regular basis. So today, john Vong from Local SEO search is going to join us to talk about how his business is focused on those well established family run businesses, that small business market that needs more help than many of the other business sectors out there. So today, john and I are going to have a little bit of a conversation around SEO, what is it, how they approach it. And you know, hopefully, if you’re a local business owner, you can take a few of the tidbits from today’s podcast, and implement them in your business. So let’s start it off. JOHN, welcome. And thank you for being here.

John 0:56
Well, I’m excited. Thanks a lot for having me, Barb. And hopefully, I can share some valuable insights and takeaways for your audience members today.

Barb 1:04
That sounds awesome. So let’s start off by just telling us a little bit about what you do explain SEO, in your own words, from your business’s perspective.

John 1:15
So what we do here at local SEO search is to help the business owners the SMBs, the more smaller revenue type clients dominate their locale marketplace, as well as positioned themselves as leaders in their domain. So they have a specialty or an expertise. And we make that the centerpiece to attract ready to buy customers looking and seeking out for their products and services. And positioning them on the top of search engine results page when someone is actively in pursuit of discovery of their product and service so that we can help them match, ready to buy customers with them as a service provider or product provider. Yeah. And they are now the leaders in the marketplace.

Barb 2:07
So you’re absolutely talking my language because I talk about ready to buy customers all the time. And I think, you know, we’re making a really important differentiate a differentiation here. There’s the customer who’s still in the research phase. And obviously, we want businesses to get found in that research phase. But we also and even more importantly, want them to be able to get found when the customer is now ready to buy. I’m on my mobile, I’m going to buy those shoes, I’m on my mobile, we’re going to a coffee shop. And I think that’s maybe a differentiator that lots of people have a hard time understanding. So tell me, you know, kind of kind of your own opinion on that customer journey. What do you think it looks like nowadays?

John 2:53
Yeah. So people, you have to hit people at different stages of the buying journey, informational navigational transaction, and loyalty. And people will search different terms at different stages based on what they’re looking to purchase products, more item, big item, competitive analysis. There’s a lot of factors, so many different sources. But most importantly, they want to be in control their own research. And when I actually prior to starting this agency, I worked at Yellow Pages Group here in Canada, and five years, and they did a great job monopolizing that entire journey by compressing the most comprehensive business directory in one format, for free with huge retention and usage. And the mindset of the consumer user when it picked up that book, and went out and seek that personal. Now with this whole advent of digital, there’s so many different platforms, so many different mediums and choices. However, Google still gives you control of where to find the information of your liking as a user standpoint. Exactly. And now you can optimize it for your own purpose.

Barb 4:12
That’s right. Google absolutely dominates the marketplace in Canada. And I often talk to our students and get found digital marketing about, you know, it doesn’t matter your personal opinion, if you like Yahoo, great, use it. If you like Bing, absolutely go use it, I’m not going to knock them. But if you want to find the majority of the traffic, you gotta play with Google’s rules. And I’ve even heard a number of professionals say I, you know, Google, and I’m not following this rule, and I’m like, go to town, but it’s at your own detriment. So do I like everything Google does? Absolutely not. But am I gonna play their game because I want my own business found? Absolutely. I’m going to play the game with them. Right. Um, so when you think about, you know, the customer journey, and so we’re here in Saskatchewan, you’re in Ontario. The population difference makes a pretty significant difference in terms of, you know, even how many ready to buy customers we can attract. So when you look, you know, what some of those businesses that you’re working in, let’s say, downtown, you know, the real Toronto, you know, how are they finding their competitive edge? How are they? How are they communicating their expertise on whatever the subject matter is?

John 5:27
Yeah. And when it becomes hyper competitive, like a dentist or lawyer, a personal injury lawyer, and we work with all service providers b2b, localized. And when it comes to hyper competitive, that means you have to set yourself apart, you need to have that unique selling proposition, understand the competitive landscape, and have all the tools and software to detect what’s going on. And understand benchmarks, understand what comparative, where you’re at, and where you want to be realistic, and authentic and transparent throughout the entire journey. And so when I work with clients, we always look at what’s your story? And what do you want to be known for? And what is your goals? Because that must be completely in alignment. And without that clearly at the onset? It’s very difficult to get them to a place where they their expectations are not realistic.

Barb 6:24
Yes, exactly.

John 6:26
So you know, education is probably the number one thing we really strive on, making it very transparent and aware, when they bring when we bring on a client. It’s all about managing expectations, relationships.

Barb 6:40
Yeah. So john, can you share a success story with us a local business? Who, who really decided to go all in with SEO? And what was the outcome? Maybe give us a I don’t know, what 12 months snapshot or you tell me, but can you give us a success story from your vantage point?

John 6:59
Yeah, definitely. So we have a lot of case studies and testimonials on our website. But just most recently, like we bring on clients on a regular basis. So even though it’s been maybe three or four months, and I’m gonna maybe last year, during this pandemic, we brought on a catering client, okay. And they’ve gone through a lot of changes, as you know, other venues close all the, you know, weddings were kind of minimized to a very small amount of people. We’re constantly engaged with understanding the the landscape, how things have changed, how we can pivot from physical location, catering to then in home, out of the block packages, and we’re always refreshing the content, newsfeed social pages, repositioning them for keyword research and gaps and understanding the different competitors. Things are starting to pick up again, we then hyper focus on going after the main keywords like those big corporate venues and going after the bigger ticket items that really helps them cover their expenses. Right? So those survival early, but now it’s more about their meat, bread and butter. Along the way, we built more authority, we were able to communicate well with them expectations were, you know, performed. And we can deliver them leads and quality customers. So not only that they’ve been sticky with us, they trust us now. And we’re all about long term, because we feel that the more engaged we are with customers, the more likelihood they will stay with us for not just a one year, but multiple years, as long as they’re looking to continue being in business really.

Barb 8:52
Yep. You know, one of the things you said there, and we haven’t touched on this yet, SEO isn’t an overnight thing. It’s not like, gee, I created a Facebook page, and now my customers are going to come flocking, if we think back even a decade ago, lots of business owners thought Oh, like credit a website. So now you know, I’m going to have this, you know, amazing amount of business. And that’s not how marketing works. So I always talk about the rule of seven, we need to actually engage our customers a minimum of seven times. But that’s kind of my rule of thumb. What would be your approach?

John 9:26
Yeah, so it’s constant awareness of what you’re actively doing, as well as what your competitors are doing. So we’re sniffing and watching in terms of how competitive they are in a small market versus a hyper competitive market. The industry is a keyword they want to dominate for, and then analyze what works and what doesn’t because we have proven track records that we know works for specific industries, profile, different budget, different access, like there’s a lot to play, consider and when we look at the Big Picture, it has to be an alignment. So what we’ve done is created an in house team of expert, content writers, website developers, graphic designers, Link builders, social media managers, SEO strategist to then put everything together and collaborate on a weekly daily basis to ensure that the client gets optimal results with performance indicators that meets and exceeds their expectations so that they become stickier, trusting us.

Barb 10:32
You know, your catering example was a great segue into Google’s eat formula. And I don’t know if you talk too much with your clients about eat formula, because people tend to go Oh, wait a second, what does that mean? But just even you know, the language you’re using? Well eat your expertise. Are you an expert in what you do? Doesn’t matter if you’re the plumber, the house cleaner, or the caterer? if Google sees you as an expert in your field, then your authority with Google starts to go up the a right? And then of course, you’ve talked about trustworthiness. And that is it’s a two way street, where you know, you want potential customers to trust your client, but you also want your clients to trust you. So is there something that you guys do that you think might be a little bit different than other firms that that do SEO work?

John 11:23
Yeah, like, I’m gonna refer back to the E. Okay. Actually, I met Marie Haynes back in 2018. And it was great to just hear it from the person that launched it, right? And yes, it’s interesting, but I’ve always been very curious as to what made a successful local business survive for multi not Yes, years, decades. But generations. To do that, you have to be in it. Which means you have to be playing the game or being in it for a long time to deter peaks and valleys ebbs and flows of the industry business.

John 12:04
So the more established you are, the more credible you are, the more experienced you are, then you understand that there’s going to be ups and downs. And when you’re ready to hire an expert, yeah, you’ll pay for it for compression of time, and you value their experience and reputation and track record. But there’s a lot of people that think they can do it themselves. And they will also want to learn. But in reality, just like in, you know, if you own a home, do you want to fix the roof? Do you want to fix plumbing issues, right?

John 12:42
In terms of business, you can do accounting, you can do sales, you can do marketing, you can do website design, but these are expertise. And you can do it faster, quicker. And first, the right thing the first time. Yes, I always let people in on like, you know, when people are ready to discover marketing, per se, you have to understand your audience understand where they navigate and search for you. And then understand if that is the type of profile that you want to attract. Yes, maybe its product. Yes. It’s, you know, maybe social media, or it’s searched, but it’s more service based, then you want to position yourself because it’s multiple touchpoints that people will vet.

John 13:26
And like you mentioned seven pieces, well, social media, Google My Business, three pack, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and as well as maybe potentially LinkedIn. Do you have a blog? Do you have YouTube? Do you have podcast, you have content on your blog? Are you on different sites, citations reputation? Understanding what is going on in the mindset of a customer? position yourself as a leader? And do they search in their association, their Board of Trade, their community? Do they ask their friends? Do they read magazines and articles? Do you then position yourself in different ways to then be known as a leader? So it’s all about just being active? Kidding, kidding, hitting people at different times in their journey? And hopefully it resonates with them at the right time and moment for the trigger an action?

Barb 14:23
Exactly, yes. And that purchase action, right? That’s the intent that we want to capture. We always used to think about customer journey as a funnel, right? And that proverbial funnel where it’s a linear process doesn’t exist anymore. So I know for a number of business owners, there’s a bit of a real uncertainty around, you know, well, my customer talked to me on Facebook, and then they never came in. Well, then they call the store but they never came in.

Barb 14:52
And I always like to talk about the spider web, the more connective points in the web that you Have with a potential customer, the more likely it is that when they get to the center of the web, and now they’re that ready to buy customer, now, the likelihood that they will take an action with you is so much greater. And so as a business owner, how can you create that web? How can you touch them, as you say, on Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn? Right? That’s really any business owners challenge right now is how do I touch them repeatedly? Keep that awareness high, like you’re saying, so that when they’re ready to purchase, hey, guess what?

Barb 15:36
They’re calling john and Toronto and saying, Okay, how do we make this happen? So let’s, let’s roll that back. So we’ve got a business and you know, they’ve maybe they’ve got a website, maybe they don’t, but how does a business owner get started? And I don’t necessarily mean, you know, call you and and go to town. But for the business owner who’s not quite ready to engage someone, what’s your advice to them? What should they be doing?

John 16:04
I would say, on a fundamental level, learn how to run a really good well oiled machine business, that’s a revenue generating, and understanding that there’s going to be good clients and bad clients. Yet, before you seek out marketing experts, you want to know who your persona ideal customer avatar looks like, once you have that in store, then you can reach out, we’re trying to figure out the content pillars, that resonates with those audience members that you are established to then speak with all their pain points and triggers the single problem question that they have, and position yourself as a leader in that industry expert tees, once you do that, well, then you have to amplify the message in different platforms, because it takes time to build a reputation, track record case studies, testimonials, all that takes time trying to do everything in three or six months.

John 17:04
So in reality, as a business owner, you have to be in it for many years. A lot of people are impatient today, because they see a social ad post that gets magnified, amplified to earn like hundreds of $1,000 a month. And I can do that as well. Yeah, no one really looked at all the fundamental work they did to get to that stage. And that person might have been working for 10 years to get that one month income, because then they’re magnifying that course, to get more Right. Right, to understand, like the root of it, how did they became who they are put in the time and legwork fundamentally as a business owner?

Barb 17:52
Yeah. One of the things that you kind of touched on there, when I think about the fundamental purpose behind each of the tools that we have, as business owners, so a Facebook page is a tool, Instagram is a tool. And really, we’re renting this space, if Facebook decides to pull the rug out from under business owners, Facebook pages can be gone, or the price can be exorbitant. I didn’t want to Instagram, Instagram, all of a sudden closes the doors, it’s gone. Something like your website. I mean, you do own that, or hopefully you own that. But when I think about the different tools and their purpose, one of the things that I think some somewhere along the way we’ve lost is let’s use social media, for example, social media can be a fantastic awareness tool. But it can be a much more difficult tool to work with. If you want to create conversions. That’s my experience. What what are your thoughts on something like that?

John 18:53
Again, I feel there’s experts that are focused on product play social media conversion place, so they can track to the T dollar spend and return on investment. And that’s great. If you’re a product and you’re a big brand, and you have some budget to hire an expert, right? Yeah. And yes, there’s mediums that you can utilize, that can do very well. But if you’re trying to learn it yourself, someone that’s been doing it for 10 years, or 20 years will shrink time. Yes, you pay that fee, but they’re gonna have better guaranteed results, right? So why not do that? take that role, and do it when you’re ready, prepared.

John 19:39
So just like in SEO, like you mentioned, you can rent space paid ads, you can rent on social media paid ads, but there’s an opportunity to own real estate organically naturally. Yes, that’s where SEO comes because then you get unlimited clicks, impressions, but Most importantly, you get quality leads, because people users know the difference between paid ads versus earned space. And that’s right, we really focus on is earning yourself on the local three pack of Google below, which is ranking yourself organically.

Barb 20:21
One of the things that’s really interesting to me and of course, Google’s three pack has changed over the years, I think we were a five pack at one point. And then they were testing a 10 pack down in Australia. But we talk with our students all the time about the importance of that three pack. Because if you can optimize your listing to get into the three pack, you almost inevitably notice an immediate difference.

Barb 20:42
Now, it depends on the you know, the product or service or your solution. But every day, hundreds of people, 1000s of people are looking for a plumber, or a carpenter, probably dozens of times each day in every community, somebody is looking for a new cleaning service. And so those those local businesses, I always like to say that, that we serve the market that maybe they’re not sexy, but here we’re gonna help you get sexy. Right? So So what do you think is different about that family run or that local business versus franchise in corporate? What do you see is the difference?

John 21:21
So the reason I started this business was because I did work with 1000s, of localized family run businesses, while at Yellow Pages, I discovered was, I had the opportunity to meet the owners. And they were usually bested to really add value to the community, the family and their customers. Right? listen intently. And they understood how to run an effective business that operationally made sense for them to pass on to next generation typically, yes.

John 21:57
And what I really respected was they were real honest humans. Yes. And that’s what triggered me to want to start this agency not knowing anything about SEO, I had sales experience, to that, learn as much as it can to support and help the people that I really believe needed the most help. Yes, most SEO agencies at that time. So I started back in 2013, we’re working with larger corporate big brands, that SMB space was not really tapped, because they knew it was fully invested a lot of time resources, and know how right people cost training.

John 22:38
And I wanted to bring it to a level where I wanted to support the SM B’s by offering those big brand, you know, same kind of strategy sessions, offerings, you know, Link Building Services, content content services, to the SMB level, to then add value to them to see was the ROI. In order to do that, I had to streamline the cost, right and figure out solutions and ways to help better add value to the customers. And I started doing that more and more. I listen, and I got better. And I actively became a family run business myself. Right, exactly. are you adding to the community and constantly get better?

Barb 23:22
Yes. So hopefully, I’m not pulling the curtain up on you today. But in fact, even our discussion is a great SEO strategy for your business. Because there’s links, there’s credibility, there’s expertise. And so this is an opportunity for, for you to help build much of that credibility with a new audience. So I presume that this is part of your SEO strategy. Because I know for us, it’s a very big and important part of ours talking to all of these different different business owners. We are pretty much out of time for today. So just as we quickly wrap up, john, can you tell folks how they would find you how they would learn more about your business?

John 24:04
Yeah, definitely. You can check us out online. You can go on google and type in localseosearch.ca. locally here in Toronto, Canada. And we are here to support, educate and help that SMBs dominate the local niche, and we help them become experts. So if that’s what you’re looking for, which is a full service, SEO solution, we can help you achieve that for you for your business.

Barb 24:33
Awesome. That is fantastic. So thank you, John, for being with me here today on The Secret Life of Entrepreneurs. This is absolutely one of the most favorite things that I do. I get to talk to some really interesting business owners from across Canada. And I think that’s important to reinforce this is a Canadian show. This isn’t you know, American International if we get international guests or audience awesome, but this is a local show. supporting local businesses. So thank you for sharing those points on SEO and certainly if anyone has questions, I do hope that they’ll reach out to john and his team and and have that conversation.

Barb 25:11
If anyone in the audience would like to be a guest, you can email me at Barb@abovethefold.live or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram at abovethefold.ca. You can also submit questions during our live show on our Facebook page. So I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

John Vuong has small business in his blood. He grew up in a family that ran a small company and went on to have a career focused on helping small businesses grow through high-quality marketing.

However, there’s a problem. Many agencies are more focused on serving big business clients with huge budgets. Who is there for the small to medium-sized businesses that serve their communities?

Local SEO Search was created to solve that problem. They are a family-focused boutique agency looking to form long-term relationships with local businesses that need trustworthy search engine optimization (SEO) services.

Connect with John @ Local SEO Search
https://www.localseosearch.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/localseosearch
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/localseosearch
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LocalSEO_Search
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/local-seo-search

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Video Transcript: Ep. with 83 Linda Boryski

Barb 0:00
Welcome to The Secret Life of entrepreneurs. Today our guest hails from Saskatoon. Linda Borski is the founder, the owner of Saskatchewan’s only fully integrated physiotherapy clinic and medical yoga therapy studio. She is the only one in Saskatchewan practicing this way. So I’ve invited her to be a guest because I want to hear more. And I think you do too. We want to hear more about medical yoga and that traditional physiotherapy, you know, those assholes that make you do a whole bunch of leg lifts. Yeah, those guys probably kill me for saying that. But Oh, well.

Barb 0:46
You know, we want to hear more about how we can have that deeper level of healing. We’ve all been there, you get an injury, it gets better, and then another injury pops up. So how in the heck can we actually heal head to toe. Linda’s been in business for about six years. And as I say she founded this business. So she’s going to take us on a journey and tell us that story. Linda before I babble on for too long here. Welcome and thank you for being here.

Linda 1:18
Oh, it’s a pleasure. Always. Yeah. Thanks so much for the opportunity, Barb. Absolutely. So like, start us off? What made you interested in creating this first ever physio yoga together business? Tell us a little bit about that story. Sure, you know,

Linda 1:38
I was a physiotherapist for about 15 years at the time that a friend of mine opened a yoga studio. So in support of her, I went and joined a few classes that didn’t take me very long to figure out that, hey, you know what, I need to figure out a way to bring yoga into my treatment room. Okay, and, and so that was the very start of it. But in typical physio fashion, we look for a course and some kind of continuing education to get us going to get started. And so that’s what I started to look for. And I came across a program in North Carolina prep, which ended up giving me the certification for medical yoga therapist. And, and the reason it’s medical and not just yoga therapist is because she takes people into her program that have a health sciences degree. Okay, so we have that medical degree, somewhere behind us. Most of us were physio, therapists, some were occupational therapists, or social workers, some nursing some pharmacy. But everybody who graduated with medical yoga therapy certification, had that medical background.

Barb 3:00
Okay. Great background already.

Linda 3:04
So, the program, oh, there’s three onsite modules. I think I did mine in about a year and a half.

Barb 3:11
Oh, so that’s not like a quick six week program. That’s an intensive program, then. Yeah. Okay. And so tell us how the practice has evolved. If you were traditionally practicing physiotherapy before, you know, were you working in another clinic? Or had you always had your own clinic?

Linda 3:32
Yeah. So the private practice that I was working in at the time, was very, very supportive of me and my quest to bring yoga into my treatment room and into his clinic. But there came a point where I couldn’t really do all that I wanted to do with it. And so I branched out onto my own cape, and rather than trying to take my ideas and fit them into somebody else’s business model, we just, I just kind of said, I’ll create my own business model, and it’ll be centered around the blend of physio and yoga therapy.

Barb 4:11
Okay, so if I was the client, tell me what that would look like for me. What’s what my customer journey to healing looks like with Saskatoon physio yoga?

Linda 4:22
Hmm, great question. I think where most of people start is they’re curious about us. Physio yoga, how’s that gonna work? So, typically, people come in for the physio piece, okay, sprained ankle, low back pain, neck pain and headaches from working from home or whatever it is. These are long standing injuries from when we were athletes. years ago, decades ago. Perhaps But these nagging little things and, so they end up coming to us, kind of because we’re physios I believe anyway.

Linda 5:11
And that physio background gives us a really lovely base to operate from. It’s evidence based, it’s a regulated profession, it’s really well respected amongst healthcare professionals. So, you know, we’ve got that really nice face. And then what we start to do depends on the person, so if your kid doesn’t fit into your kitchen upstairs, then we don’t break it in there or, or we weave it in very small doses and kind of inconspicuously.

Linda 5:47
When we start to bring in some of these other aspects, we’ll talk to our clients about well, what are your sleep patterns? Like? Okay, what are some? What’s nutrition like for you? What is stress? like for you? What are some of your stress management strategies?

Barb 6:05
Social connectivity, who’s your support system? So we start going just beyond that low back focus, right, or that elbow pain focus, and we start to bring in some of these elements, these other elements. Very realistic, is what I’m hearing, right? There’s a holistic approach. People are complete beings. And so your elbow, I can be causing huge stress, because now you can’t work the same number of hours and everything is tied together. Okay. Yes, I understand that the elbow doesn’t allow you to pick up your infant.

Barb 6:43
Yeah. Oh, that’s a good example. Right?

Linda 6:47
And then all of a sudden, it’s kind of like then then the psychosocial piece comes in. It’s kind of like, I can’t be the mom that I wanted to be. Or I can’t be the provider that I wanted to be because I’m not working as I want to need to.

Barb 7:03
Yeah. So as you were using those examples, you talked about, you know, the head net, because you’re working from home, did you see a fairly large increase in people who, you know, they’re in all sorts of crazy computer configurations, or they’re on their phone all day, every day? Because, you know, we were stuck at home with COVID. What kind of impact did that have for you guys?

Linda 7:29
Yeah, certainly, you know, just if you think back 18 months ago, like our level of stress, and the uncertainty around at the start of this pandemic was through the roof, and never met a human who can honestly say, when I’m under more stress, my body feels better. Thank you and just coexist, right? When our stress level goes up, it impacts us because we don’t sleep as well. Perhaps we don’t have the energy to exercise. Our body aches more.

Linda 8:07
We don’t have the resources and within our body to fight some of those things that have been going on. So yeah, at the beginning of the pandemic, we did see a big uptake in, in all kinds of physical pain. Okay, and, and then people, you know, people were fearful too.

Barb 8:26
Yeah. Oh, exactly. How long was your business closed? Six weeks? Okay.

Linda 8:32
Only six weeks. So I feel blessed for that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and because there’s a medical need there, right.

Barb 8:42
Yeah, you needed to be open. You needed to be treating patients and clients and seeing clients. Did you switch the classes then to online?

Linda 8:52
Yes. And while our doors were closed to in house visits, we did shift to telehealth. So some of our clients we did start to treat and that was really an interesting journey too. Because, you know, telehealth has been on my radar for a number of years. Yes. And the same with virtual delivery of our classes has been on our radar for a number of years, but it wasn’t until necessity dictated you’re going to do this now.

Linda 9:23
And it was really interesting to see how helpful and beneficial physiotherapy could be. pewter screen? Yeah, no, we’re still able to watch people move and hear their stories and make those really valuable connections with clients, you know, building that relationship and, and creating trust.

Linda 9:46
That can still happen even through that computer screen. Yeah, and those are really important factors in the whole rehab journey. Absolutely. If I understand correctly, telehealth for physiotherapists wasn’t allowed by our provincial government before by your regulating body.

Barb 10:07
And so it was during COVID that that changed, or am I misunderstanding?

Linda 10:12
You know, I don’t I can’t answer that, for sure. But I do know that currently. The insurance companies are supporting telehealth, web and SGI. They’re supporting telehealth. Now, whether that continues beyond the pandemic, I think it would be crazy not to.

Linda 10:34
Because what has opened up is accessibility? Yes. You know, here’s an example. I reached out to a woman who contacted us through Facebook, and she was in orange, and really limited physio services up and said, I’ve been waiting for a year for physiotherapy. And when it gets here, I don’t know when that’s going to be I’m going to see them. And then in the next month, I’ll see them again. Yeah, that’s not how physio was most successful. Exactly. What we were able to do is get her an initial assessment within five days.

Linda 11:13
Get her on a plan of care and see her, you know, probably twice a week for six weeks. Well, by the time that community health called her up, she said, I don’t need you anymore. Yeah, I’m all good. You know, when and I suspect that something that you see, too, on the yoga cider, as you’re moving people into yoga, they don’t have to be in Saskatoon or in Regina, where we tend to have a significant number of practitioners. These people can be anywhere in Saskatchewan and work with you, take a class, attend online, and even meet their therapist now. So it doesn’t matter, they any location as long as they’ve got, you know, phone and an internet signal, new access service now, you know, and that’s, that’s one thing that, well, there’s not a whole lot of good about the pandemic, being able to have a doctor appointment, not sit in a waiting room, not drive to her location, and typically have her be much more on time.

Barb 12:15
That’s been a wonderful thing. I’ve heard some of the stories that some of that’s going to go away in the next little while. And I hope like heck, that there’s some lobbying or some kind of convincing that goes on because as a business person, and you know, a mom, I loved it. 20 minutes, my doctor appointment is done. Right?

Linda 12:39
That would have easily taken an hour or two, maybe even to exam. We have traveled time waiting in the waiting room, all of those kinds of things. So yeah, there are ways that we’ve become much more efficient. It’s interesting to one of our clients and she pre pandemic had been waiting for her knee replacement, you know, and she was in southeastern Saskatchewan.

Linda 13:06
And so he had her knee replacement surgery in Regina. Well, she connected with us and we were able to provide a physio yoga class for her hip and knee arthritis. Yeah, post surgical case, you know, and, and that’s a service that’s really specialized service or our physio yoga for hip and knee arthritis class is really specialized service. And, and for her to find us online and access that and, you know, I don’t know if you’ve been posting, but sometimes moving around isn’t the most easy thing to do.

Linda 13:47
So, you know, to be able to sit in her kitchen in her kitchen chair and do a rehabilitation class. It was really powerful. And you know, it was very rewarding for us to be able to provide that service. And then of course, the benefits that she got out of it. But where she was over the moon exactly would have been huge.

Barb 14:09
Yeah. It’s funny that you mentioned post op, so the only surgery I’ve ever had is when my son was born. And to quote him well, because the doctor had to help me get out.

Barb 14:22
Okay, technically, yeah, there was one there, but that’s so that’s the only surgery he ever had. But oh my goodness, like it. Now I understand why, you know, a C section and so many other things like their major surgery, the being able to pick your infant up like suddenly it wasn’t nearly as easy as it was supposed to be. Right? So, yes, I can just imagine. Okay, so, paint this picture for me. I’ve injured myself and let’s talk about my hip. Okay. No, but Okay, so somebody gets hurt. injury. And you know, I look at myself and I know there’s tons of people like me out there. I went hard. When I was younger I was in CrossFit. I was a basketball player, volleyball player, like, if there was a ball, or if there was movement, like I was there, right? So I guess I do kind of know where my son gets it from. But anyway, I and now 20 years later, like, things are starting to hurt. So I come in, I’m gonna have a conversation with you.

Barb 15:30
To make that switch from being an athlete to being in a yoga studio, you even referenced yourself that sometimes that doesn’t work in the kitchen up there. But what is that like for a client when I now start to attend a yoga class, because everybody’s doing the same thing? So how are you able to help people even though everybody’s doing the same thing and has different injuries? Mm hmm.

Linda 15:57
Yeah. And that’s, that’s one of the reasons that, that kind of drove me to open up the clinic and start teaching my own classes. I’ve been teaching and coaching since I was 12 years old. So it’s kind of in my blood. But I also really, I’ve always been really focused on a good student environment and what one in which people could learn. Right? And when I, if I’m at a gym, and I’m in a fitness studio with 30 other people, yep. Me Myself. I’m not, I don’t feel the confidence that I’m doing things. Well.

Linda 16:42
I don’t have the confidence that despite that teacher up there, who is excellent at what he or she does, yeah, they are going to see me. I’m one of 30 pairs of eyes. Yes, back. Right. And that’s part of the yoga therapy is because we take the person with that injury, and make yoga accessible to them where they are. And you got that in a class of 30 people.

Barb 17:12
No, you can’t do that online, then.

Linda 17:17
It’s not as hard as you think we do tend to, we tend to do a screening appointment. So a one on one screening appointment before classes will start. So Barb, if you join one of our classes, we’re going to set up a 30 minute screening appointment. We’re going to talk about what your injuries are, what your concerns are, make sure you’re a good fit for the class.

Linda 17:38
But also that’s going to raise some flags for me maybe so it’s kind of like, Okay, I got to remember when we come to chair pose for Barb, she’s going to need this. Right. And so that’s how we, we, we get to know you before you start the class early on in the class, but then we also keep the classes small so that we can keep tabs on people.

Barb 18:00
Right? You know, it actually reminds me quite a bit of the CrossFit environment. Because when I did CrossFit, it was always a small group. Like I want to say the max may have been 10. And I was one of those gross early people who is there at six o’clock all the time to throw these weights around. And so, there, it wasn’t uncommon 2, 3, 4, maybe five of us, we knew the coaching staff so well that, you know, you were friends with them on Facebook as well.

Barb 18:32
And you’d know who’s coaching. So being able to create that environment, whether they’re online or in person, and you’re back to in person primarily with online available to whomever wants it. Is that kind of how it works? Yeah. And if someone’s registered for the class, they can show up in person one week, and then online, the next order, are you picking a platform when you register for a class?

Linda 19:00
A bit of both, you know, if you said I’m going to come in I’m going to take every class and I’m coming in because I want to be in insight in the studio, and then it’s kind of like, Hey, I got stuck at work. Can you send me the zoom link? Yeah, we can. Okay. You know, sometimes if you do that will happen, too.

Barb 19:20
Yeah. So putting your business owner hat on for a second. Lots of small businesses don’t have health insurance plans, or maybe they do but it’s a little bit limited. So somebody doesn’t have to have insurance to participate. Lots of folks do but I presume that your clientele is pretty varied in terms of you know, how and why they choose to participate in stuff. Are you seeing injuries that come from the workplace? Are you seeing injuries that come from life?

Linda 19:50
Yes. Okay. We are fully accredited with both w CB and SGI. So we keep those clients with those types of injuries. But we see a lot of people, either with their own insurance available to them or without their own without any insurance. And, and the thing is, is that this is, this is your health. Yeah. Right. And there needs to be a shift in our societal view of what we invest in. Mm hmm. Right. And especially as we get older, and I always use the car analogy, it’s kind of like the 2021. Lexus is this beautiful dream ride of a car or any, any vehicle.

Linda 20:44
But a car that is 25 years old isn’t going to run as smoothly, it’s not going to be as responsive, right, and a car that’s 50 years old, can still look really great.

Linda 20:57
But it needs more TLC to stay on the road, and our bodies or machines. We’re not a whole lot different. Yeah. And I really encourage everybody, whether you’re looking whether physio is your jam or not, really look at your health as an investment in your future.

Linda 21:16
You know, and if you’ve got $400 of insurance, you could burn through that pretty quickly. Yeah, but it’s your health. It’s your body, right? This is the only tax we’ve got. So it might take more than $400 of Blue Cross for the year to keep you feeling well. And then it comes down to quality of life.

Barb 21:37
Yeah, exactly. It comes down to quality of life. And, you know, okay, so I don’t want to pick on any other professions, but you know, when you talk about burning through that, so you’ve burned through your $400, it’s now February, and a if an injury happens, you don’t have coverage, and you’re going to need to do something. B, do you have anything to show for it? And you know, so there’s different ways that you can burn through those health dollars. And I was always that person who was like, Nope, just in case, I get hurt, you know, whether it was thrown out my shoulder from swimming, like there is always something you know, I just, I was never good at warming up. I was never good at cooling down. And so if injuries can happen, that would be me. Right? And so yeah, like you, you get to it a little bit later in life. And it’s like, okay, things are starting to break down. But ironically, your car analogy, I say that to my husband all the time when he complains about an ache or something. Oh, time to trade you in for a new model. That’s exactly what it is, right? Yeah, things start to break down. And you can get the 50 year old model might need a little bit more TLC. Right. But you can still keep it in really good running condition.

Linda 23:04
So absolutely Yeah, no. And it’s kind of a blessing, I feel. Anyway, you know, like, I used to play competitive hockey, where I was on the ice six days a week and the gym on top of that. And it’s kind of like, I don’t want to do that anymore. And it’s not only Oh, it’s just, I don’t want to put I just don’t want doesn’t appeal to me anymore. I loved it when I had it. Yes. And I traded it forever. But now that that’s not there, it’s opened up space to try new things. Yeah. You know, so whether that’s taking up a new sport or new activity or joining the bandwagon of pickleball. Yeah, whatever it might be, like, you know, as we, as we not lose, because that’s such a negative connotation. But as we let go of some of our previous pursuits, it opens up time, and energy, and resources to explore something new. Yeah. And I think that’s part of the charm of the whole yoga piece, too, it’s kind of like, here’s something that we can do that is so encompassing, it can build strength, it can improve your balance and your flexibility and your mobility. And then on top of all of that, it chills you out.

Linda 24:23
And it impacts your mental health.

Barb 24:26
Like it’s kind of a win win.

Linda 24:29
Yeah, it’s kind of Yeah, yeah.

Barb 24:32
Oh, and I have to cut you off. Unfortunately. We’re gonna run out of time here. Time flies. So can you give us a really quick wrap up on how people would find you? And I know Registration is open right now. So if somebody did want to look into the classes and register, where would they go?

Linda 24:52
We have this great website called Saskatoonphysioyoga.ca and on There, we have direct links to our booking sites. So if you are interested in our approach to physical therapy, and you’re within Saskatchewan, we would love to connect with you and see what we can, what we can create together and what we can foster together.

Linda 25:17
And then our physio yoga classes, as well, I can be registered through the website.

Barb 25:26
Perfect. And you’re on lots of different social channels, Instagram and Facebook, then I know I’m probably a few more perfect,

Linda 25:35
Yeah, those are our main two for sure.

Barb 25:36
Okay, awesome. Well, thank you very much for being with me here today. Just, you know, what I really appreciate is how your business is taking a holistic view, like that whole view of someone because of an injury, you know, when you start to weigh in the nutrition and the stress and it really starts to change the picture.

Barb 25:59
So I know personally, I find all of that very fascinating. So thank you.

Linda 26:03
Well, we find it fascinating too. And just like I said, the deeper level of healing that’s available when you kind of look beyond just the physical pieces is just kind of stunningly beautiful. Exactly.

Barb 26:18
Alright, if anyone in the audience would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at BB at above the fold dot live, or reach out on our Facebook or Instagram page at above the fold. ca. You can even ask questions in advance of our live show when you see who our guest is. So keep track of our Facebook page.

Barb 26:40
I’m your host, Bart McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Prior to becoming a Physiotherapist in 1999, Linda competed at a national level in four different sports and medalled in two. She chose to elevate her private practice skillset by completing her Professional Yoga Therapy certification, becoming the first in Saskatchewan to do so and one of only five in Canada.

With this unique approach to rehabilitation, Linda founded Saskatoon PhysioYoga, Saskatchewan’s ONLY fully integrated physiotherapy and medical yoga therapy studio (Am I the only one who had no idea medical yoga was a thing??).

Linda and her team empower independent learners – especially those who are proactive and ready to go “all in”. They help people take control of their lives, make the changes they know they can make and live the life they desire.

Listen in as this lady learns me up on what medical yoga is and how her clinic is using a holistic approach to helping their clients heal.

Connect with Linda @ Saskatoon PhysioYoga:
https://saskatoonphysioyoga.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhysioYogaSaskatoon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saskatoonphysioyoga
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/saskatoon-physioyoga/about

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Video Transcript: Ep. with 82 Tracey Poffenroth Prato

Barb 0:00
In today’s episode, we’re gonna change it up a little bit. The next few episodes of The Secret Life of Entrepreneurs, we’re gonna start to talk about supporting ourselves. And even as business owners, we’re still people, we need support. So today’s guest is really coming at it from a different angle. We’re not going to talk accounting or marketing, we’re going to talk parenting.

Barb 0:27
Our guest today is a trauma informed life coach, and her business called rad talk with Tracy supports parents who are parenting kids diagnosed with something called rad. She’s a podcast founder and a host. So Tracy, let me stop talking. And welcome.

Tracey 0:50
Thank you so much. It’s great to be here, Barb.

Barb 0:52
It’s an absolute pleasure. So let’s start right at the very beginning. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Obviously, you must be a parent.

Tracey 1:03
I am a parent. Yeah, I have worked in health care for about 20 years. And then my husband and I adopted a sibling group two kids, parents, sister. And that threw me into my business and what I do now, so both of our kids have something called reactive attachment disorder.

Barb 1:28
So that must be what rad stands for reactive attachment disorder. Got it? Okay. Yep. And so, like, what is RAD?

Tracey 1:40
It’s a good question. I never knew about it. A lot of adoptive parents that go into adoption and adopt children don’t know about it, we found out kind of on the fly as we were parenting our kids. And so it’s, I’m looking up a definition because I won’t have a great one for you.

Tracey 2:04
But it’s a condition where infants or young children don’t form a secure or a healthy emotional bond with their primary caregiver. And so throughout their life, they end up becoming reactive to attachment where most of us would enjoy a hug and affection. These kids, their brains are actually rewired to react to it in a negative way. So they will push push away anytime there’s love and affection, or any type of, you know, close, intimate connection.

Barb 2:42
And one of the things that you and I talked about before we went live today, a number of these kids also have other diagnoses, which then kind of further complicate the issue.

Tracey 2:55
Right. That’s a great word for it Barb is complicated. Reactive Attachment Disorder is really complicated. Because what often happens, like you say, as children are diagnosed with other disorders, anything from attention deficit, oppositional defiance, and just a myriad of disorders. And it’s often because as parents going into the adoption, world, adopting children, you’re not prepared, you’re not prepared, because a lot of the caseworker the people in the adoption world, and therapists, this isn’t a really well known disorder. And so people don’t know about it, and they don’t know how to treat it. And so yeah, you just get into this, this situation where kids get different diagnoses until one day you land upon reactive attachment disorder.

Barb 3:54
Got it. So you know, of course, you and I connected because our daughter is adopted. And we’ve done a ton of research over the years to try to understand one of the things that we really see is trust. She’s not able to trust us the same way. We either see our biological son, or the same way as a parent that, you know, you just trust your parents, they’re, they’re looking out for your best interest, even if you’re mad at them. In your teenage years. You might not agree with them. But you trust them.

Barb 4:32
And so that’s certainly something that we’ve seen with her daughter over the years is to come home from school, and she’ll tell us a story. And she’ll relate to us that hey, like you guys, were actually right. Or you guys were actually telling me the truth when you explained this to me.

Barb 4:50
And I often marvel at that because I’m like, so you didn’t believe me when I told you that masks would be required or you know Like, really didn’t believe me. And so that’s something that I think, for a lot of parents, it’s tough to wrap your head around the fact that, you know, your kid might not trust you. Right? When you adopt it, so I’m just gonna go back in our adoption story and yours a little bit. When you adopted you said, you know, you didn’t know about this, you didn’t even know this was a possibility. How prepared in hindsight, how prepared Do you feel you were nevermind, the red part? Like, had you guys done your homework, done your research? Talk to a bunch of people? Had you done all of that?

Tracey 5:38
Definitely, definitely. Yeah, you know, I’ve worked in healthcare. And you just do all the things we did, we did our research, we, you know, the adoption process is pretty lengthy. And you go through a bunch of steps like filling out a safe survey, there’s home visits, there’s lots of opportunities to talk to the caseworkers. And there’s courses that you have to take.

Tracey 6:04
I mean, we really did it all. And looking back, you know, every situation is different. And not every child from adoption comes with reactive attachment. I just want to make that clear. But these kids, it happens because of trauma and that unsafe environment that you’re talking about and not having trust. And so then there’s this real need for control.

Tracey 6:28
But yeah, we were what we thought was prepared, looking back, not at all, I do know that there was a piece about attachment in our training, it was very short. And again, I think they skirted around the real deep issues, the real stuff that comes with it, where it just seemed like kids were having trouble attaching it was a happy ending story. You know, and to no fault of their own maybe like I say not, I don’t know, even if most therapists and providers out there really understand it themselves. So yeah, you know, I don’t think it’s purposeful. It’s just ignorance,

Barb 7:11
Right. And just based on the prep work that I was doing, for our show today, an attachment disorder could also happen in a biological child. So it’s not just because they’re adopted, but it’s a secure, and an insecure attachment. And so a child with an insecure attachment, who’s not able to trust their parent trust or caregiver, they make decisions in a really different way from a different viewpoint, right, then, and then a child who is secure in their attachment.

Barb 7:48
One of the things I remember reading, when we were preparing to adopt, was we did a little bit of reading on attachment. And in fact, we chose to adopt from Ethiopia. Because based on our research, attachment is something that’s really important in their community. And, you know, having done all this research and learned so much about the importance of that attachment, just little things like the mirroring that kids will do. Right.

Barb 8:17
And I remember when our kids were little and so you know, like I’m gonna say three and five or something like that. We were all brushing our teeth one night, because you know, mom would brush her teeth and then everybody else brushes for two minutes and Okay, the kids are learning.

Barb 8:33
Well, my son to this day, brushes his teeth. Exactly. Like I do the same pattern like everything, right? But our daughter who we did the exact same stuff with. She’s got a totally different pattern. She totally doesn’t want her own. Yeah, right. And, I’ve marveled at those activities a number of times. I’m using my husband a couple of weeks ago, the kids were playing a game of cards with their great grandmother. And I could see like both of their cards right so I can see my sons and I can see my daughters and I look at my sons and his are lined up the same way I line up my cards when I play a game right where there are lowest to highest and I look at my daughter’s I turned to my husband, I go Yeah, that’s got to be your lineup because that’s not my there was just there’s a hodgepodge.

Barb 9:26
There’s no order, there’s no three spades. But it’s those little mirroring behaviors that you never think about, but it leads to big stuff. So if, if, if a parent suspects or or wants to learn more about rad, like, what are they looking for?

Tracey 9:51
You know, that’s a big question. And I think mostly it’s the inability to answer Attach, you know, our kids, I can give some examples like our kids, when we first adopted if we left the house, you know, most kids, like you’re saying those behaviors. And if we left the house, there was no Bye mom, Bye, dad, if we came home, they would still stay coloring and not even lift their heads up and look, you know, sometimes the the, the issues are really obvious, you know, they might pull away, infants might even close our eyes, just those things to show that they are trying to get away from you somehow.

Tracey 10:33
Yeah, expectations and rules, really do the opposite. You know, following those big outbursts, for simple things, that’s kind of a trademark. So our daughter used to run away, when we asked her to go in her room, grab a load of laundry, and get her laundry done, or to do your homework.

Tracey 10:53
And, you know, everything circles back to that safety and trust, like what you were saying about your daughter doing things differently. They trust themselves, even though they aren’t capable of taking care of themselves. That’s the person they’ve had to rely on. And there is themselves and so their brain rewires for survival. So they don’t even often have that ability to understand or relate to people. And so, you know, they’re taking care of themselves.

Tracey 11:24
Our daughter has different patterns, too, because she only trusted herself. She did things her way. The inability to, you know, follow rules, expectations, just those typical things that, you know, most kids do, your gut kind of tells you that this isn’t we’re not bonding, you know, you had those, those red flags too.

Barb 11:46
So yeah, you know, and that’s so interesting to me, because I look at, of course, our daughter’s decision making process. And it’s very much based on her own experience, versus being able to take any input from the outside world. And I think that goes back to exactly what you’re saying where they trust themselves, right? And, and you get it like these kids have been abandoned in all sorts of terrible situations like it, you can’t help but just, you know, it’s a gut wrenching what they’ve been through. So understanding why it is the way it is. That’s not hard to do. But what do you do about it? Tracy? What does a parent move out?

Tracey 12:39
Yeah, get help as soon as you can. And, you know, the one thing that I’ve learned over the years, being Arad parents, and then going through our personal situation, reaching out for help, first of all, it’s really, really limited. I’m Canadian, originally, but now I’m living across the border and in the US.

Tracey 12:59
And, you know, it’s really, really difficult. I interviewed a woman who works with families, and has been doing this for 40 years in the world of rad, you know, and she gave me a stat that was really alarming in the US there were about in her opinion, I can’t remember if it was four or eight clinicians that were capable of really working with these kids and making a difference, and changing so that they could recover. And then there was about 8 million children with reactive attachment disorder.

Tracey 13:32
So the disparity there, it’s scarce, there aren’t a lot of services. You know, one to one therapy doesn’t work, you know, so if your child goes in with a therapist alone, and the parents aren’t involved, that is not going to work these kids, you know, again, they’re wired for survival, they’ll do anything to manipulate the situation to work for them. And so they’ll manipulate the therapist and yes, the therapist can be manipulated. And then it goes back to that trust where the child thinks, well, if I can manipulate you, then I’m not going to trust you either.

Tracey 14:09
So therapy, therapy for the parents, you know, separate but also therapy for your family. Brad’s specific therapy. There’s a lot of organizations. I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so rad advocates is one of the leading organizations right now, I would say in terms of helping families navigate and advocate for themselves in a systems kind of place.

Tracey 14:42
So you know, if your child is needing to go to a residential treatment center or a therapeutic boarding school, or if they’re coming home or you have meetings with insurance companies, I know that’s a US thing, but they really help navigate through that crisis, and they’re a great Starting point, you know, there are therapists, you just have to do your due diligence and finding people that understand rad, they know how to treat it, the family is included.

Tracey 15:13
And just getting help for yourself as a parent, you know, that’s kind of why I came about is because there’s a lot of there’s not a lot of help all around. But when there is help, it’s mostly for the kids, or parenting or families, there’s not a lot just for parents that are struggling with their own issues besides therapy.

Barb 15:32
So yeah. And it’s, it’s interesting to me, because just based on my research, here in Canada, we don’t like the rat diagnosis. So I’ve talked to a number of parents who, because their children were adopted, and they believe that their child has read, but our healthcare system won’t, won’t acknowledge it. Right, will not.

Barb 16:00
And it took some research on my part to understand why it took some understanding. But it seems like there’s almost some fear of the diagnosis. And I’ve heard some statistics about, you know, folks in jail, my phone won’t stop ringing. That’s a vote, you know, folks in jail, and how many folks in jail have an attachment disorder? You know, there’s degrees of attachment disorders, of course, but why would the mental health profession be so concerned about a specific diagnosis?

Tracey 16:38
It’s a good question. You know, we don’t have much luck here. Often people here in the US don’t want to call it by its name, because it’s not often if a child just has reactive attachment disorder, most insurance companies won’t cover that you need another diagnosis. And I kind of equate it in my career with dementia, you know, dimension or society’s a four letter word, because people don’t know how to deal with it.

Tracey 17:05
So we put them in lock units and have people looking after them. Now, it’s, it’s changed a lot over the last couple of years, and people now are ready to face it. But it was big and scary. And we didn’t know how to treat it. So it’s easier to not look at it, I think and, and I, I’m feeling the same way about reactive attachment disorder, and Canada, I have worked in the Canadian healthcare system to and I know, I love health care in Canada, but I will say that things move a lot, a lot slower.

Tracey 17:38
And, you know, I was working on a project, at one point that, you know, the equipment, it’s used here in the US and has been for years and years and years. So really, you just needed to purchase the equipment and get going. But in Canada, no, we had to do literature reviews. I mean, it’s been 12 years, and that hospital that I was working at is still not doing it.

Tracey 18:06
And so I can’t tell you what it is, I think there’s a lot of good and really wanting to research it and make sure that you know, you get the best outcomes. But it’s unfortunate, it’s unfortunate, because we do a real disservice not being able to help these kids. And as you know, early intervention in anything is ideal. So the earlier we can catch anything, so I don’t know why early intervention is very important in Canada, in other you know, disciplines.

Tracey 18:43
So, I don’t have a good answer for you, but it should be. And I do know, there are some resources in Canada, but the beauty of maybe COVID and now is we can reach across borders, not finding services where you can get online, and just start digging.

Barb 19:03
Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. I think one of the things that healthcare everywhere faces is the brain is such a complex machine, that what works for one person isn’t guaranteed to work for the next.

Barb 19:21
And, you know, if we look at our daughter’s situation, based on everything her age that she came to us, it really should have been textbook, you know, a fairly smooth transition. Right? And absolutely, we have bumped into, you know, more than our share, definitely our share of challenges along the way, right.

Barb 19:46
And so, from a cost perspective, because there’s no surgery that we can do to reconnect pieces. And in most cases, there’s no pill That can be prescribed that says, here, if he takes this, you know, she’s gonna attach to it. So you’re really trying to fix something that we don’t necessarily understand as much as we’d like. And one of the things that I really like about what you talk about Tracy is, you know, that trauma informed coach, that trauma informed parent, when you approach parenting, from a perspective that losing your birth mother, at 13 months of age, that was trauma, one of the things that I often hear, and honestly, here’s my pet peeve, this is me, for a second, bring the number of times that I’ve heard people say, they don’t remember it, they were so young.

Barb 20:44
It’s exactly the opposite. They were so young that they couldn’t understand what was happening. And they just knew that it impacted their entire world. So when you hear people say that, when you hear them say, Oh, they were so young, they don’t remember or good for you for adopting these children. How do you respond to that? Because that’s my second favorite.

Tracey 21:12
Yeah, that is a hard one. Well, and you’re right, it’s stored trauma is stored in the body, and we can store it from those early days, I even had a hard time, you know, I went into adoption, as an adoptive mom, not thinking trauma, you know, trauma to me was war veterans or people from you know, sexual assaults or assault, you know, a plane crash, that’s what trauma was for me.

Tracey 21:39
And until, you know, I experienced it firsthand as a parent. So, you know, I can see that it’s hard to understand. But yes, it can happen that early, they’re not old enough to verbalize, you know, that frontal lobe and those executive functions aren’t developed by any means. So, but we store it in, in our body.

Tracey 21:59
And so it is remembered, and it does still come out. And that question about, I get it all the time, you know, it’s this, you’re doing such a wonderful thing. And, you know, to be honest, I feel selfish, I didn’t go into adoption. Wanting to save anybody, or do a good thing, I wanted a family, I’m going to be honest, you know, and that’s how we were able to have our family and start our family. And so and, and we’re often not doing a great thing, the system is very broken.

Tracey 22:33
And, you know, a lot of these kids shouldn’t end up in our homes, before they get help. And they should end up in our homes when there are services provided to the families and the parents to cope. But it just doesn’t work that way. But yeah, you know, I often feel guilty when people say that, and it’s a longer conversation to have that you can’t have in that moment to really explain it. But no, yeah, I think we’re just starting our families. And that’s what we want.

Barb 23:10
yeah, and then we kind of go from there. And, and, like any parenting journey, you never really know what you’re getting into. Right? That’s the beauty. Because if we know, we might think a little bit more, but no, like, this isn’t about Do you love your kid Do you need to love them more. This is about, you know, helping these kids build a solid foundation so that they’ve got a successful future. And that’s where, you know, it can be so, so challenging.

Tracey 23:40
While I when people say it takes a village, it takes a huge village for these kids. And you’re bringing up a really good point Barb is that it’s not a parenting issue. Often parents are judged, and we have to parent in a different way. If we parent our children, like most parents, do, you know the word neuro typical for a child that’s just a regular kid and a regular family, you know, they respond to things the way that they should, or we expect them to as we raise children, but you know, our children, when we have children with reactive attachment disorder do not at all, it’s the complete opposite.

Tracey 24:16
And so you really have to flip things. And when it’s so different from regular parenting, people don’t understand that we look strict, we look mean, but it’s actually what the children need. And so you know, there’s a lot of judgment on parents and about it, but you can’t love them, you know that we all go in thinking, well, if we just love them enough, the more time they spend around us and family and in these enriching activities and all the things that we do, because we do all the things. Yeah, it’s not enough. That’s not what they need to change their brain.

Barb 24:50
Exactly. Tracy, we’re basically at a time here for today. So just quickly, tell us if someone wanted to learn more, how would they Google you Where would they find you and your podcast?

Tracey 25:02
Okay, my podcast and my website is RADtalkwithTracey.com, you can check out the podcast you can apply to be a guest and share your story, whether you’re an expert or a mom or a dad or a parent, you can listen to episodes. And then I provide a lot of parental support services. It’s really not about parenting. It’s about you, the parents. So we have support groups and retreats. And then there’s individualized coaching. So RADtalkwithTracey.com.

Barb 25:33
Awesome. Well, that sounds fantastic. So thank you very much for being with me here today. It’s the fastest 25-26 minutes of my week each time I do this.

Tracey 25:44
Yeah. It’s an issue that’s easy to sum up in that amount of time. But it’s been great to be here. Barb, thank you so much.

Barb 25:51
Absolutely. And thank you for being here. So if you’d like to be a guest on the show, please email me at barb@abovethefold.live, or reach out on Facebook or Instagram at above the fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even post questions in advance of our show just on our Facebook page. So I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you work hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

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RAD Talk with Tracey is about creating a better life for every parent raising a child with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). Tracey’s mission is to provide RAD parents a place to be supported and heal.

Through her own life experiences and struggles with RAD, she has developed a trauma-informed coaching program with one-of-a-kind support, designed specifically for RAD parents. You won’t want to miss this episode!

Connect with Tracey @ RAD Talk:
https://saskatoonphysioyoga.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/radtalkwithtracey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radtalkwithtracey

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Ep. 81 with Janet Kotylak, a YWCA Women of Distinction Award Winner

Video Transcript: Ep. with 81 Janet Kotylak

Barb 0:08
Today’s guest exemplifies community action and volunteerism. She’s the recipient of the YWCA, women of distinction community champion award for 2020, a lifelong resident in Montmartre, Janet Kotylak, and Janet, you’ll have to correct me if I didn’t quite get the name wrong. I did some practicing before we went live today. Janet joins us to talk about her commitment to education in our province, and for students across our country. Janet, welcome.

Janet 0:45
Thanks for having me. Good to be here today.

Barb 0:47
It’s a pleasure to have you here. So congratulations first on the award.

Janet 0:52
Thank you, I was just gonna say you, you did pretty fine on my name. It’s it’s coat lock. But Kota lock is often how people say it.

Barb 1:06
I will get right at the end. You know, pronunciation is one of the things that I work on the most, before we go live with these sessions. Because, you know, being in Saskatchewan, we have a real mix of names that come from all directions. For sure. So tell me about this award. Did you know that you had been nominated? And, you know, what was your reaction when you found out then that you won?

Janet 1:30
Well, the, the process is such that you have to accept the nomination. So I knew I was being nominated. And in fact, my nominator called me and asked if I would agree to be nominated. And, you know, my first initial reaction to that was, you know, there’s so many people that have done so much in the pandemic, like, Are you sure? And she said, Yeah, because we need to highlight education, we need to shine a spotlight on the fact that we can do that through you.

Janet 2:05
The first piece and and what was my reaction? I mean, to be honest, I was really surprised, I had looked at what the other candidates in my category had brought to the table. They were all fantastic leaders, and a trustee ship and my role is is a job to do really quietly behind the scenes. So I wasn’t sure that people would recognize, like and understand the work. Right, obviously, credit to my nominator for putting that through in a way that people understood and whoever the nominating team is, I, I need to give them more credit. Yes.

Barb 2:43
You know, one of the most interesting things, I think, with COVID, is every sector has been impacted in some really different ways. But when you look at the education sector as a whole, we kept kids in school for the most part, you know, there were some parents in favor of that, and some parents not. And as a trustee, you couldn’t when you were going to have parents upset with you, no matter which direction you went, how as the the chairperson of the board, how are you helping to manage that?

Janet 3:14
Well, April was a tough month, in the south part of the province, we had gone out and then had to go back. And, and yes, you’re right. You know, you, you couldn’t make everybody happy, and maybe happy’s, not the right word. But you know, everybody was at their own place with COVID and their own beliefs. And I really respected that. But we were tasked with making the decisions that we had to make we follow the health orders really closely. And we just really tried to say education is our business, but health is theirs, and we’re going to look towards them as the experts. I also, you know, served provincially on the scheduled School Boards Association. So along with that role, and and the way they structured things, we were kept up to date weekly on call. So, you know, those pieces where you’ve got continual information, helpful when big decisions and you know, in the end, yeah, we did get feedback from parents on both ends. So that’s but yeah, but was respectful. And I respect that. So,

Barb 4:25
You know, and I, you know, I think that’s an important rule, being able to collect that respectful feedback. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, if you’re getting screamed at you kind of stop listening. And so parents being able to feel like they were being heard, one of the things and I’ll put my parent hat on for a second. We we didn’t know what went on behind the scenes. We didn’t know if there was weekly meetings, we didn’t know if it was just email communication. And without any criticism of of my own school board. That was one piece that I would have really liked to have understood better. is absolutely make a decision, I will support you 100%. But help me understand where the information comes from to make the decision. And knowing that there had been weekly meetings, I think that would have really helped a lot of parents out, whichever side you’re on, if you want your kids in school and they’re being pulled out, or vice versa, right, just that little bit of bit of extra information. So as a board, and then even at the provincial level, how are you managing the volumes of information that that came at you probably for from some different directions, to be able to weigh it all and then make a decision that you felt good about? How did you weigh all of that?

Janet 5:43
Well, you know, there was key decision points along the way. And of course, if you take it back to the beginning of it all, the first decision to go out of school was was made by the premier back in March 2020. And so that one was it was handed to us. So how can we provide this extra learning to those who still want to be engaged, and that was tough, weren’t set up, especially in rural Saskatchewan.

Janet 6:09
So kudos to our IT department, we did a ton of lobbying around Rural Internet that helped with getting SAS tell to provide free data, things like that. So you know, it was a joint effort, the volume of information, it kind of came at it as a piece at a time. So then the next step was the back to school plan, and making sure that we could influence that and, and bring some public voice to that. You know, as a trustee, I work to bring that community voice to those decisions.

Janet 6:40
We have the education experts who I thoroughly appreciate and respect and we work closely with our Director of educational Carmen. And, and his team of education staff. Well, and every step along the way, it was like that. So we had a back to school plan. And then things changed. All of a sudden, were deciding on masking, and then masking became mandatory. And so you just kept rolling. And yeah, certainly a lot of time spent by myself and the whole team of education. People really?

Barb 7:13
Absolutely. So Janet, you strike me as a volunteer who is full of a lot of energy and passion for where you put your volunteer time. Why education? Why not the community of Montmartre, why not the rink, the hockey? how did how did you end up in education? And now spending so much time there?

Janet 7:33
Oh, that’s a good question. So back, it was the year actually before my first started school back in about 97. That I got approached to sit on the local board and I said, I don’t have kids in school yet like, and there. I had got one call two calls that the board was having to make change over they just really needed people. And the last call was was my husband’s and and I couldn’t say no. So she just is the person you say no to. So yeah, I bought on there. And it just exploded from there. I actively farm with my husband, that’s our livelihood. But I also wanted to do some other things in my life. And I needed people. And so I started I spent eight years locally. And so I’ve spent a lot of time working on my local school and what I could do to help there and then during the time of amalgamation in 2005 there was an opportunity to run for that position. And then it just became a passion once you’re in it. You you either love it or you don’t stay with it. So Exactly, yeah.

Barb 8:40
And is the position both with Perea Valley and with the Saskatchewan school boards? Are those both elected positions or just the one?

Janet 8:48
Yeah, so everything I do is elected. So I started out elected from my subdivision. So division seven, and there’s 10 communities and five schools. That’s my home. And that’s why I do this is I do it to bring their voice. And then from there. I’ve been privileged to be elected by the board that I serve on Prairie Valley to the chairperson of that board. That’s nine, I think nine consecutive and I served as chair and vice chair previously. And then from there, I ended up kind of getting lobbied and asked to serve provincially. So I’ve in my ninth year serving the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, and I’d represent six boards on that the provincial body and I think I counted in total, I would have put my name on a ballot for Well, let my name stand for 21 election sometimes you were claimed sometimes you were elected, so Okay.

Barb 9:50
So take me back to that first election because I actually think that that’s a real strength for anyone who’s willing to put their name on a ballot. That is itself takes courage. It’s a little bit like that popularity contest back in high school. So take me back there like what did it feel like the first time you’re like, Okay, sure. I’ll put my name on a ballot.

Janet 10:12
Well, okay, so true can true confession here I ran in 2003 in the first rural amalgamations and I didn’t win that election. There we go. Then I was kind of done. I did the thing. I did brochures and whatever. And then in 2005, the promise province decided to further amalgamate. And then I thought, we were in a totally different grouping of communities and sometimes small town communities. It’s not who you are, but where you’re from. Yes, exactly. Like that. And then the next grouping of communities, I thought, okay, I’ll take a stab at it. Again, I really wanted to, I just had a passion to bring some voice.

Janet 10:51
So in 2005, I ran and I won that election. And, you know, and I said this before, being a female leader is difficult. And and there is a stat that says, you have to be asked like four to seven times to run for anything. Ah, okay. That’s certainly you know, every time I decide to put my name forward, in any of my capacities, I always have that hesitation, can I should I? Am I the person that can get the job done? So you hesitate. And that’s, I could say something to all the female leaders out there, you should try and you should do it and you’re worthy of a position. You just got to convince yourself. So,

Barb 11:38
You know, I think sometimes we’re our own biggest obstacle, convincing ourselves that, yeah, I could do a really good job at something. Because there’s always plenty of people out there who will tell you, Oh, you don’t want to Oh, it’s hard. It’s time consuming. There’s plenty of reasons not to. But that drive has to come from inside. And it’s quite clear that, you know, it really comes from inside for you. If you’re thinking

Janet 12:04
And say one more thing is I have I like to do stuff for people. And that’s what you know, in this capacity you’re doing right? But when you have to go out and say to somebody, can you vote for me? Can you sign my nomination? That’s the hard part is you’re actually asked me somebody else do something for you? Yeah. So it’s really for the greater good? Yes. The hard part is like, can you support me? And I? Oh, it’s so hard.

Barb 12:29
So how many of those signatures did you have to get in those early days when you were

Janet 12:34
It’s changed now? I think it’s 10. On your to be elected to the school board. And okay. It’s two for the provincial body? I think so.

Barb 12:44
Okay. And so is that where you sort of tap into family and friends? And you know, hey, you know, can you give me a hand getting this ball rolling? Before we get into full election and the posters in the lawn signs, and…

Janet 12:57
Well, I’m in my subdivision, which, of course, is what puts me in any position, I right from the get go said, if I’m going to represent all these communities, I need names from every community. So like, my subdivision spans from McLean down to Sedley over to Montemartre, Vibank’s in their couples in there. So I made a point to get a signature from every somebody from every one of those communities. More difficult at the start, because I didn’t know many people, but now, I you know, on my school community council members, you know, the chairs often, and if I feel like, if they will give me their signature, then I must, then I’m good to run. If they’re hesitant, you know, then I’m not really the person anymore. So yeah.

Barb 13:45
What will happen after COVID? Are we going to see some fairly significant board turnover across the province, just because so many board members will have been burned out? What do you think will happen?

Janet 13:56
Well, you know, unfortunately, we were at the very beginning of our term, we had elections in October. So just in our first year of four years, okay, so maybe the benefit is we will, you know, we’ll get past this. And then, I mean, the other thing, I really feel bad for the new board members, because they really haven’t experienced trusteeship at all, yet he opted to, to stick it out working from home, a lot of conversation about if all the educational leaders end up out because of COVID. Right, you know, that’s not a good place to be. So we often work from home, they haven’t experienced life as a trustee as we know what and great and it was difficult. So I hope that the next three years after this one’s done, we will we’ll get back into the regular and get back into that. What can we change in the system.

Barb 14:51
Get back to the job of improving education versus really just trying to maintain some sort of education level. One of the things Again, as a parent, but I would expect as a trustee as well, we’re always thinking about the quality of the education and future, right? And so okay, what happens if they miss three months in one year? What happens if they miss three months, two years in a row, right. And we start to do that math in our head. As a parent, we had one child who continued to stay in person in the classroom whenever that was allowed. And we had one child who went online. And so of course, the child who was online, well, she felt ripped off because she never, you know, got this time off as she perceived it to be, were the one who was in the classroom and then had to come online, he was able to do his online work in like, two hours in the day because there was no recess. No phys, Ed, none of the hallway passing like he was done record.

Barb 15:49
So I watched my two kids and the interaction and my daughter, because she was so in routine with online school. Like, she did school from nine till four every day. And that was just her routine. But she watched her brother and she’s like, somehow this did not work out for me. Right. Now, I do have to credit the online school that we chose the see the quality of the work, the the the depth of learning that was presented, I was very impressed with it. online school did not end up to go nearly as well as we would have liked. But but the subject matter was really there. Of course, the social side falls down in a situation like that. Absolutely.

Barb 16:35
So how do you perceive that these next few years will look with all of our brand new trustees, or many that are brand new to the positions? What is going to start to change? Is there still funding questions like what’s that top agenda items?

Unknown Speaker 16:51
Well, there’s a few things that come to mind. So first, we got to get our kids back to school. And and we really believe that we believe in the system, we believe that a teacher in front of students is is a really good place for kids to be. And I do respect, there’s some kids, because of their own challenges, they need to have access to a different type of learning. So that aside, most kids really need that interaction to day basis. Yes, we got to get back into buildings, we’ve lost some kids, we’ve lost some vulnerable kids that we need to get back. So we’re talking about, you know, how do we attract kids back and we need to start with First things first, we’ve listened to a lot of Kevin Cameron sessions. And he talked about relationships, and we need to make school fun, and and make sure it’s really attractive.

Janet 17:40
So that’s First things first, you know that we’re going to move through the pandemic. But it’s going to be a word in education for a very long time, unfortunately, because yes, right? You know, kids have missed some significant blocks of learning. What we want people to understand is, we got this and we’re gonna take it slow. We don’t expect the kid that’s going into grade three to be in the first month of grade three, you know, every child that we know, right? It’s not possible, but we’re gonna miss the educators to get them there. And we’re going to take it a step at a time. That’s all we can do.

Barb 18:16
So Janet, just let me interrupt, though, for a second. So when you say you’ve lost some kids, do you mean just from COVID? Or are you expecting that some kids will stay online, even though the seemingly most serious part of the crisis with COVID has passed?

Unknown Speaker 18:33
Well, I can’t It’s hard to predict the future potentially might, some might stick with an online option. I think our biggest worry is the vulnerable kids that just didn’t engage and percentage of our school population that we have to continually work on to engage. And we were doing really good with attendance and alert systems to get them in school. And so now we have to get them back. And yes, we need to get kids graduating. So and then the second part of that question is, we have what’s called a provincial education plan.

Janet 19:08
I co chaired the committee that went out and sought feedback from across the province on on what a new plan would look like, hit. And so now we have an interim provincial education plan, because that plan was supposed to roll out, we had to pause it. And now we have to look at Okay, where are we at? So now we’re going to look at a few things that we need to accomplish in this next year, and then we’re going to get to our main plan and get on with the future. Got it? Less this weekend.

Barb 19:37
Okay. Yes,that makes much more sense to me then. Absolutely. So, how many years do you think you will continue to volunteer the way you do? Wait a second, but we back up for a second, how many hours either on a weekly basis or on a monthly basis? Do you volunteer right now.

Janet 19:55
You know, I’ve often thought I should write it down or the end of the week. It’s a lot. You know, the meeting part is one part. And then it’s all the phone calls and all the emails and all that. I probably work two thirds time, maybe there’s times when it’s maybe half time. But the thing that a really big mentor of mine always said, You can’t count it in time, because it’s always on your mind.

Janet 20:28
So when you’re going through really big things, it doesn’t leave you see, don’t just put it away and then go do your regular life and your regular business. So it’s just there. It’s not like a job where you go, and then you come home, and then you have your free time. So Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I don’t have any plans for an exit plan. I mean, we always contemplated at the end of a four year term, because you have to decide Are you going to get those nominations again, and this is a bad time to ask because a fan demick.

Janet 21:04
We didn’t even we didn’t, you know, typically we take February break, we tell all our stuff, go have a holiday, we have a holiday, we take Easter break. This year, we took no breaks, we took Christmas, I didn’t have any meetings for a couple weeks. And then the rest of the time, all of a sudden, we were like at meetings, no matter what it was, it was like, you guys, we haven’t taken at any time to just decompress. So I’m going to that. July we we paused like we’re said, Okay, well, meetings in July, senior leaders need a break, our school staff will be on a break. And we’re going to take July.

Janet 21:36
So then we’ll wrap up back in August. And I mean, they’ll still be stuff. I know there will be but scheduled meetings.

Barb 21:43
Right, exactly. And sometimes that’s part of it. And you know, interestingly, of course, our restrictions are changing over the summer. And so you almost need to take July off either way, just to see how it’s all going to sort out, you’re not going to be able to make any decisions until you know what happens with the restrictions. Do they stay in place? Does anything happen with this new Delta variant? Like there’s, there’s a number of questions that are out there, that it might be the week before school again, before you can get back to anything on those decisions anyway?

Unknown Speaker 22:15
Well, the good thing this year is we’re sticking with the level. So you would have seen like level one means this level two means this so we don’t get this great that from now we know like, well, you’re exactly right. We’re gonna wait till August, you’re crossing our fingers. we’re optimistic and wonderful. Not we’ll pick a level what we have to do. Yeah, exactly.

Barb 22:36
Yes. Janet, we only have a couple of minutes left. Can you can you talk to our audience. And if someone else is either interested in being a trustee or really has a passion for education, or anything else that benefits the community? Where do they start? What like, what is that first step when you’ve got that burning desire?

Unknown Speaker 22:58
Well, this is how I started, I started locally. And so I always tell parents, every parent should serve one term or one year on a school community council, start there, you’ll learn a lot, you’ll benefit your own kids, your bit of taste and a passion. And then from there, you just need to have that in you that you you want to serve.

Janet 23:22
And, like I love bringing the voice of the communities that I serve into the education sector. And, you know, we have a thing we call a public voice and publicly funded education. And that’s my role. I really firmly believe that education belongs to community. So if you have it in you, if you really believe that parents should have a role, we almost lost parent voice in education, and we had to work to get that, to sustain that, across the country are starting to, to look out Do we really need elected trustees? And oh, forever, because it’s so fun to be your voice and, you know, you get to pick your person, you can decide you, if you like a job, you want to better find somebody else that’s, you know, the funding principle of democracy. So, you know, just just be that voice if you can do that for your communities.

Janet 24:22
It’s, I mean, I spent a lot of time I’ve volunteered a lot of time but what I got back and the growth and even as a person you can’t, I could have never got that in my regular everyday life. Exactly.

Barb 24:34
Wow. I had no idea that was happening at the national level. So that will be kind of an hot issue to you know, just kind of keep track of..

Unknown Speaker 24:42
Well it’s been happening for years some provinces lost the right to elected school boards. And Manitoba right now is in the in the midst of it. So if you look that up, you’ll see that they’re in a big battle there. It might not have trustees. But towards the end of this year if they don’t win the fight.

Barb 25:01
One last question, Janet. So just really quickly before we wrap up, if someone would like to reach out with you or reach out to you, is that okay? And how would they contact you?

Unknown Speaker 25:10
Yeah, anytime I can tell, I just love to talk about education. So you can reach out to me at my email at Janet.kotylak, just as my name is spelt on the screen @pvst.ca So it’s prairie Valley school division@pvst.ca. And, or you can, you can call me at home at 424 2210.

Barb 25:35
There we go. Did I get it right on the screen?

Janet 25:38
Yes, you did.

Barb 25:39
Okay, perfect. Because this is the wrong time to get it wrong. Perfect. Hi. Good. All right. I will wrap up, wrap us up then. So thank you, Janet, for being here with me today. And congratulations again on your award. I find the opportunity each year to talk to the award recipients just one of my favorite parts of doing this podcast. So thank you to you and congratulations.

Janet 26:06
Well, good luck, and thanks for having me.

Barb 26:08
If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at barb@googlegirl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at abovethefold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our live show on the Facebook page. So I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl.

Barb 26:29
Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

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Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Today’s guest exemplifies community action and volunteerism. Janet Kotylak is the winner of the 2021 YWCA Women of Distinction Community Action Award.

Since 1997, she’s been a School Board Trustee, listening to the voices of parents around her division.

A partner on a family farm, mother, entrepreneur and community activist, Janet has much to say about the state of education in our province. Tune in to learn more!

Missed an episode?

Ep. 80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO #GrowLocal

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Welcome to Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO, a special episode of the Secret Life of Entrepreneurs and a #GrowLocal episode.

Tune in to meet our customers, Skittles and Eva, who teach us about their journey to purchase from search to shopping.

Skittles, a discerning Boston Terrier, wants his pet parent to shop local and select convenience. While Eva, a particular customer who is comfortable with tech and research, prefers to shop local but needs to find competitively priced products.

Learn how Local SEO influences their purchase decisions and how local businesses can find more ready-to-buy customers, like Skittles and Eva.

If you are a local business owner and would like to learn more, visit https://getfound.live

Missed an episode?

Video Transcript: Ep. 80

Barb 0:10
Welcome to a very special episode, the first in our three part series, grow local. And we’ll even have a few guests business owners join us today via the online chat with some questions as we go.

Barb 0:26
In this episode entitled, your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO will take you on a journey of two of your customers.

Barb 0:38
If you’ve ever been frustrated with Google, not showing the right content, not showing your business, not seeming to understand what you do, this is your fix. This is the way to tell Google who you are. If you’re a local business owner, hoping to find more ready to buy customers.

Barb 0:59
Stay tuned. I’m Barb McGrath, founder of above the fold digital marketing, and the get found Academy, the local business owners guide to the first page of Google. Let’s start off. Let’s start off quickly with what is local SEO and what it isn’t. Local SEO is using your website, your Google listing, and even your social channels to find more customers.

Barb 1:31
SEO or search engine optimization is maximizing your online properties for customers and search engines. And it’s really important to remember that while we want the search engines to find us, it’s way more important that our customers find us and our customers shop with us.

Barb 1:57
So SEO is about finding more customers. A search engine, for example, Google, Bing, or Yahoo can find your business. And they can understand the content on your website when you give it to them.

Barb 2:14
And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. How do we give more content to these search engines? So from a practical perspective, as a local business, local SEO means more foot traffic. Local SEO is all of those best, and near me searches that we all do from our phone, best coffee shop, coffee shop near me, best plumber, Saskatoon, best plumber weyburn.

Barb 2:46
These are all searches that customers are doing every day. And we want those customers to find you.

Barb 2:56
Local SEO means that you will have more online purchases, even if they’re picked up or delivered. And as we all survived COVID so many of us learn to deliver our services virtually, or create a contactless environment where consumers could continue to purchase from us.

Barb 3:20
So local SEO isn’t about online shopping. It’s about finding your customers where they are online. SEO is the equivalent of a dating service for your business. Customers will swipe you away in a heartbeat. And if you don’t appear to have what they’re looking for, they’re just going to keep going.

Barb 3:51
So it’s your job to show off all of the things that you have to offer. So those potential dates I mean, customers know that you have what they’re looking for. So local SEO is not a quick scheme to get a whole bunch of clicks on your website, or on your social channels to drive up visits, local SEO ties directly to sales and cash in your register.

Barb 4:28
So let’s start off by meeting our customers. Because really, they’re our guest today, and they’re the most important folks who are here with us. Our first guest is Skittles and I’m just gonna bring Skittles, do a little bit of cuddling with him here. So this is Skittles.

Barb 4:46
Skittles is a very discerning young Boston Terrier. He’s particular about his nutrition and seeks quality food and treats. He absolutely loves his pet parent, a young lad named Peter.

Barb 5:06
Skittles likes a little bit of variety in his food and toys. And Peter is new to pet parenting. So, you know, he’s still doing a lot of shopping around, and he’s very price conscious, he wants his money to go as far as it can for Skittles. He also wants the best for Skittles.

Barb 5:30
And he Googles every purchase before he actually makes the purchase. Doesn’t matter if it’s food, toys, a leash, a harness, little boots for winter, because these paws get mighty chilly, it doesn’t matter if it’s a kennel, whatever it might be. Peter searches on Google for everything before he actually makes that purchase.

Barb 5:58
Our other customer that we’re going to talk about today is Ava. And Ava and Skittles are two very different customers. So let’s take a look at Ava. There she is. So Ava, on the other hand, is not just discerning. She’s very particular. And once she finds a business that she likes, she tends to return over and over.

Barb 6:28
She’s very traditional at heart, but very savvy, when it comes to technology, she will return to a business if she believes that the price is competitive. And that’s a really important differentiator. She’s looking for competitive pricing. She’s not afraid of that online environment.

Barb 6:53
When she’s unsure, uncertain, she’ll spend hours researching, analyzing, googling her different options, and understanding what she can buy as a customer.

Barb 7:08
Both of our customers today will support local businesses whenever they can. So if it’s an option, they’re both absolutely going to support local. But as a local business, you have to be competitive, you need to be convenient, and Skittles, or Peter and Eva can confirm, before they go shopping, that the business that they want to shop with actually has what it is that they’re looking for.

Barb 7:45
So they are such different customers. But their journey to purchase all ends with the same result. They want to shop local, their journeys are different, but they still want to be able to shop locally. And they have one thing in common.

Barb 8:07
They both rely on their search result to find the products and services that they want. Eva being the researcher relies on what she finds on a business’s website, to be up to date to be true and to be accurate. So if her chosen business shows that they have an item in stock, she 100% expects that to be true.

Barb 8:36
Skittles, on the other hand, is a little less patient. And he sends Peter directly to Google Maps, Google listings to find the things he wants. Because he knows if Peter goes to those Google listings, Peter can instantly contact a business, ask for directions, make a phone call, and that’s what Skittles is looking for.

Barb 8:59
So before Eva before Ava or Peter for Skittles, before they made that last purchase, they interacted with their chosen business 12 different times 12 think about that. If your customers are interacting with you 12 different times. That’s absolutely huge. They followed and commented on the business’s social media. They checked hours and location on the business’s website. They checked Reviews on Google and they watched a video on YouTube. They even made a phone call just to double check some availability.

Barb 9:42
Ava being immunocompromised, she also sought out the COVID protocols. She wanted to make sure that the business had posted this information publicly. The last place that both Eva and Peter on Skittles behalf When went and looked for information was on their Google listing, asking for directions, they were ready to make the purchase.

Barb 10:09
They had their credit card literally in hand, they went to the Google listings. So even Skittles represent every one of your customers. 83% of customers still purchase their goods and services locally.

Barb 10:27
Customers want to be able to support you. And they have to know what you have to offer. Local SEO is driven by up to date, information, accuracy, and keywords. To help Google understand what a business is about. When Skittles wants the best squeaky toy available. He gets Peter to Google squeaky toy for Boston Terrier, or best squeaky toy for a lap dog.

Barb 11:02
Or better yet squeaky toys near me. These are the searches that Peter is doing on behalf of Skittles, because he wants to keep his little pup as entertained as possible. And if you’ve ever had a dog that is a Boston Terrier, you’ll understand why that is. So the results that appear when Peter does his search are primarily from online stores. He gets Amazon, he gets eBay, but he wants to find a local store. He did find a couple of franchises in his search result.

Barb 11:39
But that still wasn’t quite what he’s looking for. He wanted local, and so many customers do, they go out of their way to try and find local, but they don’t find what they’re looking for. Because at the local level. So often a business isn’t looking after their SEO. Eva on the other hand, she did a Google search and she was searching for a big new puffy dress, her dress is getting a little bit worn.

Barb 12:11
She wants this big, puffy, new blue dress. The difference between Peter search and Eva search is keyword. And so that’s the first step to local SEO is keywords. Understanding the keywords that your customers are looking for, and are using. A tool like Google My Business, which is your Google listing, gives you a section called insight. And insights will list the exact keywords that customers used when they viewed or clicked your Google listing.

Barb 12:56
So if you’re not sure where to find keywords for your customers, then head into your Google listing when we’re done today. And you’ll be amazed what you find inside your insights.

Barb 13:09
If you have a Google listing, just check it out by going to business.google.com your insights are literally there waiting for you the keywords that you find in your Google listing, you also want to use them on your website pages, throughout your listing and on your social channel.

Barb 13:34
Now, the interesting thing about social media is it doesn’t tend to be as keyword specific. But it’s also not as closely tied to a customer making a purchase. So the keywords that you find, while you’ll use them throughout all of your marketing material.

Barb 13:54
You also want to be able to understand what your customer journey looks like. Are your customers hanging out on social media? Are they making one of those 12 first contacts that both Peter Peter and Eva did.

Barb 14:11
Your Google listing then becomes that number one tool for local SEO, when a customer is ready to buy, I can they’ve got that credit card in hand. They go to your listing, they want to know what you’ve got, they want to find your website, they want to find your phone number, they want to contact you.

Barb 14:28
They need directions, they need to check your hours, or they’re also looking at your reviews. So each of those are so important. Customers rely on accuracy 100% for your name, address, phone number and hours. So if your website and your Google listing are not a perfect match, when we’re done, make sure you head over there and get that fixed.

Barb 14:57
So then the second takeaway of course, is Google listing and Google listings appear in search results just below the ads, or over on the right hand side, if there’s only one business that Google believes is a match, when customers are searching for your business, they need to find you in what’s called the snack pack.

Barb 15:21
And the snack pack are those top three businesses, or top three listings that appear in the search results. So you will often see three businesses and maybe even one or two add right in that little snack pack.

Barb 15:40
But when customers are ready to buy, they go to that snack pack. So that’s where you want to be, they’re looking at your location, is it up to date, customer might remember that, well, gee, I remember this business move last year, and they don’t seem to have updated their location or your hours change, or you have different protocol, during COVID.

Barb 16:03
When customers find discrepancies in your listing, it just starts to erode the trust a little bit. So you want to keep that listing 100%, up to date. And one of the ways that you can do that is simply by logging in on a weekly basis.

Barb 16:21
That’s how you have to do log in, post some content, not sure what to post, Hey, take a look at whatever you may have posted on social media, pull in those keywords that you already found in insights, and create a post right inside your Google listing.

Barb 16:39
Google is constantly giving local businesses new features. And if you remember the Google listing from a few years ago, many local business owners complain because it didn’t feel like the listings really helped local, it felt like big business had all of the favors. So Google has changed that drastically.

Barb 17:01
You want to be in your listing on a weekly basis, checking what has changed, bringing it up to date, creating a post. At the end of the day, when Google is done, they have one objective for your listing, they want you to sell more stuff.

Barb 17:19
That’s it, they just want you to sell stuff because they know when you succeed, the likelihood that they succeed is huge.

Barb 17:28
So if they’re not familiar with your business, and they’re looking for more information about you, then you need to include in your listing a description of your business, pictures of your products, photos from inside your location, your business logo, there are so many different things that you can do inside that listing, if you’d like to be in the snapback, and Who wouldn’t? Hello, hi, hallelujah like we all want to be there, your Google listing becomes that must tell using the keywords you have to tell Google what’s going on.

Barb 18:08
And as an added bonus, just a couple of months ago, Google added the ability to add a product whether your product or service based. So when you finish this session, and you go and you get logged in, you’ll see that you can add a picture of a product as well as a description. And these show up really high in your listing. So from a visual perspective, they’re awesome.

Barb 18:36
The final step in local SEO is the content on your website. Google does not read your website word for word. Google is just a big old calculator.

Barb 18:49
And when a customer does a search, Google calculates in the back end, what should show up for that particular customer. If you’re managing your listing, and your website, you’re following all of Google’s rules, the likelihood of being able to get your business in front of that customer is very high. It’s really that simple.

Barb 19:16
When Google does the calculation, it happens in a split second. So a website that appears on the first page underneath those listings. They’re not paying to be there.

Barb 19:29
They’re there because they’ve done the work. They’ve earned Google’s trust. The first thing Google looks for when they go to your website is your name, address, phone number and ours. Does that sound familiar? That’s what we just talked about with your listing.

Barb 19:47
For such simple pieces of data, name, address, phone number hours, get them in sync. If you happen to be an e-commerce business, then you absolutely have to have what’s called an SSL.

Barb 20:01
And this is again, still part of the content on your website. And SSL is a security certificate on your site. And it’s your way of telling Google that you are protecting your customers and your website. That’s all it is. It doesn’t matter what you use to build the site, you can always have an SSL certificate on your site.

Barb 20:30
Google also read something else called metadata. And metadata, or a meta tag is a piece of information that Google can, can read and can understand, to learn more about your business.

Barb 20:47
So an example that you might be familiar with is your page title. A page title, just, for example, would include your keyword. And it’s a piece of metadata. It’s your way of telling Google, hey, we’re here. Here’s what we do. So every page on your website has a title.

Barb 21:11
And it also has a description. Again, it doesn’t matter how your website has been built. All of the large page builders for websites allow you to create a page title and a page description. So every page has it. If you don’t have a page description, or you don’t have a page title, for some reason, Google will just reach into your site, pull back some information, and that’s what they’ll display to the customer.

Barb 21:44
Why would you want to leave that up to Google to figure out what to say, versus being able to keep it up to date yourself. But each the description and the title or a description of metadata, and it’s that metadata that Google plugs into their calculator to do the calculation for whether or not your website appears?

Barb 22:08
So metadata is not technical mumbo jumbo, it’s not confusing. It’s what are your customers looking for? And where can you put those keywords on your website? It’s that simple.

Barb 22:26
Most websites will include hundreds, if not 1000s, of different opportunities to create metadata. If you take a look at your website, if you’re not taking advantage of all of the titles, descriptions, any of the pieces of metadata, then that needs to be the second thing you do after you’re done today, because you’re going to finish up in your listing.

Barb 22:54
And then you want to be able to hop into your website and start to make some of these changes. So all you need to do is find those keywords, use them for your titles and descriptions, and any other metadata that you have out there.

Barb 23:08
So your Google listing and your metadata become that one on one conversation with Google. Hey, we’re here. Here’s what we do. We teach local business owners how to get found on Google, we teach them how to get to the first page of Google, hey, we’re over here we sell great quality pet food for Skittles, he’s gonna love it. Hey, we’re over here, we’ve got a nice big, blue puffy dress for Ava.

Barb 23:33
That’s all there is to it. So you’ve got your keywords, you’re going to go in, you’re going to find your keywords, then you’re going to hop into your listing, get it up to date, be sure it’s in sync with your website.

Barb 23:48
And then you’re going to take a look at the content on your website to make sure that what you want Google to know is in fact, what Google is telling your customers. So there you have it.

Barb 24:02
Skittles can now have the best squeaky toy he can imagine. Because Peter can shop local, he can find the local business that has the special squeaky toy that has the little spikes on it, and the ball lights up and Skittles is absolutely excited. He couldn’t be more excited when Peter comes home and he can instantly smell that squeaky toy inside the bag.

Barb 24:26
Ava on the other hand, can now stock up on big blue puffy dresses that she can buy locally. And more importantly, she’s able to feel safe making that purchase. It is so important to her being immunocompromised that she knows that when she goes someplace she can trust that that business has her best interests at heart. So there you have it.

Barb 24:54
That is your ultimate guide to local SEO and getting found If you are a local business owner, and you’ve ever been frustrated with Google, not showing the right content, not seeming to understand who you are, what you do, and you’ve wondered, how in the heck do I get my business to that first page of Google? Here is your fix.

Barb 25:19
If you’re looking for a quick fix, then start with your listing. Head into your listing when we’re done with today’s episode, and make all of the changes bring it right back up to date, because it leads most quickly to new customers who have a credit card in hand.

Barb 25:39
If you’re in it for the long game, make those minimize those swipes in our dating app. Right. That’s what SEO is going to help with.

Barb 25:49
So from a long term perspective, yes, it does take time, but just like having a baby. That doesn’t seem to stop anyone. That’s all I have for you today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl.

Barb 26:06
Remember, you work hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Ep. 79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Video Transcript: Ep. 79 with Jennifer Fox

Barb 0:00
Our guest today fills a very non traditional role as a woman in her family. She is the first in a three generation business that have been involved in a local business here in Regina. I’m gonna let her tell you about the business and her involvement. But I’d like to start off by welcoming Jennifer Fox from auto electric to our show this morning. Good morning, and thank you for being here.

Jennifer 0:28
Good morning, Barb, thank you so much for having me. It’s such a pleasure to finally put a name and a face together.

Barb 0:33
Yes, it’s been great.

Jennifer 0:34
We’ve been doing lots of online communication, but this is perfect.

Barb 0:37
Exactly. Yeah. You know, there’s still something to be said for like talking to someone. Right?

Jennifer 0:43
Well, there is. And I think we miss out on so much. Without that the expressions that you can see, and just the closeness that even just the visual ads, when you’re in an online format is so much more than just that text format. Exactly.

Barb 0:55
Yes. You know, I have a girlfriend. This is a total aside before we get started, but I have a girlfriend who always swears like she is not a hugger. And now that COVID has dragged on for so long. She’s like, I’m just warning you like I am hugging when this is done.

Jennifer 1:11
Exactly. Yeah, we’re seeing these other sides of our personalities coming through due to the length of things now.

Barb 1:17
Exactly. That’s so true. Anyway, I kind of hijacked our kickoff here this morning. So that’s a little bit about yourself and your involvement with the business.

Jennifer 1:27
For sure. So as you said, my name is Jennifer Fox, and I am the corporate development and marketing manager for auto electric service, mainline fleet service. So we are a Saskatchewan owned and operated business.

Jennifer 1:40
We’ve been in business since 1943. So we’ve got some long history, they’re all within Saskatchewan, we have an ownership group have eight shareholders. And we have five locations, we have stores, to actually in which I don’t want under the auto electric service name and one under the mainline fleet service name. And then we also have stores in Estevan, Weyburn and Yorkton.

Jennifer 2:02
And you’re we’re not a family business, which makes us kind of unique, but we are a locally owned and operate your business. And even though we’re not truly a family business, we have a couple families that have kind of a few generations of ownership, or siblings that are involved with things like that.

Jennifer 2:15
But we are an independently operated business. So a little bit of my history, I guess, in our history as a business. So my grandfather, my mom’s dad was involved in the business. And basically, he started has one of those stories where he started sweeping the floors. And that was where he came into the business. And that’s where he started. And he literally worked his way up to President and CEO of the business.

Jennifer 2:40
So he kind of went right from the bottom rate to the top. And we have a lot of those stories within our business, a lot of people who have spent their careers with us, which is a really, I think, interesting story and shows some of the longevity that we have.

Jennifer 2:51
But yeah, so just actually, when I was a toddler, my dad became involved in the business, he had gone to university, and then actually worked for SAS, direct West at the time, and then an affiliated organization with our business and then eventually came into the business. And he worked his way up, starting in a sales kind of management role and worked his way up. And he is now our current president and general manager. So I always say it’s interesting, because I have two very different relationships with my dad, at home, he his dad and in the weekends and at the lake in the summer. But at work, he is very much Bob and we very much function like that. So it’s kind of a different dynamic.

Barb 3:35
Well, and that does bring an interesting dynamic into play. Because when president bob wants something done, but we can Bob knows that you need to balance kids activities or family. Like there’s a real dynamic there that must go on then.

Jennifer 3:53
There isn’t I think it’s a dynamic that we both we’ve learned to figure out between the two of us. But it’s, you know, we have we do and we have very distinct relationships and not that business doesn’t get talked about on the weekends and, and things like that, but we how we interact even about those issues is very different at home than it would be at work. So.

Barb 4:13
Absolutely. And you know, just even as you’re talking, it’s making me think about our business because we are family owned as well. And it’s my husband and I in the business. there’s times where we’re talking about work at, you know, seven o’clock in the morning on the couch while we’re having coffee. And and we have two very different personalities. So my husband was much more routine and structured. We’re like, think of something at 10 o’clock at night. I’m going to talk about it. Just this morning, one of those conversations started at seven o’clock. And my husband was sort of rolling his eyes at me and I said, Well, what like I’m thinking of it now. So I have to tell you, he’s just like, I know Let me get to work first.

Barb 5:02
Exactly. Let me just at least get half of this cup of coffee in me. And I, I find as I get older, I become a real morning person. And so you know, I’ll get up at six, and I’ll have my coffee and the kids aren’t up and the dogs still sleeping. And it’s like, Ha, peace and quiet. Right? I know. Yeah, you get thinking and for sure, exactly. So do you find that you have, you know, sort of those times as well, like you and dad will talk business? And you know, maybe your mom has said, You’re not talking business at the Sunday dinner table? Like, do you have those kinds of family rules?

Jennifer 5:40
We do it a lot of ways. You know, there’s definitely topics that are on the table for family dinner and topics that are off the table for family dinner, and even the depth of those topics of from a work perspective and things like that follows it to that. And I think it’s funny, just because of different relationships, too. I think often, I’ll say something to my mom, too. And she’ll be like, well, what are you talking about? I said, Oh, you know, dad didn’t tell you? And she’s like, No, I have it’s the first she’s heard of it. So it’s like, okay, so it’s it’s navigating all those relationships is really interesting.

Barb 6:10
Exactly. Yep. No, you also have a brother, but he’s not involved in the business. So, you know, tell me a little bit about the evolution how how you came to fill this non traditional role. And, you know, what was the family and the rest of the ownerships response?

Jennifer 6:26
For sure. So I think, um, because it was never something that was assumed it was kind of a different path for both of us, my brother and I both went to university, he’s actually very involved in the banking and investment side of things, has a great career over there. And I had actually originally gone to kind of the community based organizations CBOs, and eventually got into kind of health and dental benefits and those hip things in a management role in that kind of arena.

Jennifer 6:52
So it was never really a given. So it was never something that really either one of us had thought about, it was kind of always there. You know, we grew up playing tag in the warehouse on Saturdays while dad was working when we stopped by and things like that. But it was never really where we thought our careers would go. But I had lived in Saskatoon and I had had my daughter, who is eight now and moved back to Regina, that whole idea of it’s fun to move away when you’re finishing up University. But once you have kids, it’s a different story.

Jennifer 7:22
So my, we moved back and to be close to family and have that support system around. And it originally started as just a kind of consulting contract thing. And I of course, knew some of the other managers in the business. And it wasn’t even my dad who really wanted it or pushed for it, I would say. But I had a skill set that they were needing. And so we kind of said, Okay, we’ll give this a try as a contract kind of thing. And from there, it just progressed and things changed. And I went on staff full time, and we are where we are today.

Jennifer 7:53
So it was kind of a different evolution. But I think once I was there, I really although I’d never seen myself ending up there, I really felt at home. And I think I really felt like this was an industry that I had a lot of perspective it because I had seen it happen in the evolution over a lot of years. But I also brought a different insight and a different background from the outside world that we maybe didn’t have at the time.

Barb 8:17
Well, and having that outside experience is so important for a local business, because you need to be able to look at any type of business problem in a very fulsome perspective. So bringing that to the table, I expect was probably a pretty valuable skill set for you.

Jennifer 8:31
I think it was and I think one of our greatest strengths is that, you know, a lot of the ownership group we have in a lot of the management group we have right now are people who have spent most of their careers within the organization, they started, you know, picking parts and working in the warehouse and worked their way up into the roles they have, which is a wonderful evolution and gives you a whole different type of insight. But it also exactly at times, we can miss that balance that comes from not having been there for the last 25 years. And so we just had a discussion the other day about some new initiatives that we’re looking at it. That was one of the comments that came up, right, like, you know, this is why we need some different perspective. Because some of the insight I had was maybe things that we’d always done it a certain way, and maybe it was time to do things a little bit differently.

Barb 9:15
Mm hmm. Exactly. Tell me a little bit about the evolution of the business because you’re not just auto repair, which I think is what you’re most well known for. So tell us a little bit of history.

Jennifer 9:16
Exactly. We have a really complex history actually. As I said, we began in 1943 right here in Regina, and we eventually expanded out into what we bought our two stores in Regina then Estevan, Weyburn and Yorkton, but the vast majority of our business is actually on the wholesale side.

Jennifer 9:43
So the big part of our business is actually wholesaling, automotive aftermarket parts. Everything you could need from a ball joint to a zip tie to oils and lubricants to independent service repair facilities.

Jennifer 9:57
So most of our customers are either people who own their own repair facilities who have their own shops who they might be farmers who have information, and are getting to that size now where they’ve got the background that they’re running their own shops, we have a lot of industrial accounts.

Jennifer 10:13
And but most of our business is that independent service repair facility. We also have a network of affiliated jobber stores. So we currently have eight part stores that are throughout Saskatchewan go and read up to Kindersley, and Tisdale, and coming all the way down south here. And those are stores that all sell the types of parts that we sell. But they’re just not big enough to be kind of in the market buying direct from these vendors. So they’re buying through us. And we’re wholesaling those parts to them.

Barb 10:41
And did you call them a jabber store? What was the Java store? So yeah, Java parts stirs. So the products that they purchase through you, are they still branded with the original manufacturer? Or are they co branded with your brand as well?

Jennifer 10:55
No, they are branded with the immediate original manufacturer, with the exception of a brand that we have developed in partnership with a buying group that we’re part of. So we’re part of two actually kind of North America wide buying groups.

Jennifer 11:08
One of those is the aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance, which is under the name of Autovalue. So that’s a name that people tend to hear a little bit more and see a little bit more. And so that is an association of all independent businesses, who have basically come together to combine our buying power throughout North America and negotiate with vendors and suppliers.

Jennifer 11:27
But we’re at the size now that we have lines that we have developed and work with vendors and manufacturers to develop specifically for us. And we’re branded under some of our own names. So whether it’s perfect stop, or whether it is MacPherson we have products that are made just for our group exclusive to our group. And so then our affiliates have access to those as well.

Barb 11:48
So I find all of that very fascinating. So as a local business, you’re multifaceted, just trying to keep track there. I think I counted kind of four or five different business lines. Did I miss some? Is there more than that?

Jennifer 12:01
Yeah, well, because we also have we have a whole division that’s involved in the paint and body shop. So

Barb 12:06
I’m not there yet.

Jennifer 12:08
Nobody knows what we do. And I think sometimes that’s our struggle with marketing. People see our building, and they might know us for one thing, but they don’t realize what all we do. So when you look at Yeah, the repair side, we have two of our own service repair facilities. So we do some of our own repairing ourselves, we’ve got our wholesale side, we have the egg, the industrial, the painted Body Shop division, so we’re kind of going in all different directions for sure.

Barb 12:32
So okay, paint a picture for us of either an ownership group meeting or a management team meeting. I mean, you guys have a huge agenda to work through. Do you tackle it kind of business line by business line? Or do you really just eat this elephant all at one time?

Jennifer 12:50
I think it depends on what the issue is. I think with industrial being kind of our newest area of business, we try and keep that as its kind of own separate game. But often it’s the exact same people who are involved in other things. So it when that happens, it transfers so quickly and so easily in one conversation leads to another. So try to keep it all straight can be a bit of a challenge.

Jennifer 13:11
And the benefit is we can definitely learn from mistakes we’ve made, but also successes we’ve had in other areas of business, when we launch new lines, when we start new things. You know, we’re looking at a lot of volume, too. That’s what other people don’t necessarily realize, you know, when you talk about car parts, and you talk about industrial, we’re not just talking about a store that sells you know, 25 or 30 different things. We have 600 vendors that we buy directly from with over 800 different lines. So and that’s just full lines, then once you start to look in with each line, the magnitude of the information can be kind of overwhelming.

Barb 13:48
Exactly. And if you’re one of those people who can remember just even all of that. It’s like Whoa, it’s whether you like it or not numbers becomes a lot of your day. No kidding. Isn’t that the truth? So you know, one of the things that I’ve always wondered about, like locally owned businesses. So you’ve got eight owners right now, how did they eat? Have you sit down and decide, okay, for right now, you said your dad’s name is Bob, right? Yes. So how did you decide Bob’s gonna be the president for right now? And if Bob doesn’t end up cutting it No offense, dad, then how do you decide that someone else becomes president? What does that look like?

Jennifer 14:27
So we have a whole structure we have because we’ve grown and how we’ve grown and the size that our business is now. Now we kind of like to say that, you know, we started off as a small business that became a small medium business that now is juggling that interesting world of small enough to be small but big enough to be big, and the challenges that come with that.

Jennifer 14:46
So we have a lot of actual policy and structure in place. We have a board of directors that is made up of our ownership group in different roles. We have classes of shareholders, we have, you know, actual scheduled board meetings. That function from a board oversight perspective, and those type of things, and then percentages of shares, ownership, those things all that become weighted into those types of decisions as well.

Jennifer 15:11
So that’s kind of how we work on a technical side. But on a management side, on a day to day operation side. The nice thing about our ownership group as it stands, actually, is that we have an owner who is responsible for Estevan and Weyburn stores, we have one that’s responsible for our mainline fleet division, one that’s responsible for our yorkton store, one that’s responsible for our Regina store. And then we have our corporate sales manager, myself, and then our controller. And then Bob, who’s General Manager and President, you know, so we each kind of have areas of the business that we oversee, that we’re responsible for that we have accountabilities within. So that helps it keep it a little bit clearer as well.

Barb 15:51
Yeah, it would, is there just the one person then who’s not in Regina, he’s responsible, or she’s responsible for Estevan and weyburn?

Jennifer 15:57
So we also have one who’s responsible for yorkton. So yeah, those two are outside of Regina, and then everybody else is located in Regina.

Barb 16:06
And so with the exception of COVID, how often do you have those face to face meetings?

Jennifer 16:11
Well, you know, and that’s one of the things that you look at the good and the bad of COVID is before COVID, we probably weren’t meeting as often as we should, with those branches. We definitely, you know, multiple times throughout the year would have those, but they were more on an as needed basis. But we started back in March of last year, it’s actually we’ve been doing this for a year now. We started with kind of a weekly senior management meeting that basically took the ownership group and the key stakeholders and had a weekly, you know, zoom call, we got everybody hooked up on zoom. Some of them had never seen zoom before, and we got everybody hooked up. And we now have that weekly touch base, which has been fabulous for our business, the communication, the insight that that has brought has been fantastic.

Barb 16:53
Now do you find the flip side of that is that you can’t do that walkabout management anymore. So you can’t walk around and talk to your folks. Are you finding that more difficult?

Jennifer 17:03
It is more difficult and especially because as we’ve implemented policies and things like that, we have our head office in Regina, which is attached to our main warehouse at our retail facility at our service facility there. But because of trying to keep up COVID policies in place, we’ve tried to kind of divide people into groups as well. So people that you know, pre COVID I would have spent hours with over the course of a week and seeing day to day and that kind of thing are now very much not kind of as involved. Sorry, I’ve got a brand new kitten who’s going.

Barb 17:32
Oh, that’s what it is. I wasn’t sure if it was a cat or a child and I was just turning go with it.

Jennifer 17:40
We adopted a rescue kitten on Monday, and she’s usually really quiet.

Barb 17:45
But she’s saying like, hey, pay attention to me like what’s going on? She hasn’t learned to jump up in the zoom meeting and walk across the keyboard.

Jennifer 17:55
You know, she’s only 706 grams, so she doesn’t have the weight yet to get up on.

Barb 18:02
Super tiny.

Jennifer 18:03
Yeah, she’s like fits in the palm of your hands.

Barb 18:06
Oh, wow. So was this a litter that the Humane Society found.

Jennifer 18:10
It was a litter that a SOS pre rescue have come across and you need some help? So yeah, we actually my daughter and I a week ago, Monday, made the drive up and picked her up. We had a two and a half hour drive up north to pick them up. And we brought her and two other cats back with us and dropped them off at their houses.

Barb 18:29
Wow. Do you want to lean over and grab her?

Jennifer 18:32
Did she she is okay. She’s actually laying in the sun trying to get our other cat to play with her. So yeah, she’s perfectly fine.

Barb 18:40
If she’s trying to play then there’s nothing wrong with them, right?

Jennifer 18:43
There’s something wrong but no, I can see you’re like,

Barb 18:47
Oh, they have personalities. We have a good I guess technically he’s a senior. And so we have this senior dog. Well, oh my goodness. He’s got the run of the house. He gets babied. He gets tucked into the couch, he gets to sleep on the bed. He’ll crawl under the covers, you know, during the night every once in a while. I’m like, you know, a dog’s life is a pretty darn good thing. So

Jennifer 19:10
That’s nice. Especially these guys who have hit the jackpot. Right? They’re living better than the rest of us.

Barb 19:15
I know. Exactly. Exactly. Anyway, we digress. Yeah. So sorry. So we were talking about the touch points and how you lose that, that face to face. Right? How were you? How trying to compensate for right now? For sure

Jennifer 19:31
We’ve done you know, it’s never the same. But we’ve done a lot more communication, in written form to our staff, things that maybe would have been just quick verbal team huddle is in meetings like that. We’re doing a lot more written communication. We started an actual internal newsletter.

Jennifer 19:46
So we have a monthly newsletter that goes out that not only touches on kind of some of the policy, it’s in the information stuff, but we’re trying to make it really personal to so people don’t lose touch with who they still have as colleagues who is working in another building that they still would normally have interaction with and see.

Jennifer 20:02
So things like birthdays, things like special events, those type of things. We’re trying to cover those off in there. And then we do have, we’ve divided into groups, right. So we have, you know, kind of areas of accountabilities, where managers are still in touch with their staff on a daily basis, checking in with them, making sure that they’re okay making sure that they know what’s going on, on both a professional and a personal level, because I think that’s been a lot of COVID, too, is we’ve had to learn that there’s a lot more to life, there’s a lot more to people’s lives, and we don’t necessarily always know those stories. So it’s been a really eye opening experience to just who our people are and where they may or may not need support.

Barb 20:39
That’s right. One of the things that I find interesting about COVID is, you know, for some jobs, you can entirely exist online, do your job, communicate with a team, but if you’re fixing a vehicle or wrapping up parts to ship, you can’t do that through a computer, you need a person there. So were you guys shut down for a period of time last March, when COVID hit?

Jennifer 21:05
No, we have been shut down all we were fortunate under the kind of Emergency Services Act, we fall into an essential business because of our ability to keep transportation on the road to keep vehicles whether it’s an ambulance or a police car, we do work with everybody from the RCMP to, you know, the ambulances to Canada Post to FedEx, things like that.

Jennifer 21:26
So because we have those areas of business, we were deemed an essential service. So we’ve gone all the way through, we very early on, tried to figure out how to adapt, how do you kind of pivot our business to keep our staff safe, number one, to keep our customers safe. So whether it was barriers in our stores and additional pee pee and things like that. But we have remained open, our showrooms have remained open, our warehouses have remained open our service repair facilities for me to open all the way through. So we’ve kind of just adjusted on the fly and made things work from there.

Barb 21:57
You know, one of the things that I found really interesting about essential services was, for example, if you had grocery you were deemed essential, okay, I get that. But the big chain grocery stores also sell clothes. And so they were still profiting from clothing and shoes were a local business this time last year, had to be closed and couldn’t sell the clothes or the shoes. Exactly. Right. And I I really struggled with that, as you know, that’s all we do is support local. And so I watched that, and I, I honestly, I had to stop myself more than a few times from getting on the soapbox and just let her rip, because you know, the chains are going to come and go. And yes, they absolutely keep people employed. But the local business, those are the fabric in our community. That’s what keeps everything connected. So I really had a struggle with that.

Jennifer 22:54
I understand that completely. And I think I’ve struggled with a lot of that, too. And you know, for us, we were lucky because our customers in the repair side, they were able to remain open. So you know, we weren’t kind of juggling that, in terms of where does that look, because they are in the same type of business as we are. But I think at the end of the day, when you don’t have that support for the independence had the big commercials been able to stay open in our industry and the little mom and pops happened, the inequality that that creates off the bat is really hard to struggle with.

Barb 23:25
Yes, exactly. And that’s, that’s where I really struggle with it. Jen, we are almost at a time, I want to ask you one final question. And then I’m gonna, you know, then give us all the contact details. But when you look at the future, and I know this is a big question for a short time period, what does it look like, especially for women in these non traditional roles? What are you seeing from that, from your local business perspective?

Jennifer 23:50
For sure, I think we’re seeing a lot more opportunity than we ever have. And I think we’re seeing a lot more of the resources available to make those things happen. I’m a single mom, I’ve got an eight year old daughter and you know, in a very non traditional role in a very non traditional industry.

Jennifer 24:05
But the one thing that I’ve been able to do as part of that is connect with other women, younger women, older women who are navigating these same things, and the community that that creates and the strength that that creates in the lessons learned that that creates, I think, only makes it easier for future generations to really see anything is their opportunity to see that there are no more traditional roles that any industry any role can make it happen.

Jennifer 24:31
We do a lot of supportive scholarship programs for up and coming. We have a new scholarship, with SIAST for the automotive and auto body programs that actually is focused on getting women into those traits, getting women those opportunities, and I think the growth that can come from that and the diversity that will come from that is only going to increase as time goes on.

Barb 24:51
Yep, absolutely. That sounds fantastic. Jen, tell us how we can all find you and how we can support you.

Jennifer 24:57
For sure. We can be found online at www dot auto electric service.com. We have a great Facebook presence. We’ve been working on that lots. So whether it’s jokes about cars, whether it’s information about repairing your vehicle or whether it’s just things that are happening in local businesses and local communities, check that out for sure. So Facebook, auto electric service is easy to find on there. We can also be reached in Regina Estevan, Weyburn or Yorkton in any of our stores.

Barb 25:24
Excellent. That sounds fantastic. And thank you for joining me today, Jen. Thank you to everyone for tuning in for our show today.

Barb 25:32
If you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at  at barb@googlegirl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at above the fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even post questions on our Facebook page in advance of our shows. So I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you are charged for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Even though she remembers Family Christmas Parties in the training room today’s guest Jennifer Fox never expected she would one day work at and be a shareholder of Auto Electric Service.
 
Jennifer Fox is the Corporate Development & Marketing Manager for Saskatchewan owned and operated Auto Electric Service and is proud to be involved in a mainly male-dominated industry. She is using her history of the business and her fresh new perspective to help drive business improvements and advancements for Auto Electric Service while outstretching her reach to the Automotive Aftermarket throughout North America.
 
Jennifer works every day to show her daughter Maycee and other girls like her that “Girls can be bosses too.
 

Ep. 78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Video Transcript: Ep. 78 with Janet Akre & Susan Robertson

Barb 0:01
Welcome to a special edition of The Secret Life of entrepreneurs. Today, we’re talking to two local artists who live and breathe artistry. Having gotten to know them a little bit over the last few months, I’ve really developed an interest and a passion in the work that they’re doing. So I’m excited to have our guests with us today.

Susan 0:27
Before I go too far, I should actually introduce myself because many of you won’t know me. My name is Barb McGrath, and I’m the host of a podcast called The Secret Life of entrepreneurs. Susan and Janet have very kindly allowed me to broadcast into the Facebook page, as well as on to CJTR. So today’s episode is a little bit different than many. But let’s get started. And I’m going to ask Susan Robinson to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what to expect expect at the upcoming event.

Susan 1:04
Hi, everyone, and thanks, Barb for inviting me here today. My name is Susan Robertson, and then the ceramic artists who lives and works in Outlook Saskatchewan. And I make really beautiful pottery that makes people smile. Now the event that we tend to, and I and I have to give Janet full credit for starting the whole ball rolling on this is river and rail Art Center, which is a self guided tour of artists and artisans in West Central Saskatchewan. And it’s going to take place June 26 and 27th of this year.

Barb 1:46
That’s only a few weeks away eight weeks away.

Susan 1:50
Yes. Is this where I go? Ah,

Barb 1:53
Okay, all go. Oh, my goodness. Eye balls popping out exactly. How many people are you expecting at the event then Susan?

Susan 2:05
We’re actually anticipating about 4000 people over the two days of the event.

Barb 2:12
Excellent. Wow. That’s exciting. All right. Before we talk too long, let’s have Janet Introduce yourself. And tell us a little bit about the the artists it artists. I can’t talk this morning, artists and types of artists that we might expect to see.

Janet 2:28
Morning, Barb, and thank you too, for inviting me on this adventure of doing a live interview. We have a I have been doing acrylic art, only for about eight years as a full time kind of activity. I am a retired English and French teacher. And I did teach art, or should I say I facilitated the many talents. Students have learned lots from them. And I think I learned that I could maybe do some of that as well. Yeah, so I am really happy to be doing this now a little bit more seriously, and helping other people to be able to test their skills as well.

Janet 3:12
We have 10 towns 26 venues and over 50 participants, which is a lot. It is hoped we might have 15 participants. So we have really broadened out. And certainly we have a wide variety of things that are going to be people that are going to be making things for us making it happen.

Janet 3:38
We have three fiber artists, we have 14 who paint, we have three who do pottery to then use with sculpture, we have seven who work with wood, but that might be all the different ways you can work with wood from cutting boards, to antler carving to so many different kinds of wood turning even a luthier which is of course creating stringed instruments with pine woods.

Janet 4:07
We have two jewelry, we have a musical trio that will be performing. And we also have for aggressive agribusiness entrepreneurs who will be sharing what they’ve got. But you can add to that a winery and to galleries. So and seven, seven groups within all of those as well. So there’s lots to see lots to do. There will be demonstrations. And yeah, it’ll be a surprise for everyone. Just how much tell there is in this area.

Barb 4:41
Exactly. So when you think about the wide variety of artists that are involved, are most of them full time artists, are they part time Is this a retirement activity for them are are some of the artists just learning an upcoming, give me a little bit of an idea of what that landscape looks like?

Janet 5:00
I think that I could answer all parts of those, each of those questions in a different way. Because yes, there are some who are retired like myself, who found a passion and time to do what you’ve always wanted to do. And I think there are also I know, there are also people like Susan, who are professionals who have been doing this as a career.

Janet 5:20
And that would be also true, we have some that are brand new, some who have been doing it for a long time in whatever way they’ve been doing it. And I think that, for some, it’s a discovery of, I could do something more. And this is one of the things we’re trying to help them with the Reverend rail art tour, so that they can find a space that’s safe. Find that myself when I had my first show. And you’re really nervous, and you’re not sure anybody will come? Yes. And I’ve already had a chance to reassure one person that, yes, they will come. Yes, they will love what you’re doing. And Sally, they will find that your work is exceptional, even though and I know that for myself, even though I really question if anybody would buy what I’m doing. Yes.

Barb 6:22
Yes, exactly. So I’m gonna ask you both this question. And I know your answers are very different. How did you get started? What was the impetus that said, I want to work with ceramic ware, I want to work with paint and acrylics. And, like, what what inside of you told you that this was something that you wanted and needed to do? Su do you want to go here?

Susan 6:49
Oh, I’ll go first. That’s not an easy question to answer. For myself, how I I’ve always had artistic leanings, and, you know, did art, drama, dance, all those things growing up. And then I got married and moved to Saskatchewan with a 17 day old baby and, and there was a local pottery class offered, we used to have a pottery Group here in town.

Susan 7:21
And my husband said, you need to get out of the house, little bit of cabin fever, you would really love this, go and try it. So off I went. And it was just a matter of, I fell in love with it and became passionate about it, it just felt so normal, so natural. And as time went on, when I wasn’t in the studio, if I was out of the studio for any length of time, I started to dream about pots. Well, that’s when I knew I was really hooked, but still happens. Now when I go on a two week holiday. I’m really excited and anxious to get back in the studio, because I’ve been having these dreams about things that I need to create.

Barb 8:06
So do you, do you dream? do you envision the creations that you end up making them?

Susan 8:13
Yes, yeah. Sometimes from beginning to end, sometimes, in the dream, I, I follow a process and, and discard ideas and go, Oh, this would be good, or Oh, this would be better. So I’ve actually, instead of actually doing the physical work mentally, I’ve worked through all kinds of design decisions and challenges to creating the piece to wake up knowing Uh huh, this is what I’m doing.

Barb 8:42
Oh, wow. That’s actually like, to me that that really speaks to how internal The art is for you. That, you know, you would find yourself thinking about it planning before in a time period that That’s not at all what you were intended to do. Wow.

Susan 8:58
Yeah, it is really exciting. But in some respects, it’s not disappointing. I don’t know what the correct word is. Because when you actually go through the process of building a piece, without having thought it through to the end and having that vision, there’s there’s a lot of opportunity for creativity and experimentation, that when you do it mentally, and just Okay, I’m going to create this piece. You’ve lost the journey, and the journey in itself can be a very creative process. Yes. And sometimes, yeah, sometimes I have to sort of step on myself and say, No, don’t don’t design at all. I’m a little anal retentive. I kind of like to know where I’m going before I get. Absolutely.

Barb 9:49
Janet. How about yourself?

Janet 9:52
Well, I’ve always done something crafty. I can remember doing paper mache as a child and just Fast forward as an adult with three children, I did all kinds of sewing and I was involved in craft shows and did weaving. I did Petit point pictures. And it wasn’t till I started teaching art. And I had students that, oh, that were very talented in many ways.

Janet 10:22
And then we started doing watercolors. I’m sorry, it was awful. All of a sudden, these talented children had awful things to turn out. And I thought, okay, I’ve got to figure this out for myself, because obviously, it’s not as simple as giving them the paints, and single to it. So that summer, I took paints and paper went up to our cabin, Christopher lake. And I said, a step by step mark.

Janet 10:51
And I thought, I’ve got to figure out what’s going on here. So what’s the process? And I did that came back. So the kids said, hey, let’s try this. And I had five little step by step canvases, let’s do this a step at a time. And within days, they had already mastered that, like I say, they were artistic. senior students, they had mastered it, they went leaps and bounds beyond what I had already figured out.

Janet 11:22
Okay, but at the same time, I realized that kind of like playing with paints. And so I did take a class, and I did play around with with watercolors for a while. But then I realized that I can do more with acrylics. And I can layer paints, the way I’m layering them with watercolor, but more effectively. And I think the other aspect of that is my mother always did a lot of Crafty Things.

Janet 11:48
But then she was very, very artistically minded, actually. And I sort of felt like, like when I retired that I needed something to do, and that I could honor memory by painting, and taking one step further, just as some of her sisters had done. And the other part was that my husband, my family, encouraged me so much. And I don’t think without that encouragement, that I’d be where I am now, right? I sell a lot of paintings, I do a lot of painting, they do a variety of things.

Janet 12:21
And all of that really does stem from the encouragement that people have given me. and selling them can be a bit awkward, challenging. How do you price things? I have one niece that scolds me regularly. And I don’t price them high enough. Yes. And I argue with her that I want people to be able to buy them. I don’t want to be stuck with all these paintings in my house.

Janet 12:48
But one, one of the first Commission’s I did, a woman said to me, this is I want this large painting. She gave me pictures and thinking about it for quite a while. And I showed her in progress. And oh, yes, she’s loving it, loving it. Then when she came to pick it up. I said, What if we hadn’t talked price? Because I hate talking price. Oh, and I said to her with 180 be enough. And her face fell? And I thought, Oh, no. Oh, no, that’s too much.

Janet 13:26
This painting, I believe, if I remember correctly, it was 24 by 36k. And I had spent about two weeks on. Yeah. And when her face fell, I said that too much. And she was thinking the opposite wasn’t she. Yes. And I said, you and your husband talk about it, let me know.

Janet 13:48
Well, I I actually, I hadn’t finished the paper. I had a few things left to do on it. Okay. I delivered the painting to their house. They had a cheque ready for me for $350 Oh, wow. And, and I guess, again, encouragement, what I was doing was worthwhile. Yeah. And I think so many of us that are beginners or, you know, fledgling entrepreneurs, we need to know that what we do that we can ask the price that others are asking. Exactly. Maybe not right away. But I have raised my prices.

Barb 14:29
Absolutely. And you know, I think that’s where this conversation fits really well with that secret life of entrepreneurs. Because artists are entrepreneurs as well. musicians are all types of art are still business. And for whatever reason in society, I’m sure this could take over our conversation. We’ve so many people have put less value on the arts, your time is equally valuable. To someone in the business community, you’re generating and cultivating culture, and that fabric that makes up our society. And so an event like this really helps people understand both the breadth and the offering that we have right in this province. How did the event come to be? Give me a little bit of history. Susan, do you maybe want to touch on that one?

Susan 15:25
Well, it’s something I have wanted to do for years. And actually, Janet and her neighbor who’s participating, Dale Hicks, who’s a sculptor, had the event in 2018, Janet, I believe, I wasn’t even around miss the whole thing story in my life. And they held the event, their yards join, and they had a fabulous event. I heard wonderful things about it.

Susan 16:00
They sold well, they had about 600 people show up. And then Janet wanted to do it again. And she approached me and I went, Oh, my God, I’ve always wanted to do this. Sounds great. So we started working on it. But unfortunately, we were supposed to have both the first one last year, but COVID kind of put a damper on our enthusiasm.

Susan 16:25
But it actually turned out to be a wonderful thing, because it gave us more time to prepare. And, as Janet mentioned, originally, we had hoped for like six communities and 15 artists. And this has just become amazing. The response that we’ve had to it. And we we didn’t even know the the strength and breadth of the artists and artisans in our community. So for me, it’s been very educational.

Barb 16:55
Yes, yes, I bet. And do you think as the event grows, so this year, I know we have more than 50% participants? Do you think next year, it’ll be up to 75 100? Do you think that’s even? JANET? I don’t know if that’s manageable. But But is it? Is it manageable? Because would we want to put would we want to put any kind of filter damper in place to to slow it down? Or do we want this to be, you know, sort of the art version of the Craven January where we’ve got 1000s of people attending?

Janet 17:30
Wow. From an organizational perspective, of course, we we get the ball rolling, we do contacts, collect information, and all of those things. And it is possible if we we have to fine tune our system a little bit. But it’s certainly possible to expand.

Janet 17:48
And I love the idea that we have this huge pool that people can either dip their toe in or jump in, take a dive. I like the idea that people can look forward to seeing so many different people in so many different venues. Yeah, I don’t know if that will, it will level out. Okay. I don’t know if some people find that it’s difficult to continue each year.

Janet 18:19
But I do know that there are more people out there. We have discovered that. Yeah, absolutely. And I do believe that the public is also open to that. Because I think that what I have found in the last years, and I have done a show each year since 2008. Although not last year, but the we have gone from a society I think that goes from valuing Oh, I got a Walmart print, Isn’t it pretty? Yeah.

Janet 18:52
To doing yourself, but also to wanting to have real art on their walls, on their table in their kitchens, things that have been produced by local artisans and artists, things that they can say I know who made that? Yeah. And I think that that is where the future is that we we keep it affordable while still paying for, as you said for the time for the scale. Exactly. And I think that if we can raise through meeting the artists if we can raise the level of engagement among the average person. I think that is what will benefit our long run. I don’t really believe that.

Barb 19:41
I remember a story. I think Janet that you told me but Sue, maybe it was you. So I remember the story of it must have been new Janet. So in the last event, there was like five or six different types of artists all within this small radius of space and And you don’t think of that to know your neighbor does woodworking and somebody else does metal shaping and somebody else paints and you know, when like, you must have some fascinating conversations when the neighbors sit down and talk about this stuff. Because to the colas, the general public, we don’t know when we drive through a community or drive by a yard. We have no idea, the skill and the time and the quality of work that is in that yard then, right?

Janet 20:31
Yes, I in that, for that event, I was told, oh, you should talk to Lynn Hermanson. She does fabric art. Well, she, at that point, had bins of things that she had been working on. And they were just sitting in her little house. And she had started engaging with the craftsman man craft Council, she was going to be juried that year, and she was quite excited about it.

Janet 20:57
Well, she has now branched out and selling her work all over the place. She’s on Etsy she’s on. She’s in in many different galleries around it. And it just is amazing. The transformation that caused in her as well. Instead of being almost apologetic, that she had all this stuff that she loved doing. He’s now kind of squaring your shoulders and said, This is what I do. Good. And she was at our show in 2018. And exactly what you’re saying. People who, who didn’t realize that she had talents beyond just looking like a nice person. Yep. Yeah, she is now well known in the fabric art. Society community. Oh, wow. Yeah,

Barb 21:50
That’s incredible. So Susan, tell us a little bit about your work. Because when I think about ceramic, and I read in your bio, that you’re internationally recognized, how in the heck do you ship ceramic internationally and keep it in one piece?

Susan 22:09
Well, there is a whole art packing, that’s for sure. Internationally, well, I sort of have two veins, because I do one of a kind of sculptural pieces. And those are the types of things that you create and ship to galleries. And that’s more challenging because they tend to be larger and heavier. But in terms of production work, which is mugs, bowls, plates. Bubble pack is my friend.

Barb 22:42
Do you went to styrofoam, you’ve taken out shares I bet.

Susan 22:46
I should. Actually we try to do as much recycling as possible. So we recycle boxes, and we use shredded paper. And, you know, we just try to as much as possible, reduce. You know that whole, reuse, reduce recycle. It’s very much in the forefront of our mind it also decreases the cost for the person who’s receiving it when they don’t have to pay for me to buy styrofoam peanuts that are like static electricity and stick to you everywhere you go.

Susan 23:24
Okay, exactly. Ladies, we are almost out of time. Sue, would I be able to get you to wrap us up? Tell us event date COVID precautions website, give us all the details that we need to know so that people can plan to attend.

Susan 23:43
Alrighty, yes, I’m really excited. I hope you’ll join us. And it’s river and rail artventure. Our website is www dot river and rail, Art venture.ca. And the event is happening June 26 10am, to 6pm and June 27, noon till 6pm in West Central Saskatchewan.

Susan 24:11
And if you go on our website, there is an interactive map, you can meet all the makers and see images of all of their work. We will caution you that we are following all the COVID protocols. So you will be asked to consider social distancing when you arrive at a site and to wear a mask.

Susan 24:33
And unfortunately, no food or beverages can be provided because of COVID. And we invite you all to attend. I have to admit, the saddest thing about this event is I’m not going to get to go and visit anybody else by really disappointed but instead I’m hoping you’ll all come take pictures with me posted on Instagram and Facebook and we’ll see you soon Absolutely. And I think you even have your own hashtag this year, if I remember correctly. Yes, we do is hashtag Well, we’ve got river and rail art trail, which was our original name, and hashtag river and rail art venture.

Barb 25:16
Absolutely. And I love that art venture. That’s what it’s all about. Get out, take a road trip, have an adventure, and check out the art that we have in the community. Wonderful.

Barb 25:28
Thank you both for joining me today for taking the time out of your morning, working through some technology bumps that we had in the background, but here we are. So thank you both for being here. I love hearing about the work you’re doing. And I’m excited for the event. I’m still trying to decide Can I go or does the website and the website going down? Is there some risk there if too many people are on the site that weekend, so I’m still figuring that peace out.

Barb 25:54
But if you would like to be a guest on the show Secret Life of entrepreneurs, just email me at BB at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram. Just to reminder, you can even post questions in advance of our live show. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you work hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

We have two very special guests on today’s episode of the Secret Life of Entrepreneurs, Janet Akre and Susan Robertson. The driving force behind the 2021 River & Rail ArtVenture event.
 
The River & Rail ArtVenture is a self-guided driving tour where you can explore a fascinating corner of Saskatchewan while visiting many of the creative artists, artisans, and entrepreneurs who call this region home.
 
This is a unique opportunity to explore and engage with fascinating folks working in a variety of creative endeavours: painting, jewellery, glass, sculpture, fabric art, pottery, music, writing, metalwork, and agribusiness.
 
Connect with Janet and Susan @ River & Rail ArtVenture
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Ep. 77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Video Transcript: Ep. 77 with Karen Smith

Barb 0:00
Today’s guest is all too familiar with the underbelly of the business world. Karen Smith is the CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan. And she tells tales of business owners who have been wrong, cotton scams and having lost 1000s or maybe even more dollars. She also tells tales of business owners who are protected because of their engagement with the BBB. Karen, welcome. Thank you for being here.

Karen 0:32
Thanks for inviting me, Barb. Glad to be here.

Barb 0:35
Absolutely. And we too, had some tech challenges this morning or earlier guests had some challenges as well. So fingers crossed, we’re on and we’re live. And hopefully it all works. Yeah. So tell me how long have you been with the Better Business Bureau? Just a little over five years with the Better Business Bureau? And what interested you in a rule like that you’re like on a daily basis? You’re kind of dealing with some yucky stuff? No, I

Karen 1:04
Yes, it is a different environment here always balancing something between consumers and businesses, or scammers and businesses and consumers. It’s always a balancing act. No, I think that my experience up to now and lead me to at the right time.

Barb 1:35
Got it. Kate, that sounds very good. So one of the tools that I know that the Better Business Bureau have is something called scam tracker. And that’s actually an international initiative, or is it a national initiative.

Karen 1:48
It’s an international and they sort of Canada was at the forefront. Although Canada didn’t create the product, we became the first ones to step up to the plate and say, let’s make it live in Canada everywhere all at once. And that okay, but you know, five years ago, they were piloted the product in a number of locations, I guess, seven and eight years ago, when I came on, they were both sued mentioned five years ago or so. Okay, they were looking to pilot it in a broader spectrum to see how it would work. Canadian BBB offices stepped up and made it happen.

Barb 2:36
So what exactly is scam? tracker? How do I use it as a business owner.

Karen 2:42
So it’s a crowdsource means of collecting information from victims about scams is a database that’s accessible worldwide, can’t it’s the it’s in the victims own stories. It’s no one has an important piece. Because what that then does is it helps prepare individuals that most likely are working for a company to be more knowledgeable about how scammers work. And be able to take that skill set to whatever the setting that they’re in their work setting that they’re in. Right. So I help them to be more aware of what’s going on. If they can identify in their personal life, then they can also identify in their business life, whatever that course may be.

Barb 3:33
So you know, it used to be that we were worried about our grandparents getting scammed. Is that still the case then?

Karen 3:39
Well, it is for certain types of scams, but in a general sense, anybody can be scammed. And we know because we we examine the database from scam tracker every year to make sure you know what’s true, what’s changing what’s trending, but also what’s trending in terms of who’s more vulnerable. So the other thing that scam tracker gives us is a database set that is so broad that it helps us to to use our mandate of prevention to help prevent scams, right do do it in the in that manner.

Karen 4:18
What the Better Business Bureau did this is on an international scale is they created a number of scams of a particular type, but also keep where their money is being lost and the degree of money being lost. So those three things are multiplied out together to see who’s more vulnerable for a certain type of scam. Okay, take that information and we can do a deeper dive to see if it has an impact on one gender more so than another or one age group. More So then another So getting back to your question about, you know, is my grandmother or grandfather more at risk than, you know, my 18 year old son or daughter? Well, yeah, probably truth be known, they’re probably both at equal risk,

Barb 5:16
At equal risk. And you know, as a parent, I actually worry less about my parents. And so, you know, grandparents, my I’ve lost my grandparents was just my parents at this point, I worry less about them, because they’ve been using the technology long enough now that, that they’re a little bit more prepared for what might be out there. But my kids are in their, their teens. And my daughter in particular, she, she doesn’t believe that scams are really a thing. We actually had an extensive discussion at home the other night, it was quite funny. And we were talking about all these scams, because my son was doing some research. And to my daughter said, well, there can’t be that many of them. I said, Well, actually, there’s millions and millions of scams, and you know, people stealing money. And her comment was, well, they can’t be making a living doing that.

Barb 6:13
I said, Yeah, they they actually are making a living. That’s why they continue their her rationale, this was quite cute. Her rationale for why this didn’t ring true for her is because, well, what would their neighbors think? Wouldn’t they know that they’re doing scams? If they don’t leave the house, then they must be scamming. And he said, we’re in the middle of COVID. Nobody leaves her house. That’s not a rationale anymore. But in her, you know, 14 year old mind, that was, you know, she knows what our neighbors do. And our neighbors know what we do. And so in her mind, there’s that reassurance that says, well, as long as everybody knows what you do, then you can’t be scamming people. And of course, there’s so much more to it. So I would think that, you know, teens and youth in particular right now, they are probably very susceptible to, you know, just starting talking to somebody online, meeting someone and giving away too much information. When you look at the database, what are you seeing?

Karen 7:25
So what we see is, I mean, it rings true, what you’ve just described is, is exactly what happens, awareness is the one of the best predictors of being able to identify and avoid a scam. So if you’re in business, the more that you can do to ensure that your employees have that knowledge base, the better protected your business is going to be. do all kinds of things on an engineered level. But your last line of defense is going to be your employees. So you, you need to do something there. And in terms of what the what our database tells us about that risk, it’s, for me, it’s a really interesting correlation. Before I came to the Better Business Bureau, I worked for 10 years with the Workers Compensation Board. So as I was on the board, and then here’s the parallels devising, the age group that is most at risk for an injury at work is exactly the same age group that is most at risk to be scammed. And that’s the, the under 35 h hurt when you look at it, you know, so why is that? Well, first of all, all built us so that we’re more risk taking the younger yard.

Barb 8:54
Yes, absolutely.

Karen 8:56
We also move quicker. So in the age of technology, it’s a little bit different, you can very quickly click on an ad, you can click on a link and you don’t give you know you don’t think about the consequences of that. So number one protection. What I tell repeatedly to any interest group that I’m giving an awareness session on on scam prevention, is if you remember nothing else, don’t click on ads, don’t click on links. If you really love that pair of running shoes you see in the ad, open up a new browser, find that company, find those runners and buy them that Wait, take the extra five minutes to do that piece of research. The other example I’m gonna I’m gonna actually encourage them to do even more than that, but at the very least, don’t click on that direct link to get scammers you know that the age of the internet now, it is a bonus in turn So being able to do business, no question about it, even if the work of the Better Business Bureau, you know, we’ve been around for over 100 years. And can you imagine handling 600 a year combined in a paperweight? You’re difficult for a quarter of a million inquiries that we do in Saskatchewan? How the heck could we do that with five staff?

Karen 10:27
You know, it would be virtually impossible on a paper basis. Exactly. But with these, it’s a blessing, we can do computers, it’s a blessing. But the flip side is scammers also have a really good platform to do their work. And yes, for most of them, this is their full time job. But you have to say about it’s not just you know, some lone person sitting on the couch in their basement trying to scam somebody or try to see if they can figure out how to avoid the blocks that security features that are put in place for business.

Karen 11:03
They’re doing it for fun. But that’s not the scammers that are causing the most grief. The most is coming from organized crimes that use it for money laundering, or foreign bodies that use it to, again, either launder money or to find secrets to disrupt economies. You know scamming is one of the biggest detriments to the economy. You know, yes to trust in the marketplace disappears when you’ve been scammed. You are ever more fearful, you’re you, you just don’t spend the money, you’re very more you’re more careful about what you’re doing after that. So the That’s right, trustworthy marketplace is harmed by scams.

Barb 11:53
And in fact, that’s exactly what you do is help build consumer and business trust in the marketplace. So it makes perfect sense, then that that you’re so I wouldn’t say involved, but you’re you’re so committed to you know, making businesses aware of these scams. So when you look at your role as the Better Business Bureau and all of the under kind of like the word underbelly today, I don’t know why. But But all of this nefarious stuff that’s happening. How How does a business protect themselves because it’s not just small business. We heard a story I think it was up in Saskatoon, the city of Saskatoon was scammed for a large amount of money. And so it’s happening to large red tape organizations as well. So how do you actually help protect them? How, besides, you know, checking the link, what else can we do?

Karen 12:52
So if you’re a business, there’s some really good things, you need to think about analyzing the risks in your organization. So enterprise risk management is one of the greatest tools, enterprise risk management isn’t just about the financial side of risk, but it’s also about cybersecurity risk, privacy risks, all those things. So if you can get a handle on those types of things, then you’re going to be better prepared. So how do you get ahead? Well, so things like having documentation on your processes. And I’ll give you some really good examples.

Karen 13:33
A purchasing policy, if you’re purchasing policy is built so that you have independence of of control that you have somebody else that is double checking the work before it goes to the next stage, all these steps, yes, they make things take a little bit longer, but they will also serve as as protection.

Karen 13:55
So let’s take some real examples of that. If somebody in a in your in the business gets an email from someone who says, Hey, I want you to redirect the second installment of this, of this project, to this new bank account, we’ve made a change in our processes and we need there.

Karen 14:19
Okay, all right. So what kind of process Do you have as a business to verify that that is really coming from the initiator of that of that project, the owner of whoever that that project belongs to rate though you need to double check. And so it’s somebody else in your setting would review that process would verify that the the checks and balances are own place?

Karen 14:45
Most of the time, it’s getting a second confirmation that they really did send that email because they could mass emails, right? Yeah, exactly. You pick up the phone and you call that company say Hey, I just got an email, you want me to redirect the second installment to this new bank account? Did that really come from you? Yeah. Okay. You’re verifying it there, you know, many of the transactions involving purchases. And we’ve seen some he has even mentioned with the city of Saskatoon, other municipalities, government entities to be frank are targeted because yes, one of the things that they’re required to do is public disclosure of contracts that are being accepted, and the details of it so that, you know, their ratepayers or taxpayers have full disclosure, but scammers also use that information.

Karen 15:41
So you need to find a way to provide that information for transparency purposes, but how steps in place to mask it? Or to confirm if things change so that you’re not subject to a scam of some type. But yeah, exactly. municipalities are nonprofits. They’re all at very high risk small bits not to sweat about small businesses. It’s Gambit there. Yeah, the thing is, is that when money is is being scammed from a municipality, it’s not just the municipality, it’s whoever the company was that they were supposed to be dealing with. That money is now diverted.

Barb 16:22
Exactly.

Karen 16:23
Oh, you know, that’s, that’s a prime example. You know, another one is redirecting the payroll. So many of us now do our payroll electronically, it’s so easy. Why would you have to write out checks and, and look at the tables and manually do some calculations. But again, if somebody one of your employees send something to HR, or whoever’s doing the payroll, your bookkeeper, if you’re small, and says, you know, I’ve got a change in, in my bank account, I want you to send it here. Again, don’t accept that as positive. You know, in our world, it’s trust, but verify. So because you’ve got it from one source, you verify from another source, again, picking up the phone. If they’re, if they’re right in your office, walking down the hallway and talking to them. Hey, I just got this email. I just really from you.

Barb 17:21
Yeah. So one of the things that I’ve always wondered about some of these, especially the financial scams, the larger scams, as you said, This isn’t one person sitting in their basement dreaming up all sorts of crazy ideas as to what they can do. Typically, it’s a group of people, and there’s call center staff and there’s, you know, a supervisor of some sort. Does the entire level of the scam, know that it’s a scam? Or is it maybe just the top couple of folks who know, and the people on the front line think it’s legitimate? I’ve always wondered that when I get some of these phone calls. Have you heard anything? Do you have any sense for how how knowing it is?

Karen 18:07
Yeah, so so it’s not like I’ve done the research myself, because I’m not on a team that does that kind of research. But we rely on our network of Better Business Bureau offices. And in particular, there’s an inch, we have an international association that we’re all part of all the BBB offices in the world. That research arm has done the research that deep dives to see where it’s coming from. So you’re right, a call center in India or Nigeria or Russia, China, wherever it happens to be. Mm hmm.

Karen 18:48
Generally speaking, the company is known to be a bad actor there, but they don’t necessarily have proved from a government inspectors as perspective to shut them down. So and I can’t tell you I you know, I was really impressed with the US. I think it was the second year that I was part of the Better Business Bureau world that we got word that a call center in India that had specialized in tax scams.

Karen 19:17
They had a Canadian Division for CRA scams, and they had a US division for for tax camps in the US. I mean, that’s big business. It is but the Indian government could never be you know, they could never find a way to legitimately close them down. Okay, information from scam tracker was provided in conjunction. So in Canada, we worked with the Canadian anti fraud centre, the RCMP, and in the states they were working with the with the the FBI side, well, joint effort, that database information of file scams from victim gave them the proof that they needed to go in And shut it down.

Karen 20:01
So you know, when I remember it was August of 2016. Did a midnight raid? arrested over, you know, over 400 people that night? That’s their call center. You know, so that was only one shift. Now the owners of the company fled the country came next year, they caught them when they came back to visit family. Oh, you know, so in Canada, the extent that it that it made a difference. It’s tax scams in Canada that that year, the day before the the attack, we were averaging about 200 scam reports a week. Now, that dropped down to less than a dozen after that call center was shut down. Hey, let’s build now, but not hate same extent. And, you know, because, you know, people acquire new skill sets. Yeah, buy new equipment to make a lot of money off of their scams, and they can afford good

Barb 21:05
Stuff, huh? Yeah. Isn’t that the truth? They can actually afford the good stuff sometimes before the rest of us? Yeah, I hear you. So the scams, have they changed during COVID?

Karen 21:18
Well, they have the type of scams have changed somewhat. So I’d say that in Canada, for example, the number one scam across Canada, was advanced fee loans. So if you think about why people are looking for loans, well, you’re sitting at home and probably have extended their credit further than they would like. So they’re looking at a way to consolidate some of that, they’re looking for a really good deal on on a loan. So they’re just searching, blindly searching the internet, and not doing the research to verify that.

Karen 21:59
First of all, if the if the company itself is legitimate, and what kind of a rating they have. Remember that, in addition to the scam tracker database, we also hold the database of legitimate businesses. It’s free business profiles, but once they’re in our system, we’re going to start raiding them anywhere from eight plus to an app, what we want potential buyers to do and I don’t care if it’s a consumer buy, or if it’s a business to business buy.

Karen 22:30
If you’re a business, do you know the rating of the businesses that you’re dealing with? Find out? Anyway, so I digress, the the business profile and the rating. So you check that out, you make sure that who you’re dealing with is legitimate. The information that we have in that business profile will help their website and their LinkedIn profile or their Facebook or whatever it is that they’re that they have displayed? Exactly.

Karen 23:00
What you see on the other side is not the same, then, you know, I mean, that’s a really good indication that somebody is doing some kind of a phishing attack, right? So exactly, we’re talking about a loan. And it’s a company who is who has set up or it’s a scammer, who has set up a pretend website, redirecting the information to them, what they want you to do is reach out, excuse me through their, through their portal that they created.

Karen 23:31
They may even initiate a phone conversation with you, Oh, you want to consolidate your credit cards, or you want to whatever it is, whatever it happens to be. While there’s a fee charged with that? Well, of course, you know, right off the top that consumer loans are it’s illegal to charge an advance fee for a consumer loan. It’s up to Canada, and it’s illegal in the States. So number one, if they’re asking for a fee, hang up, delete the email. Go on another site to get get rid of it. It’s going to be a scam. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and the group that is more likely is most vulnerable for this is males under 50.

Barb 24:16
Oh, isn’t that interesting.

Karen 24:18
Though, in Canada, that’s the profile that we have of the ones who are more likely to to fall for this type of scam, that it really this one in particular really hurts the marketplace. So if if we look at the top scams in Canada, the average scam loss is $200. With the advance Fee Loan, it’s $2,000. So we’re talking about a substantially substantial amount of money.

Karen 24:46
Number two, scam is online purchasing. While on this one. It’s women who are more at risk. And the average scam there is about $700 loss. So we’re We’re doing online shopping instead of going to the water cooler and refill snack water, pouring a cup of coffee. Yeah, going into another browser and looking at some apps for new shoes or hats or whatever.

Barb 25:17
That’s right. We’re all being discouraged from sort of socializing right now. Exactly. Karen, we’re almost out of time. We’ve only got about a minute left. In our show today, can you quickly tell folks how they would find you online on the social channels and on your website?

Karen 25:33
I sure can. So we have links on our website. And our website is easy. It’s BBB dot org. So bbb.org. From there, you can find all the scam reports, the deep dive ones, you can find all the business profiles, you can have a look at whatever vendor you’re using, see what rating they have. If you don’t find a business in there, you can have asked for one to be created. There’ll be a pop up asked for it. And our phone number, we still do business by phone. We have a toll free number to cover anywhere in Saskatchewan, or local numbers. Websites open 24 seven.

Barb 26:14
Excellent. That sounds fantastic. So if you are interested in more information, either on the scams that are out there, or in protecting yourself and the work of the Better Business Bureau, just reach out to bbb.org. And I know Karen and her team would be more than happy to chat with you.

Barb 26:30
Thank you, Karen, for joining me today in talking about such an important issue for all businesses, understanding the type of scams that are out there. Understanding the prevalence of those scams is so important nowadays, so we all have to protect yourself.

Barb 26:46
If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at above the fold. ca and just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our show, just on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Hold onto your seats folks, we’ve got an exciting episode for you. Today’s guest is Karen Smith, CEO at Better Business Bureau serving Saskatchewan, and woman of many hats.
 
Karen is a busy person indeed. In addition to her role as CEO at BBB Sask, she currently serves as Board Member of the Regina Community Clinic, Access Communications Co-operative, on the Saskatchewan Advisory Board of the Institute for Corporate Directors and on the board of the Saskatchewan New Home Warranty Program.
 
As if that wasn’t enough, Karen is also a member of the Leaders Council at the Hill & Levene Schools of business, University of Regina. Tune in to learn more about this fascinating and inspiring leader!
 
Connect with Karen @ Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan
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Ep. 76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Video Transcript: Ep. 76 with Julie Naismith

Barb 0:00
Today’s guest came all the way from across the pond to become a local business owner. But she didn’t stay satisfied as a local business owner for long. She’s now a global online entrepreneur. And she’s got a topic that really hits a soft spot for me. If you’ve listened to any of the past shows, you hear me talk about my dog, and you know my love for animals in general. So today, we’re going to talk with Julie Naismith, who has not only a pro program for dog trainers, but even a membership program for dog owners whose dogs are suffering from separation anxiety. So before I babble on for too long, Julie, welcome.

Julie Naismith 0:47
Thank you so much, Barb. It’s great to be here.

Barb 0:50
It’s a pleasure to have you here. Yes. So tell us a little bit about how did you go from being a local business and they think you were a dog trainer to now training folks from around the world?

Julie Naismith 1:03
Do you think it might, it might think back to my, my career before as a dog trainer, so dog training is career 2.0. For me before that, I work for a global company as a management consultant. So I can only have had the view of the world that I had that sounds really highfalutin, but basically, I was used to working in different countries. But and also, I live in a really small town. So combination of having seen the possibilities of you know, I’m comparing myself to a 40,000 person management consulting firm. Yes,

Julie Naismith 1:35
I was used to working globally, then I moved to a beautiful small town, which I love. And then where you’re limited with the local business, and you know how passionate I am about local, I’m always telling my trainers about local business. But so then I thought, Okay, so how can I make this business grow? I’ve got to go beyond where I live, and then that becomes Canada, then that becomes, hey, well, why don’t we just like, look and see whether we can get people in the UK or the US? And obviously, because I’m from the UK had a ton of connections there, too. So that’s kind of how it happened. It was necessity. I thought I’d be exciting to do it that way.

Barb 2:10
Exactly. And you know, sometimes, if you don’t try and do something you never actually know if you can. And I think that’s one of the things that a number of local businesses get they they reach that finish line, or they reach that line where they go, Oh, if I cross this line, then I’m not local anymore. And I think many businesses can succeed by stepping over that line getting out of their comfort zone. Now, you and I talked a little bit before we got started today, when you launched your online program, it was right around the same time as COVID. Can you tell us that story?

Julie Naismith 2:44
Yeah, well, so 12 months? Well, 13 months ago, and I had had it all planned and all mapped out and then you know, kept listening on the news. It’s like, Okay, what is this COVID thing? That’s sort of February. Okay, I’m supposed to be launching in March, but time will just keep going. And then was it March 12, the World Health Organization declared the pandemic and everybody just went up for all that didn’t?

Julie Naismith 3:10
I just thought, well, there’s no way I can continue on with this for so many reasons, like who’s going to want to buy anything now who’s going to be to fine? I actually felt really icky as well, Bob, about selling at that point. Who am I to be putting offers in front of people when they’re, you know, just worried about where they’re going to get loo paper from tomorrow, but you didn’t feel like the right climate to be selling him? Luckily, I did have a fantastic bunch. And I still do have accountability partners who will work in the online space. Yeah. They said, just go for it. Even if people are ready to buy and they want to buy, they’ll appreciate you. And if not, then they’re locked out that week and you know, go lighter, maybe then you would have been if that’s what you feel comfortable about in the launch.

Barb 3:54
Right?

Julie Naismith 3:54
Yeah. So I did. I did it. And I I was just telling you wasn’t I had all these webinars or numbers, tons of people books, but nobody turning up. And that is not like me on my webinars. I get really good show up, right? Because everybody’s watching the news. Like what’s happening? You know what, which lockdown is? Yes, the war that was going on? But anyway, I’m so glad I did it. Because it turns out, there were some people who thought, right, well, I can’t go out. What am I going to do with the next two or three months? Hey, I’ll take an online course.

Barb 4:25
Yes. And you heard those stories. So often, you heard stories of people who were you know, they wanted to learn, they wanted to improve themselves. They wanted to grow their business. And, you know, it was kind of this time period where we could we were locked in anyway. So what could we do to improve, you know, things around us? And I heard wonderful stories of you know, people learning languages, and you know, people taking these courses. I used to laugh because I said, Well, my kids did wonderful. They learn to bake. The problem is I ate!

Julie Naismith 4:57
Now I’m paying for it.

Barb 5:00
Exactly for two or three months, my kids baked every single day, it was just like, Oh my goodness.

Julie Naismith 5:07
You got all the baking powder in the end!

Barb 5:09
Yes, yes, I was totally the flour shortage. I was looking after Western Canada.

Julie Naismith 5:17
Just to add actually about this horrible feeling of why am I doing this? Now this is ridiculous. So I help trainers and owners get dogs over separate anxiety. Separation Anxiety is a condition that manifests when people leave the house. So I offer this thing that people need when they go to work. Okay, so who is going to be interested in separation anxiety training right now? No one. And interestingly, that did actually pan out with my own emember owner clients, okay, weren’t going in separation as it is the last thing on their mind. I have a book, my programs and book sales work, boom, in March in April in May.

Barb 5:59
Yes,

Julie Naismith 6:00
We’ll come on to I’m sure what happened after that. But for the trainers, it’s like, Okay, well, I’ve always wanted to learn about this. And as you said, I’ve got some time to do it. And thankfully, they did. Because my own and I just go, I don’t need to train my dog to be home alone, because he isn’t gonna be exactly.

Barb 6:15
But don’t you think when we when we truly come out of this, don’t you think there’s going to be an overwhelming demand for your knowledge, because dogs have not been by themselves for two years.

Julie Naismith 6:27
Started in June, as soon as any restriction was, was loosened anyways, it went like this, because, you know, even if you weren’t going back to work, or back to the office, they were now allowed to go and you know, depending on where they were to do things to do to socialize again. And we’ve seen that, you know, ebb and flow for the last 10 months, I’m going,

Barb 6:46
Yes, our dog doesn’t have separation anxiety, and we’ve never had any problems with him that way. But what’s interesting is when we leave him now, like he’s just crushed, like, What do you mean, you’re leaving me You never leave me?

Julie Naismith 7:02
Well, or equally, when you go, I thought you always took me with you. Because one of the pieces of advice, certainly in the UK, people were getting was you can only go out once a day to exercise. So people are walking their dogs, like, I got my exercise. And then my dog gets a bike. That was the only thing they were doing. So the dogs are all going great every time you go out the door come with you. And then they’re like, whoa, wait a minute, I think you might have forgotten me. There were lots of crazy things going on. And it was just like a, you know, I look back and think I was that close to not doing it like that close, not launching, but I so glad I did.

Barb 7:35
So hindsight hindsight, it was 110% the right thing for you, wasn’t it?

Julie Naismith 7:40
But you were talking earlier, think about trying things and he’ll know me well enough by now. I try lots of things I really do. And I fail a lot. But I am one of those people that believes that, you know, trying, and failing is the way that you find the things that work in this in this world.

Barb 7:58
That’s right. Yeah. You know, I think you told me one time and maybe I’m asking a question I’d returned here. But what originally brought you to Canada?

Julie Naismith 8:05
Adventure. It’s like, yeah, yeah, we just wanted to do something different and living in a different country is I mean, it’s so different from traveling, it challenges you in a whole different way. We live in a country that seems kind of similar. So we wanted to do something, you know, that challenged us.

Barb 8:23
Yes, exactly. So it lay person like what is dog separation anxiety. I used to be a member of your group, and I heard lots of the story, but let’s explain it for everybody else. What is it?

Julie Naismith 8:35
It’s a condition which about 20% probably more now of dogs have. And two things are going on. We can’t exactly diagnose because they can’t tell us but either they have some dogs have a morbid fear, they have enormous phobic response to being alone. They just cannot handle it. And other dogs just get really frustrated that you didn’t take them with you. Yeah, for the most part. It’s a fear of being isolated.

Julie Naismith 9:00
So it’s that first category could be genetics, it can be any life experiences, it can be dogs that have just never learned how to be alone. Because the thing is, and you know, if you haven’t got a dog, or even if you have you might think that’s ridiculous. Why on earth would a dog struggle with being alone? Because if we look at the history of the domestication of dogs, we spent 30,000 years selecting and breeding dogs who want to be with us. We have chosen traits in dogs. That’s all that are all about affiliation to humans.

Julie Naismith 9:30
Dogs are used to hanging out with other dogs. The pack theory not so much. But dogs do form dyads they form connections and so that day we get the puppy on the Friday we go to work on the Monday, the puppy goes, What just happened that’s around and they can have we do know that genetics is passed out that fear is passed down genetically with these dogs. So some of them come hardwired to be frightened to being alone. We just need to teach them that it’s okay Simple as that. Okay, forget Is that?

Barb 10:00
Right? So it’s almost a safety thing then to like I try to, you know, think about kids. And lots of kids nowadays have anxiety. And it’s usually tied to fear, security and safety. So they do feel safe in their environment.

Julie Naismith 10:14
Yeah. And it’s actually, there are some analogies to separation anxiety and kids. You know, it sounds. I know, some people would think that that’s ridiculous. How can dogs and children have the same conditions? Well, because you know, brains work in a very similar way. And so there are some similarities. And interesting you said, these days. I just think that kids probably have always had this. And also probably had, this always had this, we’re just more aware of neuroscience now. And the fact that brains don’t always work the way they should.

Barb 10:44
Exactly. Or they work the way they should. But it’s okay, that we’re all different.

Julie Naismith 10:50
Yeah, yeah, that’s true. That’s true. But then some people I think, do struggle more in ways that can be helped.

Barb 10:56
Yes, yeah, absolutely. Yep. I think back to, you know, when I would have been in elementary school, or in high school, if you had anything that was different, yeah. You know, like you were segregated, you were were put off aside. And I remember one time explaining this to my kids, because they’re in a very integrated school and a very integrated classroom. And I remember having this conversation with them about a couple of the kids in their class would regularly have seizures, yeah, and fit to anger and different things that were happening in their lives. And when I was in school, those kids would have had their own classroom, they would have been segregated. So we explained this to the kids, one of them, just a general conversation about how things have changed. My kids were mortified, you absolutely agast that we used to treat kids this way. And of course, as a child at the time, you don’t know any different, right? And so we see how all of this is changing is

Julie Naismith 11:56
A good point. And now we know that it isn’t normal for people to suffer from mental health conditions. There are things we can do to help people it doesn’t have to be suffering. Silence. So yeah, I’m with you.

Barb 12:07
Yes. And you know, the funny thing is, so here we are comparing, you know, but yet we’re isolating ourselves right now. Yeah, it’s so tough on all of our mental health.

Julie Naismith 12:16
It’s so is and how many people are saying you see articles in the newspaper all the time saying, I forgotten how to socialize. So you know, we’re all gonna go through it to a degree.

Barb 12:24
Yeah, exactly. Well, and it’s funny because I have a girlfriend who used to work in radio, and she always, you know, kind of jokes. She hated hugging like, hey, did hugging you people touched her. She was one of those people, if you like, right now. Oh, yeah. She’s like, I just want to warn you when COVID done, like, I’m a hugger.

Julie Naismith 12:43
You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.

Barb 12:46
Yes, exactly. So let’s talk a little bit about your owner membership program first, and then we’ll talk about your trainer program. So just quickly tell us about the program. And you know, how, how do you support all of those owner members, because I presume that there’s probably a lot,

Julie Naismith 13:03
Yeah, they work away on training. So any dog training, you can, you can hire a trainer to come to your home, or you can go to a class, we’re separate as a trainer, because training because we’re trying to teach dogs to be home alone, the trainer shouldn’t come to your home, because it’s not going to be home alone. So it lends itself to an online training method. And what my owners do is, rather than have one to one support, you know, one zoom with a private trainer, they get support from me and my team. So we give them you know, classic stuff, they have videos to follow, they actually have a really cool custom app, but that’s something you know, completely different. And they’ve got a great supportive Facebook group, and they get lots of support from my pro trainers who are now moderators in that group. So it’s, I want to work on my own, but I need a little bit of help. That kind of membership.

Barb 13:53
Yeah, until they would hop into the group. And they would say, Okay, what do I do? This is what Charlie’s doing today. And yeah,

Julie Naismith 13:59
When you have a look at this video of what he did, what did you think? And so they get expert advice, but they don’t have to pay for one to one training, which can be expensive, but have great value.

Barb 14:10
Yes, exactly. Definitely. Okay, and then how does that parlay into the pro trainers program? Because if they’re in your group as well, and they’re supporting folks, so how does that work?

Julie Naismith 14:19
I realized when I actually I kept getting asked because I wrote a book a few few years back about separation anxiety, and lots of people said to me, oh, you should teach trainers how to do this. Because whatever reason lots of trainers will deal with lots of complex behaviors and dogs but hate separation anxiety. So I’m not sure I’m not sure which is why the the course came about last year because people kept saying, Oh, you should do it, you should do it. And I thought okay, 2020 is the year to do it.

Julie Naismith 14:43
So, so I teach them my third eye and it’s not my method is based on the science is based on how we get any brain to overcome a fear. So we teach them teach the dog gradual exposure to the thing that scared off but in tiny amounts. The best analogy is to think about something like getting over fear of heights. Or if there are spiders, you just you go in gradual, gradual steps until you can deal with a full blown version of the thing that scares you. So I’ve taught my trainers, not just that, but how to engage with clients, how to get them through a very difficult training protocol, how to use technology to support that, how to find clients online, which you and I talk about, because you have brilliant component in the course. So it’s how to run, how to be successful separations, it trainer, the whole thing.

Barb 15:31
You know what, you just totally made it click for me. So I am totally afraid of heights, like don’t be afraid of heights. And as I get older, that height, or that fear gets worse and worse, like so. turn that into a dog. Well, they might be a little bit nervous when mom and dad leave in the beginning. As I get older, it gets worse and worse until it gets to a point where, okay, I’m the owner, I either need to surrender my dog, I need to find a trainer that can help. And do you think that as a pet parent do they recognize my dog has separation anxiety? Or do they recognize the destructive behavior? And do the research to realize oh, this is separation anxiety? How does that work? Do you think?

Julie Naismith 16:16
I it’s changing so when I look back on my childhood, I now hindsight 2020 vision, I’m sure that we had a dog then who had separation is that Id 10 years ago, my dog, my dog then develop separation anxiety. I wasn’t Charlton years ago talking about another dog now. And he I didn’t really know I think I’d heard the term. That’s kind of what catapulted me into dog training was we had this thing and knowing you had to fix it. Now people are much more aware, which is great. I think because people are much more aware that dogs can any sentient being can suffer with issues related to fear. In fact, fear is a natural state for animals, that’s kind of how they are.

Barb 16:57
Its a mechanism to for them, isn’t it?

Julie Naismith 16:59
Yeah, it’s better to assume that the lions gonna eat you and be scared of it than think the lions your best friend, and you get eaten for lunch. So, so I think people are much more aware. And now, the last 12 months, or certainly last six months, every single day, there seems to be a new article and separations it. So people are much more aware. And I do see that it helps them when I use that analogy that we’re using the exact same scientific approach. And it’s been tested on people and on animals, to help them get over something that they’re scared of. So for you if I wanted to help you, you know, if you went to see, so I need to get over a fear of heights, they could say, Okay, what you’re gonna do is you’re going to climb to the top of this tower, you’re just going to do it, Bob gets to the top, you’re going to tell yourself, you’re going to be fine. And that can work. But it comes with massive risk. You might freak out so badly. You never even want to go up a set of stairs again.

Barb 17:51
Exactly.

Julie Naismith 17:52
When you’re at the top, you have to have counseling and help that makes you go Okay, fine. I got to the top and I got down and I survived. And we can’t do that with dogs because they can’t do the rationalization, but they can’t do that. Oh, I was exposed at full, you know, full force to the thing that scared me and I’m fine. So we use the other version, which people with fear of heights we do is like you step on, you know something a foot high. How do you feel about Yeah, I’m great. Okay, now we’ll go two feet, maybe we’ll go five feet. And every time you’re okay, you got to move on.

Barb 18:23
So okay, so that’s really interesting. Just a really quick story. Before my husband and I got married, we traveled down to the states and we went to Yellowstone National Park. And somewhere in the park, there’s this great big, like, I want to say wire metal staircase, right until the staircase goes up and up and up. If I was to do that exact same staircase in the Calgary tower, which is enclosed, perfectly fine with the fact that I could see through this middle staircase, my just talking about it, my palms are sweaty, like that’s how it kicks in.

Barb 18:58
So I could see through this staircase, so we’re going back up, I’ve made it all the way to the bottom, that was the easy part. And the top is now actually ground level. So I’m not crawling up into a height, okay? But we’re on the way back up and the staircase is very narrow. It’s meant to be one person at a time. So I’m walking up, I’m moving my hands up the, you know, one step at a time. And I must have been falling behind for my husband’s liking, because he kind of prodded me from behind and just like Hurry up, hurry up, because there was people behind him. He remembered turning around and like just being like, like, just Medusa gonna, like like, Do not touch me. The guy behind him goes, Oh, I wonder if that wedding is gonna work out.

Julie Naismith 19:46
I’m brilliant.

Barb 19:47
Right? He’s it was just did you use this third head and you’re like to not touch me?

Julie Naismith 19:54
Yeah.

Barb 19:56
And like even now if I watch a show Where they’re like cliff diving, my palms will start to sweat. We were watching something not too long ago with the kids. And yeah, they were just fascinated by it. And I like had to turn away. I’m like, No, I’m good. Yeah, look at it.

Julie Naismith 20:15
Yep. Yeah.

Barb 20:17
Yeah. And that is the The only real, like fear or phobia i have i’ve never fallen from a height. I have no rational explanation for it. But guess if I’m in a building, I go all the way up no problem.

Julie Naismith 20:34
And sometimes we just don’t know why and why doesn’t always help us anyway, if we know what helps people to get over it or dogs to get over their fear. We just do that rather than constantly trying to work out why so? Yeah. So I think people are more aware of this stuff. Now, for all the reasons that you’ve just been talking about there. We understand phobias, we understand that fear is a natural state. And we understand that dogs have brains to good chance that they’re going to be frightened and stuff. Exactly.

Barb 20:59
So you mentioned a couple of times that you wrote a book. So talk a little bit about this book that you’ve written, what inspired you and and I really have to, like, I just I so admire that the thought of writing a book, even though I love to write, she’s like, Oh, my God no.

Julie Naismith 21:15
So what made you do that? Well, um, do you all know, this audience is all entrepreneurs, isn’t it? write a book, write a book, just write a book? Because I wrote it. I thought it would, I thought it would do two things I thought would be good for my business. I thought it would help lots of people. So you know, 10 years ago, when I was really struggling, my husband and I really struggling with actually it’s this guy. Okay, picture my dog behind. There we go. So we, we felt really isolated, we felt really alone, it was really difficult to get good information. So my model has always been get information out to as many people as possible, in an affordable way away as possible. And that’s a book, you know, it doesn’t get much more affordable than that.

Julie Naismith 22:02
And some people will say to me, like my trainers, for example, today, well, why would anybody come and work with me? They will say, why would anybody come work with me, Julie, when they could buy your book? Well, because some people buy the Diet book. Some people go to Weight Watchers, some people hire a nutritionist, you know, there is some product for everybody, depending on what they want. So, you know, the book doesn’t stop people getting private training. In fact, it opens the door to it. So but but now having written it and seeing the comments on it, and how it is changing people’s lives, it just fills my heart. And that’s why I’m writing writing a second one. And then that’s coming out in June. And then there’s a third one in the pipeline that’s coming out in January, I finished the first book in 2019, saying that’s it. I’m never writing a book again. But there you go. I’ve obviously forgotten the pain.

Barb 22:56
Children.

Julie Naismith 22:57
There you go. But no, it’s not as, it definitely isn’t as daunting as I thought it was going to be. And I just use tips and tricks like, you know, 1000 words a day, or 500 words a day. If you think about it, and cork boarding. So you just like that’s how we work in our business. We have a board full of ideas. Pick a post it note write about it. Don’t think I’m writing my book today. So do everybody if you’ve got a book, or even the idea of book, do it.

Barb 23:24
How long did it take you to write?

Julie Naismith 23:26
The first one’s about two years? second one’s been about well, it’s practically finished now. I started it in October.

Barb 23:34
Oh, wow. Okay, and how many words if when you think about words per day, how many words would be in the average size book?

Julie Naismith 23:42
Um, for nonfiction e type book, you’re looking at about 60 to 80,000 words. So does not many days to get that that number of words, if you just sit down and take half an hour in the morning, and don’t edit just right, just right, right? You know that you know, that roll, and then we’re about editing, get yourself a really good book coaching and get that Oh, and so the other thing is I did indie publishing, self publishing a few years back was seen as the poor relation now honestly, unless you are, you know, Donald Miller, or you know, Marie Forleo, and you’ve got a seven figure book deal. Indie publishing is the way to go. You’re in control, you can get the best cover cover designers. You can get the best editors, it’s a very different world. So do it. Do it. Do it. Do it, Barb, I know you’ve got a copy. You know, I

Barb 24:30
Honestly, I don’t mind doing the videos and stuff. But I don’t think I have a book in me. I have no at this point in time. I have no burning desire to write a book myself changes. So quick. True. Yeah, would be out of date. By the time I hit Publish.

Julie Naismith 24:45
That is such a good point. Because the next book that’s coming out in January is going to be a trainer handbook. And I’m like, Oh, do I put any of this marketing e stuff in? Well, the hat stuff is gonna be like you say in six months, it’s going to be out of date. So I get you. I hear you. Exactly.

Barb 24:59
Yeah. So we are almost at a time we mean under so lapped I know it goes so quick. Um, tell folks how they can find you which websites which social media how do we find you?

Julie Naismith 25:11
Yeah, so they can check out my website sub threshold training, which is my company name for now. I’m rebranding this. Yeah, subthresholdtraining.com. And I’m really big on Facebook. That’s my social, my big social channel. So, Julie Naismith is my sub threshold training is my Facebook page. And I’ve got a big Facebook group. So if you’ve always got separation anxiety, and you want to hang out with me, that’s where you can find me.

Barb 25:34
Awesome. So and if I recall correctly, the there’s a group that you can join for free,

Julie Naismith 25:40
Yes. Free group on Facebook, just put separation anxiety group on Facebook and you’ll see my group pop up.

Barb 25:46
Okay, that sounds awesome. So thank you so much for being here. Julie. It was a pleasure to talk with you. I know we get to talk quite often, but it’s nice to have you on the podcast. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Googlegirl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at abovethefold.ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our show just on our Facebook page. I’m your host Bob McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you were charged for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Pet Parent to Pet Trainer….
Pet Trainer to Local Business Owner….
Local Business Owner to global entrepreneur…

Today’s guest, Julie Naismith, hails from across the pond and came to Canada for “adventure.” She got a little more than she bargained for when she chose 2020 to launch her online business. While many entrepreneurs pulled back during the pandemic, Julie forged ahead and says, she’d do it all over again.

Tune in to learn about her journey from authorship, to being a trainer and now an entrepreneur who sees mistakes and failure as a sign that success is on the horizon.

Connect with Julie @ SubThreshold Training
https://www.subthresholdtraining.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/subthresholdtraining
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julie_naismith
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-n-a91a855

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Video Transcript: Ep. 75 with Josh Haugerud

Barb 0:00
Today’s guest is an award winning musician, community volunteer. And with COVID in our lives right now has overcome some incredible obstacles in his organization. Josh Haugerud is going to talk about the what the Regina Folk Festival is doing to still bring them music to us. We have had this festival in our community for over 50 years. What do we do? What is the future of community events in Saskatchewan? Well, let’s talk to Josh and let’s find out. Welcome Josh.

Josh Haugerud 0:34
Hey, thank you so much for having me. It’s nice to be here.

Barb 0:38
Tell us a little bit about the Regina Folk Festival. Give us a quick history on you know where you’ve come from and where you’re going.

Josh Haugerud 0:44
Sure. So the Regina Folk Festival is one of the longest running festivals in Western Canada happens in Victoria Park, the second weekend of August every year. And yeah, where we’ve come from. I mean, it’s been over 50 years and 2019 we celebrated the 50 year anniversary, where we’re going nobody knows with the way that things are happening right now.

Josh Haugerud 1:10
Everything’s a question. And every day is an adventure. That’s for sure. Yeah, no kidding. Just before we got started today, you talked a little bit about the organization and the number of volunteers that it takes to actually make the festival happen.

Barb 1:22
So was the last festival in 2020? Or was it 2019? Before COVID ever started 2019.

Josh Haugerud 1:30
Before COVID hit when I started this role as executive director at the Folk Festival. I started about a month early so that I could be the person who canceled the festival due to COVID. And then yeah, work towards my actual start date afterwards.

Barb 1:52
So that’s kind of a not fun. First thing to do in a new job is hey, guess what, after 50 years, we’re gonna put this on pause.

Josh Haugerud 1:59
Yeah, yeah, it was, it was an interesting way to start the job. But I mean, it was it was the right choice. So it wasn’t actually a difficult choice. And I mean, we’re a very inclusive, thoughtful festival. And so the protection of the people who come to our festival in terms of their safety and, and whatnot is, is our top concern. So there’s just no way we could have moved forward with the way everything was going.

Barb 2:27
Absolutely. So from a festival standpoint, could you stream the festival? Like, are there still options for you? Or is Regina Folk Festival really on hold until COVID is Gone?

Josh Haugerud 2:42
I mean, that’s a good question. I think we’re playing everything day by day. So really, it’s just figuring out where we’re at, at the point where we have a drop dead date. And so we’re looking a few months ahead, always planning ahead, but we kind of knew coming into this year that that things weren’t going to be solved by by the summertime, in order for us to come back with a normal festival, or as normal as it could be.

Josh Haugerud 3:10
So yeah, while we’re still figuring things out. Every day, we’re, we’ve got a pretty good idea of of what we can and can’t do.

Barb 3:20
Yeah. And so knowing that that continues to change, like, how are you preparing for that? When you go into work on any given day, and you share that, you know, there’s only a couple of people or yourself that can be in the office because you only have one person there. So like, how do you prepare for the unknown?

Josh Haugerud 3:39
You know, it’s it’s a lot of just good communication with our staff. We’ve started using tools like slack to communicate while we’re all working from home, lots of zoom meetings, too many zoom meetings. But one of the things that we’ve done is, before I actually started working here was the they had set up meetings every month with all the leaders from festivals from across the sketch one to discuss the issues that we have, and plan towards the summer and work together on getting funding and those types of things. And that, I think has been one of the most beneficial things that has come out of this is that we’ve come together as an industry to to advocate for ourselves.

Barb 4:27
Yeah, absolutely. building that strong network of colleagues, whether it’s across western Canada, or just the province, if that’s absolutely huge, right, talking to everybody. And yeah, now we’ve heard that a number of events have started to stream. Have you looked at some of those streaming options?

Josh Haugerud 4:44
Mm hmm. Absolutely. So last year, instead of doing a festival, we did a drive in concert series with local musicians and we actually did stream two of those concerts for free. Yeah, so and we have winter option coming up.

Josh Haugerud 5:00
Pretty soon here as well. And those are all going to be while they’re pre recorded concerts done so safely within COVID regulations, and we worked with the business response team on those to get those done safely. So yeah, we absolutely have looked at at streaming. We’ve streamed a handful of concerts over the last year, with partnerships with different organizations. But I mean, it’s it’s one of those things where it’s about the demand, right, and everybody’s doing it.

Josh Haugerud 5:34
When you’re sitting in zoom meetings all day, the last thing you want to do is hop onto your computer one more time to watch a concert. And, and as lovely as they are, they aren’t the same. They just don’t and there’s nothing you can do to make them the same.

Barb 5:49
No, the it’s the experience, right sitting in Victoria Park, pulling out your lawn chair laying on a blanket for a couple of concerts. It’s an entirely different experience than Okay, I’m on my couch with the remote control or my laptops on my lap. Right that that experiential factor is absolutely huge. But you just I like led me to something. How many different events concerts, performances, do you guys help promote? Like, I’m trying to look for the right word, but like, how many different events are there?

Josh Haugerud 6:21
Yeah, so in a typical year, we’re doing events all year. So basically, we started off the year in January with winter option, K, we have a concert series that runs throughout the year to bring touring artists to Regina that normally wouldn’t come to Regina. Because we’re able to partner with other organizations in other cities to bring them on a, you know, cross Saskatchewan for tour or something like that. When we do that, and winter option, we also have an outreach program into the schools where we bring those musicians to the schools and teach kids about, you know, careers and music and important issues as they come.

Josh Haugerud 7:04
And then there’s the festival itself in August. And so between all of those things, it’s Yeah, it makes the year quite busy.

Barb 7:13
Yeah, no kidding. And I have to think that the August festival is typically the biggest revenue driver for you. And so without that festival in place, that starts to impact everything from what you can do to staffing levels, etc. So one of the things that I see lots of people talking about whether it’s, you know, on social media, or even in the news, a big part of our human need to endure times like these is the art, arts culture music performances, and that’s been much more restricted for us. Are you hearing that from your volunteers from your attendees? You know, what kind of feedback do you get?

Josh Haugerud 7:57
You know, it absolutely is something that we need as a society. And, and we needed in the form of gatherings. I mean, I know, you know, it’s, it’s an experience that, that you just can’t replace with anything else. And, I mean, while we’ve worked really hard to bring music to the community, throughout all of this, nothing’s going to compare to the first live show where we’re all feeling completely safe and can gather and be close to each other and enjoy something together.

Barb 8:33
A friend of mine actually, who used to work in radio, she is a non hugger, she does not like to hug anyone, and she posted on Twitter not too long ago. She’s like, I just want to warn you now when this is over, I’m hugging like I’m hugging everyone right? Yeah.

Barb 8:50
And there’s something to be said for that human connection, which, you know, I’m fortunate I live with, you know, my spouse and my two kids. So I have people around me all the time. There’s a blessing and a curse there. Right. But you know, I think about folks who, you know, maybe they have one or two people in a household, like that is so much more challenging.

Barb 9:14
I always like to I don’t even know how I explained this, but you know, when you get stressed, and like, you need to blow off steam, blow off steam for me has always meant go out. Listen to really loud music, and have fun, right? Go with friends. That was blow off steam. And I think there’s gonna be so many people with so much and up like, Oh my god, get me out. Yeah, this is done. So I mean, if nothing else, hopefully the silver lining is that at the opposite end of this, we come to appreciate, like how much we get from these live events and live festivals. Now, do you guys have a limit like would there actually be a limit if you were able to do a live festival in 2022 section two, f like you haven’t helped us if we still count?

Josh Haugerud 10:01
Yeah, yeah. I mean, those are those are questions we’re asking, too. I mean,

Josh Haugerud 10:07
Really, what we’ve put forward to the government is the scattering was to give us an idea of what the vaccine threshold is, how many people actually need to be vaccinated before we can start having large gatherings again? And at what point are we going to get to that threshold? Those those would be questions that we need to answers to before we can determine, you know, crowd sizes, all that kind of thing. I can’t see anything getting bigger than 500 people for a while, just, you know, for overall safety.

Josh Haugerud 10:41
In the days where we’re, you know, 30,000 plus and mosaic Stadium, maybe a little further away than that, but the fact that we’re looking at, you know, potentially, some in person events this summer, is a positive step. So, yeah, we’re just trying to stay as optimistic as possible here. And absolutely, hopefully the best.

Barb 11:08
How many people usually attend the full festival?

Josh Haugerud 11:11
Yeah. So I mean, throughout the year, we get about 35,000 people that come out to events that we put on.

Barb 11:19
And what about the big festival in August?

Josh Haugerud 11:21
Yeah. So I think that’s a good question. Since I’ve never run one. Specific numbers for that. I don’t have off the top of my head just just because I haven’t had to deal with that yet. But in terms of the, you know, over those four days, and the all the free events that we put on and everything like that, the numbers are quite, quite large.

Barb 11:47
Yeah, that’s the size of a community, Moose Jaw is 36,000 people. So that’s the entire community of Lucia, showing up at the event somewhere throughout the year. Right. So yeah, absolutely. That’s huge. Yeah. So when you So you mentioned the 650 volunteers, is that also throughout the year? Or is that just for that Aug weekend?

Josh Haugerud 12:07
You know, most of them are for just that August weekend, but they are for throughout the years, we need volunteers for concerts and different things that we’re putting on.

Barb 12:16
So do the volunteers get to attend the events for free, then?

Josh Haugerud 12:22
Absolutely. Volunteer appreciation is, is a hallmark of what we do. I mean, we, we couldn’t do anything we do with our volunteers. So yeah, I would encourage anybody who’s interested in volunteering to visit our websites and and send us a note through the website, if you’re interested.

Barb 12:44
Yep. So community is something that’s absolutely at the core of what’s important to you. You’re a paragon award winner from the Regina Chamber of Commerce. You also have an award from sask music. So tell me a little bit about where does that come from? Why is community important to you? And you know, in a time like this, is there anything you can do to continue to support community?

Josh Haugerud 13:08
Oh, big time, communities always been important to me, I grew up in a small town. So I grew up in Craik, everything that you did was for the community. When I was about 16, I had my parents sign on a waiver. So I could join the volunteer fire department, you know, it’s just, it’s all things that that you just do when you when you live in a small town because there’s no one else to do them.

Josh Haugerud 13:33
And so I’ve kind of carried that with my with, with everything that I’ve done throughout my career. When I was in university, I was a board member for the heritage Community Association. And I feel like volunteering is where I got the majority of my experience to do what I do now. So it’s, it’s been, you know, very, very important to me. That being said, Now, community involvement is more important than ever. There’s so much you can do even without gathering.

Josh Haugerud 14:08
So yeah, I if if you’re looking for a way to be involved in the community, go find it right now because people need the help. All over.

Barb 14:19
Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly right now, small business, local business, nonprofit. I mean, they are starving. We’re trying to figure out you know, how to maintain something. And with a variance kind of taking off as much as they are right now. Nobody knows what tomorrow looks like anymore, right? We’re starting to get some what I would define as scary or concerning messages. And up until this point in COVID. I mean, we’ve followed the protocol and I’m speaking as a family now and as a business, but we’ve followed the protocols to a tee. And like I’ve never felt nervous, you know, it was one of those things that we took the precautions. If one of us got sick, then you know, we would get sick, we would recover. But the stuff that we’re hearing now with a new variant, it’s like, oh, like, No, we can’t get sick, right? Like now it feels a little bit more, more nerve racking.

Barb 15:20
Your little guy, if I remember correctly is about grade one or grade two. Right? Yeah. How did that How did that go for him in school? Because he had to start wearing masks partway through the fall that right?

Josh Haugerud 15:33
Yeah, so I mean, he was in kindergarten last year when this all hit and shut down schools for the rest of the year. So I mean, he only really got half a year kindergarten, and then he was into grade one. Yeah, wearing masks. But now they’re back home again.

Josh Haugerud 15:51
And I mean, it did does say that will go back April 23. But it’s hard to be optimistic about that when case loads are getting higher and higher each day. Exactly. So I mean, the teachers are working so hard, trying to trying to navigate this and the parents as well. I’m very fortunate, very privileged to be able to work from home and be able to do his schooling and have, you know, a flexible workplace. But not everybody has that option.

Barb 16:22
Absolutely. And, you know, that’s actually something that I’ve talked about a couple of times, I think, for those students who could do school from home, because parents can provide the support, let them nevermind when the deadlines passed for, you know, registering for online school, if you if if you can support your student at home, then do it. And if you can’t, and we need to go back to the classroom, then check that box and let them go back. If I was a, if I was somebody to gamble, I would say we’re not going back. But I also recognize why the provincial government is trying to keep schools open, because parents need to be able to go to work.

Barb 17:04
My business has been online for years now. And my kids are also at an age where they’re pretty independent, when it comes to their schoolwork, because they’re in grade seven and grade eight. Now, having said that, school is like harder in grade seven and eight when you have to help them. versus when when it’s like, oh, yeah, I can help you with your first time staples, no problem.

Barb 17:28
Oh, my goodness. So yeah, like I empathize for the parents who have to keep going to work. We actually had a case where a parent sent their COVID positive child to school, because that parent had to work. I presume for fear of losing their job. The child wasn’t that sick, but unfortunately went out onto the playground and was like, Oh, I’m going to give you COVID. And I’m going to give you COVID so the teachers caught on pretty quick that Okay, wait a second. Yeah. So you hear stories like that? And you just think, oh, like for some parents? It’s It’s so hard. What do you do? Yeah, right. You gotta buy food, you got to pay the rent. Right? And so yeah, what do you do?

Barb 18:13
Anyway, we’re totally digressing. We’re getting into a COVID conversation instead of you in the Folk Festival. So, like, what does the future of community folk festivals look like? And let’s pretend that we get back to a normal world here at some point. If the Folk Festival is one of our longest running festivals, you know, what’s happening in the industry? Like, where do you think this goes?

Josh Haugerud 18:35
You know, the music industry is one of the hardest hit industries we were one of the first to close will be one of the last to open. Techs have not worked at all musicians are barely getting by. I mean, they made the majority of their money before COVID from touring.

Josh Haugerud 18:58
And now that’s gone. So I mean, the way the music industry has changed so much in the last 10 years, just to that move, just streaming alone has changed the the way that musicians make money.

Josh Haugerud 19:14
And to make it as a musician is so much more difficult today, is you have to set yourself apart because anybody who has a laptop at home can just record an album, which is a blessing and a curse at the same time.

Josh Haugerud 19:32
Yeah, absolutely. But yeah. I mean, where do we go from here? I think we’ve taken a lot of time to take a good hard look at the industry itself. Finding ways that we can do things better. I know that us as a festival, we’ve spent the last year doing a lot of work on reconciliation. We’ve paid a lot of attention to the social justice issues that have been occurring in the music industry. And those, those are important things for us to work on. And just in general, but to have the time to do that is kind of a blessing. But

Josh Haugerud 20:18
But yeah, it’s, it’s been nice to kind of look at overall, like, I mean, I’m starting this job in COVID. So looking at efficiencies and revenue streams and everything like that, when we’re talking about the music industry in Canada, I mean, 98% of the revenue that was made by the music industry has been lost because of COVID. It’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a huge amount of money that goes towards the overall GDP of the country. That is just gone. Exactly. Our exports, I mean, everything that we’re doing outside of Canada, with our music, musicians, and whatnot, is all gone, as well as border closings.

Josh Haugerud 21:02
And so there’s going to be a lot of challenges when we do come back, I mean, vaccine passports being a new thing that people are talking about, how does that play into what musicians you bring in? What countries you bring musicians in from based on, you know, their vaccination programs and what stage they’re at?

Josh Haugerud 21:22
You know, like, where do you find the money to bring in the the larger named audience or band to headline without, you know, increasing dollars from grant programs and things like that sponsorship? You know, when businesses are struggling, sponsorship, and marketing are the first things to go.

Barb 21:43
First things exactly, yeah, the budget dwindles really fast. So keep it You made me think of something. There’s all these free streaming services, Spotify, and some of those types of services? Do they tend to pick up a lot of the local music? And I know, as a subscriber, I subscribe in the summer only so that I can get the, like offline access, right? Yeah. And so how are musicians compensated then?

Josh Haugerud 22:08
Poorly, very poorly! Here, we’re gonna say, yeah, the model for streaming is one that a lot of people in the industry are trying to work to change. Because, you know, you’ve got CEOs like Spotify as an example, making billions of dollars where musicians are making pennies per Listen, or less less than pennies per listen. Yeah, the band that that I played in I mean, we put all of our stuff up on all the streaming services. And over three years, we made about $10 on streaming from, you know, 1000s upon 1000s of listens to our, to our songs.

Josh Haugerud 22:49
I mean, that’s there’s no way to make a living off of that unless you’re like a Taylor Swift or you know, something at that size where exactly, you’re getting billions of listens.

Barb 23:02
So, okay, let’s put that in perspective. So if you made $10 from all of your lessons, and let’s just assume that she’s got a billion listens. How much would she be making? So is it like is can we round it off to like half a penny per Listen?

Josh Haugerud 23:20
It’s I think even less than that. I think it works out Spotify as was like point nine cents for for a listen. Yeah. Wow. I don’t know if that’s considered to be an entire, like front to back, listen to the song or to, like a percentage of the song is listened to. Because if you skip through songs, and you listen to half of it, you may not get paid for that. I don’t know. Spotify is like, the the back end of that very well. Yeah.

Barb 23:56
You know, and, like, I know nothing, but I would be willing to bet that the rate that Taylor Swift is compensated is different than the local musician, because Spotify looks at it and says, Well, people come to our platform to hear Taylor Swift, but then they end up you know, hearing the local performer so you can be guaranteed she gets compensated fairly, fairly well for bringing people. Okay, so that’s very interesting. I didn’t realize any oh my goodness, I just looked at the clock.

Barb 24:27
I do this every time I like talking away. We have about a minute left. Josh, give us your elevator speech. How would people find out about the Folk Festival up to date I know you have a spiffy new website either launched or coming so give us the the goods.

Josh Haugerud 24:43
Yeah, we launched our website in December of last year so you can go to Regina Folk Festival comm check that out all the information you’re going to need about winter option which is coming up in a couple of days here. You can find there you can follow us on social media as well.

Josh Haugerud 25:00
You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, I think we’re even thrown together at Tick Tock. So yeah, check that out, wait for that. The one thing that I would encourage people to do right now, if you’re really passionate about the music industry go support the musicians directly. When Bandcamp does things like 100% of their proceeds, going to musicians on Fridays during the month go by, you know, the music, the merge, make donations to the local venues that you want to see, stay open, you know, find ways to support those musicians. You know, it’s it’s local music, it’s community. We’re all a part of this, and we’re all gonna get through this together.

Josh Haugerud 25:45
But both everybody needs your support right now. Yeah, and, yeah, it’s Sask musics done some great things with the their t shirt program. I just so happen to be wearing one right now where you buy those t shirts, and they go and support those venues that they made t shirts for. But yeah, again, if you’re looking for musicians to support, go to Sask music’s website, check out their directory, because if you’re a member of SASKmusic, you know, you’re going to find a Saskatchewan musician to support.

Barb 26:18
Exactly, no, that’s awesome. Thank you so much. Yeah. All right. Um, that wraps us up for today. So if you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Googlegirl.ca or reach out on our Facebook and Instagram page at abovethefold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our live show on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Imagine starting a new job just in time to cancel a 50 year tradition?

That’s what Josh Haugerud needed to do in 2020 when COVID hit. The Regina Folk Festival expected to celebrate their 50th year with a line-up of exciting & talented performers. Instead, they, like so many community events, were put on pause.

Tune in to learn more about the 35,000 event attendees, 650 volunteers and countless musicians who are being impacted by covid. If you ever needed a reason to mask-up, stay home and achieve covid zero, this episode brings it home.

Connect with Josh @ Regina Folk Festival
https://reginafolkfestival.com​
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReginaFolkFestival
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reginafolkfest
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/regina-folk-festival-inc-/about

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Video Transcript: Ep. 74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote

Barb 0:19
This afternoon’s guest has a firm belief in quality, Saskatchewan Mead and distilled quality since 2015 Blackfox Distillery has been Saskatchewan premier farm based micro distillery, located just minutes from Saskatoon, Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote is the co-owner of the locally owned and locally produced line of gin, whiskey and like yours that are shipping globally. Today’s episode may inspire you to take your beverages to a whole new level.

Barb 0:22
Welcome, Barb, thank you for being here.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 0:26
Well, thank you so much, Barb, this is a real great opportunity.

Barb 0:51
Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you. So tell me about your background because that doesn’t look like a traditional office. Where in the heck are you?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 1:13
I am actually right in our retail section of Blackfox Farm and distillery behind me is the distillery itself the distilling room, you will see our our hybrid pot still is what it’s called. It is it was custom made for us in Germany.

Barb 1:33
Oh in Germany. Now I know very little about how alcohol is distilled. Even though I’m from Moose Jaw. You think given Al Capone’s history, I would know it inside out and can you give me the you know, pretend I’m five and explain how alcohol is distilled to me.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 1:49
Absolutely, I can tell you in two minutes or less how to make booze, it’s really easy. So what you do is you start from green. And green has a lot of starch in it. And it’s the starch that gets turned into alcohol. Okay, so what you do is you take the grain, you grind it, and then you mash it, which means you add in water. And in our case, we add in enzymes as well. And the enzymes break those starches down into sugar.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 2:19
Okay, then from there, you take it and you put it into a fermentation tank. And you add in yeast and the yeast does its magic and turns that sugar into alcohol. But the problem is, is that when it’s making the when the yeast is active, it doesn’t only make ethanol, which is the alcohol you can drink. It also makes methanol and butyl alcohol and fusel alcohols and all those other things that will make you go blind, right?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 2:46
Okay. So the whole idea then is to put it into the still to separate the good, the bad and the ugly. Ah, as it travels through the still the the different things get separated and removed. And then at the end, you end up with your alcohol, your base alcohol.

Barb 3:05
And so is the process the same for each of the different products that you make.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 3:09
So whiskey and gin is that the exact same process just a separate byproduct, then that’s exactly what happens. So if I take it from the still, and I put it in a in a barrel, and I age it for three years, it becomes whiskey. If I take it and I carbon, filter it and take it up to 96% alcohol, so very, very concentrated, yes. And then it becomes vodka. If I take it and then infuse it with botanicals such as Juniper and cardamom and all of the other fun things, then it becomes gin.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 3:44
If I take it and put in fruit juice, it becomes a look here. So you do start with a base alcohol. And what you do with it after is how you make the different products.

Barb 3:55
So how did you learn all of this because my university education did not give me any of that. I may have consumed it.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 4:02
But well, it’s interesting because our background too did not come with any recipes or any training whatsoever. When we decided to do this project, we were really green. And I the distiller is my husband, he’s the one who does all of this drilling. And he went and he took a couple courses, you can take courses on how to make alcohol. And he also worked a little bit in in one of the distilleries down in in Chicago where he went and volunteered for a week and spending time learning how to do it and then we came back and a lot of trial and error.

Barb 0:19
Yeah. Okay, now Who did you conned into trying some of those trial products?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 4:44
Well, obviously it was us to start with and there were some I will admit that kind of went right back into the process again because they needed a lot more attention. So have you guys always been a little bit of a connoisseur for taste and flavor Reverse.

Barb 5:02
Actually, it’s interesting, you should say that because I, myself, I am not, but my husband is. So in our house, we’d like to say that I’m the cook, Chef. And so you know, he’s the one who is way has a much more of an appreciation and a far better palate than mine. Yep. Now that’s interesting to me. Because, you know, when you go to I’ll say, a fancy restaurant, which we don’t get to do too often right now. But when you go to a fancy restaurant, you have that nice meal, you really enjoy and appreciate the different flavors versus, you know, cooking at home. And it all starts to taste the same after a while. So I would think that that becomes a real, almost like an art. Right?

Barb 5:48
There’s, there’s some art and there’s some science in there. Because just because your husband likes it doesn’t always mean that the general public likes it. Oh, this is so true. And in and there’s so many things that are I agree, you know, I agree with what you’re saying is, a chef looks to his ingredients to make something that’s unique and special. And that is something that we’ve actually cottoned on to as well, ingredients that you start with that really make the difference in that end product. And again, what may be special to you may not resonate with the entire, you know, the entire industry. And it depends who you’re trying to, to target because that makes a difference. There I was reading a magazine about these specialty beers, and one person came up with a beer that you can shampoo with and I thought that’s great. Not for me. Yeah, no, no, thank you. So that makes me to think of two things. So before we we started our conversation today, you talked a little bit about tier one and tier two. I understand that you are a tier one distiller, can you just tell us a little bit about what that means to you? Sure.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 6:58
So in Saskatchewan, we have just recently they’ve altered the designation for craft distillers to have a type one and type two distiller type one is are those that start from the raw ingredients, the grains and the botanicals themselves. And a type two distiller is allowed to bring in pre made alcohol, or pre made ethanol from other large distilleries. We are really proud to be a type one distiller farming is our background. We were grain farmers for a lot of years. We understand agriculture, we respect agriculture, and it gives us that opportunity to show off our specific terroir that we have here. And that’s it me, it really does mean a lot to us. And I think it means a lot to the customers as well.

Barb 7:46
Yeah, and I agree with you, I think it means a lot. Now, one question that comes to mind with only two distillers in the province.

Barb 7:56
Are all of the and let’s see beer, for example. So is beer also in that same tier one or tier two? Or does it depend on the type of alcohol?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 8:08
No, they’ve they’ve what they’ve done with this tier one and tier two, it’s across all alcohol as in beer, wine, ciders and and hard spirits.

Barb 8:19
Wow. Okay, so then the second question that comes to mind because consumers are, I’ll say very used to maybe not a premium product. Did you guys find as you were finding your flavors, that you had to keep in mind that most of us as consumers are kind of generic or how did you really start to weave those those special flavors in that really do make you that premier product?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 8:50
Again, it came back to my husband who’s the pallet in our in our operation, which was really good. But it also you know, we do we’re known in Saskatchewan for producing the best grains for breads for pastors. Why should not should we be known for producing the best spirits and brews and and wines that are out there? Well, not wind, sorry, wind doesn’t come from green. Right? What’s really interesting is that we do have some very remarkable terroir here, and which is often a term that you only hear that applies to wine, but it isn’t. And there’s a really, there’s a growing body of evidence that terroir shows up in whiskey especially, but we think it also shows up in our genes and our liquors and everything else.

Barb 9:38
Okay, that sounds good. So take me back to before 2015 your husband and yourself you’re talking about what’s next. Family farming is changing rapidly and drastically in this province and across the country. How did this conversation come about?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 10:03
Yes. So actually, our journey started in 2010. So 10 years ago, yeah, we were grain farming about 5000 acres. And we also were partners in a fuel and fertilizer dealership, we ran a livestock nutrition consulting business from the farm. So we had a few things going on. But things were changing. And we came to a crossroads, we recognize that grain farms were getting bigger. And for us to stay in the business, we either needed to expand and go that route, or we needed to do something different.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 10:37
Yeah, two things kind of played in here in that, at the time, there was no chance for expansion close to our existing farm, because our neighbors had already got this idea of expanding, and they were already at 15 and 20, and 30,000 acres. So there was no land available to expand. And the second thing was is that when we looked at our lifestyle when we looked at our children when we looked at our, our operation, and what we and what we like to do being large grain farmer, wasn’t it? Yes. And so that was when we made the decision to sell the family farm and do something different.

Barb 11:17
Oh, so you didn’t just diversify you actually change complete lines of business? Yes. Ah, okay. I didn’t realize that. So you’ve obviously kept, you know, an acre a section A quarter or whatever to have the distillery Have you not?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 11:34
Actually no, we sold entirely, and we’ve relocated 100 kilometers south.

Barb 11:41
Got it. So you are actually purchasing your inputs from farmers around you probably those that you’ve known for years?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 11:49
No, actually, right now we grow the ingredients ourselves, we rent some land, and it’s grown specifically for us. So we choose the variety, we choose the fertilization program, we choose a lot of the things that go with it. And that’s how we still claim that these this is our grain that we grow.

Barb 12:06
Yes, exactly. And again, you know, absolutely all of the inputs then right from the fertilizer you’re using on the grain to Okay, that makes more sense to me.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 12:15
And the other part of it is is we do we bought another farm. So we have land here, we have 80 acres now. Okay. And originally, the idea here was, we wanted to do something closer to the customer. As a grain farmer, you don’t get those touch points directly with the customer so that you can actually, you know, find out Am I doing a good job. Do you like what I’m producing? Do you not?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 12:38
When we first purchased this land, we thought it was going to be vegetables and a winery. Can we started off growing several vegetables and we had a few good RX with some vegetables and decided that vegetable sucked. And then we switched. And right now for those of you that aren’t familiar with black box, we actually do hard spirits. So we’re a distillery and a flower farm. So we went from vegetables in a winery to flowers in a distillery. And it was a bit of a process. That’s why the distillery was only open five years ago, you know, it was the concept probably was started seven or eight years ago, by the time you build and get every all the equipment into place. And everything else we opened our doors in in 2015. So tell me about how the flowers fit in here. Because I didn’t see that when I was preparing for our discussion today. And I thought, Hmm, I don’t know how this fit. So I actually didn’t keep that language in there. So explain that one to me. So when we had our little bit of a disaster with the vegetables, we started growing flowers, again, another very long story, another podcast.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 13:48
But what we did is we sold flowers to that we sold at the farmers market. We sold to some grocery stores, we sold to some florists, we did weddings, we did events and we weren’t the largest cut flower farm on the prairies. Mainly because we were the only ones. Okay, now a lot of business that people do. But we were also we had up to seven acres of cut flowers, which is absolutely massive in the small cut flower industry. Exactly. Now since cut back to about two or three acres of flowers depending on the year. Okay, and we we do a you pick so people could come out to the farm and pick their own flowers.

Barb 14:31
Yes. You know what, now that you say that an explain that I have heard about you. But I have never had the opportunity to be there. I have a very good friend who actually used to have a radio show as well. And he and his partner had been out to your place and he talks about the u-pick and I the connection just never happened until right now. So So is it still like flower stores and weddings and stuff that are purchasing from you. So it’s it’s where’s it all you pick

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 15:00
No, it’s all you pick now and it’s open to the public. And it is an opportunity to draw people out to the farm into the distillery and introduce them to all of the products that we make your black box. So from the gins and the whiskies and everything else. But it’s also another opportunity for us to engage them in agriculture. Yes, this is how things grow. This is, you know, what happens when there’s too much rain. This is what happens when there’s not enough rain. This is what happens when the insects come. So it’s our chance to have a dialogue with urban customers that sometimes you don’t always get that opportunity to do.

Barb 15:35
Exactly. Now, we talked earlier, so you have already expanded globally, and I know even within Canada, some of the provinces can be kind of challenging, but between global expansion, trying to find retailers locally, who will carry the product, how does that happen? Is that all on your plate as well? Or does your husband do that part? Or, or how does that come to life?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 15:59
Well, it’s really interesting when you start a business like ours, because it starts with two people. And then two people realize that, oh, my goodness, there’s way too much work here for two of us to do and then you start bringing on a team. And I am so pleased to say that our team is expanding all the time. And we’re really thrilled to have that opportunity. We now have a salesperson on full time we have a marketing person, we have a controller we have, you know a we have an assistant distiller now that just started with us last fall. So it is it’s really nice to have those extra people and to they bring ideas, and they bring suggestions and and it’s just it’s amazing how that synergy just expands with with more people. And we have an amazing team. We’re very thrilled to have our team Leon events coordinator.

Barb 16:51
And so yes, so you know when that’s really interesting to me, Barb, because as a small business as well, there’s times where you want to bounce something off someone and when you’re still really small, that’s hard. Even if it’s as simple as you know, the flowers you’re planting or the you know, new flavors you’re working on, the more people who are involved and have that input. Typically the better product you can have in the end. Right now, is everybody located where you are right now?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 17:23
Yeah. And then we’ve got a summer staff team that comes out as well to help with the yard maintenance and the plantings and the flowers and taking care of all of that and we do a fair a lot of events out here at the farm.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 17:38
People can come out right now we have a winter patio bar going so very cool. Yes. I’m very cold to some days.

Barb 17:47
No kidding. A January. Nobody wanted to, you know, funny.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 17:52
So actually, January was good. February has been miserable. So Oh, see? And I guess just you know, the little bit of distance between us, BB I’m gonna get you to just scooch to toward There we go. Yeah, yeah, there we go. We’re just out there cutting you off a little bit. Sorry, I’m moving too much.

Barb 18:13
So if you were to go back and do it all over again, is there anything that you would do differently?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 18:21
Yes, there’s a few things I think we would have tried to pick something sooner and focus on it. You know, we started off with the vegetables and then you know, in thinking winery, so we’ve planted fruit trees and realized quite quickly that we didn’t know anything about fruit and didn’t even like wine. So why on earth would it be a winery, then we you know, then we were with the flowers and we we like the flowers.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 18:47
But the distillery is definitely where the the operation needs to be. And that’s where we you know, where our income is coming from. So I think if we had focused a little sooner, it probably would have helped. We ended up our name originally was Tierra del Sol, which is Land of the sun. Okay, and we had Tierra del Sol and blackbox spirits. The very first marketing company that we worked with, took us aside and said don’t have two names. People are too confused with two names. So we had to come up with a single name that encompassed everything. So that’s where blackfox farm and distillery came from, which is incredibly long and cumbersome, but it does tell you exactly what we do. Yes, it does.

Barb 19:32
But excuse me, where does the black Fox part come from?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 19:37
So a black fox is from the Redbox family. Okay, it is an anomaly a genetic anomaly, just like an albino, but on the other side of the color spectrum. Okay. And when we looked at it, we thought that well first off when we were living at our other Farm in leask, we had a black Fox come and live in our yard one summer

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 20:00
The whole summer and it was just a really unique and beautiful animal to see. It would sleep underneath our semi that we were hauling grain with, then in the morning, it would scamper away, I got to see it in a red box playing together one time. So it was something that was really unique. Yes, that’s what we thought our distillery would be there’s that core red fox is common. But a black box is unique. There are many distilleries that are common, but blackfox farm and distillery is unique is very unique.

Barb 20:30
Exactly. And where’s your industry going? There seems to be I’ll say a bit of an explosion around craft brewers, which we’re learning today is now always necessarily the case. But where’s the industry going?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 20:44
onward and upward. I really do feel that consumers and customers now really want to know more about their product and where it’s coming from. And so we are that Danette that direct connection, right to the land, right to the where it’s coming from, like they can they can know and they can celebrate where and who makes their product. And I think that’s, that’s something that we’re really excited to be a part of. And that’s the part that we like the best. So, in an industry like ours, you have to like people. Absolutely. That’s we like people yes. Well, and and you’re welcoming people almost into your home, because they’re coming out for you pick and I expect that they you know, purchase other merchandise while they’re out there. So yeah, don’t you really have to tell like the the people side of it?

Barb 21:33
Yes. Yeah. Do you know offhand how many retailers you have globally at this point?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 21:40
Nope.

Barb 21:43
How many Canadian provinces? Did you say we have so far?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 21:47
Um, so we are in obviously, in Saskatchewan. We are in Alberta. We are available in Ontario. And we are around the world. We’re available in China. And we are available in Europe.

Barb 22:00
So did you did you consciously pick Europe and China? Like was that very conscious that you wanted to get into those markets? Or was that one of the just happened kind of things?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 22:10
on those two markets in particular, we were very blessed that we had distributors from those two countries come to us and say I want to carry your product. And so that was very fortunate. And now what we’re doing is we’re doing a lot of the marketing behind it, help support those those distributors in those countries? So that’s been interesting. And we’re doing the same in Alberta. And we’re doing the same in Ontario, too.

Barb 22:36
So does that involve some translation then for the product when you’re overseas? Yes, it does. So in China, we just finished the Chinese negotiation of everything they’re doing. So did you run into any nuances where the translation, let’s say the translation of blackfox was something you couldn’t use? Or were you able to keep everything consistent across the board? So so far, it was, we’re very lucky in.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 23:04
in Mandarin, there’s a term called Mwah. Ha. And I’m sure I butchered that for any Mandarin speaker terribly sorry. But it refers like it’s a, it’s probably more like Ebony Fox than it is black Fox. But hey, it’s very similar. Okay, so it didn’t have a negative connotation, because we see that in translation, right? Or, or black Fox could be an unlucky sign when it’s translated or something.

Barb 23:33
Okay, that makes sense. So how, like, are you? Is your focus on the retailers and getting your product out there? or How are you marketing then to the consumer?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 23:44
Well, a lot of it is, obviously through social media that is by far, we’re very blessed that every once in a while, a podcaster, reaches out and touches base with us. So that’s, that’s been very advantageous. We do a lot of So here, we like to bring people here. So Mark, the second Saturday of June on your calendar, because that’s world gym day. And we always have a celebration here. And so we’ll do something, whether it’s virtual or in person.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 24:17
When it comes to out of the province, in Alberta, we do a lot of tastings in event era, you know, in the in the stores and such, any chance that we can to touch the customer is is what we’re looking for. Obviously COVID has changed a whole lot of things, but it will go back and we’re looking forward to it. Yes, we’ll have a whole new normal when this comes out, was COVID in some ways, good for you because people were at home and purchase their products from for home or what what, what kind of impact did you see COVID did a lot of things for us both beneficial and, and? And well, I would almost say mostly beneficial, but because but it worked both ways, because we’re here on the farm.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 25:00
We have a lot of space. And so we were able to invite people out to the farm to enjoy the space to enjoy nature to have like to seriously walk and smell the flowers. And when other places couldn’t do that, so that was definitely an advantage to us. It also,

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 25:20
it was an advantage to others as like to the to our customers as well, because now they had a place to go where they would be physically distant. And you know, they would they wouldn’t have to worry that way. At the very beginning of the pandemic, we too started making hand sanitizer that was so necessary in our industries.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 25:40
Interestingly enough, we did buy in pre made alcohol to make our hand sanitizer. Yeah, because ours is just too valuable to use for that.

Barb 25:48
Yes, exactly. I can completely understand that bar. Believe it or not, we’re out of time already. So can I get you to quickly wrap up for us? And like how do folks find you? Where’s your website? What are your social channels?

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 26:03
Well, thanks so much for that. Our website is blackfox farm and distillery.com. We are on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. We are at on Facebook. It’s blackbox farm and distillery on Instagram, it’s blackfox underscore spirits. So you can find us that way. And Twitter is at blackfox farm.

Barb 26:25
Perfect. You know the one thing good about a long name is no matter what channel you go to, you probably found that your name was available. The history Yes, it was surprisingly you know, but we just didn’t want to go that long. Exactly. No, I totally hear you. Excellent. Well, we are out of time for today.

Barb 26:44
Thank you very much Barb for being here for educating me as I say I had no idea how my whiskey really got into my glass and I do like my whiskey. So I if you would like to be on the guest. If you would like to be on the guest. If you would like to be a guest on the show. You can email me at barb@googlegirl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at above the fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can also submit questions in advance of our show on our Facebook page. I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you were charged for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

This afternoon’s guest has a firm belief in quality. Saskatchewan-made and distilled quality.

Black Fox Farm and Distillery is Saskatchewan’s premier, farm-based micro-distillery, located minutes from Saskatoon.

Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote is one of the co-owners of the locally-owned and locally-produced line of gin, whiskey and liqueurs; distributing their spirits around the world.

Today’s episode may inspire you to take your beverages to a whole new level!

Connect with Barb @ Black Fox Farm and Distillery
https://www.blackfoxfarmanddistillery.com/
Facebook: @BlackFoxFarmandDistillery
Instagram: @blackfox_farm
Twitter: @blackfoxspirits
LinkedIn: @barb-stefanyshyn-cote

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Video Transcript: Ep. 73 with Cory Furman

Barb McGrath 0:00
Today’s guest knows all the lawyer jokes. And in fact, he’s been known to tell more than a few of them himself. Corey Furman is the owner of Furman IP here in Regina. And they focus on intellectual property law. So if you’ve ever wondered whether what you’re thinking or building would be covered, he’s the guy you need to talk to. Cory. Welcome. Thank you for being here.

Cory Furman 0:28
Oh, thanks for Well, thanks for having me. I didn’t bring you a good lawyer job today. But, but I love a good one light as much as the next. So just if you’re going to tell me a lawyer joke, just make it really hurt.

Barb McGrath 0:41
Excellent. And you know, as a profession, you guys certainly get beat up. So I think that helps to build that thick skin somewhere along the way, right? Yeah. So like, what what drew you to a lot you’ve been practicing for how many years now?

Cory Furman 0:56
I finished Law School in 1994. So I feel old saying that? Because I guess that means about 25 years, something like that. 26 years?

Barb McGrath 1:07
And have you always focused on intellectual property?

Cory Furman 1:11
Since I started my firm, so when you’re when you finish, law school is kind of like accounting, you got to do articles first. So I did my articles with the Saskatchewan Justice Department in 94/95. And then an economy back then being one it was for lots of people that are watching who were here that knows there weren’t a whole pile of jobs around. So I created my own job. decided I’d started an IP firm, because it was always something that had, it’s always something that had interested me and, and with, with nothing better to do and wanting to stick around Saskatchewan because I had met my well my wife at the time not wanting to leave, I thought I’d give it a try. So board a couple 1000 bucks in an old computer from my dad and away I went.

Barb McGrath 2:01
You know, and you hear that story so many times right board a few dollars from mom and dad back in 94, how you could borrow a couple $1,000 nowadays, it’s a little bit more expensive to get set up. Um, so talk a little bit about the types of businesses that you work with them.

Cory Furman 2:19
So my practice is in the area of intellectual property law and strategy. So the I do patent a patent and trademark and copyright work here are sort of what people would more typically kind of equate that to their little simpler words, the but wide, so I help lots of everyone from individuals through to large companies, protecting patents, trademarks, copyright.

Cory Furman 2:43
I do a little bit of litigation work, although, in general, especially with domestic and local clients in Saskatchewan, we’re not a litigious bunch, we all seem to get along. So that’s not so bad. So a lot of the clients that I work, like I have a very, it’s pretty cool, because I get to work with lots of different companies of different sizes in different industries. And I mean, another interesting thing about another piece to that is not only helping people to sort of figure out and file and protect their patents and things like that. But also, I mean, the most interesting part of it, to me is sort of just helping clients to figure out the rest of their IP strategy, including their export strategy, like I love doing international work. So I help people who are exporting to kind of match up their IP footprint in other markets, whether those are other markets elsewhere in Canada or outside Canada that sort of help them to match up the timing and the footprint of their IP portfolio in the US or Europe or wherever, as they as they go along. So I got to meet a ton of interesting people in those 25 years or whatever, both from clients, to lawyers and other countries and stuff like that. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s pretty cool.

Barb McGrath 4:02
So is it primarily product work? Or even from a tech perspective? I want to develop a piece of technology and let’s say an app, but I want people around the world to use it. Is that considered exploiting or how does that work?

Cory Furman 4:19
So when I started in the 90s, and through for the first 10 or 15 years, and it could have been part been just the nature of the people I had in my team at the time. We did a lot of work on agricultural implements, oil and gas invention stuff like more more mechanical type inventions. I always have had a bit of an interest in software kind of stuff through its I, I found it I found that my old Commodore 64 in the garage the other day, which I will, which I will let my wife throw out, because it’s because I’m a nerd. And

Barb McGrath 4:55
I try and turn it on like what can you do with it.

Cory Furman 4:57
I haven’t tried to turn it on but But so I always have been of interest in software, literally probably in the last six or eight years, over half of my patent practice would probably be with software companies. So helping people to, to protect different whether it’s a you know, sort of online things or offline, it’s a lot of a lot of the innovation in the province these days is being done in those areas, I still, I still get to do lots of interesting work with some of the same old, older sort of client relationship, like ag manufacturers, oil and gas companies, those kinds of things, but lots more software now. So like I say, which has probably just kind of been, I kind of fell into a niche that I enjoy. And one of the things I love about my business, I kind of kind of work on my own and get to do what I want and work with work with people and companies I like so.

Barb McGrath 5:50
And you know, that’s one of the benefits that people don’t often talk about being a small business owner, you get to direct essentially, every day, if you get too picky, and merchants get a little slim. And if you, you know get a little too generous, well, then you’re dealing with clients that you don’t want to work with. And so yeah, there’s a lot of freedom that comes with picking your clients knowing the work you want to do, right, it’s something that I’ve really come to value. So I just want to touch on this. Because we know that there’s a booming market here, app developers, things like that. So it’s tough to copyright, because whether it’s a website, or it’s an app, it’s not hard to get to the code anymore. So how do how do developers protect themselves?

Cory Furman 6:38
Well there’s a few interesting issues in the in the, in the in the context of software protection. So you first I mean enemy, one of the background issues even have to deal with is doesn’t necessarily it does impact how you protect it is even whether you’re using open source or proprietary development tools. So because if you are as lots of people are now developing in whole, or at least in part on some open source platform, then if you’re if your eventual plan is to monopolize your idea, or your technology by patterning it or something that factors in, you can still do it most of the time, but you got to cut up. It’s just something you got to be careful though.

Cory Furman 7:21
With software, I mean, there’s really you can patent you, it software is patentable in certain circumstances, where it’s actually achieving a novel result. So if it’s if it’s basically capturing and transforming data to yield a new commercial function sounds kind of wishy washy in terms of an answer. But the, it’s gotten a little more difficult in the last three or four years, at least, to actually patent software in the US, because the definition that’s being applied in the USPTO is a little different than it was before it’s being applied. They haven’t changed the rules, really. But they’re applying them a little differently.

Cory Furman 8:03
But so patents are patents are there as a tool to kind of try to protect the actual functionality. And then there’s copyright in the code in the code in the interface. So on the copyright is oftentimes how you would protect the code itself, lots of times clients would contemplate doing both. There’s, I mean, lots of times, even whether it’s software or even some other industry, lots of clients who are being maybe a little more aggressive or serious about protecting themselves from an IP perspective, might try that multi pronged approach of I mean, you’d also be able to protect the brand that you use on it on it. So you know, you have a trademark there or something. But the primary way that you would protect the core of a software development would be would be with patents and copyrights. And then the other piece the other way you can protect yourself against certain parties. And one of the questions oftentimes clients have to ask themselves in terms of IP protection strategies, what are you trying to protect yourself against or who are you trying to protect yourself from?

Cory Furman 9:18
So whether that’s I’m trying to protect myself from my customer, not paying their license fees anymore, I’m trying to protect myself from my competitor ripping me off. I’m trying to protect myself in the developer going across the street and and taking the crown jewels with him. They’re all different approaches. And and so one of the one of the other pieces with software is that in addition to patents and copyright, we still try to rely pretty heavily on on contract to so you can actually even where there’s an there’s not otherwise an IP right that exists.

Cory Furman 9:55
You can kind of create some inter party’s rights by agreeing to Hey, welcome to whatever. So lots of times what clients will want to do in the software space is, particularly in the gig economy now where there’s lots of people working on contract, like if they’re not employed, because if you’re an employee coder, there’s a statutory presumption that your employer owns your work. But if you’re, and those vary a little bit from country to country, but there is generally speaking and understanding that if you’re being paid by your employer to develop, then the fruits of your labor will be owned by the employer, the but contractors, for example, or even small businesses, procuring development services from like, if you go out and just get some guy to gig it up and develop something for you that one of the things you probably want to contract with somebody on is you want to contract in respect of ownership of the copyright ownership of the IP and the software.

Cory Furman 11:00
And you frankly, ideally, want the developer to agree that what’s created is yours. Now honestly, honestly, one of the issues you’re going to run into as a developer is not going to want to agree to that. Now, there’s lots of times there’s fair ways to deal with that. Because you can actually, you can actually say, look, I mean, because lots of lots of times what developers want to do, they’re just like lawyers with are looking up in our computer system are precedents and reusing them.

Cory Furman 11:29
The developers want to reuse, they’re there, they want to reuse, you know, libraries, code snippets, whatever, for some different purpose. I mean, they’re not even barely going to go and, you know, either not even necessarily going to go and you know, copy and resell your, you know, dog haircutting scheduling app to someone else, who’s going to compete with you in dog haircuts, great, but there might be some little bit of the programming that they did, that could be useful in another project someday, where they’re, you know, developing a scheduling app for use by a massage therapist or something like that.

Cory Furman 12:05
You probably don’t care. And that’s probably the thing that primarily the developer would be concerned about. So I think that lots of times the way we address that is to say, look, the customer, I am purchasing the development service and the software from you, and I want to own it. But I’m prepared to agree in a way that you can feel free to in a non competitive way, reuse whatever you want. It’s nuts, lots of times, there’s a middle ground there that usually works.

Barb McGrath 12:41
So one of the conversations that I’m seeing primarily coming to the US, I primarily work in that creative industry, and many small business or local businesses trade, their brand. And so the focus of today’s show are their friends and family and what have you and I or small business owners. So what is typically what you’re seeing, like, I don’t want to say advice. But, you know, the small business owner, trademarking their brand trademarking? How do you put something like that?

Cory Furman 13:23
I mean, the short answer to whether it’s an advisable thing to do is I think it is I mean, effectively to register a trademark and whether that’s your sort of key house brand, product names, you’re using whatever something if it’s a brand, even a logo different through, you know, different kinds of non conventional trademarks, identifier, source identifiers that you use to kind of to your benefit to identify your product or service to the public. I frankly, I think registering your trademarks is effectively cheap insurance. I mean, it’s up. Because the person who is the first user is really the person who’s entitled to the registration.

Cory Furman 14:04
So lots of times, we will like I mean, I typically tell people, if it’s up, if it’s a reasonably straightforward Canadian trademark registration, you know, cost wise, you might spend 1500, or $2,000, something like that, start to finish to get a registration done. And at the end of the day, if that sort of crystallizes your place in line, I would say it’s cheap insurance to somebody else coming along and creating a headache behind you somewhere. It’s not a particularly arduous process from a client perspective. And particularly, I mean, for example, like in in in my firm I like I consider it my job to make it as easy and painless for my clients as possible to you tell me what to do pay my bill and I’ll leave you alone. And I’ll I’ll come and tell you when it’s done. I’ll come and tell you before it’s done, because The current one of the current problems in the Canadian context is the Canadian trademark office. It’s embarrassing. It’s it’s taking three plus years to register a trademark in Canada right now.

Barb McGrath 15:10
Yeah, out. Three. Okay. So there’s a process though, you would never even know that that trademark processes. Know, what the heck does that work?

Cory Furman 15:22
Well, so what happens typically, the way you keep on top of that is to when you would be, actually, I would argue that it’s maybe even too late when you’ve gotten to the point of, Okay, you’ve already started using it, and you want to just file it. But at some point, when you’re picking a brand or picking a trademark, it’s a good idea to do a search. Because if we do a search, we can search for business names, previously filed applications, which would come up, I mean, they’ll come up within a couple weeks of being filed in a search.

Cory Furman 15:56
And but it’s, there were some changes made to the Canadian trademarks act a couple years ago, that effectively we know, in a very simple way, have a pretty much a first to file system. So filing date is very important. So we kind of set it and forget it. I mean, we’ll stay on top of it every six, eight months and see what’s happening with it. But I mean, it’s literally taking currently, it’s taking pretty much two and a half years from the time we file for the trademark office to get to the point they look at the file. Frankly, once it gets onto somebody’s desk, it moves pretty quick. It’s maybe another six, eight months, and it’s done. But it’s it’s they’re way behind. In fact, we can go and file. I had a client here not so long ago, where we filed in, you know, six other countries and six other countries, we were done the registrations in all of the other countries, before we had even heard anything from the Canadian trademark. It’s awful, to be honest, because trying to explain it is a big a big part of my practice is also doing Canadian work for foreign companies. So I help foreign companies who are protecting their marks or their patents or whatever, in Canada. And it’s embarrassing to have to explain this on behalf of the Canadian trademarks office that well look, we can do our best, but it’s going to take this long. So suffice it to say it takes a long time. It’s it’s I think it’s a good idea to get your stick in the ground. And then if once you file and or even regardless of if you file if somebody copies YOU AND and OR is infringing your rights, you can still basically seek to enforce on a common law unregistered basis, it’s that it’s better to do it with a registration just because the evidentiary burden flips and it’s a lot easier for the trademark owner than it is for the potential infringer but so that’s probably me rambling on there.

Cory Furman 17:56
But certainly, I think it’s a good idea to do it. In part because of how long it’s going to take to come out the other end. And when you do want to get to the point that you can it. And that’s another reason why actually, when you’re picking brands or trademarks, it’s also a good idea to do a search because, honestly, it’s gonna take two, three years to come out the other end of the sausage maker, the what you probably want, or pretty much in need is like when we do a search, we’ll write an opinion that says, I mean, we’re responsible for the accuracy of our opinion that says, look, we think that you can or can’t get this registered based on what the current state of the register is. And so because you can’t sit and wait for three years to launch your business, and you should and you shouldn’t have to, but particularly if you’re even if you’re a client who’s looking at doing licensing or franchising, if you’re looking to franchise, things like that, your potential franchisee one of the things they, when they get to the point of due diligence with the franchise lawyers, one of the things they’re going to say is, you know, basically under the franchise agreement, the value we’re getting from this arrangement is by and large access to the brand, what can you tell us about that is the brand protected or protectable.

Cory Furman 19:19
So, at that point, if you can flip it out on the desk and say, Look, according to the lawyers, it is okay, hopefully, you’re not gonna flip it under the desk and say, Oh, we asked for an opinion. And they said no way, but I still want your money. Well, yeah, so there’s, I think that searching and clearance work like that becomes even more important, given the timing and the delay and just the frankly before whether you’re a small business or a large business, you don’t want to pile in and spend a bunch of time and resources on developing any equity in a brand that’s walking on somebody else’s rights and that you’re sooner or later going to have to step back from.

Barb McGrath 19:58
So what’s interesting People thought is I remember when I registered my business, I remember searching the Canadian database for business. And I, in fact, have my first choice, because there was a Canadian registration. So in the end, I registered a second alternative, and you know, sort of picked from, you know, whatever the choices were. And then here in Saskatchewan, as long as you meet ISC, you know, benchmark, and you actually scribe the business, then they could care less. But then you watch what happens, businesses go and promote themselves under whatever public brand they want. So you know, that whole area of branding and trademark and what belongs to who? And that would be very interesting, I imagine from a search perspective as you start to get into some of that.

Cory Furman 20:54
Well, certainly, I mean, there’s different sort of degrees of searching, we would do I mean, everything from a quick and dirty search of the trademark database, just to tell you look, this looks like a good idea or a bad idea to even search anymore. It’s so we can give an opinion on registrability based on what’s in the trademark register. So whenever somebody filed a trademark before, in the Canadian context, the Canadian trademark office at least right now, they don’t search for business names, and those kinds of things. All these searches trademarks, cool, it’s a, it’s a narrower data set. But if we do a more comprehensive search, which is the other kind of a search that we most often do, trademark registered to give an opinion on registrability. And then we do an adoption opinion effectively, like, Can we see, is there anything latent that we think you’re going to infringe somebody in the marketplace, even if they don’t have a registration and what that searches is, business names, publications, websites, domain names, all that kind of crap that’s out there, because they’re getting into my real legal terminology now all that kind of crap that’s out there.

Cory Furman 22:04
But, but all that all those added sources of unregistered uses, because prior users still have some rights, which you can find, in a worst case scenario, you could have something that’s registerable. But there could still be some, you know, mom and pop shop in some corner of the country somewhere that has been using something confusingly similar in the same kind of a business. And you roll into town and want to set up three franchise outlets and, and all of a sudden, there’s a problem. Because you’re somebody else’s effectively in front of you in terms of a of an unregistered common law, you’ve sought different different set of data. That’s, that’s typically the level of assurance, like clients that are looking to franchise for example, or expand. That’s typically the level of assurance, I would suggest to them that they probably want. particularly given the time that it’s taking right now. You need as much certainty as possible before you’re going to jump in and spend the money, right. Oh,

Barb McGrath 23:10
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. You know, Cory, it’s funny, one of the things that I really enjoy about doing this podcast is when I get business owners talking about what they love, and what they do and who they are. It makes the time of that party. And in some cases, like literally, I will ask man, two, maybe three questions. And the entire time period disappeared. Right? Yeah, I watching you talking to person watching the clock, which we have, like one minute left.

Cory Furman 23:41
I’ve never been accused of not being able to talk.

Barb McGrath 23:44
Yes, exactly. So on that note, inquiry, wrap us up, like, tell tell us, when should we be calling you? And you know, where do we find you online? Give us your little spiel?

Cory Furman 23:57
Yeah, one? Certainly if companies are either looking to proactively just sort of even do an audit to see what they have for IP assets, or kind of figure out what if anything might apply to their business? Or if they find they have questions specifically about trademarks, patents? Honestly, even if you just have a sense, you have some IP that’s worth protecting, and you don’t know what it is.

Cory Furman 24:20
I mean, I’m happy to try to try to give you a hand and help you out with that. I mean, you’re able to certainly reach out to our firm by phone and Regina here, we have clients all over Saskatchewan, in Canada and around the world. Easiest, frankly, probably the easiest way to start is just to punch up our website, which is just furmenip.com. We’re in the process of getting a little even, we’re in the process of getting a little chat bot finished on there that will kind of maybe help you to figure out if you have some real basic questions maybe might try to help you figure out well, I think I have a trade secret question versus a patent question or something like that.

Cory Furman 24:59
But you were happy to hear from you and sort of answer, answer any questions that way. That’s probably the and then social media wise, you can look me up on LinkedIn and connect there or whatever. But probably the easiest way to start is to just to kind of jump on our website and have a look there and then reach out to reach out to my office from there and somebody in the team will be happy to help I, I love I love just getting to talk to people about their about their businesses and their ideas. And, and my dad used to tease me about this. And I was the only lawyer that he knew of that, that liked a good field trip, but I still make house calls.

Cory Furman 25:39
So there’s nothing I wrote, well, there’s nothing I love more than getting out on the factory floor. So. So I’m happy to talk to people about about about things anytime, and just sort of help them try to get to get pointed in the right direction. So have a look at our website. Like I say there’s a reasonable amount of information in there. We’re just a new site. So it’s just we’re just kind of trying to get even, it’s interesting, because if people have questions, we’re trying to get some more information on there to kind of address what people’s usual questions would be. And then from there, I’m happy to have a chat anytime.

Barb McGrath 26:12
Okay, that sounds awesome. Well, thank you very much for joining me today. Corey, I really appreciate just even a little bit of insight around you know, trademark and that local business or, you know, any kind of intellectual property that someone’s working on. So, hopefully the phone a few times for you after today. And if anyone else would like to be a guest, they can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our show on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

I don’t know about you, but when I think of a local business, I don’t often think about lawyers. And our guest today reaffirmed my thinking; Cory Furman is a homegrown, local guy with a law firm and client-base that extends around the world.

He’s the first to tell the lawyer jokes and the last to leave the party (maybe the first to arrive as well?).

But his subject matter is anything but boring legal stuff. He’s in the business of helping businesses protect their intellectual property, trademarks, copyright and patents.

Got an idea? He’s the guy you talk to first!

Connect with Cory @ Furman IP
https://www.furmanip.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/furmanip/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FurmanIp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/furman-ip-law-&-strategy-pc/

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Video Transcript: Ep. 72 with Tracy Archer

Barb McGrath 0:01
Today’s guest has been a part of her family business. Literally since day 140 years in Knight Archer insurance here in Saskatchewan opened their first location 40 years ago. They’re celebrating this year, and it’s a big year for them. The President and CEO Tracy Archer Has the President and CEO, Tracy has, of course, been in that family business right from the very beginning. And she’s got a really good perspective on leadership, finding balance for family. And as a single mom, she needs to make time for kids just to make sure that everything stays in check. Welcome, Tracy. so pleased to have you here.

Tracy Archer 0:48
Thanks, Barb.

Barb McGrath 0:50
So tell me a little bit about some of those early days. What like what spurred the creation of the business 40 years ago?

Tracy Archer 1:00
You know, the business actually began with my mum and my uncle. So her brother began the business and my father was also there more in supporting role. And as he had his full time job, so he wasn’t the one actually, in the business full time doing all the work. So we actually started in our basement of our house.

Barb McGrath 1:25
Oh, wow.

Barb McGrath 1:27
There we go. That’s great.

Tracy Archer 1:28
So directly in our basement, and within six months, we actually moved into our location that we’re in still right now on Victoria Avenue East. Wow.

Tracy Archer 1:38
So that was for 40 years. Absolutely.

Barb McGrath 1:43
Any idea how many renovations you’ve gone through?

Tracy Archer 1:47
No. You know, we we’ve been in different spots, all within kind of the same same area. And then we’ve just expanded right? And over the years, we’ve, we now have the main level as well as the upstairs level all for a night Archer and, you know, just just adjusted as we’ve grown. So it’s been great.

Barb McGrath 2:08
Exactly. Wouldn’t it be neat to put up one of those pictures in the office that show, you know, kind of the office over the years, cracked down some pictures, because I’m sure your mom and dad or uncle kept them over the years. But that would be very interesting.

Tracy Archer 2:23
We have some really nice scrapbooks, actually, of all of, you know, a couple different years different people that we’ve had, and you know, in some of our growth, opening different offices, and it’s, it’s great to go back and look at some of those things that I really appreciate the history.

Barb McGrath 2:39
Yeah, absolutely. So you started in the basement of your house? How many locations do you have now?

Tracy Archer 2:45
Currently, we have 17 locations. So we have 14 locations in Saskatchewan to in Manitoba and one in Alberta.

Barb McGrath 2:54
Okay, and how do you find being out of the province? Is the insurance landscape quite a bit different outside the borders? Or is it pretty similar?

Tracy Archer 3:03
I you know, there’s there are differences. Certainly Saskatchewan and Manitoba are quite similar because they both have government auto insurance. So both STI and MPI in Manitoba, are quite similar in their approach. But certainly when we go into Alberta, where they do not have that government auto, it makes a big difference on how we approach insurance. Also the landscape and, and business is a little bit different in Alberta than it is in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Barb McGrath 3:33
Yeah, and that sounds like almost any other time we compare the provinces there’s always those unique nuances, right?

Tracy Archer 3:40
Yes, absolutely.

Barb McGrath 3:43
So are you an only child? Is that why you ended up heading up the family business? Or?

Tracy Archer 3:49
I’m not I’m actually the youngest. Okay, sorry, oh, older brother, older sister, and my brother has worked in the business. Now for about 24 years, he has been part of the business. And James actually took the route of working a little bit more in our mortgage side of the business. And he moved into the corporate side of the business, but he’s also had a couple other interests that he’s been pursuing. So you know, he wants to kind of go on his his own path on doing few things. And so he stepped back a little bit more from a leadership role within the business and my sister worked a couple years in the university, but really since then, she has has done her own thing moved to Montreal, kind of set up shop there with her family and everything. And just recently in December, she actually moved back to Regina, but her husband works for us, and he’s been working for us for about three years work remotely from Montreal and we’ve been able to make that work and find a position that he can do remotely. So it’s cave is our first remote worker before everything else happened.

Barb McGrath 5:00
So to test it a little bit, you know, that’s interesting, because I often wonder that about family businesses when they’re siblings. And you know, how does that all sorted out? Or does it usually sort itself out?

Barb McGrath 5:14
Because can’t imagine that the tension or the dynamic that it would create when you’ve got two siblings, you’ve kind of both gearing to head up a company. So when you started, you talked about your mum and your uncle, was there kids on his side as well that were active in the business?

Tracy Archer 5:31
No, there hasn’t been but there are five, my mom has five kids in her family. So for siblings, all of them have worked in the business, as well, as we have had probably, I want to say at least six or seven of my cousins, some aunts and uncles from either side. So it’s truly been a really big family endeavor. Not just my own family, in terms of my parents, but the whole family has been a part of it. And you know, recently, just this past year, actually, my my sister and brother, they have come onto our board of directors. So you know, they’ve now kind of taking the position of DirecTV and being my boss.

Barb McGrath 6:18
You’re the youngest. So like they’ve had years of practice bossing you around.

Tracy Archer 6:23
That’s right. So I may be, I may be the one here that is president and CEO. But at the end of the day, I still report into my brother and sister on our board of directors. So

Barb McGrath 6:33
yeah, and your dad and your mom, are they on the board as well.

Tracy Archer 6:37
My dad is still on our board of directors, and my mom was able to, to really take a step back. She retired in 2016. So five years ago now, and you know, what, all of her time is really devoted to her grandkids. Yeah, spends a ton of time with the kids and you know, has really embraced being grandma and you know, is happy to be able to take a step back from from insurance, which she did for, you know, for 35 years and said, No, I’m good. I don’t need to be doing that work anymore. And lots of fulfilment from spending time with the kids.

Barb McGrath 7:14
Exactly, that’s anyway, isn’t that what we all strive for, is to to work and get to that place in life where we’ve got time to, you know, spend more time with family and, and do things like that.

Barb McGrath 7:27
So as the CEO of the corporation, you’re one of not nearly enough female CEOs? Does that feel like a burden? That’s right, no burden has a negative connotation. But does that feel like a responsibility to you? Or, you know, what does that feel like?

Tracy Archer 7:46
You know, I think I’m very lucky that I grew up, both in that and household. That is, it’s very balanced. And my parents always, each had their their own careers, but also really balanced our family life. And there was no strict roles or anything within the family. And I also grew up in the business where for the majority of the time, my my mom was president of Knight Archer insurance. So when my when my dad came back into the business in 2001, my mum continued in her role until 2016, when she retired, so Oh, okay, until the last couple years that my dad actually moved into the role as president and CEO, so and then he retired two years ago. So when you went into that,

Barb McGrath 8:36
Okay, so that’s very interesting. I didn’t know that, of course, because your dad was so well known in the community, I just assumed that he was, you know, back at the helm kind of thing. So, so talk about those leadership principles, then that you learned from your, your mom, especially because she was a female CEO at a time where that was very uncommon.

Tracy Archer 8:59
So she, you know, my, my parents have always been very involved in the community. And you know, that it’s always been very important to them to be able to give back to the community. So we we have always had, I think, a lot of strength in terms of balance of women in the office as well as men, and understanding the the need to diversify not only in terms of gender, but also in terms of ethnicity, in terms of age, all of those things and my mom really put that at the forefront of something that meant a lot to her. And she took a lot of time to get involved in things. So you know, she was a part of the insurance brokers of Saskatchewan. She was on their board of directors for, I think, seven or eight years. She also led the insurance Women’s Association of Saskatchewan and participated on the board for the insurance brokers association of Canada. He or she really took you know, a leading role within the industry. For a number of years, and I believe she was only the third woman to be president, or three to be Chair of the insurance brokers association of Saskatchewan, so she has been a leader in everything she’s done. So I think I take it for granted a little bit that you know, that it can be done. And it’s just been normalized for me that there’s no differences in terms of anything I can achieve. Versus anyone else.

Barb McGrath 10:27
Exactly. Now, one of the differences though, is your mom had your dad for support, and you’re a single mom, so how are you balancing it all?

Tracy Archer 10:37
It certainly does make make a change in our life. And, you know, it has required that I step back a little bit more from some of the community activities that that I have enjoyed earlier on, certainly in my life. And, you know, really focus on the most important thing in my life is my children. And, you know, in really getting to that point it you know, I think as a parent, you get to realize, what are the things that matter to you. And for me, it was first and foremost, making sure that I’m there for my children, I love my work, and I, you know, do it always to the best of my ability. But my children are number one. And so everything I do, I want to make sure that they know that I’m there for them. And you know, and that they have that support. So I’m very lucky that my mom does a lot of support for me. So I really enjoy spending that time with my kids. And you know, she’s, she’s there every day after school, she’s the one picking them up from school and, you know, taking them to their activities, allowing me to, you know, to continue work kind of till five or six, and then picking them up at the end of the day, and usually be able to join them at the end and pick them up, maybe see a little bit of their sports, but you know, it is a lot of balance. So

Barb McGrath 11:57
Yeah, well, and you’re very fortunate to have that built in support system, right? It’s almost like grandma nanny kind of thing or nanny Grandma, like, That’s awesome, right? So are you good at turning it off? So the girls go to bed? whatever time it is at nine o’clock? Are you good for turning it off? Or do you find yourself logging back in checking some email? What’s your habit?

Tracy Archer 12:22
So I like to think I’m good at it. I also know that certainly my staff or anyone, clients, they can reach me at any time. So I do all of my work off of my cell phone just about and I guess constantly connected in that part. But I do make a concerted effort that, you know, when I’m at work, that’s my work time, I want to really focus on doing that doing that well. And when I get home, I want to be mom and I want to do that well. So, but at the same time, you know, having that understanding that, you know, sometimes girls Mom’s going to have to do some work. And that’s my responsibility. So you know, there’s, there’s balance, sometimes I may need five minutes, I may need a half hour, but you know, I’m going to come back and do all those things I need to so I don’t feel the need to work after hours. But it’s just always having that availability and people knowing that they can reach out if need be.

Barb McGrath 13:22
Exactly. So talk about how you build your team at the office, so that you feel like you have that support system where you know, you can walk away at five and six o’clock and have the confidence to know that those who you know, might be there when the stores open late, or if something does come up as an emergency. Talk about that for me if you can.

Tracy Archer 13:42
Um, you know, we have worked really hard over the last, I would say about five or six years. Since 2015, really, when when we started to grow a little bit more within the province, we worked hard to be able to build that leadership team and really transition from it being our family leaving the business to having a team that’s leaving the business. And so although we have certainly a family focus that still continues, whether that’s from the board perspective or myself in my position, you know, I rely heavily on my team and I they’re fantastic. I really enjoy working with everyone that I have within our leadership team. And we also focus to make sure that we have, you know, have a lot of different levels that can support our team where we’re open eight till eight, Monday to Friday night, Saturday 12 for Sunday. So you know, and that’s across the province. So it is important that our staff are able to have that supervisors that they can reach out to whoever that may be. So we do have branch managers in each location that are really taking a hold and responsible for that area and then also the the support above them. So it does allow me a lot of you know ability to step back also to engage in different industry activities. So I am currently working on a lot of different boards of directors within the industry, participating in different focus groups, within different insurance companies and, and I’m okay to be able to take that time to devote to the industry devote to our connections there, build those relationships, and know that everything is still working here at the office, and that we have that support here.

Barb McGrath 15:31
Exactly. Well, if you think back to those early days, when there was a single location on Victoria Avenue, your mom being the president or whoever, whoever was at that time, they were probably still actively working with clients selling insurance. Plus, they were you know, that President and CEO, plus plus, plus, where you guys have matured as a business now, and you know, you’re able to truly be that leader, that sets the tone, because if you were still, you know, actively pursuing business or actively working with clients, you’re not going to be able to have that same kind of balance and, you know, be on the boards and things like that, if I recall correctly, you’re on the board with the insurance and Insurance Association here in Saskatchewan is it Canada as well, you just,

Tracy Archer 16:20
I’ve actually just come off of the one in Canada, but on these boards, as well, as I’m currently chair of our issuer Advisory Committee. So that’s the SGI part in terms of selling our plate insurance and driver’s licenses. So working on a couple of those things is, it’s just really important to me, I love engaging with our peers across the industry, you know, different leaders, and learning from them. It is it’s so invaluable to be able to learn from your peers on what they’re doing what works for them. Also different understandings of business, we have a very good spread in terms of rural locations, as well as urban locations. But I’ve lived in Regina my whole life, and I may not have the same perspective of small town, as certainly a lot of other brokers across the Saskatchewan. So really getting to understand their perspective, I think helps me in leading the whole company in able to say, these are some of the things that we need to focus on in these small towns, or something understandings we need to have. Because I may not come with that perspective myself.

Barb McGrath 17:33
Well, and even something like agriculture, I mean, agricultural policies, I would presume, aren’t a huge thing here in Regina. But as soon as you head out into the rural areas, then it’s a totally different thing.

Tracy Archer 17:45
Right? Absolutely. Our, you know, our office in in Humboldt, we have four offices in that area. And they are very focused on our agriculture sector. Say when you go to yorkton, as well as we have three smaller offices in Craven Lumsden, and pence and, you know, it’s really as soon as you get out of those city limits, the agriculture sector in Saskatchewan is is very booming, it’s very exciting and, and ever changing right there, they’re really moving into being true businesses. And, you know, moving away from some of those smaller family farms, so it’s exciting to see the changes in the growth within agriculture.

Barb McGrath 18:24
Absolutely. And even the use of technology on the farm, where it used to be, you know, technology was just not a thing. And now everything from the tractors to the amount of internet use that they need to be able to really do the job, so to speak, right? Um, leadership, leadership is a very difficult thing for anyone, do you find that you have, I’ll say, core principles or core values around how you lead? Or, you know, is it just inherent, and it’s what you’ve always learned and lived? And you continue that now as a as a company CEO?

Tracy Archer 19:06
That’s a good question. You know, I I look back that my core values and we’ve actually done a lot of exercises in the past two years, at our strategic planning and annual business planning that really trying to engage with each of our members of our leadership team to talk about what our core values are. And for me, my core values are first and foremost, independence and freedom. And those are things that I think I hold very dear. And some of that comes I think from also sporting background, I competed in a individual sport. But at the same time, you also rely on your team. So regardless if you are the one competing directly for yourself at that point in time, you have the team support, you have the team training with you every day and pushing them to be better and also supporting your teammates and pushing them to be better. So I think that really helps me in my role right now and being able to, to lead and be independent and have that freedom, but also relying on my team and know that they’re, that they are here for my success. I’m here as part of their success. And we have to work together in tort in order to both achieve what we want.

Barb McGrath 20:23
Is it interesting that those basic principles that we learned as a kid about being on a team supporting a team showing up for a team are sometimes the most important principles going forward.

Tracy Archer 20:36
Absolutely, it’s, uh, you know, it really is remarkable how much you know, those beliefs, and everything that I was taught through sport has really played out in my life. And I think it is so essential for, you know, for kids to get involved, and whether that’s sports, arts, whatever it is, but to, to be involved in something that that is bigger than themselves, and to understand how you play a role in, you know, in the bigger hole, how you can contribute, and how you can take away from you know, other people and learn from them to make yourself better.

Barb McGrath 21:11
Exactly. You know, it’s so interesting, because as a parent, and as a parent of kids who were in sports and activities, something that we’ve always reinforced with the kids, like, once you sign up, once you’re committed, like you show up, it doesn’t matter if you don’t feel like showing up, doesn’t matter if you’re tired. If you’re sick, okay, we’ll take an exception. And I quickly discovered that not every parent has that same philosophy. So without getting into a judging conversation, we’re pretty insistent with our kids. But if you’ve signed up like you’re committing, and I don’t care if you decide you don’t want to do it next year, but this year, you in right. And I think that, that that just instills something huge in kids at such a young age, right? It’s like mom and dad said, I had to show up, Mom and Dad said, I had to show up, Mom and Dad said I had to be on time mom and dad said I had to be on time. And for many kids, it’s like, whenever Yeah, I’ll show up for two games this season and not the rest. So again, without judging, I think that for those who have been involved in sport, we tend to pass it on to our kids. And then, you know, if you weren’t involved in sport, or maybe it wasn’t something you enjoy, and then there’s different lessons that you’re teaching your kids, right. So nothing has given me wider eyes than parenting in terms of how different we all really are. Yeah, it’s shocking, absolutely shocking.

Tracy Archer 22:42
Yes, my, my oldest daughter has, has taught me a lot in terms of patience, first and foremost, right. And I think all children teach, teach their parents how to be more patient. But also her, her way of thinking is I would almost a completely different from mine. And it really makes me take a step back and say, Okay, we’re not seeing this the same way. And I need to take a step back and understand where she’s coming from. And I need to be able to relate and understand that my way is not the right way. That you know, there’s there’s just different perspectives and how we approach things. And I think that’s what’s allowed me to be better in everything I do, by just applying those same principles that, you know, it’s it’s not a right or wrong or anything like that. It’s just that people do things differently. They approach different situations. And Jasmine has been fantastic at teaching me those things. Whereas my youngest is a lot more like me. So it’s a lot easier for us to understand each other. But my oldest is certainly, they’re very artistic. She comes from that artistic background from creativity, where I may be a little bit more of a linear thinker.

Barb McGrath 24:02
And it’s their thinking process. The one that I’ve really picked up on is the communication process. So having had a sport background and a business background, how we communicate information is communicate is one way. But yes, when you have that artistic flair, or you know, your brain just works different, you communicate different. And so we have to really watch when we’re talking, especially with our daughter as well, that we have to make sure that we understand what she’s trying to tell us. Because other words, otherwise our go to is well no, that’s not the truth. But really, it’s she just communicated so much differently than we do. And it’s not that she’s trying to lie to us. She’s just telling us what she thinks we need to know when of course we want to know more. So yes, it makes it interesting. Anyway, we are basically at a time so please tell everyone how they can find you. And find Knight Archer and what they would find you for.

Tracy Archer 25:03
Absolutely. So we are certainly located on all your social channels so that you can come visit us. But also take a look at our website, we do have chat available, we have a lot of self available items in terms of being able to purchase insurance and quoting there. And you can take a look at all of our locations that you can come into. So we are right across the sketch one our province here. And it’s very important to us that we are reaching out to all of our customers. So I really love that engagement aspect. And you know, we have changed where we try to look at things to be a client experience, rather than just service. And that’s the engagement part that we really look for from our clients. So get in touch with us anytime.

Barb McGrath 25:56
Awesome. That sounds wonderful. So thank you very much for being with me here today. It was a pleasure to talk to you and just kind of understand how leadership works in you know, a family business that has grown rapidly and demonstrated some amazing success. So thank you for being here.

Tracy Archer 26:15
Thanks very much.

Barb McGrath 26:17
If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our live shows on our Facebook page. I’m your host Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google Girl.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Today’s guest is a business leader, a strong family advocate and a role model for her girls. Nothing makes her more proud than to be there for her kids.

Tracy Archer is the President & CEO of a Knight Archer Insurance. A 40-year-old family business created in the basement of her parents house. All these years later, this follow-in-her-mom’s-steps entrepreneur is a confident, successful, down-to-earth leader.

Tune in to learn her secrets and find out how she “does it all!”

Connect with Tracy @ Knight Archer Insurance
https://www.knightarcher.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/knightarcherinsurance
Twitter: https://twitter.com/knightarcher
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/knight-archer-insurance/

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Video Transcript: Ep. 71 with Tim Nickel

Barb McGrath 0:00
Our guest today has a very special skill, a mediator and conciliator at heart. Tim nickel is the owner operator of fifth business consulting consulting, for mediating family disputes to facilitating the development of business strategy. Tim has a knack for helping others achieve those Win Win solutions. He also has a very audacious vision, one that I suspect that we can all support, he aims to create a more ethical, resilient and highly developed global civilization. No one will accuse him of being short sighted. Tim, welcome, and thank you for being here.

Tim Nickel 0:45
Thanks for having me, Barb. I’m really pleased to be here.

Barb McGrath 0:47
Oh, you got to kick it in that introduction? You’re kind of smiling there.

Tim Nickel 0:52
Right. Yeah. forgotten that I’ve written that I was inspired moment.

Barb McGrath 0:57
Yes, we all need those whether it’s, you know, after some pops on Friday or after coffee in the morning? Absolutely. So Tim, tell us a little bit about yourself and about business consulting.

Tim Nickel 1:09
Yeah, sure. Um, yeah, so I’ve been a mediator for about 25 years. That’s, that’s, you probably have to know a little bit about my background, to know what that even means. Cuz there’s a lot of different kinds of mediators and that sort of thing. But I’m a registered psychologist. So I went through a graduate program and getting that sort of body of knowledge under my belt. And then I’ve just done a, a range of, of, first of all, mediation kind of work, victim offender work, that which is in the criminal justice system, victims and offenders of crime. And then, in private practice, and working a little bit as a psychologist, but but also as a mediator. And then increasingly, over the years, have worked in organizations. And then and then in public engagement. That’s kind of the track of what I’ve done. I still do a lot of mediation, some family mediation, and then workplace mediation, but I’m really moving into public engagement and multi stakeholder collaboration. So bigger picture, kind of things.

Barb McGrath 2:16
So tell me how that evolution might have happened. Because when I think, oh, bit of an echo there, when I think back to, you know, early in my career at a leader at one point who, who didn’t believe in a win win solution, he believed that if you mediated or conciliated, you’ve given something up. And so how has that evolved over the years to be now collaborative?

Tim Nickel 2:44
Yeah, that’s a really interesting point that you make, it’s it has changed in. So I got into this work in the in the 80s. And mediation as a, as a thing, as an organizational option, or as a program option was very new at the time. I mean, people have been talking and resolving conflict with a little bit of help from from somebody else forever. But but as an institutional thing, it only started in the 80s. And in a few pockets in the 70s. And it took a long time for for the community of mediators to convince the justice system or Family Lawyers or, you know, or civil litigators, that it was a good idea. And so there was a lot of promotion, a lot of explaining, but proof was in the pudding in the end it, it won over lawyers, the legal community has embraced it fully at this point, oh, rare lawyer that that thinks that it’s a better way to to litigate you, somehow you’re giving up, they’re realizing, and it’s a real simple economic principle that if you work together, you gain more off, you get more off the table. It’s proven. You know, it’s, interestingly, it’s john Nash, the guy from a beautiful mind, that movie, he’s the one who really proved it, that if you if you take a look at these things in a different way, that you can get more, both parties get more

Barb McGrath 4:10
And like,

Tim Nickel 4:12
In addition to improving relationships, which has this long standing effect. It’s happened over time. And it’s and it’s around in the, in the 2000s, when, like, after the 90s, it started to really take take hold the better option for people.

Barb McGrath 4:31
So when I think then about mediating, you’re trying to create a better solution for all so when you’re working either in organizational mediation or, you know, within within a business, what would that typically look like? What what’s the service you actually provide?

Tim Nickel 4:52
Okay, so it really is responding to problems, human problems in organizations. And so the problem can take lots of forms. And sometimes mediation is the right way to go and other times more of an organizational development thing. So if you go right back to that, that initial heady statement about civilization and all that, really what I’m, what I’m looking for is growth and development in whatever way that needs to be. So that’s if there’s a common thread through it all, that’s what it is, at times, that is simply about bad feelings toward one another between two employees.

Tim Nickel 5:25
So they’re having a, having a hard time supervisor doesn’t have the capacity or the or the background to do that kind of work, they don’t prefer it, or they’re involved themselves. And so they ask somebody from the outside to help out. Okay, conversation. So that’s one kind of thing. But it might also then be that the whole place is having troubles in workplaces of 30, or 50. And the whole place is, is really having a hard time with that with a negative culture or a toxic culture. And they need more in just discussions, they need to adjust their culture, they need to adjust their structure. And and so they need a bit of advice about that some development over time and a bunch of conversations, which is the hard part to people who are avoiding those conversations, and they need to help with some.

Barb McGrath 6:10
So okay, so comments on toxic culture, that’s very interesting to me, because changing culture, that’s not an overnight that goes back to the foundational way that the entire organization runs. And when you’re talking about 50 people, or even 500, people, like trying to impact change across that level, can you talk about, you know, without ever naming an organization, but can you talk about how that would support an organization and how you would need an organization through that?

Tim Nickel 6:43
Yeah, so yeah, it’s it, I think you’re really hitting the nail, on some of these, the head, some of the on some of these points, because it is it is really difficult to change a company, because the people who are in it, by definition, don’t, they don’t see their culture, they are the whole, exactly. And, and they’re not understanding how it functions. And it’s self supports. It’s a wide system that that if you try to fix one little bit of it, the rest of it will Will you leave the scene, the rest of it will force it to be themselves, you can even replace the people.

Tim Nickel 7:21
And they will return to the same culture unless you address the culture itself. So I can talk about one situation and more generically, I will name the organization but it was a public organization, sort of at arm’s length of the government. And they did have a highly negative culture. Way too, it was a number of different things. It took a strong leadership, it actually took changing legislation it took it took some lots of conversations, and, and a full change of their procedures and the way they functioned as an organization, and they mandated that they had, yeah, and, and so it took time, it took about three to four years and some really low work. Some people left the organization, while while this was going on, they just they were given it the digital in a good way.

Tim Nickel 8:18
And that they were they said, we’ll we’ll give everybody a chance to get on board with this. But people have it in their mind. They were they had a role in the old culture that’s that fed them, that them that their personality, that their role, their sense of identity was all wrapped up in the old culture. And they decided in the end to leave on unreasonably good terms, okay, to kind of tough, you know, tough kind of facing of the problem that over about two or three years that that place needed to make that kind of a change.

Barb McGrath 8:57
Right. So when I think about that kind of culture change that takes some real strength from leadership at all levels, both formal and informal. Yes. Because to buy into something like that, as you said, that’s a three and four year process, not something you’re going to fix by Christmas or spring. Yeah. And, you know, the unfortunate reality is when you go through something like that, people are going to leave, you’re going to lose good people that you count on, to be able to get to that better. And so from a leadership perspective, those are really tough decisions to make.

Tim Nickel 9:34
Yeah. And in that case, it is what I would recommend to all organizations is to have a sense of compassion through it all. It’s there’s the vulnerability of, of negative and toxic called conflict in in that sort of circumstance. And and it needs to be handled in a way that respects the dignity and identity of people so that if they if they do choose to leave that it’s choosing to leave There’s a landing pad that, that it’s done in the best way possible. And because there’s a temptation to say, Oh, well, you know, in with a little lack of lack of patience to say, I’m going to make the hard decisions, and this is just, I can’t be friends with everybody, and I’m just gonna, you know, fire people this way or that. Yep, there’s, there’s good ways to do this. And, yeah, and, and but no one way to do it. But there’s no one way to do it every situation is different.

Barb McGrath 10:31
Every situation, every business is different, there’s no such thing as a linear path to get to an outcome like you’re describing, right. And so organizations really have to buy in and build that buy in. So when you look at the majority of the work that you’re doing is that where your focus right now is organizationally?

Tim Nickel 10:52
Interested, you know what my business has gone through phases, it seems to go in about every year or two, sometimes a little bit quicker. And I have gone through phases of lots of that kind of work, that organizational internal work. Right now, I’m working a lot more on outer work, so and that that would be like public engagement, multi stakeholder engagement. So different organizations working together to a common goal, negotiating as peers in the community. That sort of thing is where I’m at right now. I’m not quite sure how that has evolved over that that time. But it’s, it’s it’s exciting work. It’s really the kind of work that I love to do.

Barb McGrath 11:35
So describe multi stakeholder collaboration for me, because that’s a lot of big words together. That it that’s what common language, so tell me about that work? Like, what are you actually doing?

Tim Nickel 11:46
Yeah, and I, I’m guarding against using some sort of lingo, you know, and because it’s, it’s just the words that have come over time to describe how there are a lot of complex problems, we call them wicked problems, or in society, environmental problems, community problems that are enormously complex. And there, there’s a temptation for parts of communities or organizations, or people who are in positions of like consultants, to think that, well, there’s a single answer, that there’s somebody one person with all the answers, you just have to find that expert, who just knows it all, there is no person like that, with for these kinds of problems.

Tim Nickel 12:32
They’re too complex. So what what needs to happen is that the people who are affected in it, and as broadly defined as possible, need to get together and, and find a way and to solve their problems together. And that can be difficult because often they’re at they’re at odds, and often they’re structurally at odds regulators and producers, for instance, in agricultural settings, yes. And that’s the way it should be. That’s the, that’s part of the project, but but they still need to talk, they still need to decide together, and, and the power balances need to be addressed. And, and, and the whole project moved forward in a good way, which, which is defined by the people themselves.

Barb McGrath 13:18
And in fact, it’s the power imbalance, that’s part of what you’re addressing, right? Not the power balance.

Tim Nickel 13:24
Yeah. So. So it would be recognized, first of all peoples, the influence that they have, and that’s it, in my work, in the early days of my work, just simply with mediation and that sort of thing, the idea of power was, was a bit touchy, people had kind of dogmatic or very sort of idealistic ways of thinking about power. People get power, it’s just, it’s just something that that they need to do, to get fired, like to get to serve their own or their or their family’s needs or their communities needs, they get the power that they need.

Tim Nickel 14:03
What’s important is to recognize that and to understand how it’s playing out, if, if somebody doesn’t have say, structural power, they’re not on the town council, or they’re not on the board of directors, they can find power, they can go to the media, they can, they can they can take legal action, they can influence the community, they can go to the coffee shop and spread rumors, there are ways that people get power. important to understand how that’s all going to happen into if you have power, to recognize that you need to, you need to use it in a good way so that people aren’t tempted to, to counter with their own version of power and have it go under underneath and go subterranean and, and, and turn into something that is that is more of like a war or a fight.

Barb McGrath 14:52
And you know, one of the interesting things that I see in society nowadays because social media is so prevalent, everybody has opinion. And we’ve all always had our opinions. But we’re seeing more and more people who are using the power of social media platform for negative for fake news for spreading, you know, rumors and myths truths versus kind of that the positive that that I think that originally it was intended for. And that’s unfortunate, because we’re, we’re seeing that so often, of course, we saw it with COVID. Here in Regina, we saw it with the wastewater treatment plant. Right, we we saw it was really significant issues. And, you know, if you don’t have the background, or you don’t understand these issues, sometimes it’s really easy to buy into that negative view, or that fake news. So…

Tim Nickel 15:51
Yeah, it’s, that’s a sticky problem. And no, it is, it is not. So in a small town, one of the citizens in the town or a pair might not like what’s going on, for whatever reason, and go on Facebook or Twitter and start undermining or even harassing somebody on council or whatever it might be. It takes, I think the problem is big enough that it’s going to have to take an evolution of our capacities as a, as a society to, to understand how to treat Well, I mean, you see a lot with fake news, for instance, or truth, or the idea of truth, and, and how there’s a lot of people who are in organizations that are trying to educate the public how to treat facts, and and opinion and distinguish between the two.

Tim Nickel 16:44
And if their sources and all that kind of thing. And then there’s also people’s reactions to say, a Facebook post or something like that, that end up being very reactive and personal. And you have to take that deep breath, and and be, be wise about your response, not inflamed and not simply react. Ultimately, I mean, it’s a new format, it’s very powerful. But it’s still it’s still people that people haven’t changed. And so you have to manage yourself in those moments. And yeah, boil down to self regulation and calm decision making.

Barb McGrath 17:28
So do you see more disputes arising, though, in the last, let’s just say even a decade? And and do you see some of these public platforms fueling that? Or have you seen a baseline in terms of dispute?

Tim Nickel 17:46
I would say it’s surprisingly little Actually, I’ll say it is a factor, it’s definitely a factor. And it makes, I would say that it makes conflicts at times more difficult to manage, not more conflicts, I wouldn’t say it, there’s, there’s too many factors to be able to really pin it on any one thing like that, there’s, I would say that people are more are facing their conflicts in a more productive kind of way.

Tim Nickel 18:15
They’re increasing their capacity for conflict. And so they’re actually saying, Hey, we need to talk. Whereas maybe 30 years ago, it would have gone untended. And it looks like that nobody would have admitted it. And there were problems that that undermine all sorts of function in a system or, or in a community. And people feel bad and nobody’s dealing with it. These days, I think people are, are facing it a bit more. And it’s good to see that people are recognizing that if you if you face the conflict, it works. In fact, really, my business is all about finding ways to make conflict good. systems and communities can’t function without conflict. Exactly. function well without conflict.

Barb McGrath 18:59
Yeah. And I’m a huge believer in that you conflict can actually be healthy. And I have said that numerous times throughout my career, both in the corporate world as well as the entrepreneur world. And it’s much more acceptable in the entrepreneur world. Because conflict is, you know, what created the Googles and the apples of the world, where organizationally, when you propose something like that, you always get, you know, banned back to the back room or something, because there’s fear of conflict so many times in organizations, and you need that tension. Because that’s, of course, how you grow as an organization.

Barb McGrath 19:36
Yeah, it’s, it’s a bit of an ongoing joke around my house because my, my husband is very much that old style where Yeah, just sweep it under the rug, and it’ll go away and you don’t forget. And I always joke with him. I’m like, Well, how do you even walk on that rug anymore? Like That thing is? So yeah, we all have our means of coping and things like that. Kids. Sorry, if you have kids,

Tim Nickel 20:04
Yes.

Barb McGrath 20:07
Totally different direction. No. And the reason I asked that question just going back to, you know, mistruths and fake news. So my kids are preteens right now. And when I first there on the net, and they have to be there for school, and then there’s a bit of recreation time on the net, as well. And, you know, we’re really trying to help them understand fake news, misinformation. And, and I think it’s going to be a fascinating psychological study, you probably see this too, when we look at this generation of youth until also preteen in high school. And we look at the impact that some of the leadership styles internationally are going to have on culture and beliefs around leadership, fake news, like I think that is just going to be absolutely fascinating. And then add the COVID layer in there with COVID as well. So I don’t know, like…

Tim Nickel 21:10
I have a clear memory of Saturday morning. And my younger son, who is a late teen, had his friends over it was during the George Floyd. Black Lives Matter issues, and they were up in arms, oh, they and they were all there. I think I remember three or four of them in the house, they were all just appeal to their phones. And you should see their faces when they came up with a new alarming video or statement.

Tim Nickel 21:44
And, and so and of course, you know, there’s a ton of legitimacy to that whole to the, to the proponents of the in the spirit of Black Lives Matter and all those sorts of things. Yet, you can see something happening in the eyes of these teenagers as they, they they found something sensational to gas back. They actually gasped collectively when they found something. And and so I mean, I had a long morning talking with him about this and having some counter counter influence to this influence of their phones. Were Okay, so what part of what you’re hearing is legitimate, how much of it is even true? How much less? How much is it telescoped all into you know, in time? So to make it more sensational look? And and what’s the legitimacy of the news source? And how much does it represent? And whose interest is it representing all kinds of things that they the questions that they weren’t asking? I think it is one of the primary tasks of parents, but educators have to educate these incredibly astute youth

Barb McGrath 22:55
Exactly how much information

Tim Nickel 22:59
They know so much. And but they need discipline around this stuff. And they need they need guidance around it. Because they will have, they’re going to be facing far more complex problems than we even are whoever they you know, and they need to have the skills to do it. And and they they have a lot of they know so much more, but they need that discipline to manage this, this barrage of information and influence. It’s not just information. It’s influence everybody’s influence everybody else.

Barb McGrath 23:34
Yes. Yes. That’s, I mean, that’s absolutely the key behind social media is how do I influence you to see things my way? When we look at the foundations of social media? Of course, it was, you know, connect with friends and family. And now it’s much more about influence. There’s paid influencers, right, it hasn’t really started Yeah.

Tim Nickel 23:56
And entities that have that, that instinct for for best savvy approach to the world, which these young people do. But to really get to another level of of motive underneath it, to be able to say that I am being fed something that feels good. Somebody is benefiting from that. Mostly advertisers and and Facebook and Twitter and all these companies that are making enormous amounts of money on my gasps of alarm.

Barb McGrath 24:25
Yes, exactly. So Tam, as per usual, I’ve lost track of time. So we have about a minute. Sure. tell our audience how they would find you find business consulting and find your social channels.

Tim Nickel 24:39
Yeah, sure. They can. The easiest way is to go to my website, fifth business consulting.ca. And, and there’s there’s a contact page on there. They can they can even email me. They can also email me directly Tim.nickel at fifth business consulting.ca. So pretty easy to remember. Nicole like the coin, and, and that’s the main thing, I do have a Facebook page for my family mediation work. And they can they can do that they can just google family mediation and Tim Nicole or business any one of them will get Get, get them toward me. And and then they can they can talk things through. I’m very willing. I put in a lot of hours talking to people just about their lives. Sometimes it turns into business and the job but other times, it’s just to give some advice or just to connect. There’s lots of that that goes on in my work. So feel free to give me a call anytime.

Barb McGrath 25:36
Hey, that sounds awesome. So thank you for being here today and talking about fifth business consulting and the work that you’re doing. It sounds like your global vision is clearly in sight. And I look forward to watching that happen.

Tim Nickel 25:49
Thank you so much for the opportunity to talk to you. But

Barb McGrath 25:52
Absolutely. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca just a reminder, you can submit questions in advance of our live show on our Facebook page. And unfortunately, we’re not live yet but hopefully soon. I’m your hosts Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember you are charged for your success. Don’t keep it a secret.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Our guest today has a very special skill.

A mediator and conciliator at heart, Tim Nickel is the owner/operator of Fifth Business Consulting. From mediating family disputes to facilitating the development of business strategy, Tim has a knack for helping others achieve win-win solutions.

A vision we can all support, he aims to create a more ethical, resilient and highly developed global civilization. No one will accuse him of being short sighted!

Connect with Tim @ Fifth Business Consulting
https://fifthbusinessconsulting.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timnickelmediation
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-nickel-34377652

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Video Transcript: Ep. 70 with Taylor Weisgerber

Barb McGrath 0:00
I’m excited to introduce you to today’s guest, a graduate of Luther College High School here in Regina. He started off as a plumbing apprentice. He had an idea, a passion, and a willingness to approach business differently. Taylor Weiss Gruber took a took it upon himself to do things differently. He’s the founder of Spartan mechanical, and he approaches business life and his customers with a friendliness outgoingness and straight talk approach that his customers have come to know like, and trust. Welcome, Taylor. Thank you for being here.

Taylor Weisgerber 0:41
Thank you, Barb. Thanks very much for having me.

Barb McGrath 0:44
Yeah, it’s a pleasure to have you here. So tell me a little bit about how Spartan mechanical came to be?

Taylor Weisgerber 0:52
Well, that’s a bit of a long story, Barton, it all started back in 2012.

Taylor Weisgerber 0:58
Maybe even as far back as 2011. To take him back into high school, I had a couple different options on my plate of what I truthfully wanted to do

Unknown Speaker 1:07
In

Taylor Weisgerber 1:17
Ran his own plumbing business, which I was fortunate enough to be brought into. I worked for him for two and a half years, it was probably the longest two and a half years of my life.

Taylor Weisgerber 1:31
Other people listening to the show might know exactly how well working for family can go over at different points in time. So after that, I had already started working on my apprenticeship to get my Red Seal endorsement.

Taylor Weisgerber 1:45
I worked for another business here in the city for another two and a half years, it was the best two and a half years of my life. And in the trade. I had received my journeyman certificate or a journeyperson for those concerned.

Taylor Weisgerber 2:01
After that point, I went out to Alameda for about eight months, and I worked in the plumbing and gas fitting industry out that way in a rural setting, to try and widen my horizons. At that point, I had come back to Regina, and I wanted something different. I wanted something for myself, not only for myself to be proud of but you know, a point that can grow myself as a person as an individual. And, you know, as the army would say, be the best that you can be?

Barb McGrath 2:29
Sure. So take me back even a little bit further. What when you were in high school, what made you think that you wanted to get into plumbing? Or was it simply that there was a family business there? Or was there anything until you got into it? How does that come to be?

Taylor Weisgerber 2:45
I never wanted to do plumbing. When I was in elementary school, I mean, you know, if you said what your parents did for work, you know, mom did this. My stepdad did plumbing. Well, that was the end of so many jokes. And at that point, it was what it was right? When I first started out, I was actually gearing towards going into the IT field or something more of a support specialist role. The one thing that I really attributes to my qualities is my ability to speak.

Taylor Weisgerber 3:15
And my ability to guide, I’ve got a real knack for being able to go in the back of my mind and lead people through certain issues. It’s really benefited both, you know, personally, as well as entrepreneurially.

Barb McGrath 3:28
Got it. Okay. Yeah. You know, and that’s not necessarily a skill that we would associate with a trade sometimes. And not that not that trades don’t require leadership. It’s just not a skill that you hear people talk about. So, you know, how have you approached the business differently? What did you see out in the field? I’m talking with my hands, what did you see out in the field? versus what are you doing now to actualize that change?

Taylor Weisgerber 3:55
The one big thing that I saw in the field is I’ve gotten a lot of colleagues and they do beautiful, amazing work, artistic work, or, you know, depending on the customer, they do it fast, they do it efficient, and they do it proper. The one biggest thing that I see in our industry is an undervalue of a person’s true value. Right. And that stems down to the leadership role. Yeah, the one thing I want to do is I want to develop great people, I want to make people the best that they can be. And in the truest sense of the word. I want them to do quality work, and

Taylor Weisgerber 4:32
Basically extend themselves to any customer, whether it’s ours when we get to that point, or whether they want to go out on their own to theirs. We want to provide a great experience. We want to build an idea of, you know, kind of a family mentality as much as you can in the business world, right. We want to build a support system for our future staff, but as well for our customers.

Barb McGrath 4:55
Yeah. And just based on our conversation that we had before we kicked off today.

Barb McGrath 5:00
You have some really long term visions for this business, this isn’t a five year make a bunch of money, you know, head to Hawaii kind of thing. This, you’ve got some really long term visions for this business. So can you talk a little bit about that? And where does that come from? Because not, not all business owners have that type of approach.

Taylor Weisgerber 5:20
Yeah, for sure. So the one thing is growing up, we didn’t have a lot growing up, we grew up just on the north north side of the tracks,

Taylor Weisgerber 5:29
Almost staying near in the thick of it. And so growing up, we got to see a lot of stuff that was interesting to say the least, could be very interesting.

Taylor Weisgerber 5:39
And the one aspect that really stuck out in my mind is, you know, support for people who are, you know, low on the log for lack of a better term. And the kind of long term business goal that I do have is I want to venture out into a bit of philanthropy, right. And I may be able to achieve that goal, I might not be able to achieve that goal. But I want to see better things for, you know, the centered people in Regina, I want to see better things and better opportunities available, and find ways to extend those opportunities to the people that really require and need them. I don’t want to just give people you know, money or, you know, resources indefinitely, I want to create opportunities for them to build themselves up.

Taylor Weisgerber 6:22
But also get, you know, kind of give a bit of a nudge, but help them up the ladder along the way. I don’t want to see people do bad. I know my mom had hard times, and she sacrificed for me and my sister indefinitely. And if there’s anyone that I can, you know, help in any other way, that’s kind of my, that’s my next 40 years, that’s, you know, my retirement plan. If I can be that person for Regina, that’s going to be my goal and what I work towards.

Barb McGrath 6:50
You know, and obviously, those are very admirable goals. But what I really like about what you said, there is the hand up, versus the hand out, right, that whole mentality around teach someone to fish, and you actually give them a skill that can help them build a life, where just giving them you know, the fish is a totally different thing. So yeah, that’s, that’s a very unique mentality. What does that actually look like in your business right now? Can you articulate how you’re living that or just even starting to live that?

Taylor Weisgerber 7:23
Absolutely. You know, we’ve done a couple things, Regina, Early Learning and Development Center, we haven’t done a lot with where we’re starting to work a little more hands and hands, and hopefully that relationship will continue. The one other thing that I see is you got to work on the youth, right? Because I mean, as cliche as it sounds, the youth are future, and it’s, you know, nature and nurture, right? What kind of situation do they see themselves in? So I was lucky enough to do some pro bono work for the Regina Early Learning and Development Center. As simple as it was it, that’s kind of the way we’re gonna start out, and through building a better business through building better clients through, you know, building a better capital account.

Taylor Weisgerber 8:05
And developing from that point on, that’s kind of where we’re going to grow from there. Yeah.

Barb McGrath 8:10
And, you know, that’s, it’s exciting to be able to think that far in the future and how that actually supports your business. Because for a lot of entrepreneurs, we look at the bottom line, and we think this is this is business. But in fact, the support that we provide across our community has so much more to do with how rich our business will be. We’ll still have to pay the bills. Yeah, but then, right, then there’s life beyond bills being paid. And my business partner, and I’ve had that conversation a few times, because he’s very driven by that bottom line. This is how much we made this month. This is what our expenses were. And my approach is, yeah, but but at the same time, we got time with the kids, or we got to go somewhere.

Barb McGrath 8:59
Yeah, you know, and so those are the experiences. So I’m a very experiential person, let’s do stuff. Versus, you know, cuz you can’t take it with you. It can sit in the bank account, but you can’t take it with you. Right? Yeah. So what does the Spartan team look like? Is there you and how many people?

Taylor Weisgerber 9:20
You know, there’s a lot of people.

Taylor Weisgerber 9:23
Now, people that are on payroll, that’s another question, right? People backing me which I appreciate, I’ve got my amazing fiance, she’s been nothing but an awesome support for myself, in doing this venture, whether that’s home cooked meals, or whether that’s even, you know,

Taylor Weisgerber 9:41
Doing a couple of other things, running parts if need be. I’ve got my mother who’s backed me, as far as on the payroll goes, it is just myself for now. And, you know, some core accounting staff, stuff like that, that subcontract and we’re kind of working on that growth. We’re trying to get in a position where you know,

Taylor Weisgerber 10:00
I’m comfortable enough that I’m guaranteeing the next person who’s going to be hired on at Spartan is going to get what they’re worth, you see the benefits of the worth, I don’t feel like a company should really grow unless they’re able to provide some of those key aspects, they might feel that they’re ready to grow.

Taylor Weisgerber 10:16
But they haven’t done enough homework or enough trimming of their own fat to necessitate that extra person. They can streamline their business, they can focus on their, you know, their proper customer base instead of overextending themselves. As we were talking about before, when you focus on that customer base, where you specialize in, you’re going to grow your business exponentially because of your experience, which is your value.

Taylor Weisgerber 10:40
Anybody can sweat two pipes together, but to do it with, you know, proper arrangement in mind or safety in mind. That’s a whole nother story.

Barb McGrath 10:48
Yes, absolutely. It’s interesting, we general contracted the build of our house. So we hired each of our trades individually, we got to know them, we had personal relationships with them. With some really good experiences, we had some really poor experiences. And I remember one time in particular, doesn’t matter what trade it was, there was a specific, specific way that the whole house plan had been done that we wanted something done. And the trades person, even though they quoted the job a certain way wanting to change it. And just, it was quite clear, they wanted to do something that was gonna take less time and cost them less. But from an aesthetic standpoint, it was really going to detract from the aesthetics for us. So my husband and I are very good at sort of good cop, bad cop. So he talked with the tradesperson came in, you know, told the story. And he was like, No, no, let’s talk with Barb.

Barb McGrath 11:43
So my steel toed boots, I come out to the whole house to meet the tradesperson. They explain what they want to do. I am literally crawling up the two by fours in the wall and saying no, this is how it’s happening. Yeah. And honestly, goodness, the poor man just stood there, looked at me and said, Okay, yeah, we can make it work.

Barb McGrath 12:10
And so when I, when I hear what you’re talking about in terms of, you know, doing things differently, those are the things that that we as consumers, those are the stories that we retell, because those are the experiences that made a mark, know how the contractor came to us and said, Hey, we can do it better. Instead of Oh, we want to take shortcuts, it’s really different experience. Right? And so yeah, being able to to do that sort of thing. You do both residential and commercial, because you talked about eight H vac and gasfitting. So like, what is your bailiwick? What services do you provide to customers?

Taylor Weisgerber 12:52
Yeah, so you know what, when I worked for the previous businesses that I was employed by, we took care of a lot of really great places in the city, we took care of multi unit dwellings, apartments, when I was with my second, you know, business employed, we took care of Regina, public school board for a huge portion. So a lot of my experiences come with, you know, large scale structures.

Taylor Weisgerber 13:16
That’s not to say that we don’t do residential, but with these large scale structures, one of the big things that I was able to become more comfortable around was with boiler systems, air handler units, you know, which might not be as, as key placement in some of our residential homes. Some have boilers Believe it or not, but most are forced air heat. So my background is really logic and troubleshooting. If there’s a piece of equipment, you know, and it’s not working, right, can I fix it? More than likely I can. But you know, what, if I don’t, I’ve got colleagues that I can extend myself out to in the industry, that may have a leg up on me, so that we can solve the problem because at the end of the day, it’s not about you know, specifically who’s solving the problem. It is to a degree, you got to be comfortable with your contractor, but you want that problem solved. And you know, what, I hate to say when it comes to you know, things like that, I would rather trust the doctor who’s willing to take the five minutes to research my issue than someone who’s just gonna wing it on a whim.

Taylor Weisgerber 14:20
So that’s kind of what our my original scope was. We are doing residential right as an entrepreneur.

Taylor Weisgerber 14:27
It’s a very much you know, basic approach. You take what you can get, and you keep building on that. You build those relationships. So you know what, I didn’t have a lot of choice right when I started. I did have a couple of contacts in the industry. I had some that were ready to jump ship completely and wholeheartedly for me. I had others that were more you know, and you know, we want to see how you do first because we don’t want to burn a bridge into someone who in our industry, it happens a lot. You know, that works for six months and is could put so much

Taylor Weisgerber 15:00
Other scope as far as the H backside goes, is we deal with, you know, residential, air conditioning. We deal with furnaces. We deal with ductwork, right, we’ve got an awesome crew of people that we can tap into as a resource to supply all of these different things that a customer may want. But our real specialty and what I’m geared towards is boiler work. I love boilers, they are probably the best thing going in any building. I don’t care who says what, they’re fascinating.

Barb McGrath 15:29
Yeah, isn’t it funny, we all have our thing that just fascinates us. So when you look at the industry as a whole, and even thinking broadly, the trade, are you seeing companies starting to merge and create more large companies? Are you seeing more solopreneurs like yourself?

Taylor Weisgerber 15:49
It’s difficult to say, because I’ve been approached already, you know, in in about the two years that I’ve had my business multiple times on, either shutting down my business and going into, you know, a strategic management role for other businesses. I’ve had other businesses that have wanted to amalgamate and operate under their name.

Taylor Weisgerber 16:10
Generally, as our trade goes, there’s a lot of businesses, a lot of bigger businesses that do a lot of new construction, they hire quick, and they fire faster, right, or lay off, depending on who it is. So we got a lot of these guys that come from a new construction background, which never to knock them because they can pipe new systems like nobody’s business, they could do circles around me any day of the week. And I don’t care who knows it. It’s just the nature of the beast, a lot of these fellows will go and they do tend to start up their own businesses, because you’re out of work. You’ve got family, you’ve got no other choices. When all these companies are laying off for firing, where else are you going to go? Especially in a D saturated job market, right? You don’t have all the options. And you know, even the true talents out there are finding it difficult to find work.

Taylor Weisgerber 17:01
So a lot of these people will start the new businesses, but they have a new construction background, we don’t have a lot of new construction going on. Now. It’s taken me eight and a half years to know what I know, BB in terms of the service world. I don’t expect anyone to walk in and start their first day and know what they’re doing with flushometer is with boiler systems, right? When they were used to running water lines, there’s sewage.

Taylor Weisgerber 17:23
You know, and that brings it back every day’s a school day.

Taylor Weisgerber 17:28
And I don’t know everything, I don’t expect everyone else to know everything. It’s one of the biggest things that’s frustrating for me to see with other people in the industry is, you know, this perpetuation of that cycle.

Barb McGrath 17:39
Yeah. You know what, I love that approach, every day’s a school day, when you know if that’s the mentality that you have, when you get up in the morning, what am I going to learn today? versus, you know, what do I have to do? Right? Like, that’s, that’s a real mental shift. And I don’t know if you’ve ever even heard yourself, say that, or if it’s very intentional in your language, but that’s a really cool statement. Because, yeah, if you’re not learning something every day, then what are you doing me? You’re kind of on the downhill slide. Right? Exactly.

Barb McGrath 18:10
Um, one of the things that I found really interesting when I started my business, and same thing, I started as a solopreneur. And, you know, I would go on, I would build a website for a company or I would set up their social channels. And the one of the one of the best lessons I think, that I learned early on was, the more I shared, and asked for collaboration and asked for support, the more my business grew. And it’s a little bit opposite what you expect, because you think, well, if I have to share this project with somebody, I’m only going to get half of the revenue, and they’re going to get the other half. But they would get half and I would get half and we get two more jobs out of it instead of only one more. It was like, Oh, this multiplier effect, like this is kind of cool, man.

Taylor Weisgerber 18:55
Yeah, well, exactly. And even in your situation, you know, if you got a half and a half, well, is it really a half and a half? No, because you’re bringing in two holes, right? You’re going to double that revenue, because you’re two experts bringing in your contacts, everybody that you know, you want the same, you know, kind of, you know, end result, right? Everybody wants that same end result. Everybody does want that big dollar amount at the end of the day, but what they choose to do with it? That’s always the big question, right? And that’s what determines one entrepreneur from another.

Barb McGrath 19:27
Exactly. And I think to your comment earlier, when we’re talking about growing the business and bringing that second person on, when you really have a clear vision for your company, it’s hard to bring someone into the fold, because you want them to interact with customers and represent the brand in the same way you do. And that was one of the hardest things for me was start to say, you know, you other person, like go and work directly with, you know, this client and we would talk a lot about it, and we went

Barb McGrath 19:59
Talk about what was important to me. But all you can do is example by, you know, lead by example. And then you have to have faith in people. Yeah, right.

Taylor Weisgerber 20:12
Yeah, you’re totally right, in every sense of the word, right? The one thing that, you know, I grew from an understanding from, you know, talking to other people in the trades, or, you know, looking at different resources for trades entrepreneurs, the one biggest thing that they said, Put in your mindset, put in your toolboxes, you run your business in a very specific way. And you’ve got very different, you know, ideas for your business and the way you want things done and how you want the T’s crossed and the i’s dotted.

Taylor Weisgerber 20:41
But you have to come to the realization that nobody is you, you are the only you unless you’re twins, but in a mental capacity, that’s still true, right? You are the only you, you’re going to have the same values that you’ve held forever, not everybody, and not anybody will hold all the same values that you will. And you know, what, a lot of the other entrepreneurs that are maybe thinking about hiring or getting to that break even point come to that understanding, you’ve got to know that you will never have somebody who is the spitting image of you. And the sooner that you can realize that the sooner you might be able to make that leap forward.

Barb McGrath 21:18
Exactly. And the challenge is, how do you harness that to grow your business? Yes, have your business shrink by the folds?

Taylor Weisgerber 21:25
Yeah, and the false right, work on those faults. My past employers that I spent two and a half years with, they’re going to remain nameless, but it was the best two and a half years that I had in the trade. They did everything to build you up as the individual. Right? They wanted to have full confidence in you. And you know what, I screwed things up. But you know what, at the end of the day, the company atoned I atone for what I have screwed up, or we have screwed up as a team. And we moved on, right. And it was always a learning opportunity.

Taylor Weisgerber 21:52
But it’s as an employer, you know, you need to take that approach a positive approach. And you know, what people are either going to be receptive, or they’re not. And that’s going to bring you to your next question, do you keep them? Do you work on them? What do you want? What do they want? Right? And, and?

Barb McGrath 22:10
Yeah, exactly, not every employee is gonna have that that same sort of approach, right? So I don’t know if you can hear in the background or not. But of course, we’re still recording from home. And my dog is at the office door here. And he’s like, let me in, let me in.

Barb McGrath 22:26
You can hear voices in here. And usually he comes in really impressed with me right now. So

Taylor Weisgerber 22:36
They’re, um, she talked about values. Do you have kids yet?

Taylor Weisgerber 22:41
Not yet. But if it was up to me, we’d have three if it’s up to my fiance, we have to we’re still working on that. That’s still a debatable item. Chopping away in the kitchen here.

Taylor Weisgerber 22:54
Yeah, you know what, that’s that’s kind of what we have. In our mind. We were engaged last year, we had a lovely engagement. And, you know, like I said before, she’s really integral into me being who I am and being able to do what I’m doing.

Barb McGrath 23:08
Yeah. So it’s interesting, because I’ve always understood what values are. But until I had kids, which is years ago now, until I had kids, I really didn’t appreciate how different everyone’s values are, what we value what someone else values, right. And, and that gave me such an appreciation for how different we are all raised. And so the differences like they start right at the very beginning. Right, it was it was an eye opening experience for me. I remember, you know, coming home and just shaking my head and being like, wow, okay, I now understand this totally different.

Barb McGrath 23:52
Taylor, I have kind of lost track of time. So quickly, we’re gonna wrap up the show. But before we do, can you let everyone know how they would get ahold of you?

Taylor Weisgerber 24:00
Yeah, you know what, again, everybody, thanks for listening to us ramble on and have this discussion. I do appreciate everybody’s time.

Taylor Weisgerber 24:26
And of course, you know, good old cell phone, get on that phone ring those phones, as you know, tell a miracle would say and don’t ever hesitate to reach out to us. We’ll always approach you with a smile and a friendly attitude.

Barb McGrath 24:40
Awesome. That is fantastic. So thank you, Taylor, for being with me here today. For anyone listening. Of course, if you’d like to find Spartan mechanical, just plug him in Google and you’ll find their business listing there on the right hand side. Thank you for talking to me about how you’re approaching a, I’ll say a traditional industry.

Barb McGrath 25:00
Very differently know, like and trust is not necessarily something that folks will often associate in the plumbing field. And so I think you’re doing some fantastic things.

Taylor Weisgerber 25:11
Awesome. Thank you, Barb.

Barb McGrath 25:12
Absolutely. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ta or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. Just to reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of the live show on our Facebook page when we’re live. Unfortunately, we’re not right now. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

I’m excited to introduce you to today’s guest!

A graduate of Luther College High School in Regina, Saskatchewan, he started off as a plumbing apprentice.

But he had an idea, a passion and a willingness to approach business differently.

Taylor Weisgerber took it upon himself to start doing things differently. The founder of Spartan Mechanical, he approaches business, life and his customers with a friendliness, outgoingness and straight talking approach that his customers have come to know, like and trust.

Connect with Taylor @ Spartan Mechanical
https://spartansask.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpartanMechLTD
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-weisgerber-a98b50148

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Video Transcript: Ep. 69 with Lisa McIntyre

Barb McGrath 0:01
Today’s guest has a very clear view of our community and her future as an entrepreneur. Growing up, Lisa was part of a family owned business. Sunday dinners, holidays and after school were spent talking about business. Her family volunteered, often visiting virtually any venue that was hosting an event or a fundraiser. It gave her a really good sense of what it means to give back and be part of something bigger. today. Lisa McIntyre is the owner of The Optical Shoppe here in Regina. Welcome, Lisa.

Lisa McIntyre 0:37
Great. Thanks, Barb. Thanks very much for being here. So tell me a little bit about how you became the owner of an optical business? Are you an optician? Or tell me how that happened? Well, I’m just about an optician. Now, I wasn’t before. And I wasn’t really familiar with the industry. Through my community work that you mentioned, I was approached by a mutual friend or contact I guess through the globe board, actually, that said, you know, we’ve heard about this business opportunity, we think it would be really good for you, we’d be happy to sort of pair you up with the owner and see if you guys can come to an agreement. And it just seemed like a good opportunity. At the time, I was working at economic development and tourism, Regina, and what I called a fun job. Because coming from a family business where it’s stressed and talking about business all the time, I didn’t have to do that at all, to economic development. So I was at a fun job. And I wasn’t really eager to leave. But it just happened to be the right opportunity. After looking at the numbers and the customer base and sort of everything around it, I thought this is really a good jumping off point for me as a solo entrepreneur.

Barb McGrath 1:44
Well, and so that’s really interesting. So you grew up in that family business environment. So obviously, that the business or the entrepreneurial bug really bit you, I saw an interview, or an article where you were quoted as saying, you know, you think you were always meant to be an entrepreneur? What what inside of you helped you make that decision? Like, how did you come to that conclusion?

Lisa McIntyre 2:06
Well, I just never worked well with bosses. So I shouldn’t say that I actually did work well with all of my bosses. But I just never felt like that was the place for me. And I tried a number of different careers, I worked at the retirement chamber, I didn’t stint in government, even working for my with my family, I didn’t sort of have sole control of where we wanted to take the business or want to do we are a team, which is great. But I really wanted to have that autonomy. And I’m a very independent person. And I have always been that way. So being entrepreneur just kind of fits the mold. And I like having the vision and being able to use my somewhat small creative side to grow a business, which is picking up more of my analytical side.

Barb McGrath 2:50
You know, and so that’s interesting. So tell me about the conversation in with your family, when you said, hey, guess what, I’m gonna leave the family business and start my own. How did that conversation go?

Lisa McIntyre 3:00
Well, it didn’t happen exactly like that we’d actually sold our family business the year prior, which is why I was at economic development. And I chose not to stay on with the beer corporation that had taken over. So it was more of a conversation around, we’re selling this 84 year old family business. And you kind of have to deal with that. And there’s a lot to process when you think your great grandfather started this company in the Great Depression. And look where you are now. So obviously, we did really well. But then when I approached my family about this new opportunity, going to talk to my parents about it, we looked at the numbers, and they just sort of thought, if you don’t take the chance when you’re in your 30s, like early 30s, when are you going to take the chance, it only gets harder later in life. So it’s all on my face before I have kids, it’s probably not as big of a deal when I have to support you know, a little mouse.

Barb McGrath 3:52
Exactly. No, that’s it. That’s a really good perspective. I didn’t realize that your family had sold their business that must have been, like emotionally a really tough thing, because as you say, 84 years, that’s a long time.

Lisa McIntyre 4:04
Yeah, it was really tough. And of course, we had a number of family members in on it and different perspectives and people wanting to retire. So pro sale, some people wanting to take over the business and people not really sure what they wanted to do. So it’s definitely a process. And I approached it more as a grieving process. So like I was, you know, losing a family member.

Lisa McIntyre 4:25
So rather than just trying to, like settle with we sold a business, it’s a little bit different. I think now I may approach it differently. But at that time, it really was like a little bit of a grieving process for me. So up until that point in time, had you sort of assumed that you would take a role in the family business at some point. Yeah, we had discussed that many times that there would be a transition to what would have been the fourth generation of the family.

Lisa McIntyre 4:51
But when you’re approached with an offer, yeah, you have to take a look at it and it just was sort of the perfect storm of having three parts.

Lisa McIntyre 5:00
That wanted to retire and like to people to buy it out. And, you know, you get a good offer presented that everyone kind of wins in the long run and right, it’s like hard to say goodbye. But exactly with goodwill family. Yeah. And you know, some somewhat fortuitous. Since we’re, you know, it’s kind of in the sweep of COVID. Right now, it may have been much more difficult to keep the business going in this environment. Now, it also may have been a very successful time, because cleaning products are particularly useful right now. It probably would have been the greatest sales here we’d ever had.

Barb McGrath 5:36
Yeah, got it.

Lisa McIntyre 5:38
So well, disappointing that you’re not in that industry making money when you could have been, but I think still in the long run, it’s good. So during COVID, and everyone’s locked down, they were working six days a week to get shipments out. So yeah, a little bit different.

Barb McGrath 5:53
Well, let’s go back, let’s talk about The Optical Shoppe. So how big is your team?

Lisa McIntyre 5:57
So right now, it’s myself and one full time staff. And then we have three part time staff. So we scaled back a bit because of COVID. Normally, it would be three full time staff. And then some part time, and we’d also be at six days a week. Right now we’re operating at five days a week with appointments, and then only to staff on the premises at a time, just because we have a small space, rather have a few more customers in then staff taking up the capacity since we’ve limited it to six people in the store at a time at a time. Yeah.

Barb McGrath 6:28
So by appointment, so I’m looking for new eyewear, I booked an appointment with you, I sort of have my one hour slot or whatever that might be. And then I can come in. And so I’m kind of getting customer service. So as a customer, it’s probably not a bad thing. To have this kind of environment.

Lisa McIntyre 6:46
Yeah, we’ve because we’re located in the mall, we have a little bit of a hybrid model. So we are open to walk ins, but again, limited to six people per store. And that’s usually like two couples, and then offering appointments outside of those hours. So being a little bit more flexible as to when our customers need to see us. So normally, we’re not open on Sundays, but I did go down and meet some customers on Sunday. Because that’s what accommodated their schedule.

Lisa McIntyre 7:10
But it is really nice, because when you have a private appointment, you can try on anything in the store, you can try whatever you want. And then we have time after appointment to clean everything. We don’t have to limit anyone to three or five frames to try on. Because how do you know what you’re gonna like?

Barb McGrath 7:26
Exactly, yeah. So tell me about that process. So a customer’s done. And now you have to clean so is it about surface wiping? Or is it the the mist cleaning? What does that look like for you?

Lisa McIntyre 7:38
A little bit of both. So we are disinfecting all the spray all the frames with spray cleaner, and then the surfaces as well if they’ve touched any of those with our disinfectant, so we’re not using the big misters that you see around. Being that I have a bit of a chemical background. I know what we can do. So yeah, so we’re just spraying Luckily, glasses are all hard surfaces. So unlike clothing, when you go to try it on, it won’t hold on to any germs once it’s been wiped down.

Barb McGrath 8:05
Yeah, you know, and so there’s a little bit of you’ve trained your whole life for what we’re going through in COVID. Right now you have like the total background to be prepared for this. Hey, yeah. I never thought the night before. When I was getting ready for the show. I’m like you trained your whole life for this. He had a funny coincidence. Exactly. Um, so what’s your vision for the store? Are you hoping to have multiple stores in the future? Is your goal to Yeah, just tell me about it? What’s your what’s your vision here?

Lisa McIntyre 8:24
Yeah, I’d love to have multiple stores. Keep it very boutique, I don’t want to get into being a big supplier. But I definitely keep it local boutique, potentially partner with an optometrist so that we have that to draw people in at different locations. And, and just keep it really personal and know our customers like it’s really nice when we can greet someone by name when they walk into the store. So really having that connection and keeping our staff around long term so that they build that connection with the customers as well. So that’s what we’re working towards.

Barb McGrath 9:01
So do you see quite? Quite am? what’s the word I’m looking for? Do you see quite a bit of returning customers? That did not come on eloquently?

Lisa McIntyre 9:22
Yeah, I would say so we have quite a few client files and probably about 4000 files. Not all of them being returning, but hopefully, with improved service and different things like that, that we turn more of them into returning customers. But yeah, we do have a lot of people who have files sitting since 1983. They’ve been buying with the store. And they just really liked the quality of the product and the service that we’ve provided over those years that they keep coming back. You know, and in that industry services so important to walk in and work with someone who will genuinely help you find eyewear. That’s going to

Lisa McIntyre 10:00
To make a fashion statement, but suit you, that’s huge as eyeglasses wear, and I wear my glasses off and on, so I look to use them when I’m on the computer. But if I’m just watching the movie, I don’t need them. But what I have found in the last number of years is when you walk into some of the larger stores, the person you’re working with might still be in high school or university. And that flavor that that look is really different than what you want once you’re into your 30s and 40s. So it’s like, Yeah, no, that’s that’s kind of weird.

Lisa McIntyre 10:35
Yeah, yeah, I always say like, with myself being trained as an optician right now, and then we have an optician in the store full time. And we really get trained on to know what looks good on different people. And it really helps in our industry that like, when we do our frame buying, like I do all the frame buying myself, and then but I run it by the other staff, and I’m like, do you like these? Is this something that you think we can sell? What do you think, because the more we like the frames, the more you’re gonna like the frames, right? It’s not like we get a shipment in. And I have to pick from frames that I’ve never seen before to try and fit you. And then the other thing I say is that we always, we never want to send someone out unsure of the choice they made, right, we want the repeat customer.

Lisa McIntyre 11:23
So I want you to leave feeling fabulous. And if we don’t find something, the first time you come in, we’ll take the details of what you’re looking for. And we’ll go through our sights to see what we can bring in that might fit your exact needs.

Barb McGrath 11:38
Ah, you know, and that’s that kind of customer service is something that I think people are really looking for nowadays, because we don’t want to make a fashion statement. But we want to feel confident in our choices. So how are you letting customers know sort of how your approach has changed? What’s different at the store? Now? How are you communicating with customers?

Lisa McIntyre 11:57
We’ve actually been working through calling all of our customers. So it’s a long time, I definitely got more calls done in April than any other month because we’re fully closed. But yeah, we’ve been getting through all those, I think we’re on track to finish them by the end of December. So just calling people updating them. Collecting email addresses is something our store never had under the previous ownership. So we’ve been getting those to update people. And then using social media, as well, just to keep people apprised of what we’re doing, and how the store is operating. But for the most part, I think we’ve probably been one of the more flexible stores that I were shopping. And that’s really helped us.

Barb McGrath 12:36
So when you get frames in Do you share them on social media? And do you find that people come in looking for that frame, then?

Lisa McIntyre 12:42
Yeah, we do share them, we probably should share some of the more but we do share them quite a bit. And we get frames in like every week. So that’s something that we advertise, and there’s always new stock in the store.

Lisa McIntyre 12:50
And you can come look anytime.

Barb McGrath 12:54
You know, that’s one of the very interesting nuances of a retail environment, when you can share something that’s you know, new in store, what it looks like on someone that tends to create and drive demand, where for a service based business, sharing a service doesn’t necessarily drive that demand. So that’s a really unique feature that you have in retail. And from a service base business. There’s a little bit of envy there because it’s like, oh, you know, when I share this, right? And then you don’t get that same kind of feedback. So how are you growing your I’ll say your network, right? Because as an entrepreneur, we all need people around us, we all need our peeps to keep us going. So how do you build that network? How do you keep going?

Lisa McIntyre 13:37
Well, I was really good at networking prior to the pandemic. And now we’re in a whole new world when it comes to that. So I would say like, I probably could have gone to a different charity gala every Friday or Saturday night all year round and network that way. So now it’s been a little bit different. I’ve been asking my community for support. So one of the initiatives that I took on during the pandemic was that I reached out to a few close contacts and said, hey, are there a few people that I don’t know, that don’t support the shop yet that need glasses that I could send them something. And so I got a list of about 40 people, and I dropped off the price bags. So it was a bag with a gift card for the store. And then some eyeglass cleaner, some chocolates and just some little things in it to try and expand that.

Lisa McIntyre 14:19
And we saw some people follow us back on social media or reach out and definitely become supporters of the store. So it’s really having to work through the network that I already have to try and expand it to their friends and keep going because it is really hard. Like I can do some but it’s just not the same as what it was before.

Barb McGrath 14:42
No, it’s not that in person whites of your eyes. Networking is a different experience than zoom networking. And I’ve had the opportunity to participate in a couple of zoom sessions that were intended for networking. It’s just not the same like I would have a hard time thinking back to the people who are on that call. and pulling a name. Right? Like I would have a really hard time. And I think a lot of people are struggling with that. So how are you supporting your staff because your your staff feeling, you know, concern like, I don’t know, if I want to be in the store, Lisa, the numbers are getting pretty high, or you’re getting any feedback from staff or customers that way.

Lisa McIntyre 15:00
Our staff have been really great. None of them have had any concerns, even one of our part time staff as a teacher, so she just sort of said, Let’s not schedule me for September, or maybe early October to see our school year grows. But even now, she’s planning to work this Saturday, and she’s feeling really competent about being in the store, I think the steps we’ve taken to keep everyone safe and limiting our distance and our people in the store.

Lisa McIntyre 15:45
They’re not really concerned, I think the biggest concern would be the full time staff being worried about if there’s going to be a lockdown again, and what that means for them. I know, we’ve heard that the wage subsidy will be extended. So that’s something that definitely helps everyone in case there were to be another another lockdown. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Barb McGrath 16:04
Yeah. Um, so as you think about the next, I don’t know, 510, maybe even 20 years owning the store? Like, do you have a really clear vision of like, here’s where I want to go. And here’s where I believe the niches that we fill, because every business has to find that niche.

Unknown Speaker 16:19
Yeah,

Lisa McIntyre 16:20
We really want to be the place where you trust to send you out looking good, we want you to be confident. And so that’s our vision. And I think our frames really show a mixture of like classic looks with a little bit of edge in there. Nothing too wild, nothing too crazy. But a lot of just like really unique nice frames. And we just want to be known as that place where like, if you’re a professional, or just starting to wear glasses, like there’s something for you in there, you know, we’re not going to send you out looking wild. Or where you think, you know, you’re not going to get any compliments on your eyewear. We want people to know that you’re wearing it. And we’ve got some really cool frames that help that.

Barb McGrath 17:02
Yeah, well, and I love that fun and professional writing, being able to look still professional, but like a little bit of flair, a little bit of fun in there. Right. And I think everybody wants that, especially right now we’re all looking for anything that you know, has a little bit of fun in it, right?

Lisa McIntyre 17:18
Yeah. And if we’re gonna keep zooming for the next little while your glasses are probably going to be one of your main accessories.

Barb McGrath 17:23
I know. It’s the only one that matters. I was actually thinking exactly that this morning when I was getting ready for our show. All of a sudden, nothing else matters, right? The shoes don’t matter that jewelry doesn’t matter. And in fact, you don’t want jewelry and chains on if you’re doing zoom because they clink and Clank and so it’s like, Okay, I got a scarf on and my glasses like that’s it. Right? Yeah, it has changed things. So so much. So where do you think your industry is going? In terms of all the online shopping? The competitors that are out there? I find it ridiculously frustrating to try looking at eyewear online, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. But what are you seeing?

Lisa McIntyre 18:08
Well, what I’m seeing is that the big stores are getting bigger. So things like FYI, and factory optical are now one in the same. They may not appear that way yet, but they are the same Corporation. So what’s really going to differentiate us is our service because you can’t get that online, you can’t get the personal touch, you can’t get your glasses fitted. So if you’re okay, ordering five pairs only having one workout, then that’s, you know, that’s what online shopping is for. But if you’re coming in for quality glasses that are actually going to last you two or four years, that’s where we’re gonna fit that niche. But really is the service that’s going to differentiate that. Yeah.

Barb McGrath 18:47
And you mentioned earlier that you’re actually right inside the mall, right? Yeah, I’m okay. Yes, I can picture where you guys aren’t out. So do you find that since the mall traffic has declined here with COVID hasn’t made a difference for you, or because of all of the work that you’re doing, hasn’t really kept things going.

Lisa McIntyre 19:05
It’s really month to month, we have no idea what’s going to happen still. So October was really slow, really low. And then November was really good and December. Benefits are finishing up so people should be in but our main customer is the people in the office towers. So we need them to be back at work to see like our normal customer traffic flow, a lot of our back, but it’s on a rotational basis, or it’s one day a week or it’s ever changing at this point. So that’s really where our primary traffic flow comes from. Not necessarily necessarily from just the mall. patrons, I guess. Okay, yeah.

Barb McGrath 19:48
So having known you for a couple of years, I can see how you know, there’s a marketing flavor in there. There’s a fashion flavor and there’s a business flavor in there, and you find you balance those pieces.

Lisa McIntyre 20:01
I don’t know if I’ve found a balance yet, but I definitely into the business stuff before I get into the store. And I often end up doing that at home. We’re working on developing the marketing piece a little bit more with something our store never did. They just relied on referrals under the previous ownership group, which nothing wrong with that they built a great business doing that. But we want to get out there a little bit more. So we’ll be building up our social media marketing, things like that. And the fashion. When you get to pick out frames, they just you can see who they’re going to suit. And you can see how it’s going to fit in the store. And a lot of times with women’s rooms, I think like what I wear that, you know, and if I wouldn’t, even if it doesn’t fit my face shape, but like what I want to wear that, that I’m like, yeah, I’ll bring that in.

Barb McGrath 20:48
So do you see just thinking about this this sentence? You just said if you like it was are you seeing people? And I suppose especially women, but people in general, are you seeing them wear glasses at an earlier and earlier age than you know, we may have traditionally seen in the past?

Lisa McIntyre 20:55
I think so especially right now with everyone being on computers, they’re feeling a lot of eye strain. And usually when you’re on a computer, you just don’t blink as much. So you’re not hydrating your eye, but you’re getting that eye strain and developing an astigmatism sooner or needing that little bit of like a reading power, something like that. So we are seeing more younger people start to come in younger professionals needing eyewear.

Barb McGrath 21:06
So was that a learning curve for you? You just threw the word astigmatism into a sentence eloquently. I know five years, you probably wouldn’t have done that it was at a steep learning curve for you.

Lisa McIntyre 21:42
Yes, and no, some of it seems to be pretty natural. You can pick it up while working in the store. And then there’s some other things in the optician course that just don’t seem

Lisa McIntyre 21:53
Quite as usable every day. So yeah, definitely something I’ve learned over the last year or two.

Barb McGrath 21:59
And are you able to do the optician course online?

Lisa McIntyre 22:02
Yeah, it actually was all online. Prior to this. So able to do it. The only difference is our final exam used to be in person and now it’s online with a lockdown browser and webcam monitoring you.

Barb McGrath 22:16
Really? Oh, no, that’s in high security. So does that get your staff actually trained you on how things worked?

Lisa McIntyre 22:24
Yeah. So my full time staff has been an optician for five years. So she is the one who is overseeing me doing all the learning because there’s also a like a clinical piece. So it’s Yeah, it’s kind of a funny dynamic. It’s like I sign your paycheck. But you have to sign off on doing these hours in the store.

Barb McGrath 22:43
No kidding. Wouldn’t that create an interesting dynamic? And what happens if she doesn’t want to sign something off?

Lisa McIntyre 22:50
Yeah, it’s funny. We, we actually got challenged on our hours, and we sit back, we’re like, there’s literally only two of us in the store every day. So like, these hours are valid,

Barb McGrath 23:01
But exactly Oh, yeah. You know, like, I’m just thinking through that. And that’s, that’s a really odd, dynamic rate. So kudos to both of you for that.

Barb McGrath 23:17
Oh, excuse me. So Lisa, we only have a couple of minutes left. And one of the things I always like to do at the end of the show is make sure that the guest has time to like, kind of do their marketing spiel. So let’s give us your spiel, tell us where to find you tell us your hours, your social channels, take it away.

Lisa McIntyre 23:33
For sure. I think like I said, The Optical Shoppe are a really unique store. We’ve got great unique brands and some of the classics that everyone loves. So there’s something for everyone at the store. We’ll do the personal shopping, we’ll do the one on one private appointments, however you want to shop in your bubble, what makes you feel comfortable. We’re here for you right now. And I think we’re probably going to be living this way for another year, possibly. So we’re adapting and we’re going to be here we even did at home try ons and deliveries during the full closure in April. So we can do that again for people. So you can find us we’re in the Cornwall center, we do not follow Coronel center hours. So always check our sites. But right now we are Tuesday to Saturday 10 to five, and then doing appointments outside of those times so we can kind of fulfill everyone’s needs. We’re on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, all at the optical shop Regina or the optical shop y qR, and our website is the optical shop.ca

Barb McGrath 24:35
Awesome, that was fantastic.

Lisa McIntyre 24:59
Thanks so much, Barb.

Barb McGrath 25:01
Absolutely. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our live show on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Today’s guest has a very “clear” view of our community and her future as an entrepreneur!

Growing up, Lisa was part of a family-owned business. Sunday dinners, holidays and after school were spent talking about business. Her family volunteered often; visiting virtually any venue that was hosting an event or fundraiser. This gave her a sense of what it means to give back and be part of something bigger.

Today, Lisa McIntyre is the owner/operator of The Optical Shoppe. A 37-year business she purchased in 2019 from the original family. A businesswoman by trade, she saw the opportunity to purchase the local business as both a means to support the community and a path to success for herself and the business.

Being a business owner in her hometown of Regina means everything to her. So, when the opportunity came to own The Optical Shoppe she jumped in with both feet! It is the perfect marriage of her love for fashion, business and professional expertise.

At The Optical Shoppe, it’s their mission to cultivate personal confidence by ensuring you are looking and seeing your best. Lisa and her team of specialists are always ready to help you find the best frame & lens combo to fit your lifestyle.

Tune in as she talks about business ownership, leaving the family business, and building her legacy.

Connect with Lisa @ The Optical Shop
http://theopticalshoppe.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOpticalShoppeRegina
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theopticalshoppeyqr
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShoppeOptical
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-optical-shoppe-regina

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 68 with Santa Claus

Video Transcript: Ep. 68 with Santa Claus

Barb McGrath 0:00
Wow, are we in for a treat today. Today’s guest joins us all the way from the North Pole. Fresh out of the workshop. He’s left the elves to attend to all of the last minute details. This is a very busy time of year for our guests today. He and the missus are working non stop so that the elves and Santa and Mrs. Claus can make this a magical time of year. Tune in today to learn about the business and of being Santa. Imagine a global entrepreneur successful from a small tiny destination at the top of the world. Tune in as we interview Our guest today. And here is the man himself. Welcome, Santa. It’s so wonderful to have you here. I can’t believe you had time to make. Make time to be here with us today in good old Saskatchewan.

Santa 1:11
I always have time versus catch 100 Christmas.

Barb McGrath 1:17
Merry Christmas to you, Santa. So Santa. Have you ever had a letter like mine that asked for an interview?

Santa 1:28
Well, there was one time I got one from your premier not too long ago.

Barb McGrath 1:34
Oh, what did premier mo have to say?

Santa 1:36
Well based on what he was asking for I had to make him Mrs. Claus made him a stalking.

Barb McGrath 1:43
Oh.

Santa 1:45
And I need to drop it off later. 23 days, I’m gonna have to drop this off. And I’m gonna have to fill it up with something.

Barb McGrath 1:56
Yeah. I wonder why premier mo might having a stocking this year? Well, Santa, is it pretty common, though, to have some politicians on your naughty list?

Santa 2:08
Yeah, I always get some politicians, you know, this year. It’s been a crazy year, there’s been some craziness going all over the globe. And we’ve kind of just sat back. And you know, we want to be kind to everyone at Christmas. Time for everybody, including the politicians who are doing their damnedest best, better than others. Yeah, to get this crazy time we’re all living in. I am so glad that my business is at the North Pole. And we don’t have very many visitors. One or two scientists, they ever come poking around every once in a while. But

Barb McGrath 2:55
Yeah, pretty well hidden.

Santa 2:58
So they’re never finding us.

Barb McGrath 3:00
So Santa, does the North Pole have COVID?

Santa 3:06
No, we have no COVID at the North Pole. We’ve been even though we have no cases at the North Pole, where social distancing, we’re wearing masks. We’ve got rapid tests that we don’t have to pay for.

Barb McGrath 3:25
Oh, good.

Santa 3:28
We take it seriously. Because you know, me and my helpers, we’ve got to go all around the world in 23 days. So we need to be very careful with what we do. And we’re not going to wait. We want to be proactive and do what’s right for our business. Because as a small business with a global reach, we’ve got to make sure that we can deliver.

Barb McGrath 3:53
Absolutely. So that’s interesting. Santa COVID hasn’t made it up there. You know, I’ve heard some concerns from folks down here that what if Santa turns out to be a super spreader. But if you don’t have COVID, we would just worry about the reindeers catching COVID then,

Santa 4:10
Well, we’re worried about being a super spreader, because as you guys know, we have to go to every little boy and girls house. And that’s a lot. So we don’t want to catch it. And we don’t want to spread it sure that we’re doing the right thing all the time.

Barb McGrath 4:30
So Santa, is your magic gonna protect you on Christmas so you can still eat all those cookies and oranges.

Santa 4:38
Well, I really do look forward to Christmas because of all of that food that everyone leaves out for me. I spend 12 months of the year in our gym. We haven’t closed our gym at the North Pole because we’re COVID friendly.

Barb McGrath 4:55
Yeah.

Santa 4:56
And we make sure that we’re being safe, so where our gym can stay open Because Lord knows I need 12 months of exercise jazz for the one night of the year where I have to eat everything that those boys and girls are leaving out for me. And I wouldn’t miss that for anything.

Barb McGrath 5:13
Good for you, Santa. I was noticing that you looked pretty trim. So it must be that Christmas night. All those goodies that you have that just adds up instantly for you. I’m guessing

Santa 5:25
Well, between Christmas Eve night and Mrs. Claus doing what she does the rest of the time I eat pretty good. So I need to have a good exercise plan. And part of that is a spray of disinfectant on every piece of equipment that I go to because meet between me and the elves. We’re all running around trying to do our thing because we got to get in shape and stay in shape. Because that one day the year is crazy busy for us.

Barb McGrath 5:57
Yeah, I bet it is. Absolutely. So what’s Mrs. Claus been up to what keeps her busy the other, you know, 11 months in 30 days of the year?

Santa 6:08
Well, I need to tell you guys a little secret. Because this is the secret life of entrepreneurs. 

Barb McGrath 6:14
Is it not? Dad’s right. These are Secret Santa.

Santa 6:18
I’ll tell you a secret. You gotta keep it a secret.

Barb McGrath 6:21
Well, it’ll only be you know, you, me and our audience. No one else will know.

Santa 6:27
Okay, well, Mrs. Claus. She’s busy all the time. Because sometimes we’re not good listeners. And we need someone to keep us in line. You know, she makes us tremendous, tremendous food. We eat wonderfully Mrs. Claus. And we’re helping her in the kitchen because she’s the boss of the house. Santa is Wonderland is really Mrs. Claus Wonderland. She’s the one who designed it. She’s the one who keeps it up. I get all the credit for some reason was really is the brains behind our operation. She’s the logistics planner. She tells us when we got to go, where we start. When we got to finish. She’s got the timer on. She’s got the COVID hand sanitizers all over the place. She is really the one doing the really hard work. for some strange reason. I get all the credit. Now I don’t mind that. And this doesn’t mind that either. Because she likes staying behind the scenes. Yeah, but it would, it would not be cool for dear old St. Nick to take all the credit when I know and everyone else knows especially Mrs. Claus. And she’s just over there. She’s watching me that she gets the credit.

Barb McGrath 7:56
Well, you know, that must be quite the operation that happens that hey, Santa, because you’ve got all these boys and girls and all these letters. So Mrs. Claus is the one who’s letting you know who gets what, who’s not getting something this year. And Gosh, I hope your naughty list is nice and short. But so she’s the one T and all that up for you. She lets you know if you’re running behind on your run, she’s keeping track of all that does she also keep track of how much time you’re gonna have to spend in the gym after that NATO running around.

Santa 8:27
Mrs. Claus lets me when I get home on Christmas, Eve morning or evening, after I’ve delivered all of the presence. She lets me Have a good day or two of rest before she gets me back to the gym. And she’s the one who’s proud me always to get back to the gym and stay in shape. Because for that one night of the year, it takes a lot to prepare. And part of that preparation is physical and mental preparation and being mentally ready for the task at hand. And mental health at the North Pole is very important. Absolutely. On the missus and all of our little girl friends.

Barb McGrath 9:11
Yeah, absolutely. So what do you do to mentally prepare for that night? Do you do yoga, meditation? How do you prepare?

Santa 9:21
Well, I did try some yoga one time but you know, a couple of stretches here and a couple of stretches there and a couple of cracks and pops and that yoga just didn’t work out for me that good. I wasn’t too stretchy. To be yoga to become a yoga master.

Barb McGrath 9:39
Okay,

Santa 9:40
So really what I do is I do a lot of walking. I do a lot of talking and then like you know have to lift my hand up it went to Mrs clauses food all the time. And that’s takes a lot of effort to Yeah, running around with the kids all the time. Our elves are crazy. Busy, and they always are looking for extra hands to to help them with their projects, some of them are in school. So we do help them to

Barb McGrath 10:08
Ours,

Santa 10:09
There’s never a dull moment at the North Pole, we’re always going and you know, this year just a little bit different because of what’s going on with COVID around the world. So, you know, that has really created some extra anxieties for our, our business and what we do, you know, and thank God that one of the things we did this this past year, as COVID started to materialize is we had to switch everything to online. All of our online letters all from the kids across the world, we’ve had to get them all via email this year, because we didn’t want paper mail coming in. Because we didn’t want kids and mail people to have to cut touch all of the envelopes. And we didn’t want our workers to have to open in touch all the envelopes. So we’ve really encouraged everyone to go online this year. And, you know, we’re very fortunate, we found this program that helped train us on our online and how to be a lot better online, it was called the get found. And you’d be shocked that we at the North pool needed to get found. But we needed everyone to realize that it’s a different time. And, and we needed to our business and our our clients, our customers, all boys and girls across the globe to find us online. So we took, we sent some of our folks to the training, and it was by golly, pretty good training. And that, you know, we had to do some things different with our website or North Pole website so that we didn’t know what metadata was. And all of a sudden, we’re experts in this metadata and our website is bound all the time. It’s just crazy busy. No,

Barb McGrath 11:55
Holy. So Santa, does that mean that you’re getting even more letters this year from emails from boys and girls,

Santa 12:01
Our inbox is flying. Every morning, we got 1000s of hundreds of 1000s of new emails. And it doesn’t stop. So we’ve really had to streamline how we process all of this because it’s not by hand anymore. But it’s very, it’s working very good. Our folks are really trained up and they’re enjoying what they’re doing. We’re getting found the boys and girls are finding us.

Barb McGrath 12:28
Excellent.

Santa 12:30
I think we’re gaining customers now that they know where we are. They can come and visit us online. And it’s it’s really comforting to know that as a as a global enterprise, but a small business. We’re a local business to the North Pole.

Barb McGrath 12:47
But absolutely.

Santa 12:49
Everyone across the globe can find us and find out what we do. Well, and

Barb McGrath 12:55
You know, Santa, I’d have to guess that there’s very few people who didn’t already know what you did. But you’re right, it’s so important that everyone can find you. Absolutely. Santa is the naughty list. naughty list looking longer or shorter this year?

Santa 13:12
Oh, that naughty list. We never really take keep track of the naughty list because it’s not our favorite list for an in you and your audience can understand that. If you’re on the naughty list, you really need to work hard to get on the other list. That nice. That’s our favorite list is the nice list. But we do have some that are on the naughty list, as I already showed you. Yeah. We have one right in Saskatchewan that’s on the naughty list right now. We’re hoping we’re very much hoping that he’s going to do the right thing. And and if he does the right things, he will get on that nice list. Just like everyone else, they get a second chance. But you got to do the right thing.

Barb McGrath 14:02
Absolutely. Yeah. Right.

Santa 14:05
One of the people on our naughty list was President Trump. Now, we didn’t have to do anything there. The American people took care of that naughty naughty list one for us. We’re thankful because we were hoping we didn’t have to do anything because we didn’t want him to tweet about us.

Barb McGrath 14:24
Do you? Hey, are you on Twitter?

Santa 14:28
Well, we are but we don’t publicize our twitter address and we don’t use it unless we have to. Oh, okay. tweeting isn’t something that Santa or the elves do now Mrs. Claus does a little bit of tweeting. I don’t

Barb McGrath 14:45
Got it. Don’t text not really your thing then Santa.

Santa 14:49
Well, we’re getting a lot more comfortable with technology after we took this get found on Google program. Makes us comfortable with knowing what we didn’t know before.

Barb McGrath 15:00
Got it?

Santa 15:00
No, we got some Brainiac elves that were all over this tech stuff. But even though even they found some benefit to get found on Google, because you know, this Google business, if you’re not on the top of Google,

Barb McGrath 15:14
Your mass will not exist. Right? Exactly.

Santa 15:18
Yep,

Barb McGrath 15:19
That’s exactly right. So since I like, I’m guessing after the big Christmas deliver, you probably go on a nice hot holiday every year. But do you get to go this year?

Santa 15:30
Well, I’m gonna have to be say another secret to your audience.

Barb McGrath 15:36
Okay.

Santa 15:38
You might not want to see this body on a beach.

Barb McGrath 15:46
Now, that’s a very fair point. Now having been on a few beaches, though, Santa, there’s a lot of people out there who maybe don’t want to be public, but whatever. As long as you’re comfortable with yourself, right? I

Santa 15:58
Me and the missus, we we like to, you know, take a little cruise after Christmas is over. We’ll, you know, take the sleigh out, we’ll go on a leisurely cruise around. We go over some of the beaches, but you know, a hot holiday during this COVID season, it’s probably not a good idea. So we’re probably going to take our cruise, well, we’ll fly around, we’ll be socially distance will the missus we’ll get to visit some of her family. And, you know, we’ll probably end right back up at the North Pole in will enjoy family and friends that are there with us in order to be safe, making sure that we’re abiding by all of the rules we have at the North Pole, that we make sure that we don’t, you know, you know, we don’t want to infect anyone with this dreaded disease. Because it’s, we’ve got some, some some of our workers, you know, some of our elves are 500 years old, so we don’t want them to be exposed to this stuff. Well,

Barb McGrath 17:06
That’s a good point, Santa, I actually just read the other day that you just celebrated your 1700 and 50th birthday. Is that right?

Santa 17:15
Well, who’s counting? Whoa, cool.

Barb McGrath 17:18
Well, now here’s something interesting. So is Mrs. Claus still your first wife?

Santa 17:25
The first Amelie?

Barb McGrath 17:26
Oh, well, good for you. 1700 years. Plus, like that’s, that’s a strong marriage to be able to stay together that long stay in shape. Congratulations to you both. Oh, it’s

Santa 17:41
Amazing that she stayed with me this long. I’ll tell you this much. easiest one to get along with all the time.

Barb McGrath 17:49
Oh, Santa, I’m sure. Everybody has their thing, right. I’m sure you do. Know, here’s a question that everyone has been asking me when we were getting ready for this interview today. How does he do it all in one night? So how do you in the reindeer in the house actually get the entire world done in a 24 hour period?

Santa 18:13
Well, Barb, you’re asking a very top secret question. No, I don’t

Barb McGrath 18:20
Think this secret life of entrepreneurs.

Santa 18:24
I don’t know. I don’t think I can share that secret with you and your audience. What I can say is, it takes a team to make it a success. And I have one of the most tremendous teams helping me, not just on the night of Christmas, but every day of the year to make it a success. And I would be remiss to say that it all happens because of me. It all happens because of them. My team is what makes Christmas a success. 366 days of the year.

Barb McGrath 19:03
Excellent. So Sanjay, just a few more questions before we wrap up. One of my audience members asked me what country does Santa get the best snacks from?

Santa 19:16
Oh, Santa always likes Germany because the little boys and girls always leave a pint out. You know when you’re delivering that many presents, having a pint is of ale from Germany is always wonderful. When I get over Mexico, I get a very good taco surprise.

Barb McGrath 19:38
Yeah,

Santa 19:39
Well and there’s nothing better than chicken balls from China.

Barb McGrath 19:45
Oh,

Santa 19:46
It’s so good. There’s no shortage of good food, good drink. As I deliver everything on Christmas. I I’ve never had and this is after 1700 and some deliveries about encounter with food.

Barb McGrath 20:04
Ha ha. Oh, Santa your palate is relatively easy to please. And I suspect based on your comments that there’ll be a few more pints waiting for you this year.

Santa 20:15
Oh pints and perogies the pearl geese from yorkton are wonderful.

Barb McGrath 20:22
Excellent. Okay, couple more questions here here for you Santa. So that was snacks. Is there any country when you think about the baking that you get? Is there any kind of baking that you really enjoy any particular cookie?

Santa 20:39
No, although, you know, there’s lots of gingersnap cookies I love gingersnaps have lots of boys and girls leave me Oh, chocolate chips and oatmeal cookies. Some of them are even leaving me out some cookies that are keto cookies, and I don’t know what a keto cookie is. But they tasted good.

Barb McGrath 21:01
Okay,

Santa 21:02
Sounds good. Oh, cookies all baking tastes good because there’s usually a big glass of cold ice melt that goes with them. So melt wonderful. There’s always cinnamon buns. In rejoin us. There’s a wonderful cinnamon bun place just down the street from you. I think they’re Barb. Yes, there is cinnamon buns at brewed awakenings?

Barb McGrath 21:27
Absolutely. It doesn’t sound like it doesn’t sound like you have to worry about being hungry for a long time after Christmas night then.

Santa 21:39
No, I’m not very hungry for a few days after Christmas Eve night. Mrs. Claus. You know, after I get home on Christmas in Christmas morning, we we have our celebration that evening at noon on Christmas day so that we can celebrate. So I have to save room every time for Mrs clauses cabbage rolls, Mrs clauses ham and Turkey. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Oh, it’s it’s so fulfilling. I I look forward to that day, because we’ve done our job by that time. And we start business planning for the next year.

Barb McGrath 22:24
Ah, so Santa, you must have a pretty good idea. When Christmas ends one year, you must actually have a pretty good idea what kinds of things that boys and girls are already going to be asking for.

Santa 22:38
Well, I get a kick out of these marketers who say that they the marketers tell the boys and girls what they want. What they don’t understand is we actually influence what the marketers are telling the boys and girls because it’s what we’re planning to do. We’re actually the ones at my workshop. We’re very good at marketing and promotion. So we started are planning for next year’s toys and the most popular things like the Scott modal is going to be a next year run on that one. We’re ramping up production for the Scott modal.

Barb McGrath 23:15
Got it?

Santa 23:16
This is the last year, for example of the Trump doll. We’re not the Trump doll anymore.

Barb McGrath 23:22
Okay.

Santa 23:24
So that’s those are two examples of, you know, toys that are gonna be in demand next year.

Barb McGrath 23:31
Got it? Well, that’s very good to know. So it sounds like just as we wrap up here, is there a message that you’d like to share with boys and girls? Any any final words in terms of let’s get a few more people on that nice list? Or what would you like to wish the boys and girls? Well,

Santa 23:48
I think it’s very important that everyone, given the COVID situation that we all have to work through that it would be very good for boys and girls mums and dads, aunts and uncles, if we could all take care of each other, wear a mask, social distance, be kind to your neighbors. We need to take care take care of ourselves so that we can all get this COVID behind us. Nobody likes the situation we’re in absolutely nobody. But the faster we all pull together to get through it, the faster we’ll all get back to what we consider normal. And we can start doing things the way we want to again. So I think that would be the message. You know, businesses across the world are impacted by this. Big ones, small ones, mine yours. And nobody likes the search situation that we’re in.

Santa 24:46
We got to get through it together

Santa 24:46
And the faster we all work together to get through to do the right things, the faster we’ll get through it, and we’ll stop the hurt that everyone’s feeling right now. Because businesses need to stay in business? My business needs to stay in business, your stay in business to keep people healthy.

Barb McGrath 25:08
Yes. You know what I just heard from you there, Santa was the importance of team again. And you talked about team being so important to be able to make Christmas a success. And I’m hearing from you that we need to pull together as a city, a province, that country and a globe in terms of being a team and getting through this together. Right?

Santa 25:28
That’s exactly right, Barb. We’re all together. We’re all a bit the big team. And the sooner the big team works together plays by the same set of rules has the same goal in mind, the sooner we all get through this, and the sooner we’re back to where we want to get to.

Barb McGrath 25:46
Excellent. Well, Santa, I need to wrap us up for today. But thank you so much for being here with me today. It’s honestly the best Christmas gift that you’ve ever given me. So thank you very much.

Santa 25:59
Oh, you’re so welcome, Barb, thank you for inviting me to be on your wonderful program. Now. You’re gonna make sure you’re keeping all this a secret though, right?

Barb McGrath 26:09
Absolutely. All right, we our audience will know Santa.

Santa 26:13
Okay, so I’m gonna let your husband know. And by the way, he’s a really good fella to extra in your stocking this year.

Barb McGrath 26:25
Excellent. I will take that. If anyone else listening today would like to be a guest on the show. They can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or even reach out right on our Facebook and Instagram page at Above the Fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of our show, just like folks did for Santa here today. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, not just Santa worked hard for a success. So did you don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

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Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

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Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

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Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

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Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

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Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

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Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

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Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

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Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

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Wow are we in for a treat today!!

Today’s guest joins us all the way from the North Pole!!!

Fresh out of the workshop, he’s left the Elves to tend to the last minute details. This is a very busy time of year for the jolly ol man. He and the Missus are working noon so with all the Elves to make Christmas a magical time of year!

Tune in to learn about the business end of being Santa, how he manages a global business from a remote location and who to expect to see on the naughty list!!

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Ep. 67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Video Transcript: Ep. 67 with Kait Waugh

Barb McGrath 0:01
Our guest today likes to get her hands dirty. In fact, it teased her one time that she likes to play in the dirt. But she wants her products to take center stage in your living room. Kate Wah is the owner of fat plant farm here in Regina. And she’s going to tell us her story about how she decided one day to wake up and spend her days playing in the dirt. It kind of sounds like the dream job for my kids. But retail is tough. And so we’re going to hear from Kate how she’s been able to cope over the last number of months with COVID. But how she’s also been able to build a thriving business. And I’m hoping she’s going to talk a little bit about the success she’s had on Instagram. Because if you haven’t been to her Instagram channel, you need to go, her Instagram channel will leave you running to the plant store to stock up. So, Kate, welcome. Thank you for being here.

Kait Waugh 1:01
Thanks for having me, Barb.

Barb McGrath 1:02
It’s a pleasure to have you here today. And tell us a little bit about yourself and how you decided that. Yeah, you wanted to have a plant store. How did that all come to be?

Kait Waugh 1:13
Okay, I have to say it’s been quite a slow journey. Just Just being the person that I am not a big risk taker. So hey, we’re like coming to I guess, create this plan shock was a little bit of Yeah, an uncomfortable journey for me. I went to school in Saskatoon and graduated from the College of Agriculture with a plant science degree.

Unknown Speaker 1:42
So I know that

Kait Waugh 1:44
Yeah, I didn’t have any intentions of starting my own business. I was going to graduate and just, you know, have a career within that field. And I did that for a few years, of course. And that was just kind of my idea of success, that pressure of graduating from university, and then being able to, I guess, have a career in that field was my goal. Okay, of course, got married, and we’re kind of we were living in Saskatoon, my husband and I had a baby at that time, was working within my field. And right before my maternity leave was up, my husband got a job back in Regina. So we moved to China. And I discovered you know that the stay at home mom life wasn’t for me. I was really itching to get back into the work field. Yeah, man that was a little bit more challenging. Finding a job in Regina that kind of fit in my career are kind of in my field. So I actually got a part time job working at a flower shop. I just wanted to do anything related to plants, of course. And after a while, like lots of my university, part time jobs were working outside in the parks. So when an opportunity came to work with the city of Regina, outside in our horticultural field, I snapped that up and began kind of this seasonal job of course,

Unknown Speaker 3:09
Okay.

Kait Waugh 3:11
All the while I started kind of in Saskatoon, I started collecting succulents went to the farmers market, and I just became hooked. And that was kind of my my happy place. So moving to Regina, of course, had my house plants. We bought a house with a lot of Windows. I knew I had that in mind that I was going to be you know, just growing my plant collection. Absolutely. Yeah. And so I began Yeah, that seasonal job with the city of Regina, I would get laid off in the fall. And then what really brought me joy was just focusing on my houseplants. Okay, you had mentioned my Instagram plants account. I had started that separate from my personal because I started posting a lot about my plants. And you know, some of my friends and family might not give a crap about what plants sprouted a new leaf so I thought I would just do a separate account and that was called fat platform. Oh, my actual boss with the city of Regina. I was just trying to come up with some ideas for a name of this account. And I love succulents. And in fact plant is a nickname for those nice chubby, succulent leaves pots. Yeah, yeah. And then I started growing a lot of my little own succulent babies in there and kind of with my ag degree, we just attached the word farm on to fat plant farm. Hey, that began my little online plant diary, I suppose.

Unknown Speaker 4:35
Got it,

Kait Waugh 4:36
Which you know, kept me happy. That leaves a lot of joy and nurturing plants. So during that winter being laid off. Yeah, I really just found a community online. On Instagram. I noticed that people started making their own concrete pots and I had dabbled back in that in Saskatoon just through a book that I picked up. So we had a heated garage. I was like, I might as well start, you know, too. You’re out in the grass over the wintertime and see if I could make my own pots just to how is my ever growing succulent collection? Exactly. So. So I always say it’s kind of that stereotypical story where, you know, friends and family see that and so you should start selling it. And, and then that’s kind of how it evolved into a little Facebook page. I remember clearly launching that sitting on my couch. And then just expecting you know, once you build your Facebook page, you just post something and someone will buy it.

Barb McGrath 5:34
And is that what happened?

Kait Waugh 5:35
Not really. it takes a little bit more work. But it’s so interesting to look back and think about my expectations or how I thought things worked. And what you just essentially learn along the way, having no business background, not any really sales or customer service background, either. But the number one thing I knew how to do was just share my love for plants. So that link came really easy.

Barb McGrath 6:02
So when did you create that Facebook page? How many years ago now?

Kait Waugh 6:05
In February, it’ll be five years.

Barb McGrath 6:08
Wow. Yes. So cool. Okay, so I have said this to you before, like, I do not have a green thumb. My husband has a green thumb, he can grow anything. And so we’re terrible when it comes to the indoor plants. Right? He looks after the outside because it’s green, and he can grow stuff. And he like plans everything outside. But because I’m usually responsible for inside, I’m like, I’m just gonna kill it. So why would I buy it? Now, having said that, I bought a whole bunch of succulents from you last year at Christmas, and then we had some leftovers, I still have three succulents alive. Whoo. You know, and I think they’re very difficult to kill. And my kids are actually the ones who kind of look after them and water them. But like, that’s a proud moment for me the fact that I’ve kept three plants alive, and we’ve kept official live for a year. So like we’re doing getting our house lately.

Kait Waugh 7:00
They’re they’re both types of pets that don’t really say what they need. Right? You’re right, kind of quiet. Yeah. Well, that’s awesome.

Barb McGrath 7:09
Exactly. So when someone comes to you, and they have literally as much knowledge as I have, where do you start? What what brings a customer in? And they’re like, Okay, I’m going to see Kate at that plant farm. And I got to get things better. Like, where do you start?

Kait Waugh 7:29
I think the first thing to ask people is where they plan on putting their plant a lot of people just, you know, they might see a pretty plant at the grocery store. You know, it’s it’s kind of a store that you frequent on a weekly basis, if not more, and you’ll just see that pretty plans and you’re like, I’ll try it, I’ll give it a I’ll give it a shot. But without doing a little bit of research or knowing if you have the right environment for that plant, or even the right lifestyle, as some host plants require a little bit more attention, you might be just setting yourself up for failure. And not that that’s not a part of your plant journey in the first place. But if we can help you kind of set you off on the right foot in the first place. set you up with the right plant for the right spot, you’re gonna learn a few less plant failures along the way.

Barb McGrath 8:17
Yeah, yes, exactly. Well, and it’s challenging, because, you know, house temperatures tend to fluctuate. And of course, you know, it’s cooler, nighttime, or you know, of course, winter. And so, yeah, it’s those. It does, it seems like it should be the simplest thing. But the number of plants I went through now, in fairness, I was probably buying, you know, Walmart and grocery store plans, because it was mom said I should win, you know, I had my first house and whatnot. So, so when you think about the quality of product that you have, what’s different, like I see a lot of TLC going into your product, totally different than what someone would pick up, you know, at the grocery store at the chain store.

Kait Waugh 9:05
I guess the difference is that we are strictly selling houseplants This is what we love. So we of course are going to inspect that product look after it. Because obviously we want healthy, beautiful looking product to sell to our customers. Whereas other places that just might be a little side product, so something that might catch your attention. But if you’re not careful, you might just pick up diseased or, or pest laden plants and then come into our shop. We’re just helping you Yeah, pair you up with the right plant, but the plant that’s going to have the best success because there’s just so much joy in nurturing plants. And if you’ve just continuously picked up plants and after a while, you know you’ve killed you know, your 10th plant. It gets a little bit discouraging, right? Yes. And I have lots of customers who come in and they’re like, I just feel like I should know how How to take care of a plant. I’m, I’m this age already, and I’m like, it’s it’s like any skill, just because you know, you turn 25 3035 or even, you know, 40 you’re, it’s not a skill that just naturally comes with age, it does take a little bit of research and the best thing is experience. And I always say to people, if someone has a house full of plants, they have also killed a houseful of plants, you know, like, there’s just, there’s just so much to learn in those kind of unfortunate plant failures. But from there, you can just take that knowledge and apply it forward.

Barb McGrath 10:38
Exactly. Well. And it’s funny because, as a, I’ll say, a home owner, you do you kind of have that belief that Well, okay, we have a house now. So now we need the plan to now we need this. Right? And yeah, as I say, our plants didn’t make our last movie. I think some survived. And some we just said, you know, not even trying to our plants didn’t make the move with us. And then when you move into a new house, you’re like, Yeah, we got to get the plants, oh, then other things come up, like, you know, kids, well, then you got to get the plant. Right. And so life keeps happening. But one of the things that I think about when I think about your business is yes, you sell plants and pots. But what you also sell, of course, is beauty. Because when you have green in your home, there’s numerous studies that talk about how it helps people relax, it reduces anxiety, right? And so it’s really about the quality of living to which you know, I don’t think people consciously say, I’m going to beautify my living room, or they might. But you know, it’s like, I need plants. We just all have that. That natural yearning for outdoor and especially in our province, where outdoor is a six month thing and indoors as a six month.

Kait Waugh 11:58
Oh, it’s like we always say bring the outdoors in. There’s a reason why like that first day of spring, you’re just itching to get outside. I always say you’re not flocking to a parking lot. You’re flocking to a park, because trees grass all that feels so good. And you’re so just like connected to nature that Yeah, when you do spend, you know, half a year indoors and everything outside is just no longer green. I think we just crave that connection with nature and by bringing houseplants into your home is one way to help us overwinter ourselves so we can get back outside.

Barb McGrath 12:32
Yeah. So how many houseplants Do you think you have now?

Kait Waugh 12:36
Um, I don’t know.

Barb McGrath 12:42
You a date.

Kait Waugh 12:44
There’s, there’s only I’m in the spare room. So we’re redoing our office. So I am just like upstairs in a bedroom. But we’ve got three plants in here and I can see one out my window or one out the doorway here. But I don’t know I would it depends how you count. Is it? How many plants in a pot? Or? I would say you know in the hundreds?

Barb McGrath 13:07
Yeah. So most, not most many women when you ask them how many shoes they have, you kind of get that kind of answer. Yeah. But for you. It’s bland.

Unknown Speaker 13:18
Yes. Right. Totally. Yeah. For

Barb McGrath 13:20
Me. It’s tech. If there’s like a new tech thing I can buy. I’m like, it’s like shoes. I don’t need shoes, because we’re in the middle of COVID. So I have tech instead.

Kait Waugh 13:28
Yeah. Yeah. Whatever

Barb McGrath 13:30
Brings you joy, right? Exactly. Yes. So you started your fat plant farm diary on Instagram. And it has exploded for you. I have no idea how many followers and stuff you have. But talk about that journey. Because you said something interesting to me last week when we were talking. And you talked about inspiration, which a lot of content that we see in social media isn’t necessarily inspiring. So talk about your Instagram and how you use it and how it how it inspires you and your followers. Yeah, so

Kait Waugh 14:03
I again, I started that account as kind of my houseplant journal. My grandparents kept a photo album and I keep an Instagram account. So to have built a little bit of a community, just sharing my own houseplants, and then to have slowly evolved into a business, I did not want to go from, hey, here’s my new plant to Hey, buy this plant. So I wanted to keep it obviously, informative, entertaining, and again with like, oftentimes sales is a little bit uncomfortable or has that icky feeling behind it. So if I can educate people, spark an interest and then they want to reach out and inquire about bringing houseplants into their home, that’s essentially what we’re here for. So I try to you know, sprinkle a little bit of sales or something new comes in, but for the most part, I just want people to To become pumped for plants, and that’s what’s most natural for me is just to be able to share that. So, yes, we’ve transformed or kind of Yeah, moved into a little bit more of a business account. But I didn’t want to make it into a sales pitch every time. Besides,

Kait Waugh 15:16
I feel I finally, that’s not what people are going online. In the first place, like, that’s not why I’m going online is to be advertised to. So exactly, I knew I had it bad when I would be on my phone on a coffee break working with the city. And I would just be scrolling through and looking at succulents, you know, just looking at pictures of plants, plants, plants. So I just wanted to maintain that I guess, on our on our Instagram feed and keep that conversation going.

Barb McGrath 15:44
Exactly. Well. And you know, what’s interesting to me, because I agree 100% people don’t go online or to social, to be sold to they go to be educated and entertained. And I find almost any business who, who makes that their approach, I want to educate you, I want to entertain you, you naturally start to gravitate followers, when you’re helping people versus you know, here’s what’s in stock. And, you know, be sure to get here by five o’clock on Friday. Yeah, it might might work. But there has to be a solid foundation of education and entertainment in there as well. Right?

Kait Waugh 16:25
Yes. Well, and that’s the thing, you have to provide value because you can buy plants, you know, around every corner. So what is something that we are doing different? And hopefully by showing like how much we are just insanely passionate about plants for we’ll just kind of create that customer base

Barb McGrath 16:46
That way. Exactly. So when did you guys open a retail location. So the diary started five years ago, but when did the farm actually open?

Kait Waugh 16:55
So I yeah, for a couple of years, I just worked out of our garage. And that’s where we poured the concrete pots and did a lot of the handmade markets farmers market, the cathedral Arts Festival, that street fair was one that we attended every year, which was just a blast to be outside. And then eventually just working from home. And it just became like a little bit of a wall. It was hard to grow. Like I just really wasn’t enjoying working from home anymore. But I was also really, really nervous of where I would go. But I but I happened to have a friend and a fellow business owner who were looking to have someone sublease their space that they outgrew, ah, and that was the ultimate deck shop. And they have the space on the care which we’re currently in. And they said did you want to take over our like sublease from us for one year, and I thought, Hey, this is an opportunity to try it out. See where it goes. Again, I’m very low risk. And that is just that that was a way where I was like, okay, but doesn’t work. I’ve got one year. Yes. And then we’ll go from there. So at that point, I had to eventually, you know, tell the city, like just to quit my horticulture job because I tried both.

Barb McGrath 18:15
Oh, you did? Oh, my goodness, how did that go? Um, it just,

Kait Waugh 18:20
It was busy. And it just, it just wasn’t sustainable. I tried to take a really early shift and start work at 5am. So that I could be done at two or three in the afternoon to go home and pour concrete. So that when my husband and daughter came home, like, you know, you had a little bit of time in them, and then I would head out back to the garage. So having your work at home. I mean, it’s hard to to shut it off. So it just was it was just too obviously busy and just not sustainable in the long run. So if I could get my kind of work out of the house and even just expand a little bit running out of room and people wanted to come and shop and I just wasn’t ideal. So what was your question? Oh,

Barb McGrath 19:06
Isn’t that funny though, the whole work from home thing because it really works for some people. But then for others, like it just doesn’t work. And so being able to recognize when you start to hit that that wall or that proverbial ceiling, right, that’s a really important moment of recognition for an entrepreneur that you’ve outgrown, and where you are right now. And you were ready to you know, take that next step. I like how or I really appreciate how you’re so authentic about it. You’re risk adverse. And retail is risky. starting a business is risky, putting yourself out there for you know, all sorts of feedback. It comes with a lot of risk. And people often forget that I think they just think you know, oh, it’s a store and whatever. But there’s so much there’s so much more behind it. Now, does your husband help at all? Or does he have a green thumb? Or does he just steer clear?

Kait Waugh 20:07
No, he actually just, especially when we were doing our pop ups in markets, he would come and attend those a lot. And just being able to, I guess, hang out with me a lot and hear me chat, he was just able to regurgitate that info to two people. And he really had fun and enjoyed that aspect helped me tons at the store getting that set up as well. But now that I’ve got employees, and it’s out of the house, his his role has definitely taken a little bit of a backseat, but he definitely helped me tons encouraged me just to, to go for it. So yeah,

Barb McGrath 20:46
Yeah. And you know, I love that story. I I have been very fortunate as well, my husband has heard me do my spiel so many times, that every once in a while he says something. And I’m like, wow, like I’m getting through.

Kait Waugh 21:01
Cool.

Barb McGrath 21:02
Yeah. Right. And so yeah, it’s nice to see, you know, when you’ve kind of got that cheerleader, because some days are hard. Right? So how when when you have those hard days, or you know, a tough week, or or a tough month COVID a perfect example. How do you get through it? What, what helps you? What’s your inspiration, then, as we were talking about with Instagram, what keeps you going

Kait Waugh 21:31
It’s getting a little bit easier to recognize that sometimes you just have those days. But when you’re in those days, you feel like it’s the end. So even just last Friday, I just I was just having a tough day, and Monday hit and I’m like, wow, I feel completely different than how I did Friday. But nothing major changed in my business. It’s all in my head I I’ve often said to like, I’m either my biggest cheerleader, cheerleader, or just my worst enemy. So it’s that mental game. And one of the biggest reasons why I needed to get out of my house is just that it was just really lonely. Not being able to, I don’t know, even just chat with anybody or Yeah, and again, if you just go down that dark path with your thoughts, it’s hard to get out. So I’ve had I’ve made a really good friend who’s also a fellow entrepreneur, so she’s somebody that I can call up when I’m just in those funks and night, you know, and just have someone to cheer me on. And the days that I feel like giving up. It’s just a matter of time when I just look at my planets, and I’m like, No, I just love you guys. It’s just that inspiration, right? And then to be able to get back out there and share just how I find so much joy in just nurturing houseplants. So it’s just a little bit of I mean, everyone says that that roller coaster ride. Mm hmm. And it’s just recognizing, you know, where you’re on it at certain points, you know?

Barb McGrath 22:58
Yes. And I think as a business, you were, I don’t want to say prepared for COVID because no one was prepared for COVID. But you already had an online presence, you are already promoting a lot on social. So you didn’t have to play that part of the ketchup. And I think I remember you telling me that you guys went to online, or like curbside delivery or something fairly quickly, didn’t you?

Kait Waugh 23:20
Yeah, so mid March, obviously. Yeah, we shut down. And I thought, yeah, oh, I was like, if people are hoarding toilet paper, I’m like, they’re not hoarding plants. So. And, like a lot of businesses, I’m sure, they had similar feelings where I’m like, Oh, this might have trouble. This might be it, like, no one’s gonna be looking after plants. But there was just an overwhelming like amount of support where people were reaching out. And obviously, our doors were closed, but people were still wanting to buy plants. And it was just me at that point, as my staff just voluntarily just wanted to stay home. So I understood that. So just trying to run the store by myself was insanely just busy. And trying to almost personal shop with customers on Instagram, and Facebook just wasn’t efficient. So I’m like, I need a online shop. Like yesterday, it was always something I wanted to do just to be able to show people what we had in stock. And if they felt like driving cars were a little bit of a destination location.

Kait Waugh 24:27
So there was nothing like COVID to light a fire under our budget and get that was. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And now it’s just it’ll, it’s just the constant. It’s just, you know, it’s a part of our business.

Barb McGrath 24:41
So, exactly. So believe it or not, we are just about at a time. So could you share with everyone who’s listening, like where they find you online, what your channels are? Can you share that information with everyone?

Kait Waugh 24:54
Absolutely. Yeah, so you can I guess, check us out online at fatplantfarm.com. If you’re on Instagram and Facebook, you can also just search fat plant farm. And if you’re in Regina, come visit us at 1817 makara streets.

Barb McGrath 25:08
So you guys are back home. But

Kait Waugh 25:10
Yes, I’ve opened our doors in June. Yeah.

Barb McGrath 25:13
And that’s, you know, that’s got to feel a little bit like I’ll say coming home for you to be able to see your customers again and be back in your store. And it was a

Kait Waugh 25:22
Yeah, it was a it was a strange couple of months just to almost just fulfill orders but not interact with anybody. Exactly. Except for online. But yeah, it was. It was weird. So it’s so lovely to have everybody back in.

Barb McGrath 25:35
I bet. Excellent. All right. Well, we are out of time. So Kate, I have to thank you for joining me today. I love talking about your your store and and being in that space. And one of these days, I’m going to be like Kate, fix my house.

Kait Waugh 25:52
Happy to help.

Barb McGrath 25:55
You would like to be a guest on the show. You can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. And just a reminder, you can even submit your questions in advance of the show just on our Facebook page. That way I can ask our guests some hard questions. So I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you were charged for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Coming up today on the Secret Life of Entrepreneurs, our guest shares her story of turning a lifelong love into a thriving business. Fat Plant Farm started as an Instagram following built on passion and an authentic appreciation for the value of “green” in our lives.

Whether you need a splash of green in the living room window facing north, or an entire wall of green in the south-facing window, Fat Plant Farm can advise on the healthiest and hardiest indoor plants for your home.

Tune in as she tries to turn my black thumb green!


Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Video Transcript: Ep. 66 with Natasha Vandenhurk

Barb McGrath 0:00
Today’s guest is the CEO and co founder of three farmers foods here in Saskatchewan. She’s joined us to share her story of CO founding a family business, not necessarily something that she always thought she would do. Yet, even as she talks about it, there’s something there that, you know, she admits maybe there was was something even when she was younger that she knew that it might come together. So three farmers is a Canadian brand that provides healthy, wholesome, plant based snacks. And I shared with our guests already that as I was preparing for today’s episode, I realized, Hey, I have some of that in my pantry. And I had never even made the connection. So welcome, Natasha.

Natasha Vandenhurk 0:49
Yeah, thank you for having me. Excited to be here.

Barb McGrath 0:52
Thank you. So tell me a little bit about yourself and of course, about three farmers.

Natasha Vandenhurk 0:57
Sure. Yeah. So I am from a family of six children. I’m in the middle. And I grew up in a farm in southeast Saskatchewan near a small town called Midale, my parents farms, all my life and my two brothers now carry on that farming heritage. So they’re both farming back home. I moved up to Saskatoon to take a business degree at the University of Saskatchewan here when I graduated from high school and I stuck here ever since. right out of high school. I joined estate planning company did a couple of years there just getting my feet wet in sort of office, corporate politics and settings. And, and then two years at university, I was offered this opportunity with these three farmers from down from my hometown.

Natasha Vandenhurk 1:45
So I jumped at it was an opportunity to get into business at an early age and sink my teeth into something I can really own.

Barb McGrath 1:52
Very cool. So talk a little bit about that because you co founded the company, but you were offered an opportunity. So how did that happen?

Natasha Vandenhurk 2:00
Yeah, so they were already looking. So these three farmers so Colin rose and grin, Ron MD and Dan Ben hurt who’s my dad, they have been introduced to an ancient oilseed called camelina. And it was being touted as a really great crop for growing in Saskatchewan, its climate, it was cold tolerant and drug resistant. And it has really unique properties to it from a functional standpoint. So high smoke point, it was cold pressed, it was all natural had these really lovely flavor tones and just really functional in the kitchen and healthy. It was high in omega three.

Natasha Vandenhurk 2:31
And so they were looking at for somebody to sort of jumpstart this company in this idea. And that’s how I was on boarded was to read life into this company and sort of create this demand stream for this new crop called camelina.

Barb McGrath 2:45
So that’s very interesting. So I’ve used camelina oil, and it also has some pretty significant health benefits. But it’s not an oil that unless you’ve gone looking, it might not be something that you’ve ever heard of. So is it one of your I’ll say top products, top sellers now or where does it fit in the product lineup?

Natasha Vandenhurk 3:02
Mm hmm. Well, it certainly carries our origin story with it. So you know, it’s it’s the opportunity that we saw to get into this space, this whole branded food manufacturing space, so so it was our entry point into the marketplace, but it’s it’s not necessarily the growth item for the brand today. Today, it’s our roasted chickpeas, green pea and lentil snacks that really carry the bulk of the revenue for the for the company and the growth that we’re experiencing now in the pulse based set.

Natasha Vandenhurk 3:31
But certainly, camelina holds a special place in our hearts. I mean, I can’t even imagine using any other oil in my kitchen. And, of course, we still carry it as part of a product line. So you’re right, it does have phenomenal health benefits to it. And it’s just a really, it’s an amazing product for people if they’ve done some research and done some reading on it, and like took it home.

Barb McGrath 3:53
Yeah, exactly. And I can’t remember how we stumbled on it. I was doing exactly that I was doing some sort of research at some point. And at the point in time that I did the research, it was still hard to find. So you couldn’t go into every grocery store and find it. So are you finding now that just about every grocery store is carrying it? Do you have a fairly significant sort of distribution network out there now,

Natasha Vandenhurk 4:17
With the camelina oil, it’s largely distributed through natural and specialty grocers. So you will find it in the whole foods of the world or here in Saskatchewan dad’s organic market, of course, specialty stores, and food stores. Our snacks are far more broadly distributed across Canada. So you will find those in all key accounts across Canada now.

Natasha Vandenhurk 4:38
More More broadly distributed, largely because people understand the nutrient benefits of pulses and they understand how to snack so play less education required and from consumers.

Barb McGrath 4:50
Yeah, exactly. Okay, so are all of your producers Saskatchewan based or Western Canada based or or how where do you Get your supply to be able to stop the market.

Natasha Vandenhurk 5:03
Yeah, sure. You know, one of the reasons that we started this company was to add value to Saskatchewan and Canadian grown products. And so we’ve really held true to that to this day. So yes, our camelina oil is contracted direct with farmers across Saskatchewan. And I think we actually had a couple in just across the Manitoba border this year. And then our pulses are all sourced from facilities here in Saskatchewan, that source from Saskatchewan farmers.

Barb McGrath 5:30
So you’re not purchasing directly from the farmer you’re purchasing through a facility and then processing.

Natasha Vandenhurk 5:37
Yeah, so we we work through specialty green cleaners, obviously, with pulses, there is a specific cleaning that needs to happen, yes, given how close they grow to the ground, the sizing the requirements that we have for that. So we work really closely with Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan seed cleaning facilities, that source from Saskatchewan farmers.

Barb McGrath 5:57
So you mentioned when we were chatting before we went live, that your sister is a Red Seal chef. So I presume that she’s the one kind of In the Kitchen whipping up, you know, what these things are gonna taste like and how to make them taste great. Talk a little bit about that process. Because, you know, so much of what we have access to in the traditional grocery store is who knows where it’s manufactured? And what’s actually on it. And the list of ingredients is longer than the back of the package sometimes. So you know, what’s been your approach as a company? And what’s her approach?

Natasha Vandenhurk 6:30
Yeah, that’s all that’s also one of the values that we hold very near and dear to our hearts here at three farmers is that whole idea of minimum processing, taking the products that we grow here in Saskatchewan adding value here. So that means manufacturing here in a very transparent and minimally processed way, and then taking them to consumers in as natural form as possible.

Natasha Vandenhurk 6:50
So Alicia certainly is the brains behind the product development side of things. And as we grow, she gets to focus more of her energy there, which is fantastic, because that’s the creative outlet for her. So she specially designed the ovens that we have, we did an expansion our facility in 2018. She actually worked with engineers from the US to find these ovens. They’re dry roasting up. And so we’re not oil frying or oil roasting or products, they’re literally popped. And then seasoning added after the fact and take in put in a bag and sold on shelf. So they are very natural products. We’re talking about popping roasted chickpeas and peas and lentils, adding some natural seasonings and consumers like that.

Barb McGrath 7:33
Yeah. So you know what I find most interesting with that I used to work for Kellogg’s, like Kellogg’s, oh yeah. So I live down in Ontario. And one of the things that we always had the opportunity to do was a lot of product testing. So when they were thinking about making a change, or introducing a new product, we would you know, and it was on not necessarily a weekly basis, but on a monthly basis, we’d be going in to do some testing and some tasting. So what does your product development process look like? Are you constantly bringing stuff home to like, sample on the kids and the spouse and you know, that sort of thing? Or what does that look like for you guys?

Natasha Vandenhurk 8:09
Oh, yeah, absolutely. It’s the funnest part of the business. Exactly. Yeah. So we’re working on a few different items right now. So Alicia, and Heather is one of our team members on the regulatory side. So they’re constantly cooking things up in the kitchen. And I mean, things are looking a little bit different now with COVID protocols in place off sampling. But certainly they’re working in their homes and formulating new ideas, testing different textures and different flavors, different formats. I mean, I came home one day with a brilliant idea to use our lightly salted chickpeas in place of rice krispies to make squares. They’re amazing. They taste fantastic, right? These products can be used in so many different forms, we only scratched the surface, right? So we’re, we’re, you know, you’re using nuts or like, in this case, Rice Krispies, you can certainly substitute these high nutrition pulses and, and create a fantastic end result. So yeah, tons of creativity going around.

Barb McGrath 9:07
Yeah, so and please excuse my knife. tivity. A lentil is also a pulse. Right?

Natasha Vandenhurk 9:12
Correct. Yeah, so legumes essentially. So we’re talking lentils, peas, chickpeas, and a lot of people don’t actually know that. Canada, Saskatchewan specifically is one of the largest, the world’s producer of green peas and lentils and top five for chickpeas. So we grow so many of these products right here at home in Canada. So exactly natural fit.

Barb McGrath 9:33
Yeah, well, and you could take so many of those products then and as you say, replace Rice Krispies because you can have chickpeas and lentils, like you could have all sorts of stuff in there. That makes it so much healthier than, you know, just a pure sense simple carb that’s going to give you a sugar rush and then send you to the couch for a nap.

Natasha Vandenhurk 9:54
Totally, totally. And I think part of the problem and it’s not a problem. It’s just maybe about barrier are just early on in the curve is that we just need to give people the idea, right? It needs to, you know, you mentioned taking our snacks and topping somebody’s salad with it. And I can guarantee that they’ll never eat another salad without our products on top of it. It’s the perfect crunch. And it’s high nutrition and healthy. Exactly. Yeah. So sometimes you just have to spark the idea in the customers mind.

Barb McGrath 10:24
Yes. Well, and I love that you guys are putting some of the stuff in a package. Because for years, I have tried to do like a lightly salted chickpeas, right years, and they get burned, or the bottoms would be, you know, too crispy in the middle was still kind of squishy. And it’s like, Ah, so getting just that right texture is an entire art.

Natasha Vandenhurk 10:48
Oh, absolutely. That takes a lot of energy. And quite frankly, our ovens at home just do not have the capabilities to get an air pop crunch that you’re looking for out of a pulse product.

Barb McGrath 10:59
Right, exactly. But what a great replacement to the bag of chips on Friday night. Right? And so I’ve always been a pretty healthy eater, but a couple of months ago, I was like, You know what, I got to clean up my diet. Summer was done the cold beers, you know, I could put them aside. And it’s made a huge difference for me. And I knew that it would even though like my diet was already pretty good. And so it’s it’s things like the chickpeas in the pantry, that it’s like, Okay, I need something I’ve got to find something to snack on. And then there’s actually a healthy option, right? Because if the bag of chips is there, and there’s nothing else, that’s what we tend to go for.

Natasha Vandenhurk 11:38
Yeah, for sure. It’s and it’s one decision at a time. And as you make healthier decisions, you’ll find I think that your palate changes. And so you’ll have those healthy options. And that’s what we’re seeing in a lot of consumers. And the trends that we see in the marketplace today is people want to feel better. They want to feel good about the food that they’re putting in their bodies and in their kids bodies and in their family’s bodies. And, and that’s what we’re here to help them do.

Barb McGrath 12:04
Yeah, absolutely. So when you went to events, and you did your degree in business, what was your area of specialty, where you marketing HR? Like, what was kind of your soft spot?

Natasha Vandenhurk 12:15
I was actually an economics. That was gonna be my third guess. Yep. Okay. So I was actually an economics. So I mean, in economics, you’re studying market dynamics, macro and micro economies and the different. Yeah, just the different market dynamics out there. So you’re not necessarily diving into like, marketing, right? Or plan or any of those types of things. So, you know, this has really been a business that’s just grown on effort and learning as we go, trying new things and pivoting when you need to. And luckily, we’ve had amazing support from our free farmers. So we certainly could not have done this without them. effort. And so, yeah, it’s been a wild ride. And I mean, it just keeps getting crazier actually, as you grow, right. And yeah, having that presence, you know, across Canada, and then internationally, it’s, it’s just an exercise and getting up every day, single day and learning something new.

Barb McGrath 13:12
Yes. Well, and don’t you find if you compare when you were getting up and going to a job versus getting up and managing, you know, your own business now, like getting in a bed is not hard when it’s yours, right? Yes, you are fueled by that, the passion and the we have a contact and maybe a new contract. And like that keeps you going, right versus Oh, I got to get up and go to work.

Natasha Vandenhurk 13:40
I think I’m a firm believer in people finding what they’re passionate about, and then doing a career in that. And it doesn’t mean you need to own your own business, because there’s certainly stresses that come with that. But definitely, just pursuing what you love to do and an environment that you can thrive in just so we spend so much of our lives working at work.

Barb McGrath 14:01
Exactly. You might as well enjoy it. Yeah, I totally agree. So these last six months or so, of course, six months ago, Saskatchewan went down on lockdown with COVID. And we’ve had some relaxation now. But what has that meant for your business? agriculture boomed but yet we had all these protocols. So what did that mean for you guys?

Unknown Speaker 14:23
Mm hmm.

Natasha Vandenhurk 14:24
Yeah. So we were lucky that all of our manufacturing and sourcing occurs right here in Saskatchewan. So from my perspective, we were quite secure. From a team member perspective, I mean, that’s that’s been where the focus has been is keeping people comfortable and safe and trying to stay productive all at the same time. So we have individuals that work from I mean, of course, when the lockdowns came into place, everybody that could go home did go home.

Natasha Vandenhurk 14:55
We’re lucky we have a joint venture on the manufacturing side. So and they’re quite Rural in Saskatchewan. So this is one of those times where being rural was like, great. Exactly. It certainly played in our favor. So we’ve seen no hiccups there. And of course, they’ve implemented protocols and policies to keep everybody safe. So, you know, we’re taking it a day at a time.

Natasha Vandenhurk 15:18
You know, work must go on, but we need to keep people safe and follow guidelines as well. And then every single day, you know, we’re we’re trying to do better at that. Yes.

Barb McGrath 15:27
And I would almost think with more people being at home, more people shopping local, I, you know, that may actually play well for your business in the long run, because they might try a product that had they been going out all the time for meals, they may not have tried. So it actually might have a silver lining for you.

Natasha Vandenhurk 15:46
Yeah, I would, I would think so certainly, at the beginning, when everybody was, you know, moving towards the pantry staples, we certainly felt that some of our channels shut down travel convenience, some of our home goods stores, of course, so we lost all of that revenue from those channels. But now, with the addition of some of our key accounts that rolled out here in Canada, just last month, were more heavily skewed to conventional grocery stores, which is a good thing for us.

Natasha Vandenhurk 16:12
And I think you’re running long term. People understand that. Being healthy, and building your immunity helps battle these types of situations, right, it is important to focus on health from the inside out. And products like ours, serve that cause very well. And yeah, and so I think there’s opportunity to branch into other categories to help people continue down that path. So, you know, hoppers or bars or however integrating these healthier items and ingredients into other formats so that people have.

Barb McGrath 16:45
Do you have recipes on your website with the products, the recipes on our website?

Natasha Vandenhurk 16:50
We’re actually just going through a brand refresh. Slowly, you’ll see brand new packaging launching to shelf in the next six to eight weeks. It’s nice in the next few weeks here to distributors. So it’s very brand forward packaging, telling that story right on the front, calling out the benefits of utilizing and eating these healthy high nutrition products. So we’re very proud of that. And so our website, facelift as well. And we’ll be cleaning up that recipe page for everybody and adding new content.

Barb McGrath 17:20
Very cool. No, that’d be fantastic. So Natasha, originally when you and I emailed about being a guest today, you were a participant in one of the committees with women entrepreneurs here in Saskatchewan. And the committee has already wrapped up. But could you just quickly tell us a little bit about the committee and maybe what your interest in being on the committee was?

Natasha Vandenhurk 17:41
Yeah, it was a committee put together by WESK women entrepreneurs here in Saskatchewan, and I think there was 14 of us and total women in business across the province, from all walks of life, all different industries. So we had you know, clothing and food and agriculture, jewelry. And so it was a really diverse network where we were coming together to try and understand how we could bridge this gap for women in business and helping them scale their businesses from you know, maybe small one or two employees to getting them over that sort of million or a million and a half revenue mark. And there’s obviously just some barriers inherent for women in society. And so it was about sort of coming together, breaking off into groups and brainstorming policies and suggestions that we could advise government on that would help these women scale their business and really realize the full opportunity that they can bring to for themselves and to our society here in Saskatchewan.

Barb McGrath 18:41
Right? Well, and one of the things that I’ve often heard is the types of businesses that women are drawn to versus men, that tends to be different as well. And so manufacturing and tech tend to be higher revenue businesses, versus a service based business, which tends to be lower revenue. So there’s that that natural draw and where that comes from. I think that’s very societal. And it goes back, you know, to early childhood. So that’s a barrier. But did you find even within policy and advising government, then did you find that there are barriers that women are are facing that men aren’t? Or did you see barriers within policy that typically would rule out a woman getting funding versus a man?

Natasha Vandenhurk 19:30
I don’t think it’s as black and white as that. Okay, so subtle, and and, you know, your opening remark about the industries that we are sort of geared towards or or what interests us certainly plays a part in this, right. So, you know, one of the cohorts was about accessing capital and of course, you know, tech and manufacturing companies that have the ability to scale to large revenue bases, they need capital, right. So there’s a larger proportion of men working in those industries, of course. You’re gonna see a large proportion of men getting access to capital. And so like, they’re really sort of subtle nuances in there.

Natasha Vandenhurk 20:07
And so I think what you some of the policies or the ideas that we came up with were your, you know, getting down to the foundational roots of what directs people in the different directions that they go and making sure that women are there, they know about the different opportunities, and they’re steered in those directions, if they so choose to go in that direction, and they have the mentors, and the individuals around them to help them go down that path, whether it be tech or manufacturing, or whatever that looks like. And so you know, a lot of the policies that we put in place, we’re coming back to the fundamentals of getting getting to them in early stages, whether it be university or early stages, or stages of their business, so that they can realize their full potential.

Barb McGrath 20:50
Yeah, you know, one of the things that has surprised me, so my kids are both kind of that preteen, that kind of age. And as parents, we prided ourselves on the fact that, you know, it didn’t matter what color the truck was, or what color the shirt was, or right like it was gender neutral as much as we could. And then we hit the school system, and no fault of anyone. The school system is built on a traditional model. And what I saw so early on was girls who, you know, couldn’t sit still had tons of questions. They that was sort of squashed. Versus boys who wanted to touch everything, and are constantly moving and constantly asking questions, that was encouraged. And I was like, wow, day one, we’re already treating them different, even though again, it’s such a subtle nuance. And I was just dumbfounded by it. Absolutely dumbfounded.

Barb McGrath 21:58
And, you know, as a parent, you try and then encourage the girl to, you know, ask more questions and do more of this and encourage the boy to like, stop asking so many questions, just so that everybody didn’t get a word in edgewise. And we laugh in our house, because from a very early age, the kids at school would tease my son, and be like, Oh, my God, her question box. And that actually became his nickname for a while because he is constantly full of questions. And so there’s this ongoing joke in our house that my son will be like, question, or, like, know what, and thank God for Google mini? Because I’m like, I have no idea as I am no clue.

Natasha Vandenhurk 22:41
Yeah, that curiosity is so important to foster that. If you need Yes, otherwise, if you’re not asking questions, you’re not going to be learning. Right. Exactly. I got that is something that, certainly those are the nuances we’re talking about, right, people. They’re doing it right. And I think that, the more aware we are, um, I think that’s better off, I think we’re all gonna be better off for that. But I think also, we can do a lot at home with just everyone to the same treatment or the same experiences, right. So I know, in our firm, there was four girls, and there was two boys, but they were out doing chores, and driving tractors and feeding cows and doing all of those things right alongside the guys. Right. And so Exactly, yeah, I think just setting that example and giving those experiences in sort of an equal nature that are ways.

Barb McGrath 23:35
Yes, exactly. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Natasha, we’re just about at a time. So before we wrap up, can you kind of give us your marketing spiel and let everybody know how they would find you after they’re done listening to the episode?

Natasha Vandenhurk 23:49
Yeah, sure. Yeah, you know, I mean, again, three farmers, we’re Saskatchewan based. And we’re really about putting healthy, wholesome, plant based foods out into the world. So people can feel good about the food that they’re eating and the food that they’re picking up and feeding their families.

Natasha Vandenhurk 24:02
And so based here in Saskatchewan, everything is grown and made here and we distribute across Canada, into the us into Europe, and even into some of the Asian countries. And you can find us at most natural foods, retailers online, of course, and through major key accounts across Canada.

Barb McGrath 24:24
Perfect. So three farmers.ca. And I think your social channels are pretty much the same. Are they not?

Natasha Vandenhurk 24:31
Correct? Yeah. And you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. We are trying to be all over the map for you. Yeah, everywhere. Yeah, exactly. So please send us your questions and your feedback and ideas and we’ll run with them for sure.

Barb McGrath 24:46
Perfect. That sounds awesome. All right. We are out of time today for the Secret Life of entrepreneurs. So I’d like to to thank Natasha from three farmers here in Saskatchewan for joining us to talk about their business and How she you know, ended up in a family business when you know, maybe that wasn’t the plan all along. But thank you for being here. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even post questions in advance of the live show on our Facebook page. Now, we’re not live right now, but hopefully we’ll be back live again soon. And if you have questions, please be sure and post them because we will work them into the show. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you’ve worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Today’s guest is the CEO and co-Founder of Three Farmers Foods; a Canadian brand that provides healthy, wholesome plant-based snacks. (And I can say from personal experience, they are delish!)

Natasha Vandenhurk, her sister and her dad, brings flavours and an approach to our pantries and our palette that are literally popping! Imagine, a Red Seal Chef is helping prepare your Friday Night snack! How ya like them chickpeas?

Tune in to learn more about this Saskatchewan success story, their journey to your pantry and the different ways you can add them to your family’s menu.

Connect with Natasha @ Three Farmers
http://threefarmers.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/threefarmersfoods
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threefarmersfoods
Twitter: https://twitter.com/threefarmers
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-vandenhurk-61a89b26

Missed an episode? Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 65 with Dianne Beauchamp from Puroclean Regina

Video Transcript: Ep. 65 with Dianne Beauchamp

Barb McGrath 0:01
Wow, just wow. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s radio fun. The volunteers, the donors, the businesses, everyone. Thank you. From the bottom of our microphones here at 91.3 FM CJ tr, we could not do this without your generous support, the station would not exist. Today’s guest is just a little more than familiar with cleanup. From spills and messes with a family of five to property restoration caused by water, fire, mold, and biohazard. This lady and her business show up when we are at our worst. We’re going to talk today with Diane Beauchamp. And she’s the owner of Puroclean here in Regina to tell us her story, where the business came from, and why she decided to get into this type of business. So Dianne, welcome. Thanks, Barb.

Dianne Beauchamp 0:59
I’m glad to be here.

Barb McGrath 1:01
It’s a pleasure to have you here. So I know we’ve cut you first thing in the morning, kids are still in the background, they haven’t headed off to school. So you and I are both locked in our spaces that have our conversation. And inevitably, it’ll either be a free guest that comes to join us or a shoreline that comes to join us, right?

Dianne Beauchamp 1:19
Absolutely. One or the other,

Dianne Beauchamp 1:22
In passing coffee.

Barb McGrath 1:25
Equally important. So tell us a little bit about yourself and your business. How did you get started? What made you decide that you wanted to get into a restoration business?

Dianne Beauchamp 1:37
My husband and I have been researching franchises for well over a year. We’ve been looking into anything from this like disaster restoration right through a bakery. So it was Oh, wow. That’s kind of where we’ve narrowed it down to the idea of waking up in the morning and making bread for people and making them happy, made me happy. And also the idea of being able to facilitate and help and walk people through some difficult times. That also appealed to both of us. So my background is human services. My background is mental health. I’ve done work in in both those fields with a customer service specialty. My husband’s an engineer, he’s a hydrological expert. So he is his jams, Water.

Barb McGrath 2:29
Water. He’s all about the water. Yeah, he knows water.

Dianne Beauchamp 2:31
Yeah, water pipes, how they how water flows. So about a year ago, actually, it’s October. So about a year ago, we were wheels up ready to go with your claim took us a while to get there. Unfortunately, life happened, only happened. You know a bunch of stuff happened. And things were put on the back burner. Until about February where we were able to go and get our certification. So Greg got hit in January, myself and our project manager who’s actually my brother, okay, well, who has a background in human services. He worked at Cosmo for a while but he’s also got a background in construction. So you know, it really is a family run business. We left for Florida in February and spent a month there getting all of our international certifications UK we got back the end of the month, went to les Lethbridge for some extra training. And very literally, while we were in Lethbridge, the second week of March the entire world shut down shut down like it slammed closed

Dianne Beauchamp 3:42
The hotel we were in stopped taking people the they weren’t returning people away saying if you’ve crossed the border, like go sleep in the parking lot You can’t come in. It was Yeah, it was wild. We weren’t sure what was going to happen, how we were gonna get back and get functioning. And after some serious conversations we decided to to be wheeled up April 1 no matter what. So that’s, that’s kind of what we did. We haven’t looked back.

Barb McGrath 4:08
So because the business does restoration for mold and biohazards does your business have anything to do with COVID? Or is that it? You do? Okay, so tell me about your your services that would be to COVID because that’s something that’s so top of mind right now.

Dianne Beauchamp 4:24
It really is. It really is, um, one of our largest contracts that we have is actually working with loblaws out of the Gth at the global transportation hub. So they have a fleet of 40 trucks that roll in and out and their essential service they’re transporting food all across the country from Winnipeg to Vancouver. These trucks are not individually owned by the drivers they are owned by loveless with their shared vehicles. So that means that a driver can go from Regina to winter. To peg back to Regina, to swiftcurrent, back to Regina get out of the truck, somebody else gets in and they go Calgary, Vancouver, and back. So that’s local drivers in multiple trucks in multiple cities with different hotspots and different case loads. So we disinfect the trucks in between every shift in order to make sure that they are safe for the drunk drivers going back and forth. But then if there’s anybody who gets sick, if somebody gets sick, and they have to go get tested, we actually have the skills and the abilities to go and clean the vehicle to make sure that it is safe. And it’s not dominated because, frankly, people sneeze into their air vents and vehicles.

Barb McGrath 5:43
Yes,

Dianne Beauchamp 5:44
They do. Like you can be the best person coughing into your arm, but you get in your car and you sneeze directly into that air vent?

Barb McGrath 5:53
Yes. So never thought about it that way. But that is such a good point. I’ve seen those videos where they show how a sneeze spread. Right? And and we’ve, when the kids were little we used to talk about that kind of thing. So they understood, like how you think about the spaces, it goes that you can’t get to?

Dianne Beauchamp 6:12
Well, hey, yeah, so if you know, we’ve luckily not been requested to clean in a home, or in a space that has had a person that’s COVID positive. But we have done preventative, we’ve consulted with a lot of businesses in town, because pure clean Canada actually has the exclusive rights nationally to a very specific product that keeps the microbial and bacterial load down on surfaces. It once you put it on, it stays on, and it stays on for a year. Now, I’m not going to come out and say we’ll kill it, we can kill COVID. I can’t say that.

Dianne Beauchamp 6:52
But I can tell you, it kills Norwalk. And that’s good for me.

Barb McGrath 6:57
When you see it stays on for a year, I don’t understand because a cleaning solution is on and off.

Dianne Beauchamp 7:02
Right. So there’s the way that it works is that we go in, and we did this on the trucks, we’ve done it on the fleet of police cars out in weyburn, you know, all sorts of all sorts of places, not just vehicles, but buildings and businesses. We go in and we disinfect, we use a Health Canada approved COVID kill certified, disinfectant disinfected, go in clean the surfaces make sure all the high touch points are, are clean, because frankly, when you go in a really good example, as you when you walk into the washroom, you open the bathroom door and you don’t push the door open with the handle, you put your hand on the door. So all of those things you have to be really you become very hyper aware of wherever you are aware.

Dianne Beauchamp 7:47
Yeah, and I think everybody’s a little bit of that. So we’re even more so aware of where people touch and disinfect everything. And then after the disinfection and then we go in and we put this on, it’s a product that adheres to whatever surface it is put on it molecularly bonds to the surface. So personally, I have it on my computer, I have it on my mouse and have it on my work desk, I have it on my cell phone, that I have it on my my steering wheel of my car, once it’s on, it’s on and cleaning practices, regular general cleaning, cleaning practices won’t remove it. It stays in place for we say for about up to a year. And it actively it actually attracts the bacteria and the germs and then penetrates it kills it on contact keeps the surfaces cleaner, and just continues to work.

Dianne Beauchamp 8:46
And actually, the more you actually wipe it, you don’t have to use Lysol, you can just steal from water. But the more that the more that you wipe the surface that actually.

Dianne Beauchamp 8:57
The best way to describe it is looks like a bed of nails. And the germs are fractured. They kind of get in there. So the more that you clean that out, the better the product works. Yeah, so we’re we’re doing a lot of that sort of stuff, protecting businesses as they’re trying to open as they’re trying to get people coming back in. People are really nervous about coming back in a lot of times.

Barb McGrath 9:23
Exactly. And that’s you hear that from so many businesses, whether it’s an office based business or an industrial based business, that fear of opening right now. And I think for a lot of especially that local business, small business family business, like if they don’t open, their likelihood of survival is limited. And so there’s it’s the devil on both shoulders like which What do I do?

Dianne Beauchamp 9:48
Well, and then you add in the extra cleaning protocols that that like salons are a good example the extra cleaning protocols that salons are supposed to do so Did one of the things you have to think about when you’re opening your business is do you have the staff to clean up to the expectations of not only the government, but of your clients that are coming in? Yes. So you can have some people who are very nonchalant and don’t really care, but there will be people who come in and really do, watch what you’re touching what you’re cleaning what you’re doing. And that’s right down from the front door, opening and closing the front door to the counter at the salon to the pin pad that you’re using to the shelves where your product is held. And a lot of places don’t have the funds, especially after COVID hire that extra staff that you just about need to follow everyone around to clean after the fact. So what it does is, it’s it’s that safety net in between the cleanings, right, it just sort of makes sense.

Barb McGrath 10:56
Exactly. One of the things that I have found really interesting, I don’t want to say post COVID. But sort of, I can’t even say tail end of COVID. But what I found interesting at this point in the process is there’s a little bit more comfort level, so we’re not afraid to leave our houses anymore. But when we go places, things like the pain pad, the pen you have to sign with, they keep handing the same one back to people. And you know, I’ve mentally made that note, I’m like, Oh, I gotta put my own pin, you know, someplace, and then you find out or you don’t have it with you. But it’s that it’s those contact points in the process that are so much more difficult to figure out. And I’m surprised more businesses aren’t either. Here’s my pen dark. Here’s one this morning. Here’s the next one. Here’s the next one. And now disinfect at the end of the day. I have yet to see that run store

Dianne Beauchamp 11:52
They have seen in one had two jars you take from the clean jar. Right? Put it in the dirty jar that goes to the side.

Barb McGrath 11:57
Exactly. Yeah. And and I think honestly, like they almost all need that. If I rounded up the pens in our house, you know, I could probably donate them to a business for three months. So they could do as we’ve got Jasmine’s Oh, exactly. And it’s a small contact points that you forget about, like you said, nobody uses a door handle. We all push on a door. Right? And I become like the queen of using my elbow. You know, the back of something and see what the kids every time I see the kids I’m like, Yeah, right, are screaming at the kids to do that. So no, it’s it’s a crazy time that we’re living in. So aside from the COVID stuff, talking about the restoration side of the business, what, like, have you still been very busy? Or you know, because people aren’t going anywhere has that?

Dianne Beauchamp 12:52
It’s been quiet. It’s been quieter. But but we’re still busy. We’re still active. And frankly, if you’re calling us you’re having a really bad day,

Barb McGrath 12:59
Bad day. Exactly, diagonally. Dan, I really enjoyed this conversation. I never want to talk to you again. Right? Yeah,

Dianne Beauchamp 13:05
No, my friends, my friends, like, good job. That’s fantastic. I don’t ever want to see you in my house like never work. Because if you’re in my house, it means that something’s gone completely sideways. So, you know, I’m in June and July when we got over those rains. I live in the Douglas Park area. And there was one storm where it right in the middle of the storm. Dennis Park lost power, like right in the middle of the storm. And it was one of the heavier ones that we got. And a lot of people sump pumps failed. So yes, basement flooding, a lot of basement flooding with the rains in June and July. There’s not been so much for severe damage when your water heater burst because water heaters can burst at any point in time. But with people being home, they catch it in a couple of hours rather than 12.

Barb McGrath 14:04
Right. Yes. Right.

Dianne Beauchamp 14:05
So there’s still things happening, but they’re happening smaller scale. You know, fires, there’s been less fires. One of the things with bio is that we’re actually trauma certified as well. Yeah, so that’s it. That’s an interesting that when I could, you know, I get lots of really interesting questions about that one, but we are actually crime scene and trauma certified. So

Barb McGrath 14:32
Really, so as you’re doing cleanup, you would have the ability to recognize something that’s also out of the ordinary or nefarious,

Dianne Beauchamp 14:40
Um, sometimes Yes, most times we’re called in after the police have already done their their job and taking their photographs and then there’s an unfortunate family who has to go back to a house that’s that’s the house is a victim as well as the family is and they don’t need to be traumatized. So we go in and we clean or tear out or Do whatever we need to to get rid of the biological evidence that’s left.

Barb McGrath 15:06
Okay. Yeah, yeah, when you put it that way, understand what we’re talking about now. Wow. Get that way. Yes. Okay, so, so take me back because deciding to start a franchise or not just a franchise, that’s a big decision. And you know, when I think between a bakery and restoration, like, that’s a really wide range. So, so what drove you to the franchise market? I know, I’ve done a little bit of research myself, and never did find the right opportunity.

Dianne Beauchamp 15:37
Well, and see, we couldn’t either we, like I said, we’ve been looking for a long time. The values that my husband and I hold, they weren’t there, there was a very competitive zone between different franchises sometimes where they sort of fit one franchise in one area against the other and, and there’s not a lot of communal education, and, and sharing knowledge. And one of the things that really drew us to this one was the people. So Canada’s been around for about 10 years. The US side of puroclean, has been around for longer. But the Canadian group, when we started calling individual owners, when we started talking to gore to the head of the National Office, when we started talking to people really seriously, and saying, how, how do you feel within this network? Is it a network that supports you? Is it a network that promotes the education? Because we are in the business of helping people? Is this something that we are focusing on? Or is it all about, you know, pull out your walls at two feet or run it through to the insurance company.

Dianne Beauchamp 17:00
And the focus is really people centered. Their tagline is the paramedics have property damage, and they really actually do focus like paramedics and the different owners with there’s one here Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Lethbridge, Calgary, and then a couple more in Alberta, and then BC, but those are the ones that were closest to. They really are like a family they have, they like to say that they’re like a family. They’re definitely a network. They work together. If we have any questions, we can call them if they have questions they can call us. That’s what drew us to this one. Besides the fact that it’s people centered, customer service based, it really ticks all of our boxes in terms of skill sets. It was the people that that own these franchises that really truly want to help people on their worst day.

Barb McGrath 17:53
Exactly. And I would think that having I’ll say, sister companies in all these different locations, also creates a large network opportunity for you. So when a contract like loblaws comes up, if you need multiple locations, you just pick up the phone and go, Hey, Jim, in Winnipeg or so and so in Calgary.

Dianne Beauchamp 18:13
Yeah, that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t source the original contract on this Calgary did. Calgary has 18 tracks, and hot air distribution hub. And they said, Hey, you guys are doing a great job. Gth has 40 do you have someone in the area and Calgary? Absolutely. So then we negotiated our contract with them.

Barb McGrath 18:36
Oh, yeah. See, I that’s, that’s exactly why you’d want to look at a franchise for that type of business opportunity. So awesome.

Dianne Beauchamp 18:43
The other thing is, too is that when there’s a cat event, so that a catastrophic event. They call in the owners from other locations to assist so when fort Mac burned our teams were one of the leads on their Lethbridge team was one of the leads on there. So Lethbridge, Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton. They all went to Fort Mac, and those guys were locked in for eight weeks. Once you got on site, you weren’t leaving. So they were they The first thing they remediated was an apartment building. Okay. They set it up for living spaces for the teams and the crews. And then they set up an office stronghold in the the, on the main floor and brought in office desks because they knew they were going to be there for a while and they sat there they were they were locked in very literally for eight weeks and we’re not allowed to leave. Canada Day there was a smaller event it was still classified as a cat event, but so Calgary got the hail. The pure clean office in Calgary has 200 individual insurance claims on The books after that hail. Oh, that’s 200 homes.

Barb McGrath 20:05
Yeah.

Dianne Beauchamp 20:08
And we’re Calgary is actually a smaller office. So one of our competitors I know has about 500. So they are still in the midst of doing that. and Canada Day rolls around, and Lethbridge gets its entire season of rain in 36 hours. So by the time I finished my barbecue on Canada Day, I got a call at seven o’clock that night saying it’s raining in Lethbridge. And I said yeah, they said, No, you don’t seem to understand.

Barb McGrath 20:40
It’s still raining in Lethbridge,

Dianne Beauchamp 20:42
No rain, again Lethbridge. And by the next morning, they had 76 individual homes that they had been called to. and couldn’t handle it

Barb McGrath 20:50
Be well, exactly.

Dianne Beauchamp 20:52
So we picked up our team and we moved to Lethbridge for 10 days. Saskatoon as well. They picked up their team, they moved to Lethbridge. Unfortunately, they had to leave early, because then North battleford flooded.

Barb McGrath 21:04
Oh, my goodness. So you will remember whether instances now for the next 20 years where the rest of us like you get out and we forget. Oh my goodness, yes. When you start to put it in that context, you’re right. Weather is, is such a huge factor in everything. And we get it too. And we have a neighbor who we get the big storm, we honestly we feel terrible for them. Because you can literally see the water going like this under their basement. And yeah, it’s we feel for them. Absolutely. And I you know, I know they’ve had to do cleanup more than a few times. So. So think about those. you’ve walked into someone’s house in Lethbridge. I don’t know, they just, you know, their basement is literally floating at this point. How do you help them? How do you? How do you dig deep? And just like oh, my goodness, you know, you’re seeing the antiques, the pictures of great grandma and grandpa like how, how do you emotionally help them but then help yourself as well?

Dianne Beauchamp 22:08
Well, I think that that’s where our backgrounds come in really handy in this. I worked in mental health for 10 years. I’m not a mental health professional in terms of, you know, a psychologist or psychiatrist. But I have enough experience that we’ve sort of come up with a plan that we divide and conquer. So we go into we go into a home, I’ve got all of the paperwork, I’ve got all of the really like the things that we’re gonna have to explain three or four times. Because they’re, they’re very worried about their antiques, they’re very, like grandma’s got six inches of poop in her basement. All right. So I sit upstairs with her in the kitchen, and let my guys go in my project manager, project manager go in and make an assessment.

Dianne Beauchamp 23:03
And the first thing that they start with is photographs, tape, they do photographs of the scene, they take photographs of absolutely everything, and document all of the content. So anything that belongs to a homeowner needs to be moved or disposed of has to be documented. So if we’re going to pack it, we have to document that it’s put in a box, if we’re going to throw it away, we have to document it and the homeowner has to actually sign off that these things are going to be disposed of before we can do their property. Right. So so the boys start that process. And then they bring in really big cleaners fans. vacuums shut like I call it a shop back.

Barb McGrath 23:47
Exactly. It’s a monster size shop back.

Dianne Beauchamp 23:51
Yeah, yeah, it’s a monster sized shaft rack, I’ve got a big blue one and a big red one and my my five year olds about as tall as they are. And you know, and and the guys just they just start pulling this stuff out. And then I put on my boots and go and help them as well. But my job is mostly to to worry about the details worry about making sure that the homeowners understanding what’s happening, being that liaison between them and the insurance company and making sure that what we’re doing is covered. Because the last thing you want to happen is for us to get halfway through something and the insurance company to say, Oh, yeah, I know that you don’t have any coverage. That’s a private pay. And the person stuck with 1000s of dollars on their bill.

Barb McGrath 24:33
Exactly. Yeah. And we’ll count on that. Diane, believe it or not, we are at a time today this this time goes so fast when I’m looking at other people’s businesses it does. Just as we wrap up, can you tell us a little bit about where people would find you whether it’s social media, your website, things like that, can you let us know how to contact you?

Dianne Beauchamp 24:53
Absolutely. We are on Facebook at Puroclean Regina we are at pure clean dot Ca, slash regina online if you want to look at our website, and you can google us, Google now recognizes that we exist. So that’s another another thing with COVID. That’s very slow getting set up for new businesses. So Google recognizes we exist now. So you can check in pure clean Regina Titus pretty quickly.

Barb McGrath 25:21
Perfect. That sounds awesome. So thank you very much for joining me today. I I really did enjoy the conversation. But I hope to see you in my home time.

Dianne Beauchamp 25:34
I completely understand no offence taken at all.

Barb McGrath 25:39
Oh, my goodness. And you know, I really enjoyed hearing a bit about your story and choosing a franchise because I think a lot of business owners go down that same path. Yeah. Do I want to do this? Do we want to do that? Right. And it’s finding fit. So knowing that you in Greg took the time to find the fit. I really I kudos to both of you, too, for doing that homework and taking the time.

Dianne Beauchamp 26:01
Oh, thank you.

Barb McGrath 26:03
So I will be back for our next show in just a couple of weeks. But if you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit your questions in advance of the live show on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Today’s guest is no stranger to clean up, messes and spills with 3 kids and a busy business. When Dianne Beauchamp and her husband, Greg Stephanson, were on the hunt for the right business, they stumbled upon Puroclean, an international network of disaster restoration services.
 
They officially opened their doors 2 weeks after the world shut down due to COVID-19 and in hindsight she says, they’d do it again.
 
Dianne meets people at their worst moments and she prides herself on serving her customers to the full extent possible. Making friends when families are devastated.

 

Connect with Dianne @ Puroclean Regina
https://www.puroclean.ca/sk-regina-puroclean-restoration-regina
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PurocleanRegina

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life-of-entrepreneurs

Ep. 64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Video Transcript: Ep. 64 with Adele Buettner

Barb McGrath 0:00
Are you ready for radio THON? It starts Friday, October 16 at 4pm and ends Friday, October 23 at 4pm. This year, we’re raising $20,000 to reach out to reach our 20th anniversary goal, which is next year, donations of $50 or more will receive a limited edition gift. And every donation of $25 is entered in a draw for one or two. Sorry, one of two special prize packages in the radio fun. Celebrate local voices culture and streaming, tune in pledge your support. Regina community radio cannot exist without your support. Alright, let’s move on to today’s show. Our guest today has been working in the egg and food industry for a number of years providing management and leadership services and experience. She comes with a wealth of experience. So much so that she’s even been asked to sit on advisory committees for entrepreneurs around the province. So Adele Bittner is joining us today. Welcome, Adele.

Adele Buettner 1:06
Thank you.

Barb McGrath 1:07
It’s a pleasure to have you here. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your business.

Adele Buettner 1:13
I’m excited to be here. Thank you for the invitation, Barb. Well, I started my business in 1993. We’re going on to our 28th year and I just I don’t know where the time has gone. Yeah, it’s just flown by. I guess when you like what you do Time goes

Barb McGrath 1:28
By fast. It That is so true.

Adele Buettner 1:31
Yeah. And I was raised on a farm just a few minutes east of Saskatoon. So I’m from an agricultural background, but kind of had the best of both worlds. You know, my family, they were entrepreneurs. And they farmed about five minutes from the city. So we lived in the country, although I went to school in the city, when we had all in the city and we play ball in the city and had music lessons in the city. So you know, although we lived in the country and had that experience of, of knowing how to grow food and how to farm life, it we we also feel very much like we were a part of the city too.

Barb McGrath 2:04
So do you live in this city now or still rural.

Adele Buettner 2:07
I lived in the country until about 10 years ago, and I live in Saskatoon now.

Barb McGrath 2:12
Okay, so in the city now, you know, it’s interesting, I married into a farm family. And so same thing I had the city experience growing up, we chose home for me, and my husband grew up on a farm out near Humboldt. So our experiences were really different. I want to say the things that he could get away with as a kid, or especially as a teen, there was no way we could get away with some of that stuff. Yeah, in this city. So it is it’s a different experience right from the classroom, the school the sport. Absolutely. So agribusiness communications, tell me a little bit about the services you provide to your customer.

Adele Buettner 2:48
It was kind of the core of our of our business plan. And then that project work where people or organizations needed a job, you know, that had a start and a finish date done. That was just a contract work. We were interested in that. So that’s how we looked at our secondary part of our business. So Association management, we almost call that as our retaining clients. And then project work was the balance. And now over the last few years, we’ve seen a bit of a shift where we still provide Association management in agriculture and food. New a lot of project work, like we do everything from developing recipe books to doing media training, to doing focus groups or logo design. So it’s really evolved. As our industry is changed and some of the needs change, we were able to adapt and continue to through COVID.

Barb McGrath 3:45
Well, you know, isn’t that true? Because I think as we come out of COVID, or as we continue in COVID, businesses who have been able to adapt, seem to be doing okay, businesses were their platform relied on that, you know, face to face in person, they have had a much more difficult time. And of course, all of these new protocols impact them at a much higher level. So I presume that you were probably able to move a lot of your work in business online, zoom, Google meat, Skype, all those sorts of technology.

Adele Buettner 4:18
Well, for sure, we were able to move quite a bit of our business online. But certainly some of our business, you know, is no is is deferred for a year or longer because there’s no internet, right? There’s no need to face events. And although if you’re able to emulate some of the learning online, we haven’t really mastered the networking yet.

Barb McGrath 4:40
Yeah, it’s not the same.

Adele Buettner 4:42
That’s a face to face.

Barb McGrath 4:44
It is Yeah.

Adele Buettner 4:46
So we have moved a lot of our programs online. We’ve also introduced some new programs and the thing that we’ve really been focusing on and strategizing is aligning ourselves with other areas of expertise that we don’t have. Okay. So, you know, looking at, we recently launched an HR division, where I’ve brought in a number of HR experts that are independent consultants that, you know, as, as we work through with our clients, and people who have, you know, called upon us to help with strategies. And if you’re needing HR expertise, I have a bank of people that we can call.

Barb McGrath 5:25
That you can draw on. Yes, right. So so so how big is your business? Is it primarily you and you work with some subcontractors when needed? or What does it look like?

Adele Buettner 5:35
Well, pre COVID, our business was nine staff, and quite a group of external contractors. And I still have those external contractors and their six staff, I just had one go on mat leave, actually. So just had a few that have moved on for various reasons, but they’ll have six staff. And we’ve always worked a lot with external expertise.

Barb McGrath 6:01
Yes. And, and, and we are the same in my business, there’s when when you need a specific skill set, it doesn’t tend to be you know, a skill set that you use often, it’s just as it’s more efficient for the client, to not retain that skill set, because that’s going to impact pricing and things like that. So I think that’s, it’s becoming more common nowadays. And I always like to talk about that virtual model. So were you a virtual model before? Or did you have a physical space,

Adele Buettner 6:32
We have a physical space and our company is a little bit unique in the sense that we have a professional office. And I have staff here, obviously, and myself Monday to Friday, and our office serves as the office to a number of our retaining clients. So, you know, often that association or industry may say, you know, what, they, they can’t have a full time office presence or office complement of staff, they don’t warrant it. But I have the illusion of a full time office and have access. So our office serves as the office to several others. But I’ve also always been a contractor. Never. So, as you mentioned earlier, where you draw on a bank of other people, you know, 30 years ago, when I started, or 20 years ago, that was a very unique model.

Barb McGrath 7:28
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And, in fact, I think so much so that at the time, people would have felt a little bit uncomfortable with that model, because it was so uncommon. Everybody was a, you know, 30 year employee of a business not Yeah, absolutely.

Adele Buettner 7:47
Yeah. 30 years, you know, looking for the benefits and that sort of thing. And I, I know, you know, I was in my late 20s, when I started and when I, you know, would knock on doors and build my network, I’d say I’m a contractor was a different, it was a, it was very new. Right?

Barb McGrath 8:05
Absolutely. You know, and and even nowadays, I think if you were to talk to my family and ask them what I do, they’d kind of give you a look at not really sure. Computer goes wherever she goes. And we know they haven’t lost their house. So that business must be paying the mortgage.

Adele Buettner 8:25
True.

Barb McGrath 8:27
It’s it’s not it, that’s not a derogatory statement. It’s simply it’s really tough to understand that the virtual environment, when you are so used to that traditional, you know, Monday to Friday in a school or, you know, wherever you might be working. Yeah, our world is changing, as they say exponentially on a daily basis. Yeah. Has COVID had an impact on you?

Adele Buettner 8:55
Oh, certainly, I’ve had an impact on everyone, you know, for sure it has, you know, and and the interesting thing is, you know, you think okay, early on, it was well, we’ll plan for two weeks, we’ll plan for three weeks. Planning is a little bit of a tricky thing. And of course, as I mentioned, our farm tours, our events have all been cancelled, or postponed or whatever, it may be indefinitely.

Adele Buettner 9:19
But with everything that, you know, when when you have changes like this, there’s also an element of excitement. Yes, no, because you’re looking at new partnerships and new scrimmages, and you’re creating something new and different and I’ve often thought that a group is plugged holes. In some some cases, you know, when commodity groups or businesses are having a tough time filling a gap or finding a solution for a challenge or finding someone to facilitate a program or manage a program.

Adele Buettner 9:54
We’ve been able to step up and and try to help them and work with them collaboratively to meet their goal. And, oh, it’s much the same. It’s, you know, talking to a lot of our industry and outside of our industry and seeing how are people doing things? And what’s needed? And how can we learn from each other.

Adele Buettner 10:16
So you bet the business has changed absolutely for everybody. Because a lot of our programs are online, as I mentioned, and we’ve brought in a few more consultants that have great expertise that I don’t hold, but I feel value in that connection. So, you know, every day’s a little bit new. And this morning, we had a staff meeting, and we’re talking about, hey, what can we do with seniors? You know, one thing that we’re seeing all the time on on the news is our seniors that are restricted right now, and their families are restricted. And you know, is there an opportunity to develop some agricultural literature for seniors and how to reach out to them. So, you know, it’s a lot of brainstorming, but it’s very fresh brainstorming, and there is an element of excitement.

Barb McGrath 11:05
Exactly, it’s invigorating, when you have the chance to brainstorm and come up with those ideas. It’s so invigorating, it just, you know, gets in the office bright and early the next day to, to try it and to see what you can do. Now see, now there’s the common thread. So just to help our audience understand, Adele joined me right after I was finishing recording another session. And, you know, while we, as entrepreneurs tend to have lots of things in common, our businesses are also different. And so the entrepreneur that that Adel joined us, at the back end of the conversation for was there looking to do the same thing, they’re innovating, they’re having to stay fresh, they’re having to stay future focused.

Barb McGrath 11:48
And to me, that’s always the sign of a business that will survive and injure. Because if you if you are able and willing to turn on a dime, like we all did on the 15th of March, then that really, to me, that really speaks to who you are, as an entrepreneur, you see yourself having a responsibility and supporting your clients employing your staff. Right. And that’s not that’s not necessarily everyone’s take on, you know, how do I continue to operate? Right? So kudos to you? That’s, I think that’s a fantastic thing. Absolutely. Well, thank you. So, um, the whole reason, of course, that you and I connected was, you’re on the advisory committee with the women entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan. Can you talk a little bit about your role on that committee?

Adele Buettner 12:35
Oh, that was such an honor to be on that committee. You know, it was a 10 month adventure, where the Women’s Entrepreneur together with support from the Ministry put together advisory committee to look at how we can reduce the gender gap in the professional world, essentially, you know, we did some studies on Pay Equity on accessing capital on how we can make the the the workforce more of a level playing field, that we identified a handful of gaps that we presented to our ministry of areas that need to be continually research to try to, to try to lessen that gap. Okay. There were, I think there were 10 women and two gentlemen that were on our committee, and met several times from September till just this June. And all of the players came from very different backgrounds. There were a couple of us that had an agricultural background, or a business background, and but there were a variety of others as well, from pharmacy to Hilberg and Burke, to conexus us credit union, you know, Western Business Machines, just a variety of representatives. And it was really an interesting experience, and I appreciated the opportunity.

Barb McGrath 14:01
Yeah, absolutely. So when you think about the work that committee did, and you think about that final report, was there anything in that final report that surprised you?

Adele Buettner 14:12
Well, one thing that surprised me a little bit because I I in my line of business, I didn’t need to go down this path. But the some of the research showed that women had a difficult time to access capital. Mm hmm. And it was tougher for women entrepreneurs to access capital versus male entrepreneurs. You know, I wasn’t aware of that BB when I came on the committee just because everybody’s business is different. Yes. And, and varying levels. So that certainly was a surprise or, you know, was a surprise to me. It was new to me. And another thing that came out of some of the discussions and it wasn’t one of their recommendations, but I must Say it is something that has come up in my world a great deal because I talked to industries from across the province in rural areas as well. It’s the fact that, you know, we can put a man on the moon, but we can’t have good internet connection. Well, Saskatchewan. So, you know, that hinders people

Barb McGrath 15:19
When? Absolutely,

Adele Buettner 15:21
It is a serious issue for people who are remote and cannot have good access. Yes. So you know that, as I say, that came up in our discussions. No, it wasn’t a recommendation. It didn’t come up in discussions. And that’s certainly something I hear regularly. Yes. So, but anyway, but accessing capital was, was probably a, that was something I wasn’t quite aware of, I always felt there was a need for mentorship. And that came through, you know, some streamlining access to data programs and networks that came through. But, you know, there were a handful of recommendations that came through on this on the report. So it was very worthwhile.

Barb McGrath 16:08
So here’s a question that I’ve asked a few guests in the past. When we look at gender roles, the gender roles are definitely changing. If you look back to maybe your parents, or even your grandparents, who did what is probably quite a bit different than you know, what, what you may have done, if you have children, or what you may see with your grandchildren. And I’ve often wondered, how many generations will will evolve will pass before there is no gender role. Before it’s simply, you know, we raise the kids, we do the laundry, versus she doesn’t hate us. And I, you know, I watch even in my own kids, because I’m very fortunate, I have a very supportive spouse, I work crazy hours, and we do many of them most of the time. And he steps in and you know, he’ll do the groceries or he’ll do the laundry, but you get get the gist. Right into I often wonder how many generations will pass before those gender roles won’t exist?

Adele Buettner 17:15
Yeah, and that’s a great question. I think, you know, part of change happens when there’s awareness. This was part of what we did was we raised the awareness of what the gap is, that study wasn’t done before. So this is a, this is a, this is part of the start. Or maybe it’s not even a start. It’s been, you know, efforts have been made in the past as well. But this is another effort, and it helps raise the awareness. I think it’s part of keeping the conversation going and making sure that this stays as a topic. So we all work together and have a more balanced workforce.

Barb McGrath 17:56
Yes, you know, and I think that’s a really important point, because I did know that there was challenges for women to gain access to capital, I’ve heard prophet talk a number of times about it. And I’m in a very similar position to you, I, I didn’t need to access capital to be successful in business. And so it wasn’t a path I had to go down. But I’ve certainly heard from a number of women who talk about that journey and how difficult it was, and, you know, some of them some of the even stereotypical questions where, you know, they were being asked for a piece of information, or to put a house up for collateral, where men weren’t being asked for the same thing. And, you know, again, you were talking about gender roles. When you look at the financial sector, and who’s asking those questions. That’s an industry that has traditionally been blue suit black suit men. And so all of this is, you know, changing and I, as much as COVID changed our businesses overnight. I don’t think that’s changing overnight, that’s taking a much longer period of time to change. Right. And so that’s unfortunate.

Adele Buettner 19:05
Yeah. Well,

Barb McGrath 19:06
What do you see your role in helping to create this change, then? Do you have a role? is there is there work you can do with your clients to help additional women gain access to capital or start businesses? Do you see a group is having a role? Well, I

Adele Buettner 19:24
I wouldn’t say my area of expertise would be to help people and guide them to access capital there are there will be far more others that would be better versed at doing that and have the experience. However, another area that did come out of the results of this study was the importance and value of having mentorship. And I feel that it’s very important for people that are newly wanting to get into business, or female, I don’t care. I’m happy to help any young entrepreneur that is that is wanting to start a new business. I’ve been part of a mentorship through an organization called Women in agriculture for the last number of years. And I’ve had a number of members of that group call me and and we’ve had many discussions where I, if I can help them and share my expertise, I want to do that.

Adele Buettner 20:17
But also, you know, through being in business for almost 30 years, you get to know people, yes, it’s not always through an association that people call you for mentorship. So if I can help, I feel that something that I’m capable to do, I’m experienced to do and I have, because I am a business owner and have been responsible for so many different areas. I’m fairly well versed and I’m happy to share my my experiences with with people that are starting out. Having said that, it’s always good to have several people that they can go to, but I’m happy to be one of them.

Barb McGrath 20:53
Exactly. And I agree with you mentorship is is critical when you’re getting started. if for no other reason to have a network of people to pick up the phone and say, How do I do this? Where do I find this? How do I make this happen? Right? Yeah, can be as simple as, okay, I need a bookkeeper. Right? It doesn’t have to be complicated stuff. That’s great. Um, I’ve lost my train of thought, because I was just going to ask you something. So we’ll, we’ll jump into another conversation. So what does the future for, for your business for the egg industry look like? I have kids, they’re in their teens. And and so I know, that sounds like a bit of a funny question when I start, so they’re in their teens. And we’ve made a point of you know, who doesn’t come from the grocery store food is something that’s growing, in most cases, and we we, as a family do try and eat, you know, real food, much more so than, you know, stuff that comes out of packages. But where do you see this going? Again, a generation or two from now, because, you know, these kids are already completely disconnected from where food comes from. Nevermind a couple of generations from now, when you know, a banana is gonna come out of a wrapper of some sort. Where’s this gonna go?

Adele Buettner 22:07
Well, I think we’ll see a number of different things that will come out of our food industry, not just agriculture, but our food industry. You know, first of all, when we look at the the egg industry, the farm community as it is, that is the most technical, technologically advanced industry. Among the most technologically advanced industries, there are you step into a combine today, it does not look anything like the combine your parents drove when you and I were children, it’s very advanced, because farmers and ranchers want to be the best they can be. And they are environmentalists, and they are veterinarians, you know, they want to look after their livestock look after the crop. So there’s lots of changes in the farming side that will continue. Yes, there’s like any industry that wants to advance farming is the same. But when we look at the food side, you know, and we look at our culture, we, our community is changing. We are an international community today more. So again, if we revert back to when you and I were a children’s age. And with that people are looking to have diverse food. And we are very fortunate in this community in Saskatchewan, to have a wide choice of food, absolutely.

Adele Buettner 23:27
Go to the grocery store, you have a choice of free range, or commercial or omega three, or brown eggs, or white eggs or small eggs or large eggs. You know, that’s like all sorts of food choices that we grow. Our consumers have that and they’ll want to continue having that. So I think we’ll see some new products coming into the market. Our community is growing from, you know, other point point points in the country or in the world have come to Saskatchewan and come to Canada. And they would appreciate having some of the food and where we can I think we’ll see that.

Barb McGrath 24:02
Exactly. No, I think that’s a fantastic point.

Adele Buettner 24:05
Yeah, I think too, you know, more learning is online, as well. You know, there’s a new website that is done in Saskatoon called Canadian Food focus. And it really answers a lot of great questions because not everybody has had the opportunity to be connected to the farm. So we offer some awesome information, as does a national group called the Canadian center for integrity. They have wonderful information on their on their website, too.

Barb McGrath 24:42
Yeah, that’s fantastic. Adele, if you can believe it, we’re already out of time. So I’m just gonna wrap up the show. But I really want to thank you for joining me today. I know when you and I emailed first in just emailing back and forth, you weren’t quite sure that you wanted to So I really do appreciate that you took time to talk with me today and, and the the egg food industry. I mean, I think it’s like all industries right now, but it is undergoing such significant change.

Barb McGrath 25:12
And I think it’s important to stay connected to those roots to understand, you know where our food comes from and what we’re putting in our body because it just has so much impact. So anyway, thank you very much for joining me today. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can submit your questions in advance of the live show on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you are charged for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

As the Chief Inspiration Officer (aka President/Owner) of a boutique communications and management firm in Saskatoon, SK, Adele works closely with clients in the agriculture and food communities to meet their individual needs in the areas of communications, public relations, marketing, event planning and office and association management. She loves connecting with like-minded thinkers and promoting her love of food and farming.


Connect with Adele @ AgriBiz Communications:
https://agribiz.ca
https://agribizcoaching.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgriBizComm
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adele-buettner-14572012

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secretlife

Ep. 63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Video Transcript: Ep. 63 with Mary Weimer

Barb McGrath 0:01
Are you ready for radio fun? It starts Friday, October 16 at 4pm and ends on Friday, October 23 at 4pm. This year, we’re looking to raise $20,000 to reach our 20 for our 20th anniversary, which is next year, donations of $50 or more will receive limited edition gifts and every donation of $25 is entered in a draw to win one of two special prize packages at the end of the radio THON. And I know some of those gifts so you want to make your donation. Celebrate local voices and culture by streaming, tuning in and pledging your support to 91.3 FM CJ tr Regina community radio, visit cJ tr.ca to check out our new website. And for all the details onto our show. Today’s guest is no stranger to the entrepreneurial scene. She’s done some work for the assiniboia Gallery here in Regina, which was originally founded back in 1979. She followed that work with she followed that work with hilberg and Burke here in Regina. And now she’s with Conexus. And she’s responsible for the customer experience. So when you think about how your experience with any business, how it touches you, that’s what this lady is charged with looking after. So she’s got a huge portfolio. So Mary, I’d like to welcome you to the show. Mary Weimer is the chief experience officer officer at Conexus. And she’s going to talk about her role in supporting that thriving entrepreneurial culture. Welcome, Mary, thank you so much for being here.

Mary Weimer 1:42
Well, thanks for having me, Barb. It’s a pleasure to talk to you today. So I guess yeah, like a little bit about myself. I grew up in Regina, I’ve lived here my whole life. After finishing my degree at the U of R, I got a job working for the original owners of the assiniboine Gallery. So john and Monica Kurtz, also a long, long time, Regina family and worked for them for about a year and then talk to them about taking their business over and buying their business at that time. My husband and I were not yet married, but we ended up getting married a few weeks later. So we actually always celebrate the anniversary of the gallery. And then right after the adverse our wedding anniversary,

Barb McGrath 2:28
Your wedding anniversary. Always interesting. Most times you see you know, somebody will get married and then they go into business together. Yes. But you guys went into business together and then still actually got married. It doesn’t work too well.

Mary Weimer 2:42
I always sort of think like we met. We both worked at the Y so our, our jobs, you know as high school and university students. We were lifeguards at swimming instructors at the YMCA. So I’ve always just kind of talked, you know, chalked it up to we started our relationship as co workers. That’s great. So that so that was just like a natural thing for us. And so we worked together, running the gallery well today. But since about 2010. I have worked at Hilberg and Burke, and then now at conexus. So it’s been about 10 years where my day job so to speak has not been in the gallery.

Barb McGrath 3:24
Yes. So was there an impetus for you that made you think you know, I want to do something a little bit different that led you to hillberg and burke led you to connects us? What was that driving force?

Mary Weimer 3:35
Yeah you know, my connection to Rachel Melky at Hilberg and Burke really started right around the time that I first owned the gallery, one of the first things that I did in early 1999, was get a membership with women entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan. And at the time, Rachel was a university student, and she worked part time in the office. And so it was early on in when I was first a member and I have a very distinct memory of being invited to an awards dinner. I don’t remember which one it was. But Deborah Needham, also from women entrepreneurs at the time, invited me to come and sit at this table, and Rachel was there and a few other people. And that was the first time we met. And then just over the years, watched as she did her business kind of from the you know, kitchen table, and then really started to grow it and then I distinctly remember when she left her full time job at women entrepreneurs, and went into business full time for herself and the whole Dragon’s Den, and I just kind of was watching that and then as it would happen, our businesses physically are located really close our galleries on Smith, her original sort of yellow houses on McIntyre. So you know, we’d see each other at things and Just always kind of like they would come to openings. And I just kind of followed along with the the journey and I have always been just really interested in business in general. The Art Gallery business is a wonderful business to be in. Because it’s you deal with great customers, you deal with interesting people who are artists,

Barb McGrath 5:23
And passionate people

Mary Weimer 5:25
That are so passionate about what they do exactly like on both ends of it buyers and makers. And really like hilberg and Burke is very similar.

Barb McGrath 5:36
Oh, absolutely.

Mary Weimer 5:37
It’s all, you know, the design aspect and the creation. But I definitely just had this desire, I knew the gallery, the gallery is not a business that’s necessarily like a scalable business, we’re not going to have multiple locations across the country, we’re not, you know, it’s it’s a very good local business. But that was really not the case for for H and B. And I always thought, you know, if I ever go and work for someone else, I feel like it’s got to be kind of like another small business. Right. And so that’s sort of how that came to be.

Barb McGrath 6:14
And that small business became very big. Yes, when you then join Conexus. So, so tell me a little bit about that transition. Because to go from the gallery where you know, there was yourself, your husband, and maybe a few staff. And then you know, we’ll leap over hillberg and park up to conexus. Now you’re dealing with, I don’t know, what do you guys have now? 750? employees?

Mary Weimer 6:35
Yeah, it’s about 960. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 6:37
yeah, yeah.

Barb McGrath 6:38
So you’re dealing with a huge number of people. And everyone knows you. And I just knowing a little bit that I do know about you, I know, you tried to get to know as many people personally as possible, but you can’t know all 950. So how did you make that transition?

Mary Weimer 6:55
Um, that was a, I would say like, in hindsight, it was actually harder than I think I thought, or I realized it would be. And it’s interesting. And I and I think you just, it’s almost like when you have a new baby, you forget, right? That’s why cuz you forget, oh, yeah, that’s how this is. So if I, if I think about when I went to HMV, you know, when I went over there, I don’t know, if there was maybe 10 of us, or 15 of us with the one store. You know, doing wholesale? I do remember, even at that time feeling like, okay, people don’t know me, like Rachel knows me. But actually, nobody else knows me. I I have to, like build relationships. And, and, and there’s that process of building trust, where in the beginning, people will give you the benefit of the doubt, right? Oh, she seems nice and Oh, look at her.

Mary Weimer 7:55
But like, eventually, you have to do what you say you’re going to do. And you have to, you know, produce results. And otherwise, all of a sudden, like, you start to erode that trust. So went through that whole process at HMV. And then, of course, as we grew, and we, when I left, there was probably about 200 employees. Now, the beauty of a small business is error, that sort of startup trajectories, you’re I was involved in, in many of the hires. So certainly from the head office point of view, I knew everyone.

Mary Weimer 8:31
But then of course, as we added stores, it became increasingly difficult to personally no every person, but then, you know, going to Conexus it was like a whole other level of because now there’s people all over the province and people from an industry, right? Whereas I was not like a lifelong banker or credit union person. So it’s not like I knew so and so from a conference, you know, five years ago or whatever, like I exactly, anyone I knew, actually a few people, simply because they were customers of the gallery, okay, with sort of a connection and a few people as well, who I got to know through HMV because we’re also customers, right?

Mary Weimer 9:17
So yeah, it was, again starting over. And what made me successful at hillberg and Burke, some of it translated to Conexus, but not all of it, because it’s just it’s like, leading enterprise, you know, like a much larger Exactly. Maybe we’re at hilberg and Burke, I could still be super hands on. And actually, you know, when you’re not able to do that you sort of realize, Oh, actually I actually really like getting in there. But at at a at a level of say executive at connexus like you will not

Barb McGrath 9:57
If you find my micromanage it won’t happen.

Mary Weimer 10:03
Or nor has is not what you’ve been hired to do. Oh, absolutely. I heard that. And it was it wasn’t always easy, but amazing supportive environment. It’s a, I always say, like, connects us reminds me have you know, people talk about teaching hospitals? Yes. Nexus is like a teaching organization. Right. Certainly this interest in evolving you as a person as a leader, lots of support. So I feel like I had a ton of support on that journey. Yeah. Which ended up you know, making all the difference. If I hadn’t had that I probably would have floundered and not being successful. Mm hmm. Oh, absolutely. You would, you would have drowned in paperwork and emails and text.

Barb McGrath 10:51
Right, like, there would be no Mary standing. Absolutely. Absolutely. So let’s talk about that, then you can’t micromanage. And yet your portfolio, your your the future, the forward looking portfolio for Conexus is customer experience? And how do you help implement that experience from from the executive suite through to, you know, grandma taking money out of the bank machine, because we’re not doing as much in person anymore. And I was in a branch last week, actually. And, you know, you try to avoid the branches. So I was like, shoot, I actually have to go in. But I give you guys credit, you’ve got all the arrows and the signs and the ropes and the indoor and the outdoor, like everything is in place. But how do you make that happen? From the executive level? How do you impact that customer experience?

Mary Weimer 11:48
So when, when I first started at conexus, so that was the summer of 2018. So just over 10 years ago, now. We talked about, you know, Conexus is undergoing a transformation. And we need to imagine, you know, what is the future of banking for our members? What does that look like? And my observation, right, from the very beginning was, I looked around and I thought, Okay, well, there’s a lot of people that I’m responsible for that are doing things. But I realized that what they were doing was was very operational, super important. But just things that like the engine that keeps the business moving forward.

Mary Weimer 12:34
So at that time, the teams were like the marketing team and the PR team and the community investment. Well, those are people that are just like, day in and day out, like making work happen. So I thought, Okay, well, we can do we can do this other work, but who’s gonna do it? You know, and not necessarily just, oh, well, let’s just go out and hire a bunch of people. Like, that’s not really an option either.

Mary Weimer 12:58
And so in the fall of 2018, cultivator was just getting going. So the business incubator was getting a lot of interest. And we had lots of businesses in there. And we did this really cool event called the 24 hour startup, yeah, remember, like over a weekend, and it’s like, Hey, if you’re a techie person, a design person, a business person, whatever, and you’re interested, come, we’ll put groups together, we’ll pick the best few ideas and then spend the weekend Can you develop like a minimum viable product, and then have culminate this in a pitch night, rather than the winner gets, you know, $1,000 or something.

Mary Weimer 13:42
And I just remember watching that event and walking away from that and thinking, Okay, we need to capture that energy, enthusiasm, that kind of quick and dirty without making something perfect. We’re just like, trying something. And and then we’re immediately getting customer feedback. And it reminded me so much of how we did things that hilberg and Burke, okay, not even describing it that way, but it was all around experimenting, trying something and then oh, okay, well, that doesn’t quit, let’s fix this, or what are the customer saying, okay, with constant feedback, you know, just always, like, iterating on how we were doing things. And so, came back and with some of my colleagues, we worked on an idea of how could we start to embed some of this into Conexus. So in the beginning, we very purposely created you know, we looked at Lean Startup methodology, design, thinking and agile.

Mary Weimer 14:48
And I kind of took all of those and kind of made our own Conexus version of it and right, yeah, we named it we called it connects us to Novus. We we recruited for these Office teams internally, and we recruited in a completely different way than a normal recruitment process where he they had to come and do a present like a pitch, basically, we did 10 minutes, they pitched we asked them questions. And we cycled through probably about 60 people that applied.

Mary Weimer 15:18
Okay, we created three teams. And then on our way, and the whole thing over the course of a year was just basically one big experiment. Absolutely. And, and the whole idea was delivering small slices of value every two weeks on a demo cycle, which is very much an agile kind of process. And then just as we we went along, you know, embedding this, like Human Centered Design. And, and the thing that was very cool is, you know, involving members in the process involving other staff that weren’t necessarily on one of these teams. And just really getting people to think about, you know, when you’re, when you’re trying to solve a problem, you’re trying to solve it for people. So what does that mean? It means you have to actually talk to people who are talking to.

Mary Weimer 16:18
People, which doesn’t sound like earth shattering, but it actually kind of is, yes, in most environments, back office teams spend six months working on something, and then they deliver it to the front office, you know, like, tada, here you go, here’s your new customer service, you know, experience manual or Exactly, yes, exactly. You get a document out of it. And then right away, it’s like, oh, well, that doesn’t work. Well, this doesn’t work. Well, that doesn’t work. And so it was like, No, this is not how we do it, we just, you know, are constantly trying things and getting feedback, and then creating this this loop. And so what was super interesting is when we were we were hit with COVID. So now it’s March, we had to quickly, you know, stop and change everything, right?

Mary Weimer 17:16
We had to figure out how can we safely have employees working? How can we serve members? And what was super exciting is just starting to see like, Human Centered Design, collaboration across teams, this idea of, let’s try this, let’s do it. And let’s see what happens. And then, you know, continually improving on things, which with the way COVID was like, there’s no other way to do that. We didn’t, you know, yet go sit in an office for six months and craft our, you know, COVID response, like, exactly, you had six minutes in a meeting.

Mary Weimer 17:57
Yeah, exactly. So that was really, we said, we sort of stepped sit back and went, Okay, like, without us even necessarily doing anything, these concepts are starting to really be embedded throughout the organization. And across. So I started earlier talking about like, operational teams, maybe versus teams that are doing like r&d or innovation. actually seeing those teams really coming together. Yes. So that’s been the experience over the last couple of years kind of the journey.

Barb McGrath 18:31
Isn’t it interesting how often in a larger business, you know, we’ve got competing priorities and things seem to take so long, but COVID hit, and organizations had to have a response. Within hours, maybe you had a day or two, if you were lucky, depending on your organization, you needed information posted, it became the priority. We got in we did what we needed to do. And then we got back to figuring out how to do our business. And it’s unfortunate that we don’t put ourselves in that situation, not that we need more COVID put ourselves in that situation more often, where we just get in and get done. Create the feedback loop, right? collect the information we need, because otherwise things Dray go forever. And that uses huge resources in an organization. So how did your internal teams respond to that? Now there’s, is it Novus? Did you call it? Okay, so now you have these internal teams, how is the organization responding to this more entrepreneurial type culture in a large organization?

Mary Weimer 19:35
I’d see you know, lots of people really embrace it. You know, most people I think, I think the reality of the workplace today is that things change quickly, and plans need to be iterative. Everything that we do, we don’t have that same kind of long runway like I think Gone are the days where you You set your course for the next three years and then just start, you know, ticking the boxes.

Mary Weimer 20:07
This is just, you know, there’s that the term vuca, volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. That is the world that we live in today, a vuca. world? Yes, absolutely. It used to be that, you know, we were constantly faced with things that you could maybe describe as complicated problems, like, hard work, but maybe you know, when you started, you knew what it was gonna look like at the end.

Barb McGrath 20:33
That’s right.

Mary Weimer 20:34
Well, not today, it’s like every problem is complex, because you start, and you really have no idea.

Mary Weimer 20:44
How are you going to get there? I’m not really sure. What is it going to look like when you get there? Well, that I’m also not really sure. And how will you know you’re successful? Well, you know, can I let you know, as I, you know, start to do some of this work. And that is, that’s very hard, then that sort of more on an individual level, like How comfortable are you with uncertainty, and maybe not knowing where you’re headed? Exactly. That is, that can be challenging, but that’s where I, I’d say in a big organization like Conexus. There’s lots of ways we can wrap our arms around people and bring them training and bring them along the journey because you can’t, you know, drag people along.

Barb McGrath 21:26
Oh, absolutely.

Mary Weimer 21:27
You got to inspire them to go like, Okay, this isn’t too scary. I can learn some new skills so that I can manage this level of uncertainty. Exactly.

Barb McGrath 21:37
Yeah. Mary, believe it or not, we’re just about out of time. We’ve only got about two minutes left. I know it’s the fastest 30 minutes of my life. The cultivator. So tell me how, how are things going at the cultivator? And can people still work together? Because again, that that experience of being together is such an important part of being a startup entrepreneur? How’s that working?

Mary Weimer 22:00
So cultivator within the new building at Conexus, same protocols is Conexus. So the teams are having just you know, half their team at a time. Again, they’re liking, you know, having a little bit of time face to face with people. But we were able to pivot to full virtual delivery of all of our programs. And one of the really positive things is we’ve been able to extend our reach, like across the globe. So where in the past maybe, could we get this person to come to Regina speaker event? You know, the costs? Can you get the schedule to work? Well, now it’s like, do you have time for a zoom call.

Barb McGrath 22:42
That’s right,

Mary Weimer 22:43
At whatever time works for you. And so that’s been super, I bet. Yeah. And the opportunity that presents because the stickers that you’d be able to bring in a whole new level? Absolutely. Definitely. Yeah. So some, so cultivator would be, like, an example of the rest of the economy and that some businesses COVID is accelerating their growth because of what they’re happened to be doing. And some businesses are having to take a look at their industry, because maybe it’s not relevant anymore, or there aren’t the opportunities that there was literally in February. Exactly. But I think, you know, we’ve we’ve got lots of supports in place to support people on that journey. And it’s, it’s a going concern. Absolutely.

Barb McGrath 23:34
Okay. Excellent. So normally, at this point in the show, I asked folks to share sort of their contact information, but I don’t think you want your email out there. And of course, everyone knows Conexus. So how would you like entrepreneurs to reach out to Conexus? If they’re looking for any support?

Mary Weimer 23:55
Probably the best way would be through LinkedIn.

Barb McGrath 23:59
Okay,

Mary Weimer 24:00
If if people just went like Mary Weimer, LinkedIn, like I, I do a lot of, I would say communication with business people and entrepreneurs through that. So it kind of helps keep it out of just like the mess. Messy inbox. Exactly. It’s sort of a filter. So that would be great.

Barb McGrath 24:22
Okay, perfect. And of course, conexus here in Saskatchewan. You guys were at one point about the seventh largest credit union in Canada. Is that still anywhere near our

Mary Weimer 24:32
I actually think it’s, I think it’s six largest, I think, okay, is the number. Yeah, largest in Saskatchewan, and then I believe six largest in Canada.

Barb McGrath 24:40
Excellent. All right. Well, Mary, thank you very much for joining me today.

Barb McGrath 24:45
We weren’t exactly sure how this was gonna work out with COVID and everything else. But you know, what I’m hearing in the work that you’re doing is you’re adapting, right? You’re adapting within the organization. People are adapting and you’re thriving. So that’s really exciting to hear. If you would like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of the live show on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Today’s guest is Mary Weimer of Conexus Credit Union.
 
Mary was born and raised in Regina. A University of Regina graduate, she and her husband, Jeremy, have owned the Assiniboia Gallery since 1999. In 2013, Mary took leave from the day-to-day operations of the gallery and joined Hillberg & Berk as its Chief Operating Officer. In July 2018, she joined Conexus Credit Union as its Chief Member Experience Officer.
 
As Chief Member Experience Officer at Conexus, Mary will lead the design of the future-focused member experience for the organization as well as lead Financial Wellness and Cultivator – Canada’s first credit union-led business incubator.
 
Mary has been involved in several non-profit organizations over the years as a volunteer board member and is currently the President of the Board of Directors for Youth Ballet Company of Saskatchewan and a Director on the board for Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. She was recently appointed to the Saskatchewan Advisory Committee on Women Entrepreneurship.
 
Connect with Mary@ Conexus Credit Union
Missed an episode?

October 2020

Google My Business App

The latest updates on Google My Business.

This post is part of a continuing series of monthly updates on the #1 search tool used by ready-to-buy customers. For all the updates, or to see additional information, read Attract More Customers with Google My Business.

Updates to Name, Address & Phone

Google displays the date a listing was last updated when customers search for a business category. This is a significant change, as customers make their purchase decision based on up-to-date information. At a minimum, listing owners need to Post to their listing weekly and update hours, holidays, products and services as changes occur.

Google Guarantee for Listings

The little green star of the Google Guarantee is coming to Google Listings. 

The rumors are true; Google is planning to charge for listings.

At this time, a very few select US local business categories have the option to pay $50 per mos to receive the green star.

It is expected that the demand for the service will be very significant. Watch for the option to upgrade your local service listing with a message similar to this one. 

No word on timing when we can expect to see the option in Canada.

New Attributes

Google introduced four new attributes for listings:Curbside PickUp

  1. Online Care
  2. Online Appointment
  3. Online Estimates
  4. Online Classes
  5. Appointment required
  6. Mask required
  7. Staff wear masks
  8. Staff get temperature checks
  9. Temperature check required
  10. Black Owned Business (US only)

Attributes help your customers differentiate your business from another. Have free wi-fi? Curbside pickup? These are important decision points for customers and will determine which business a customer selects.

Attributes are pre-determined by Google but must be activated by the listing owner. Find Attributes in your Google listing under the Info menu, immediately after Products & Services.

Account Suspensions

There are two types of Google My Business listing suspensions.
  • A “hard suspension” causes the business listing to be removed entirely from search and Google Maps. This is the most common type of suspension.
  • A “soft suspension” leaves the listing available, but the account owner can’t manage it.
Business owners often request the reinstatement without understanding the suspension. It’s too common that business owners panic, remove the listing and create a new one. “This is a terrible mistake,” according to Fischer of Search Engine Land, “because it risks the loss of all the content (photos, videos, reviews) associated with that listing. But if the listing is successfully reinstated, all the content and its the listing’s ranking will typically return within 72 hours.”
  • Name and address errors are the most common infractions.  
If your listing is suspended, carefully review any information you receive from Google and carefully follow their step-by-step instructions.
Til next month!

Ep. 62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Video Transcript: Ep. 62 with Winter Fedyk

Barb McGrath 0:01
I feel a strange sense of familiarity. When I talked with today’s guests, she to jump from that comfortable corporate environment where she knew what to expect on a day to day basis. She knew everyone she was going to interact with. But the entrepreneurial bug caught her. And our guest today is going to talk about how that old saying do something every day that scares you, really holds true for her. In fact, just managing her business, and being successful can be more than enough to get her on a bed each day. I am super excited about our guest today who’s winter Fedak a director at silo strategy here in Regina, and she’s going to talk about how she found her passion and her purpose for bringing people and organizations together. Welcome, winter.

Winter Fedyk 1:01
Thank you.

Barb McGrath 1:02
Thank you for being here. No, I have to tell you, my kids honestly asked me this question this morning when we were planning our interview. I said winter FedEx coming on the show. My daughter said, Oh, I know her name. Was she running with Justin Trudeau? And I said yes, she was my daughter’s 13. So totally impressed. And my son said, so is summer coming on the show next. Oh, brother, buddy. And that’s what he’s done. He’s 11. And he’s always got that slapstick sense of humor. So welcome. And tell us a little bit about yourself. Since I just did that introduction for you.

Winter Fedyk 1:37
Yeah, no, thank you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity to come on your show. And I really look forward to our chat today. Yes, as I mentioned, my name is winter I’m, I’ve lived in Regina for most of my life, I had a brief vote 10 years in Ontario between the ages of you know, 25 and 35. And then I came back in 2010. And started working with the government of Saskatchewan for a number of years. And as you mentioned, about a year and a half ago, I decided to to leave that role to start silo strategy, which is an independent management consulting firm. It’s it’s just me right now. And I work with organizations, as you say, on bringing people and different parts of their organization together for project management and government relations work and strategy. So I’ve been doing that for the last 18 months. Okay. And the real reason for doing that was it was less about starting that business. And it was more about trying to find an income source that would let me run for the election last fall.

Barb McGrath 2:41
Yes. So do you want to talk about that experience? I mean, I, I would be deathly afraid of putting my name in my face out there. To stand for office, whether I was successful or not like I would find that really challenging. So where did you find the courage for something like that?

Winter Fedyk 2:58
Well, I was definitely afraid as well, to be very honest, it took about a year of yoga before I decided to actually tell people that I was thinking about this yoga and, and working with an executive coach and therapist to work through all of those issues that I was having the barriers that I was putting up for myself, to get mentally and emotionally ready for the experience. And I honestly, right, right up until I did it, I was never sure I was making the right decision. Okay. And that was a really hard feeling to live with to just trust my intuition that I was doing the right thing. Even though my mind and my body were telling me No, don’t do this. It’s gonna be you know, with the politics that we’ve got right now. Exactly pretty vitriolic. I’m happy to report that my experience was much better than I was anticipating, Oh, good. But it did take a lot of, you know, it did take a lot of internal work to get myself ready to the point where I was confident enough to put myself out there.

Barb McGrath 4:01
Good for you, you know, and congratulations to you, not just for putting your name out there. But talking about the work that it took to get ready to do that. I think it’s something that as a society, you know, we’ve all got things in the background that we’re working on. But we don’t talk about the work we’re doing to be able to put something forward. Right. So kudos to you. Now, I only know you a little bit right scratched the surface. But I’m gonna say there’s a little bit of a an overachiever and a type A personality in there. Right, which is common with women who are really driven to succeed. So one of the challenges I would think for you is when you decided to put yourself out there. All of a sudden, everyone else was somewhat controlling your destiny. Was that part of your thought process was that part of what was difficult for you

Winter Fedyk 5:00
Um, you know, that’s there’s so much there to unpack. One of the things that that pre work that I did, it really got me to a point where there wasn’t anybody else controlling what was going on for me, even though on the outside, it might have seemed that way. And of course, it was, you know, my campaign manager is taking me here, the National Party office is giving me lines about what they want me to say. But part of that pre work was really trying to make sure that I wasn’t going to lose that autonomy and independence of mind. Okay, because, you know, having worked in government with the most senior, you know, at very senior levels in multiple different governments across Canada, you know, I’ve really learned that you, you have to have that you have to be true to yourself and stay centered that way, and not let myself get pulled into various directions. Because politics, that’s the death of you, as soon as you don’t own your your, your own mind and your own messaging, you know, that might help you be successful in the short term. But in the long term, I think just as on the human level, that wouldn’t be something I would be comfortable with. And so I always had to be comfortable with whatever it was I was saying or doing. And that was my line, see from my, my political team, if I would have just kind of told the line a little bit more. But at the end of the day, I think that if I resonated more with the people I was when I was knocking on doorsteps, because they could see that what I was the message I was bringing to them was authentic. Mm hmm.

Barb McGrath 6:35
You know, it’s interesting, of course, we’re, we’re in what I would call pre election time at the provincial level now. And last night, one of the candidates came to the door, I won’t name parties here, because it wasn’t a good story. So still being in COVID, we’re very cognizant of, you know, people coming and going from from the house and stuff like that, and the kids being back in school. So the doorbell rings, the dog goes cuckoo. We have a dog that’s like, let’s see if I can get this on camera. This big. Right? But sounds like he’s 75 pounds. So you know, usually when we open the door, people are kind of like, oh, boy, what’s coming out. So we open the door, and it’s the candidates, and she’s with one of her volunteers. And she starts reaching into the house, both towards the barking dog, but completely oblivious to like, hey, like COVID? And who knows, lady like, what are you doing? So I actually had to lean way back and be like, Can you just put that in the mailbox, please? Like, keep your six feet. And I thought, Wow, so. So we’re in this pre election time, we’re all still supposed to be following this rules. She has no idea what my bubble looks like, or anyone else’s bubble, where they’ve stopped along the way. So she’s now been maskless, to house after house after house. And she’s wanting to contact people. And I just thought, Oh, my goodness, like, this is such a possible disaster waiting to happen. So, you know, I think about running for election, and you have to be so acutely aware of so many different things all at the same time. Right? Because to me, it matters to the next house, it might not matter. And when you were, you know, pursuing political aspirations, well, there’s different issues. But what mattered Odin Ralph Goodale is writing and what mattered because you were Lakeview and

Winter Fedyk 8:32
South Albert. genre, then was the Yeah,

Barb McGrath 8:36
Exactly. Until what matter to your residents was different.

Winter Fedyk 8:39
Yeah, no. And that’s, you know, for Regina Lu van, it was it is one of the most diverse constituencies federal constituencies in Canada or in Saskatchewan. And so in terms of, you know, you’ve got everywhere from the big beautiful houses in Lakeview and harbor landing to, you know, some of the, the tougher neighborhoods in North Central, perhaps. So or around that area. And that was one of the most fascinating things about knocking on doors. And so I was really surprised that I liked knocking on doors, because that’s a public servant. My, my interaction with the public beforehand had been, you know, when I was working at SGI people would call when they got into an accident, and that was my interaction with the public. They were not very happy with me when they were calling in because they were in an X.

Barb McGrath 9:27
Exactly. Yeah.

Winter Fedyk 9:29
So I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. It turned out to be the best part of the campaign, connecting with my neighbors and different different areas of Regina about what was important to them. You realize when you’re doing that, that at the end of the day, 90% of what people want is the same. And it’s the 10% of, you know, where we’ve let our political narrative get to in terms of that those wedge issues, that political party like to use and, you know, the media likes to ramp that up because they get some clicks and eyeballs talk about all of the the scandals and the various ways that people aren’t getting along. When really, you know, depending on you can be making $50,000 or $500,000. You know, you want the same things, you want a healthy community around you, for your family to raise your family, you want, you know, opportunities for your kids, you want a healthcare system that’s responsible or responsive when you when you need it. And you know, even though I think there’s a lot of moralizing, that happens in our politics, we do want our neighbors to be healthy and happy, because we know intuitively that a fish if the water is polluted around them, the fish is going to die at some point. Right, exactly. So you know, why? Why would we want to have a community or a society where we’re, you know, we’re happy with polluted water, and we’re just gonna, you know, worry about ourselves as the individual fish in the bowl. You know, it’s not gonna last very long for us if you have that perspective. And I think intuitively lots of people know that. But unfortunately, I think also there’s, you know, the challenges around social media and the lack of the ability to have a deeper conversation that that hurts us right now.

Barb McGrath 11:19
No, I agree. And, you know, I suspect that having that deeper conversation is a big part of what you’re doing now, with silo strategy and trying to bring people together. So can you talk a little bit about your work in your consulting firm?

Winter Fedyk 11:32
Sure. Well, you know, I’ll talk a little bit about the Genesis like the the evolution, because when I first started silo strategy silo actually stands for social impact leadership and outcomes.

Barb McGrath 11:45
Oh, okay.

Winter Fedyk 11:46
Yeah, because I was working a lot in social policy in government, and one of the things I wanted to do was, you know, take what I had learned, and in the, in the consulting work world, start to bring together different organizations for social program, social enterprise opportunities, because there’s a huge opportunity right now in Saskatchewan, when it comes to social enterprise and, and kind of delivering social services a little bit differently in our communities, ones that, you know, it saves money, but also produces better outcomes. So that’s something that I’m really passionate about. And I was, you know, wanting to take silo strategy that way initially. And then silo also just, you know, when I put the the social impact leadership and outcomes together, and it was silo, and that just the resonance with you know, being in Saskatchewan, but also that idea about being that connector between different organizations and systems and breaking down those silos, it just, you know, it just jumped out at me, it’s in the name and, and I went with it. My, my first few contracts through through the company have been less about social policy, and more really just project management overall, working with senior leaders, CEOs, deputy ministers, board chairs, when they have a project, often there’s a public sector angle, because that’s my area of expertise. So if you’re looking for money from the government, I’m your girl. Because Yeah, that’s what I’ve done for my career is budget submissions for Treasury Board and, and all of that. So that’s what I found. Most success in the in the early days of the company is is doing that kind of work for folks. And I think partly it’s COVID. Right? People are, yes, are really wanting to make sure that they’re accessing resources from the government to the extent that they can and so they’re, they’re looking for help for with that, like, how do I position my proposal? How do I best communicate my request to the Minister of Finance, or to the Minister, whatever the case might be? So, so that’s what I’ve been doing a lot of, since I’ve started, but I’m still really passionate about the social enterprise and, and the opportunity to, to bridge to bridge those kinds of projects with, you know, indigenous organizations or social enterprises, working with governments working with investors, and bringing all of those people together for, you know, successful community service delivery. Mm hmm.

Barb McGrath 14:18
I can tell that you’ve really chosen work that you you truly enjoyed that, that is very purposeful and meaningful for you. Because even as he started to talk about the work you’re doing, your voice went up an octave, and your voice sped up, right, like you just couldn’t wait to talk about it. And I always find it really interesting when I’m interviewing a guest, and they talk about the work they do. Sometimes it just stays exactly the same. And that’s not a bad thing. But sometimes there’s almost like wow, you know, here’s kind of what to do. And it’s like, you know what, I don’t think you found your your passion yet and I would never tell anyone that but there’s definitely people where I’m like, Okay, they don’t know, like, why they’re doing what they’re doing. And it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning, when it’s like, oh, I gotta go deal with this.

Winter Fedyk 15:09
Well, at least that was that was part of it. So I mean, there was the politics of it. But even before the politics, it was I was turning 40 soon, right? So years ago now, and I was about a year away from turning 40. And I’m not, you know, I wasn’t in love with my job anymore. For various reasons, but also, I think it was just I, you know, I’d only ever worked in government, and I never experienced what it was like outside, really. And I was always in the back of my mind, like, Am I missing out on something? And, you know, turning 40, it was kind of thinking like, so this is a pivotal point, do I want to spend the rest of my career like the next 2025 years working here? Or is this the time to finally you know, something I’ve been thinking about for about five years, if I’m honest with myself, make the leap and take that scary, scary risk. And so that was the start of the, of the thought process for me. And then, you know, and then it was just the timing of the election and my passion for public policy. And all of that kind of came together. And even just my first contract, right? It was I was having a conversation with somebody I’d worked before. And they had started a new position. And so I was telling them, you know, I’m thinking about doing something crazy. And I said, Oh, well, if you do that, I have work for you. Because, you know, there’s just so much work that I need. I had a good relationship with her. And so it just worked out really well. And it, it felt to me, um, you know, like, I’m a big believer in intuition. And

Barb McGrath 16:47
I’m healing right.

Winter Fedyk 16:49
Yeah, I’m actively trying to cultivate that a little bit more. Because otherwise, I can get to thinkI. I mean, you mentioned the overachiever aspect. And certainly, I would say that, but it’s also coupled with the, you know, the imposter syndrome might have a crippling case of that sometimes. Okay, so yeah, so that was kind of how it all came together. And, you know, and because it was a scary thing, it really had to be right. And I really had to follow. You know, I had to listen to the cues in my in my body that were telling me whether or not I was making the right decision or not, because in my mind, it wasn’t the right decision, in my mind everything right. You know, I wasn’t ever sure it was the right decision. And, and so I had to do it that way.

Barb McGrath 17:33
Yes. One of the things that I think we often do, and it’s not a I’m a male versus female thing, but we often think if I take this job, is that the right decision? And it might be the right decision for one month, one year, one decade, we never know. And I think because society has changed as much as it has related to career, people weave in and out of jobs. So frequently, when I started my business, my thought was, I needed something that was portable. And I needed something that wherever our family might go, I was going to be able to take what I was doing and go. And yes, I intended for it to be a long term thing. Did I think it was a forever thing? I don’t know that I thought it was forever. But I don’t know that I didn’t think it was forever, either. I don’t think I had really thought that far ahead. And so when I heard you talk earlier about, you know, I thought it might be a short term thing. And then you get that bug. And you know, whether you’re making more or less or the same, there’s a quality of life aspect that comes with being your own boss, and the master of your own destiny. So okay, do I get the contract, it might depend on how hard I work, and how hard I work is directly tied to how much I want that piece of work. Right? And so that’s a very freeing thing to be able to decide, you know what, I want to go on holidays this week, I know I still need to do X, Y, or Z. So I can either work extra before I can go, I can take one less job, I can work and eat right? Like all of a sudden you have so much sometimes too much flexibility because then you end up working all the time because you can but like what a freeing opportunity that I think a lot of people if they have the banana, an entrepreneur haven’t had the opportunity to experience Yeah. So if you look at your journey, is there one thing that you have found particularly there one thing that has really bit you as the entrepreneur that says, I love this?

Winter Fedyk 19:46
Yeah, I think you know, the other day I was for my first birthday as silo strategy. I joined the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce and the Regina Chamber of Commerce and yes, that’s where we first met was on that’s right. One of those first calls With the Chamber of Commerce, and earlier this week, they had a great Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce is putting on indigenous awareness training. And so really learning about Saskatchewan indigenous, you know, the treaties and the history and how to do business with indigenous organizations. And so I, the other day, I put that on, I put my headphones on, and I got on my rowing machine, and I set up my laptop because I didn’t know.

Barb McGrath 20:25
Yeah,

Winter Fedyk 20:26
For the hour, I was rowing and listening to the gentleman who was presenting, and that that was kind of after I did that, I thought, you know, I don’t think I can ever go back. I know having that kind of flexibility, because the ability to really be productive hasn’t ramped up, right. But the flip side of that, I love being on a team. And I realized that over the last year and a half, that is certainly one thing that I’m missing. And it’s not necessarily because I’m a consultant, because, right for COVID, I was working in the office with a team that I’m was part of, or I am part of. So it was really COVID that split us up, but and I imagine a lot of people are going through this.

Barb McGrath 21:12
Yeah, I agree.

Winter Fedyk 21:14
Working independently, you really realize, I really realized how important it is for me to have people around me that I can trust, I can work through my ideas, because I’m, you know, I like an open honest person. I mean, I’m passionate about public policy and different ideas, and I like to debate and get into things. And when you’re alone, you know, especially in the early days of COVID, sometimes I was wondering, like, Am I still thinking correctly here? You know, because I wasn’t getting that feedback from people around me. And online or digital. It’s just not the same. There’s no, no, you can’t read body language in the same way you can’t have those impromptu conversations. So that is one thing that I am, you know, struggling with a little bit more, but it is also another reason why I decided to do things like join the chamber and, you know, to, to be very grateful to accept the invitation to this to the show, you know, because connecting with people is something that, you know, I I learned very early on in my career, that if you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.

Barb McGrath 22:27
Yeah,

Winter Fedyk 22:27
Exactly. Surround yourself with people who are smarter, and you know, have been there done that a lot more than you, because that’s when you’re learning. So I need I need that. And I need to surround myself with those kinds of people. And I guess I’m doing it in a different way. But I still do miss that, that team aspect. So I’m still working through that.

Barb McGrath 22:50
Um, so you touched on something that’s very interesting to me, because I saw that same evolution with my kids. My son is very social. And that was the hardest part for him not being in school, he was so used to that social interaction, filling his cup up with social, and I’m somewhat the same, I’m a very social person. But I discovered how much my productivity went up, and how many less hours I had to work to get the exact same thing done, because I wasn’t running around town, going to meetings and doing things like that. So just watching how COVID impacted different people in different organizations, I think has been, you know, a bit of a process in itself. But I’ve often thought that we as entrepreneurs, and especially when you’re a small business, one person, three people, we need that sounding board. Because when I would try and talk to my husband about it, and here’s this idea, I haven’t What do you think? And he was like, I don’t know, if he just he didn’t have any context for the information. He didn’t have a background in the subject matter. And I’ve often thought that that group of small group of people that consistently come together to swap ideas and, you know, bounce ideas off each other, and what do you think? And how would you respond to that? I don’t know what that is. I don’t know if that’s a mastermind, because I know they’re a thing. But you need that you need your peeps to keep you going and bounce bounce stuff off. Right? So if you figure it out, let me know. I’d be right there behind you going I mean, I’m in

Winter Fedyk 24:24
Ya know, and I, you know, I have been thinking about that. And I that creating that network of people who are interested in exchanging information and learning about new ideas and ways of thinking is, you know, that’s where I want to be. So absolutely. When I find that, that group, you’re in.

Barb McGrath 24:43
Exactly. All right, you know, for when the first meeting is perfect. So believe it or not winter, we’re already out of time. I know it goes so quickly. So just before we do sign off, can I get you to share with everything with everything with everyone. Your website address and contact information for your company.

Winter Fedyk 25:04
Sure, yeah, no, it’s silo strategy.ca all one word. And you can email me at winter at silo strategy.ca. I’m also on Twitter under silo strategy. I have a book club under on Twitter as well that I’m part of, so you can find me there. But you know, just you can google me and there will be plenty of things that come up mostly political now. So. But there, the contact information will definitely be there.

Barb McGrath 25:33
Perfect. Well, that sounds good. I want to thank everyone for joining us today on 91.3 FM CJ tr Regina community radio for the Secret Life of entrepreneurs, and winter. I really want to thank you for joining us today just to talk about the work you’re doing in silo strategy, and some of the community objectives that you’re hoping to achieve through your company. Both, you know, personally, professionally, but it’s it’s exciting for me to hear the passion that is behind your story. So thank you very much for

Winter Fedyk 26:04
Thank you so much. I had a great time and really appreciate the opportunity.

Barb McGrath 26:08
Absolutely. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. Just to reminder, you can even post questions in advance of our show on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you work hard for your success.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Winter Fedyk left the corporate world to pursue a political dream. She spoke confidently and articulated her vision for our country and our home. In pursuing her dream she discovered she had a talent for bringing people together, creating a shared vision in people, systems, and organizations.
 
Winter brings that passion to her work with Silo Strategy; S – I – L – O. Tune in to learn what SILO means (not what you think) and learn more about this fantastic lady who is remarkably passionate about her work.
 
Connect with Winter @ Silo Strategy
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Ep. 61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport

Video Transcript: Ep. 61 with Heather Day

Barb McGrath 0:21
Our guest today wears many hats. She’s a top notch chauffeur and enviable snack maker. And I think she’ll tell us just kind of as a hobby on the side, she’s the president of C.S. Day Transport, a third generation family business, C.S. Day Transport gas and diesel. You know, I’m not sure if it’s across western Canada, Canada or Saskatchewan, but she can tell us, the company started back in 1930. And on the side, they still toss a few groceries around as well. She’s active with the Saskatchewan Trucking Association and Canadian trucking Alliance. She’s leading the way in changes in this industry. Heather day joins us today as a nominee with the YWCA of Regina women of distinction as a female leader committed to creating a thriving and positive culture within her business and the industry. She’s an entrepreneur, a wife and a mom. Heather, thank you for being here.

Heather Day 1:25
Oh, thank you, Barb. Yeah. It’s lovely.

Barb McGrath 1:30
It’s a pleasure to have you here. So. So tell us a little bit about yourself, because you’ve definitely got a full plate.

Heather Day 1:37
Yes, yep. But I like it that way. So keeps me sane. So. So I grew up in Regina. And I guess my first foray into trucking was just as a kid, my sister and I would go out to the shop with my dad on weekends. And he would be doing payroll, and my sister and I, our job was just to kind of bounce around and mom was a nurse at the hospital. So he would sleep on weekends. So that was kind of how we were first introduced to just being around trucks and those wonderful sights and smells that go with diesel engines. And, and from there, as I got to be a bit older than sometimes I’d help out in the office during summer holidays, to provide some cover for the bookkeeper. But it was always just kind of part time and ducking in here and there just to lend a hand. And the business was still small enough at that point that I knew that, you know, when I finished high school or university, there wasn’t going to be a full time job available. But at some time, Dad was probably going to retire. And, you know, I was already kind of thinking about the possibility that that might be something that I wanted to do down the road. So in the meantime, took a completely different path. And I knew I had to lose a boat. I thought 35 years old and ended up being less than that. I had my own separate career as a high school music teacher and teaching over in London, England at that time, and I got a lot of really fabulous experience that a lot of people think, well, how does that relate to trucking, but we can get into some more of that later. But a lot actually carries over. So then when dad was ready to retire, then I bought the business from him. And with a business partner as well. And it was 2012 and just kind of dove in kind of face first.

Barb McGrath 3:50
That’s a good analogy. Hopefully, there was no faceplant along the way.

Heather Day 3:55
Oh, well, you know, a few bumps. But yeah. So yeah, it was certainly quite an adventure. At the start, you know, you’re just getting in. I already have a little bit of background, but just learning so much more of the details and the day to day operations. I have a little bit of awareness of some of the challenges. One of them, is that spacing, the whole industry is a driver shortage, which is going to come? Yeah, so that’s going to become fairly critical, probably in the next five to 10 years. We’re already seeing the impacts of it. And but yeah, that was one of the main ones. So just starting to get to work on that. How do we make sure that we’re an attractive place to work and and even broader than that, how do we make the industry attractive to people who maybe wouldn’t have considered it before? Just to make sure that there is that strong pool of drivers.

Barb McGrath 4:57
So let’s start there. Then, Heather, how Make the industry attractive to both men and women.

Heather Day 5:04
So that’s a great question because it is very male populated right now. And I think one of the things historically, is that the trucking industry hasn’t really talked about themselves very much. They’re very, I always think of it as being a very backstage industry. Behind the scenes, most people don’t think about how their groceries got to the shelves, or how the gas got to the gas station. Or all those fancy crafts supplies over at Michael’s.

Barb McGrath 5:38
Well, isn’t there like this magic pipeline underground? And it’s like the grocery fairies that bring them in? That’s what my kids think it is. They also think there’s fairies that clean up around here? Oh, yes,

Heather Day 5:49
Yes, we have the cleaning up ferried our house too. Yeah, but you know, and people don’t really think about it. And I kind of had that lightbulb moment when I was a kid, and you know, just because it was a family business. So there was actually it was pretty clear memory was probably about eight years old. And there was this huge Blizzard outside, like it was dark and blowing and drifting up against the patio doors. And we had hold all of our like a whole bunch of blankets down to the family room and kind of made a nest, watching movies and eating popcorn, and all kind of snuggled in cozy and warm. And then the phone rang. And, and so we hit pause on VHS and you know, dad went in the kitchen and was on the phone with his driver. And I could hear them talking about it was some smaller towns in Manitoba that they were talking about, I didn’t really understand what was going on. But knew that the driver was having some kind of delivery trouble. And, and the gas station was actually too full to hold off. So they had to figure out where else they could send it. And so, back in those days, it wasn’t computerized. And if another gas station in a nearby town didn’t answer their phone, then you’re kind of guessing. And so they were figuring out a plan for where this driver would go. So he could unload the rest of the fuel, and came back into the room after the call. And I looked outside at the blizzard. And it was horrible. and looked at dad and just kind of asked like, why is that driver out there? And, and dad just said, well, the town needs their fuel. And he was so straightforward and neutral and Matter of fact about it, that it just kind of clicked in an epiphany that towns need their fuel, and if nobody takes it to them, and if that driver isn’t taking it to them, it doesn’t get there. So it just really drove home to me the importance of of the trucking industry. For us, especially the fuel aspect of it. Because without the fuel, everything just grinds to a halt.

Barb McGrath 8:13
Yes, it really does. You know, and that’s, that’s such an interesting story. I, I had just never thought of it that way, you know myself before, because you’re right. I know that a transport brings in the gas. But when you’re in a smaller town, here in Western Canada, you are 100% reliant on the trucking industry to get your groceries in to get your fueling to get your school supplies in. Absolutely everything. Right? There is no magic fairy, except at home to clean up after kids. I never thought about that. So okay, let’s fast forward. So, you know, number of years ago back in 2012, when you bought the business from your dad, and I’m guessing just based on a conversation that you had a bit of a vision for where you wanted to take this company. Tell us a little bit about that, if you can.

Heather Day 9:04
Well, one of the factors, you know, when anytime that someone is selling a business, you’re always wondering, who is the buyer going to be? And, you know, often once once businesses will no longer have control on how they manage employees, how they deal with all of those safety issues. And strategies. And, you know, I know I’ve gotten to know the drivers when I was working there part time, but they were pretty fabulous. And just wanted to make sure that they were looked after. So that was part of it. And but also a little bit beyond that, that you know, they are little they’re kind of like superheroes that nobody knows about the day to day stuff that they you know, just help out with and pitch in and there’s so Professional, just kind of wanted to see if I could shift things a little bit so that the public can see a little bit more about what truck drivers really are like. Because certainly the stereotypes and images that we have are not often very positive. But that really isn’t the reality.

Barb McGrath 10:21
You know, and I know you’re correct me, everyone has this industry of the trucking industry to, you know, it’s a dirty industry, it’s man, and they’re overweight, and they’re out of shape. You have to be in fairly decent shape to sit in a vehicle that long and to do the work that’s required to be done, when you’re when you’re in that industry. So as you think about, you know, where the industry is going, how do you see yourself, you know, attracting more women into the industry? How do you see yourself starting to change people’s perception of the industry?

Heather Day 10:58
So Well, just to change the perception, we just need to get over ourselves and get out there and talk to people about it. It’s part of it. There have been this year, some social media campaigns, as well put together by the SAS Trucking Association. It’s called we are trucking. And then the Canadian trucking Alliance, at the start of COVID, they had a thing a trucker campaign on social media. Pretty, it was nice. And then, but then to attract women, because there are women in the industry. Not very many. But, you know, it is, by and large, it’s a very welcoming industry for women to get into. So part of it is, again, just talking to women and saying, okay, so we know that these are all the things that you think about us that were stinky and a bunch of gruff old guys. But once you actually start to talk to them, and if you can introduce them, even then they start to realize that actually, okay, the perceptions that the general public often has are not true. And oh, there are actually bathrooms out there. And, yeah, so. And, you know, one of the things like, even for like, nursing moms, dump trucks often have a little fridge and a microwave. So if they want a pump, you can go ahead and do that. And things are good. Just letting people know that, you know, there are a number of jobs out there for truck drivers who still get home at the end of every day. Yeah, yeah. It’s not necessarily being away for weeks on end. Although if you want to do that, you still can. But yeah, and there are even jobs where it’s it is like nine to five, you know, and you go into your shift, and it’s not sitting down at a desk, it’s out and you get to talk with people and customers. Yeah, you’re on the move. So.

Barb McGrath 13:07
So you know, that’s interesting. So there’s a short haul trucking, and then there’s the long haul trucking. And so is your business primarily short haul?

Heather Day 13:15
What we consider ourselves regional haul? So yeah, so we deliver through access capture on in Manitoba. And we do have a couple of what we consider local, just city drivers. So they’re just in Regina, from the refinery to local gas stations. But all of our drivers get home, out and back within the same shift. So sleeping, yes, yeah. So they get sleep in their own beds. And, you know, we, we have some single dads were able to work around daycare schedules. And, you know, like, if someone has hockey practice or piano lessons or ballet recital, you know, we fill that in. And because I’m a mom, too, so, you know, I know what that is like. Yeah, exactly.

Barb McGrath 14:03
You know, and I think nowadays, it’s, it’s become more important to both genders to be able to, you know, tuck the kids in at night or, you know, be there when they wake up in the morning, whatever it might be. Every family kind of has their preference, but, but as a society, I think it’s become more important to us to be available and you know, present in those moments. I know I left a job, simply because I was, you know, it was I was tucking my kids in twice a week instead of seven days a week. And I was like, Okay, this is not why I got into parenting, though. Definitely. there’s times where I’m like, Hmm, maybe that wasn’t so bad. Right. Now that we’ve checked our kids in, you know, every single night for six months without not being able to see them every moment of the day. So yeah, good sex one. So let’s talk a little bit about the nomination with the YWCA. I would think that this is a fantastic thing, both for you personally, personally. But especially for the industry to start to bring profile to women leaders in the industry, which, you know, even a woman leader in this industry is not typical at this point in time. Right. So let’s talk a little bit about that. What does that mean to you? And what do you think it means to the business?

Heather Day 15:20
For me, personally, it was very humbling. And I think when we spoke earlier, it was actually two separate women who approached me. And we don’t know each other. And when the First Lady mentioned that, you know, she wanted to nominate me, and, of course, I had to get my permission. I thought, Okay, well, that’s, that’s very nice and flattering, but maybe, maybe, I don’t know if I’m quite in that league. And then, and then the second lady approached me as well. And it was about a week later, and I thought, okay, they might have a point. So yeah, yeah. And I talked about how the trucking industry is sometimes backstage, and you’re just behind the scenes carrying on and that is sometimes my comfort zone as well. So just to stay in the background and just get everything done. And but certainly realized, for the industry, and for women who are entrepreneurs or considering becoming entrepreneurs that, you know, there, it is important to be visible as well. So,

Barb McGrath 16:33
Yes, you know, one of the things that I’ve talked about on LinkedIn is, in a lot of cases, you see these announcements corporations announced to their new CEO is going to be, and more often than not, let’s just say, like, I want to say it was GM or something. They had their first female CEO, and everybody was all Oh, kudos, that’s wonderful. And I thought, I can’t wait till we get to a place in this world where it doesn’t matter what your gender is, that the announcement is the same. And so the fact that they say, this is our first woman CEO, who cares, it shouldn’t matter what the person’s gender is, right? Here’s our new CEO, period, end of story. And so there’s still these traditionally female, traditionally male jobs. And I often wonder, will my kids still see those traditional roles? Or how many generations will it take before what we see is traditional today, will fade will just blend into the background? I’d love to think it’s my kids generation, your kids generation, but you know, realistically, what do you think? Is it?

Heather Day 17:47
Um, I’m optimistic. And yeah, I absolutely agree that, you know, it, it shouldn’t be about, oh, here’s, here’s the first woman or, you know, this is now our fifth woman that we’ve appointed, look at our great track record, or, you know, it should just be the norm. And, and actually, that is one thing about trucking is that, you know, I came in as one of the few women and people just kind of like, okay, no big deal. And it was actually a bigger deal for me. Worrying about, you know, because I had some preconceived ideas as well, but maybe it was going to be an old boys club. And so actually, my first few years, I think, on the board of the sta, I think I barely said a peep in the board meetings, because I was just kind of worried about, you know, is this a boys club?

Heather Day 18:37
How do I navigate this? I can’t talk about hockey or any kind of sports. I live in a different world from that. Yes. You know, it really as I got more settled, realized it was me that was holding myself back. And, and they were completely fine with me being a girl. So when my first baby came along, well, actually, she was two and a half months old when I joined the board for the SAS Trucking Association. Okay. Yes. And so navigating that, you know, when you’re because I nursed, so you kind of have some time bombs attached to you and you have to navigate how do we get through the schedules of the board meetings and all these things and not need to go change my blouse so late.

Barb McGrath 19:33
It’s so true.

Heather Day 19:34
I remember well, yeah, yeah. So, um, you know, so some of that. I realized more and more once I settled in, you know, it was things that I was maybe worried about, and that, at least in the trucking industry, I didn’t need to be. So it’s been really wonderful and supportive, and we don’t have generally have those. This is our first one. I’m kind of announcements. That’s right.

Barb McGrath 20:01
Yeah, so I guess knowing that it’s it’s mainly regional hauling, and because people are home at the end of the day, you probably don’t have husband and wife traveling together as much. But I suppose, you know, if the opportunity presented itself, if you had, you know, a young family and they’ve got a little one, everybody could hop in the truck and travel and

Heather Day 20:22
For that, for free, that is sometimes a possibility. But for fuel, then we, yeah, we have some different things there. Where, yeah, we don’t want passengers unless it’s like an emergency cars, you’re taking them to the next point. Just just,

Barb McGrath 20:44
I suppose there’s legislation and regulation that prohibits that type of thing.

Heather Day 20:48
And it’s sort of it is actually a bit of an industry practice. So yeah, okay.

Barb McGrath 20:54
Yeah, that makes sense. So that’s interesting. So, female lead in your organization, female lead with the Saskatchewan Trucking Association right now. So we’re really starting to see more female flavor in the industry? Are you seeing and feeling the difference? Yet of the female presence? Or? Or do you think that the industry was more ready and accepting of you, then what the general public would have thought?

Heather Day 21:24
I think the industry was ready. So yeah. And again, going back to that the, you know, that the images that we hold about the industry or not the reality like it was there, I just kind of stepped in. And everyone welcome to me and answered any questions I had. And I know certainly over the last decade, there have been a number of programs. One is called Women building futures. And that’s out not Alberta, but where it’s, it’s actually selecting a group of women who are interested in it and then taking them through. It’s a slightly different training course than say what I did when I got my one a driver’s license. But it kind of helps to build confidence and some work skills as well. And now the sta is also working on on a similar project, with the YWCA in Saskatoon to help to get women into the industry as as truck drivers.

Barb McGrath 22:35
Oh that’s very cool.

Heather Day 22:36
Yeah, yeah, it’s exciting. And yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing that one unfold as well. Cuz like the parts industry and service. So like all the mechanics, they’re facing a shortage as well of people. And so they have programs there, again, like mentoring women to become mechanics and things as well. Yeah.

Barb McGrath 23:04
You know, I used to ride with a cycling team here in Regina called smokin hot. And it’s a lady cycling team. There’s probably 90 or 100 women who rode with this team. And one of the gals I used to ride with, she’s a heavy duty mechanic. And in her particular shop floor, she was the only woman on the floor. And I remember asking her like, What’s that like? And she’s like, it’s perfect. She goes, I don’t have to put up with any of the traditional female politics. Yeah, the guys are just the guys. They are who they are. She said, you know, when she first got there, there was a little bit of I’ll say jockeying in terms of where she was going to fit in. She was working on her journey, man, I believe. So you know, there was a little bit of that in the beginning. But she said, like, she she had no intent of ever leaving the industry. She loved it. absolutely loved it. And, yeah, like that’s, you know, you hear stories like that. And you think like, that’s awesome. Because there’s so many instances where women and girls are still told, you know, here’s the careers that would be good for you. Not stuff drives me nuts. So yeah, hearing stories we’ve had is a wonderful. Heather, we only have a couple of minutes left. And so one of the questions that I like to ask all of my guests I know, I can see by the look on your face, you’re like really? One of the questions that I like to ask all of my guests is, if you had, you know, kind of that nugget of wisdom, whether it was a woman thinking about entering a non traditional industry or a woman, you know, aspiring to be a CEO. What would that that little nugget be that you might want to share?

Heather Day 24:46
Try to be aware of your own personal preconceived ideas and try and figure out if they are holding you back. That would be one of them. And Yeah, cuz I do sometimes think, you know, when you’re going into a non traditional role or, or be taking on a leadership role, then sometimes, you know, and if there aren’t a lot of other role models to look at and say, okay, she did it, this is how she did it, I can use some of that, you know, you you will be, you do have to kind of figure things out for yourself. So if you have those preconceived ideas, then try and check them at the door, dive in face first, but then also be prepared. And this goes for anyone who’s becoming an entrepreneur, you can have fabulous plans. And the real key is, is to know that they are going to have to be flexible, because there will always be a challenge or a hiccup or a crisis. And or a pandemic. Yeah, you know. So, and, you know, there’s always going to be something to navigate around. And so if you’re able to leave those ideas about, well, these are the rules that I have to operate within, while I deal with all that stuff. Then you can leave that stuff behind them. And that’s that’s a lot easier. So yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Barb McGrath 26:20
Well, Heather, thank you so much for joining me today. This has been a fantastic discussion. And it’s great just to, you know, put the name and the face together because we talked to an email, and then we finally had a chance to even face together. So thank you.

Heather Day 26:33
Oh, well, thank you so much for?

Barb McGrath 26:35
Absolutely, we’re out of time for today. So as I just said, and Heather, thank you for joining me to talk about CST transport and the changes that you are supporting and leading in an industry that, you know, I think it’s a little bit different than most of us see in the movies, let’s say because that’s how we form our ideas and opinions about a lot of things so it’s not quite like it looks in the movies.

Heather Day 27:03
I’m working on that too.

Barb McGrath 27:04
Excellent. Okay. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit your questions in advance of the live show. Once we can go live again. Unfortunately, we’re not yet and you can submit those on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl.

Unknown Speaker 27:30
Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Heather is passionate about the trucking industry and is a member of the Board of Directors for both the Saskatchewan Trucking Association (STA) and for the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA).
 
Before transitioning to her current role, Heather earned degrees in Music and Education and enjoyed a seven-year teaching career in London, England where she led the Music Departments of both inner city and large suburban high schools. Upon returning to Canada to become involved in the family business, Heather advanced her education in finance, human resources, business administration, and obtained her commercial 1A driver’s license.
 
Heather is also the proud mom of two young daughters and, when not at work, provides a marvelous taxi and snack service to and from daycare, ballet, soccer, swimming, figure skating, and music lessons.
 
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Ep. 60 with Amber Goodwyn, Nominee, YWCA of Regina, Women of Distinction

Video Transcript: Ep. 60 with Amber Goodwyn

Barb McGrath 0:06
Our guest today has an extensive resume in the arts. She plays a key role in building and developing future artists, musicians, and everyone with a passion for the arts. She has rules on board, in bands and in community radio. As an artist, she is adaptable. And she supports all artists, no matter their passion. She’s a local filmmaker, and in fact, has formal training, where she, where she’s most used to being behind the camera, but does step in front of a camera at times. Today’s guest is Amber Goodwin. Welcome,

Amber Goodwyn 1:04
Thanks for having me. Hi.

Barb McGrath 1:07
It’s such a pleasure to have you here. So tell us a little bit about some of your artistic background. Because when I read about you, you are one of the most adaptable artists that I think I’ve had the chance to interview and meet before.

Amber Goodwyn 1:22
Um, for sure. So um, so yeah, thanks for this opportunity. I so I consider myself a multi disciplinary artist, which means that I have practices kind of work that I’ve been developing over the years in different disciplines. So I trained formally in university in filmmaking, experimental filmmaking. But I also had been playing in bands since I was a teenager, and I’m most definitely not a teenager anymore.

Amber Goodwyn 1:56
And also, may I come from a family of musicians. So you know, we I’ve always been have been known to, I’ve always known that art has value. And then also just a variety of different practices. But my main focus is being writing, filmmaking and most importantly, music. I’ve also sort of parlayed that into a career of sorts by working community radio for I used to be the music, managed music at CKY in Montreal, and then I moved into program direction here at the community station, Regina CJ Tr 91.3. FM, and recently taken on the executive director role. But I also think it’s important to contribute to creative enterprises that I believe in. So I’ve also been sat on the board of girls rocker Dinah, which is an amazing music, education and empowerment resource for young women and non binary folks who are learning an instrument and taking up space and getting loud. I also am on the board of directors for the swamp fest arts and music festival, which is an independent music festival that happens here in town. And I also am a volunteer jury member for the Polaris Music Award, among other jury work that I do. So yeah, I I’m really excited by innovation, and also seeing what artists do over the span of a long career.

Barb McGrath 3:24
So one of the things I forgot to mention, when I was doing your introduction of courses, you’re one of the nominees for the YWCA awards of distinction here in Regina. And, you know, those awards they’ve gone on for for an extensive period of time. And one of the, I suppose one of my personal realizations with those awards is, every year I look to see who’s been nominated. And I am fascinated by the experience and the depth of the nominees. To the point that like I want to say, I like I honestly didn’t know that we had some of that depth in our community. And I listened to you talk about your experience in the arts. And again, like, you know, the the normal person, the common person doesn’t realize the kind of experience that we have in our community. So first off, congratulations, and kudos to you for the commitment that you’ve made to the artistic community. Can you talk a little bit about where your passion comes from? I know you talk about from family. So was it there since day one, we’re like how did you find your passion?

Amber Goodwyn 4:38
I’d have to say that I’d have to say that. I’ve always felt an impulse to to be creative to interpret my my lived experience, into some sort of format to help Express beyond just words and conversations and experiences in my life and then experiences the world around me. So and sometimes my partner who’s also a working artist, sometimes I’m like, how do people not be an artist? Like, it’s just a way of being, but people are creative in many different ways and express themselves in many different ways. But, but I think, you know, there’s a whole lot of reasons why people would choose art as like, as focusing, focusing that aspect of their being. But to me, it’s just, it’s just always been there, I wouldn’t know what the answer is, except that perhaps, I was raised in a really unusual household where, really there were, there were very few limits on what I could do. In terms of focuses of my time, there’s a sense of I could, I could try out anything with minimal consequence, for better or worse.

Barb McGrath 5:50
And so but but that’s a good thing. I mean, you’d like to think that that most children are encouraged to, you know, try different things, find what you like. And I think eventually, we’ll start to niche down and say, you know, I really like sports, or I really like art, or I like the combination thereof, right? That sort of thing.

Amber Goodwyn 6:11
For sure. And I myself, am now a mother of a six year old. And, you know, we do I’m trying to take the the aspects of my upbringing that I think were most helpful, obviously, and try to apply them to her children report on this, you know, 20 years from now and whether it’s working, but but, but yeah, I didn’t have a lot of I have also just been a self starter, and I feel grateful for that. I don’t know where that sort of thing comes from. But, but I, but you know, yeah, so I’m kind of getting a bit philosophical. But, but, but where the impulse comes from, I don’t know, it’s sort of a mysterious thing really, is you get you have an impulse. And then it’s about translating that to an action to an intention. And then and coming up with plan and strategy.

Barb McGrath 7:00
Exactly. You know, one of the things that’s interesting as a parent is, quite often our interests become our kids interest. So if you are an artist, you tend to see your kids being quite artistic and vice versa. So both my husband and I were fairly sports oriented, we grew up high school, sports, university sports, that kind of thing. And, you know, so we, we expect that our kids will enjoy sports. And they do, but our son has also really picked up music. And so there was a time last winter, where I was constantly bugging everyone at the station, because I was trying to figure out how to find a small used amp for my son, because he’s picked up a little bit of keyboard. He’s picked up the ukulele with the combination. And he’s also picked up the electric guitar. So of course, we’re supporting this his room, like he’s got it sports stuff, he’s still got his little kid Lego stuff. He’s got his electric guitar in the corner, like his room is a Gong Show. But he absolutely didn’t get it from us. And, and so it’s really interesting to me watching those natural interests start to develop. And who would have ever thought that, you know, he’d want to pick up three instruments, but there he is. And, you know, he’s kind of done with ukulele he’s moved on. He’s most interested at this point in electric guitar. And, you know, okay, you want to play like, go play. And so stuff comes out of his room. And we’re just like, Hey, buddy, like, keep going? Oh, my goodness.

Barb McGrath 8:35
So it’s fascinating to me how kids start to pick up those sort of things with absolutely no input from their, their surroundings, right?

Amber Goodwyn 8:46
Absolutely. And there’s, you know, there’s elements of my daughter’s character that have been there since she was an infant. There’s no way she could have learned a thing from us. You know, many people have many different theories about why and how that is. But I think the most important thing is just to is, you know, when you have when you’re a parent, for me, my dreams and goals for my child are not nearly as important as her own dreams and goals for herself. Exactly. It’s always Yeah. So it’s always about encouraging her trying to keep an open mind about what she’s interested in. And, you know, really just hoping that one day she gets really interested in medicine.

Barb McGrath 9:30
As long as a pandemic is over,

Amber Goodwyn 9:32
Yeah. And then she becomes a doctor, you know, or something. And she great.

Amber Goodwyn 9:39
Because otherwise,

Amber Goodwyn 9:41
She’s pretty, she’s pretty set up to be an artist or something at this point. And, and yeah, but we’ll be We’ll see.

Barb McGrath 9:49
Yeah, and I agree with you wholeheartedly. I could care less where my kids end up as long as they end up happy, healthy and safe and or daughter has been much, I don’t want to say slower, but she just hasn’t found her thing yet. And I think that’s, that’s such an important part of growing up, is figuring out what your thing is, can be absolutely anything. But until you find that passion, I think as human beings, we’re, we’re we’re kind of spinning our wheels, right? It’s like you’re going through the motions. And so that’s kind of our job as parents is, you know, how do I help this kid find her thing, so that she can have the most satisfying life? So, anyway, we are getting way off topic. very philosophical. Um, so let’s talk a little bit about some of the different things that you do in the community related to art. So you talked about some boards, swamp Music Festival, I’ve heard of Girls Rock, some of those I had heard of, but there was another one that you mentioned. I started with a p passion, something poisoned something. Music Festival.

Amber Goodwyn 10:58
Oh, pull out the Polaris Music Prize.

Barb McGrath 11:01
There we go Kitano like Polaris. Is that the sponsor? Or that’s just coincidence that Oh, that’s funny.

Amber Goodwyn 11:06
No, that’s the name. It’s a it’s actually if this is my first year of being a part of the jury. And, and, and I’ve been more on, like, my jury work previously has been less for prizes. But it’s been more for more for awarding funding to worthy projects. Okay. And the Polaris Music Prize is a is the the Music Prize that I think that I have most belief in. Because it it’s a story. It’s like a volunteer jury, and it prioritizes artistic excellence in the music community in Canada. And so that’s always of interest to me. I think that some I think it can be problematic when the value of any kind of art is based wholly on its marketability. And yet, because sometimes there’s sometimes that’s how funding is given, for example, whether a jury of industry folks determine whether something can make money for somebody else. So yeah, and, and you know, that’s important. And it’s really important to bring, you know, money into the economy and to like, support our music industry. But at the same time, it can overlook one of the most important aspects of music in the first place, which is the music itself, and innovation. And it’s important to give opportunity to new and underrepresented voices, in music, and in the arts in general. And if you’re only paying attention to what sold and made money in the past, you can really miss opportunities to support emerging artists in the future.

Barb McGrath 12:49
Well, and even more so than that, so you’re gonna miss the opportunity. But if we have more of what we already have, then we don’t have any diversity. And diversity in everything is just so important. Because again, what you like and what I like, can be two totally different things. But if the only thing that the industry serves up is stuff that, you know, I like or you like, well, then you know, 50% of the needs are not being met. I didn’t realize that I always looked at juried competition as being talent based. I never thought of it as being marketability based.

Amber Goodwyn 13:23
Yeah, a lot of so different awards, and I won’t name awards right now, but often, it’s based on record sales, and that kind of thing. Yep. And, and, and, you know, and the reason certain artists or are making or selling records don’t really sell records, in the same way as they used to, right. Because the whole music industry has changed is that people sort of paid for the placement of that music, or have access to much greater marketing opportunities. And thus the music is is flooded into the, into the media in a different way. So it’s important to you know, whenever I can in my role in the music culture here, try to open up opportunities make space for new new artists.

Barb McGrath 14:12
Exactly. So tell me about that. So So what do you Amber’s do as a leader in your community to support up and coming artists? What do you find that you’re doing?

Amber Goodwyn 14:25
I think my most ongoing practice for that is, is in my work at the energetic Community Radio 91.3 FM CJTR. The station that this is airing on? Yeah, because because this is a place where a lot of new musicians in our community often get their music played on air. First away from streaming sites, streaming sites and online platforms like that are critically important than that. It’s important to free Musicians meet their listeners where they’re at. But But our hosts who host music programs are deeply passionate about new music, and are often like the tastemakers or curators for their community. And they’re invaluable.

Amber Goodwyn 15:18
And it’s also when when we broadcast the music out into the region, or online and through the app or whatever, you know, you get a lot of incidental listeners that algorithms alone cannot lead you to work, do they mean, also, we, we also give people a lot of their first ever interviews on air and help kind of creatively, you know, develop them that way. But we also report charts nationally. So you know, there’s music playing being played on the station, we capture that data, we share that data with other stations with music marketers. It’s something that people can put on there. So it helps listeners and fans find these bands. But it also helps other stations pay attention to regional artists. There’s so many different ways that we support local artists and, and we’re always innovating new ways to because the music industry like so many industries are changing all the time as the technology and platforms change. So just always paying attention to what’s working and what needs to be adapted.

Barb McGrath 16:20
Exactly. Amber, we’re actually just a little bit past the halfway mark in our show. Would you like to remind listeners where they’re listening to the show?

Amber Goodwyn 16:29
You’re listening to The Secret Life of entrepreneurs on 91.3 FM CJTR Regina, community radio tuned into the community.

Barb McGrath 16:38
Excellent. And the tune into the community. That’s new, isn’t it?

Amber Goodwyn 16:42
It is new, we’ve just we found that it was a pretty accurate representation of of what we do here. There were some trial slogans that were didn’t really quite capture that spirit, like, tuned into your neighbors sounds creepier than that just because they’re talking about ways to I think community is really important when talking about community radio, it really encapsulates the spirit of the thing. And the creators and the listeners and everything and our way of doing things. But we’re just we’re playing with different ways to say community and you know, neighbors sounds fun. It sounds super welcoming, and close. But yeah, a little creepy in that.

Barb McGrath 17:27
Exactly. All right. So let’s just talk about the station for a minute. You guys just finished a large membership drive. And I understand it was quite successful. Can you tell folks about that?

Amber Goodwyn 17:39
Yes, absolutely. Just like everyone else in this COVID economy, we were hit pretty hard. A lot of our amazing sponsors had to make really tough business decisions and their marketing dollars were down. So a lot of a lot of sponsors stayed on. But some of them needs to take a break. So we had to get really creative with our fundraising in the interim period. And so we, we launched a membership campaign, we’ve had a membership for over 20 years. But we haven’t really done membership, draw Ives to this degree.

Amber Goodwyn 18:13
We’ve always just had sort of a casual drive. We tried it a couple times. But it wasn’t one of our signature fundraisers. This year, we announced we, for the first time ever, we were like, Listen, this is this is a this is an existence question for us, we really need your help to continue to exist. And also we wanted to get the word out about CTR because the thing that was most challenging for me as a creative is that we’re on the for me, we’re on the cusp of the next launch of this community station, we’re about to, you know, launch an on demand website for new branding of there’s a bunch of exciting new programs joining a bunch of exciting existing programs that deserve higher profile.

Amber Goodwyn 18:56
And I just, it’s not the time for the station to go under, because of a small thing like a global pandemic. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, but so we we launched this membership drive where people can get a lawn sign or window sign or balcony sign with a really cool branding, announcing their support of the station. Because people really love to like our listeners, our community loves to share their love of what’s put on air. And we did and, and it was also a really cool way to advertise as visually all over the city by having these lawn signs. So that was a membership perk, we also changed our membership, drive to have kind of tiers so depending on how many years of membership that you want, depending on the type of membership you purchased, you had the different kinds of benefits that were associated with it. So yeah, that’s we’ve almost doubled our fundraising goal. So it is a huge success. Yeah, and it has all to do with our listeners and our community supporting us and believing in us.

Barb McGrath 20:00
And if I recall correctly, there was there was email, social media and then talk about on the station. So in fact, most people who I’ll say consume the content, were already a supporter in one way, shape or form, but, you know, but found a way even through the pandemic, to still be able to support you. Right. And so I think they probably were supporters before, in some way. And so now, you know, they’ve really stepped up to make sure that you exist well into the future.

Amber Goodwyn 20:30
That’s it. I mean, when you think about the kind of city that you want to be living in, what like what’s important to you, and for a lot of people, it’s hearing actual people telling their own stories and their own voices. So oftentimes, when you hear stories about a community or a challenge that people are having, or you even hear reporting on the local music community, it’s not always in from inside the community. And that’s really the difference about community radio. It’s people who are doing this altruistically, because they believe in their subject or what they’re passionate about. And they’re talking from lived real experience, and inhuman voices that have not really, that haven’t been overly polished. So you get kind of there’s a sense of truth and authenticity there. And people want that. They don’t want that to go away.

Barb McGrath 21:17
Exactly. No, they absolutely don’t. You know, when I think there’s something to be said, like, each community radio station is just a little bit different. So I think there’s something to be said for that different flavor. You know, if you think about the Montreal station that you used to work with, and now our current radio station, they’re just they’re ever so slightly different. Granted, they’re probably English and French. But that aside, right there, though, I have a visitor down here who’s kind of furry who’s like, Hey, Mom, pick me up.

Amber Goodwyn 21:47
Oh, that’s funny.

Barb McGrath 21:50
The joy of broadcasting from home?

Amber Goodwyn 21:52
Yeah, for real Hey. Like, I always find that when I visit a new city, I, you know, being who I am, I tune into the community station almost immediately, you know, when I’m driving from the airport or something. And it’s always an immediate clue as to the importance of the heritage of a town. So I moved here from Montreal, I was shocked at polka power, this two hour program we’ve got on Monday nights, it is hugely popular. But I didn’t understand the Ukrainian heritage here. I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand the rural urban, like melt, like melting that happens. You know what I mean? So and now I do I fully get I fully get it. But so in Montreal, very different. We were associated with the university. We’re not associated with the university here, though. We’re partners with them with a student fee levy that supports many community stations, but ourselves and CFC are in Saskatoon are both independent stations. And we don’t have charitable status. That’s why so we that’s why we have these gifts when it comes to fundraisers. Right. We’ve got some hurdles. But, but but generally, it’s been going so well, despite everything this year. Good.

Barb McGrath 22:59
No, that’s fantastic. Okay, so let’s talk a little bit about how you balance it all. You’ve got a young daughter, you’re working full time, you’ve got an artistic career, you’re supporting the arts? How in the heck do you find time? Oh, and you’ve got a partner in there somewhere, too? How in the heck do you do it all? Do you sleep? Um,

Amber Goodwyn 23:17
Yeah, I think, you know, the last couple years, I really think I maxed myself, I really, I really felt I found that the boundaries of what works for me, I kind of over her did a little bit in those years, but I’ve got many, many lessons out of it. The truth is, you can’t balance it all perfectly. You can’t do all the things 100% of the time, all the time. And so for right now, like my main focus, is making sure that my only child is happy and healthy and thriving, you know, despite not having her usual community, and then also helping this community station which is much bigger than my own art practice could thrive and continue is my other focus. Then my third focus is watching Netflix in the evenings with my partners and totally, like not not badly.

Amber Goodwyn 24:13
But I never think of it as a loss. So for right now, like I’m an I, you know, I just adapt things. So right now. I might, I have I have an old band a band with some very good friends kind of my platonic ideal of like an of a band that live move all Montreal except for me, and we’re just slowly working away at distance on the songs and right now that’s satisfying to me, as a musician, as an artist, it’s not something I need. I don’t have like a hard deadline to perform. I’m not a professional musician in that I you know, I my main income is concerts or anything like this. So I have this, you know, ability to just take a break and rely on my my other sources of income for this time. It might be different, right? If I were. But for me right now, it’s just not doing all the things right now. I’m focusing on the things that are most important right now. And in the future, that will undoubtedly change.

Barb McGrath 25:09
Exactly. Excellent. So we are just about ready to wrap up. But is there something that you would like to share to budding artists to encourage them to continue to pursue their passion? I think a lot of artists give up or they don’t feel that they can make enough money at it, whether it’s a full time or an off the side gig. So is there anything that you could share with with budding artists?

Amber Goodwyn 25:35
I would say that you’re not on a timeline, there’s nothing I would say no, I would say there’s no expiration date on what you’re doing. So if you feel so a lot of people, especially in this disposable music culture, where, you know, you’re expected to put a single after single, haven’t listened to for a few weeks, and then drop off into the ether. And that’s a that’s it’s not very, it’s not really encouraging. It’s not it doesn’t make people feel valued, always. So just just, you know, set your own pace. Do what feels right to you and know that there’s no end in sight. You know, like you, you have your whole life to continue working on this.

Barb McGrath 26:13
Excellent. That is fantastic. All right. Well, we are out of time for today. So I would like to thank you, Amber, for joining us on The Secret Life of entrepreneurs, a 91.3 FM CJ Tr retana, community radio, hearing your story and your passion with regards to the arts and and how you’ve been able to keep that going for your entire life. And of course, passing it on now to your daughter. It’s very inspirational. And maybe there’s a hint of you and my son, since I have no idea where he got his artistic passions from. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at Barb at Google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram, Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. You can even submit questions in advance of our live show, which of course we’re not right now. But hopefully we will be again soon. on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

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Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Amber Goodwyn is the Artistic Director at Regina Folk Festival. She was formerly the Executive Director for CJTR 91.3FM Regina Community Radio, and before moving to Regina in 2012 she was the Music Coordinator and Music Librarian at CKUT 90.3FM in Montreal, as well as a volunteer host.

She’s a member of the Swamp Fest music festival Board of Directors and has previously served on the boards of Girls Rock Regina and Holophon Audio Arts. She has also served on various juries for music and arts funding and has written about music and the arts as a freelancer for Prairie Dog Magazine, Broken Pencil and other publications.

In her art life, she’s a multidisciplinary artist with active performance, film and video, writing and music practices. Currently, she plays music in her experimental synth-pop solo project Natural Sympathies and in the duo Dialtone and used to play in the Montreal bands Cobra & Vulture and Nightwood.

Connect with Amber @ Regina Folk Festival:
https://reginafolkfestival.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReginaFolkFestival
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reginafolkfest
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReginaFolkFest
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/regina-folk-festival-inc

Missed an episode?
Catch up here: https://abovethefold.live/secret-life

Ep. 59 with Cari Bode, YWCA of Regina, Women of Distinction Nominee

Video Transcript: Ep. 59 with Cari Bode

Barb McGrath 0:00
Our guest today, some would say, gee, she’s got it all. But there’s more to this story. Yes, she’s got a wonderful family, a great job, owns a business or one of the owners in a business, loves the work that she does has her health and fitness. But that wasn’t always the case. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Our guest, Cari Bode, ran her first half marathon in 2005, followed by a full marathon in 2006. She was in Boston, the year that the bombing happened. And there’s more to her story, but I’m gonna let her share that with you. So Carrie, welcome.

Cari Bode 0:44
Thank you. Great to be here.

Barb McGrath 0:46
It’s a pleasure to have you here.

Barb McGrath 0:47
So let’s start off on the business front. Tell me a little bit about the business that you’re a partner in and what you do.

Cari Bode 0:56
It’s South country equipment limited. We are a full line john deere dealership, we have eight locations across southern Saskatchewan, including Regina and moose, john weyburn, and some other surrounding communities. I’ve grown up in the business it actually I’m third generation. At this point how my grandfather’s had started the waiver dealership back in night taking over in 1965, my father took over the Regina one back in 78. And actually going back now to 2006, we merged to become from Watson tractor to become self control equipment with a couple of the family businesses that had some of the other surrounding stores as well.

Cari Bode 1:38
So over the last dozen plus years, we’ve grown to eight locations. And it’s basically still kind of a big, big family business, primarily, most of our partners involved my brother, my uncle, my husband, my cousin, and a couple others as well. So it’s really kind of exciting to see that way, we’ve grown to over 200 full time employees. And it’s just exciting to see all the changes that have taken place and industry. The egg industry is constantly evolving. I mean, there are those who see it as something that’s always been there and you know, always will be a key part of the economy in this province. But there’s so much that’s changed, especially in the last I find, anyway, 1520 years with technology. I mean, everything now going into all the guidance equipment, the ability for equipment to be able to, you know, to be with the telematics connected to some of these units, reporting back to our service departments, when something’s running a little warm, or it could be a mechanical breakdown coming, we can actually predict that coming and have technicians sending out sending out parts before things actually break down. It’s just there’s a lot of, you know, just the advancements that have taken place, there’s even some things that we’ve been working on as our own dealer group, we’ve developed an app that have called crop intelligence that allows us to, it’s really, it’s really kind of really cool how it works, we have a best place, but it allows soil moisture levels to be to interpret and collect the data based on the weather in the moisture in the ground.

Cari Bode 3:13
And it allows from there, we are able to predict water driven yield potential for dryland farming, which is kind of in that area. And we’ve been we’ve had that in the last few years. And it’s grown exponentially. And we’ve got these weather stations set out across western Canada and part of the northern states now and, and that’s just something we develop in house with our, you know, staff in Saskatchewan and been able to, you know, find that technology out. So it’s just one of the exciting things that I you know, I never would have imagined, you know, 20 some years ago.

Barb McGrath 3:45
That exactly will end and no one would have been able to imagine that right? You know, it used to be that that farming was small business. And that is not the case anymore. Farming is big business, in Western Canada and in North America. And depending on whether or not you’ve, you know, kind of ever touched farming. From a family perspective, everybody has a bit of a different understanding of it. But I’m married into a farm family and we don’t spend a ton of time on the farm. But even that’s been an education for me just, you know, kind of learning peripherally. So, ya know, that’s been quite interesting. So and agriculture has not always been a business where women were equally involved. So tell me about the the transition, you know, what was the conversation with mom and dad when you’re like, No, I’m going into the family business, even though it’s agriculture. How did that all happen?

Cari Bode 4:43
Well, you know, it’s kind of funny because I you know, when I I’ve been in Regina since the late 70s. And I went to University of Regina studied business admin there and my first goal wasn’t to jump back into the business. I did a few little things on my own. And, you know, I finally kind of got back in the door. I think I actually when I started right down at the bottom, and I was filling in, I think for maternity leave and reception and some basic accounting, and you know, and that was kind of where I got back in full time in the late 90s. And I worked my way up in the finance side of things and handled all the basic accounting and finance. And right now my primary role is in sales, administration management, handling all the paperwork and all the contracts and financing that comes in through for all of our eight locations.

Cari Bode 5:26
And so that’s kind of where my, my focus has always been kind of in the finance and administration side. But, you know, it’s, I mean, being a family business and where it’s at, I mean, your little part of everything. I mean, whatever things come up, and it’s just, I don’t know, I just I guess I’ve always known it. I mean, I said that. Back to day one, I, you know, I grew up knowing that you might get a call from a customer needing many parts or having a problem on during Christmas dinner, or could be, you know, and you just kind of realized that you’re sort of on call all the time, but there are so many good things that come with it.

Cari Bode 5:59
And I think the biggest part is the people. I mean, we have like fantastic people that we work with, and the relationships we have with our customers. And I that’s the part I really I really enjoy is, is that the relationships on that side of things? So you’re right, there aren’t a whole lot of women in agriculture. And I think before I’ve been at some events back in the past, where people look at me and ask, oh, so what does your husband do? And I’m like, Well, no, actually, I’m the one who works here. So it’s, it’s a, it’s a learning thing. And I think that’s a way that a lot of and a lot of a lot of industries that are recruited, you know, traditionally male, male managed, and you know, had user saw that sort of thing. But yes, yeah, exactly. But I think it’s changing. And, you know, we have more women in the business than we did 2030 years ago as well in different roles. I mean, so I think it’s exciting to see and, you know, the opportunity is there for, for both genders. And it’s, it’s just, it’s great to see exactly,

Barb McGrath 6:53
You know, I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to talk with a number of the nominees this year for the YWCA awards of distinction. And one of the common threads that is evolving from these conversations is Howard traditional beliefs have really started to evolve in the last number of years, almost every woman that I talked to this year is filling some sort of non traditional role. And what I said to one of my guests was, we call it non traditional, when we think about industries where women didn’t comprise 50% of the workforce, how many years or generations will it be before we don’t make that differentiation? Where it’s it’s not about non traditional anymore, but it’s simply, you know, this woman is filling this role. Do you know what I mean?

Cari Bode 7:44
I do. I mean, I don’t think we’re there yet. I will, I really don’t. But I think we’re, I think we’re acknowledging that it’s, you know, that that that was a problem, I think is a is a big part of it. And it’s definitely making steps in the right direction. And I think it’s about, you know, opening doors and allowing, and I think those of us who are in roles that maybe aren’t always considered traditional need to, you know, be able to mentor and encourage others to step up and do the same thing, because it makes it easier, you know, all it takes is a door open and more people realize that there’s, you know, there’s a lot of opportunity out there.

Barb McGrath 8:17
Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. And, you know, I give so much credit to any woman who, you know, whatever…

Barb McGrath 8:24
role she’s in, and especially if you’re if you’re working full time you’re parenting right now, you know, we’re kind of on the coming on a COVID. Well, you’ve had to be the teacher and, and, and as women, we wear so many hats, not that men don’t, because men absolutely do as well. But you know, when something happens with a kid at school, like it’s not usually dad that gets the phone call, right?

Cari Bode 8:51
No, you’re exactly right. And it’s about having that, you know, the stability and ability to multitask and juggle. And there’s always been a lot of that. And I’ve been fortunate, I guess that’s one thing about being in a family business. I mean, I, I’ve always been able to juggle a bit for those first few years, when my kids were younger, I was able to work a little less, but I mean, in the same breath Now, the last number of years. I mean, when the kids night, they’re now 19 and 19 and 21. But I you know, they realize that, you know, there are times that I’m putting in 60 plus hour weeks, and that’s just the way it works so quickly. And it’s a business, you know, during seeding and harvest, that’s, that’s when you need to be on call. And that’s the nature of the business and, and I think they’ve learned that help learn that as well.

Barb McGrath 9:32
Yeah, no, I agree with you wholeheartedly. So um, let’s talk for a minute about some of the information we learned from the nomination with the YWCA. So you’re a business partner, but you’re also a mom and an avid fitness runner, but you had some health challenges in the last little while. So talk to us about running and how that is probably your happy place. And what’s happened the last couple years.

Cari Bode 9:57
Running is definitely my happy place. I was Never an athlete as a kid, and I sort of stumbled into it in, I guess, mid 2000s, around 2005 or so. And it was actually on a dare from a colleague of mine who said, You know, I think we could maybe run a five K, do you think he could do that? I you know, if you do it, I’ll do it. And you know, it was kind of, I was really nervous. It was totally out of my comfort zone is I was a kid with a, you know, always had a sprained ankle or twisted knee or something silly. And I was, like I said, I had no athletic skills whatsoever. And it was funny, it just kind of clicked, I ran that first race. And I think I placed in my age group. And I thought, wow, this is kind of fun. Yeah.

Cari Bode 10:37
And it was just surrounding yourself, I found that the running community in this city is phenomenal. And people just encourage you to, you know, push your boundaries, push your limits and try something new. And while you’re right, I, you know, within within another year and a half, I was I had run my first marathon and I was hooked. And then it was about getting a Boston qualifier. And, you know, so I, and you know, I’d run Boston few times, including the year of the bombing, and I met one of my dear friends there.

Cari Bode 11:02
And we went back and ran it the next year. And, you know, it all kind of spiraled from there. And I was working on finishing the five, or the six world marathon majors. And I was last, in October, Fall of 2018. I was about to do a few months, 10 weeks out from running Tokyo, which would have been my last one. And I had a just a little health issue that I something seemed a little off. And so I went to my doctor and found out that I it just out of the blue that I had this rare, aggressive cancer rhabdomyosarcoma, which is generally found in young children, and that was it.

Cari Bode 11:36
And it was that you needed major surgery within within a week, they were going to do surgery, and that within two weeks of that they would start what would be six to 12 months of aggressive chemo. And I sort of just kind of went, Wow, how am I supposed to kind of just stoplight for a year and but you know what, I it all it all worked out. For the best It was kind of I you know, my things turned out way better than anyone could have thought. And it was a rough rough spell there. I was, you know, after being someone who thrived on having my, you know, morning run every day or my workout at the gym, it went from all to zero like that.

Cari Bode 12:15
And I was, you know, it was six months later, and I was struggling just just to try to walk and but you know, it’s it’s coming back. So last year, I did my I walked to the 10 k at Queen’s City Marathon last September. And, and I’ve worked my way up, I did my first half marathon again in February, right before the COVID thing hit down in New Orleans. And, and yeah, so I’m still trying to train now and hopefully be able, I’m, I’m slow, but I’m getting back there.

Cari Bode 12:44
And I’m really excited. It’s just it. I have a new appreciation, I used to, you know, be more concerned about times. And right now it’s just, I get to do this. And I’m so excited that my body is letting me do these things again. So it’s, you know, it all it’s all kind of come full circle. And you know, my running community has been what, you know, my fav my friends that I’ve met through that were a lot of people who supported me through the whole cancer thing as well.

Cari Bode 13:09
So I’ve just, you know, it’s been wonderful. And I can’t say enough about, you know, the people I’ve met through running, it was through that, that I got involved with marathon matters. And I mean, about stepping outside of your comfort zone, sometimes I was at at the AGM several years back and my daughter, I dragged along with me because it was one of those days that I had had a busy day at work. And I didn’t want to leave her alone in the evening. So brought her along to the meeting.

Cari Bode 13:33
And well, she convinced me to step up and be president of the club, which I felt I was mostly 100 qualified for. But you know, it’s just like, She’s like, Well, why not? Mom, you could do that too. And did that for a few years. And it was, you know, I bet you know, it was just great directed a few races, and I just, it’s funny how, you know, you just sometimes have to step outside of your comfort zone a little and some of those decisions are the best ones you make.

Cari Bode 13:58
And I think I’ve learned a lot about, you know, leadership and, you know, relationships and working with people all through a lot of things. I’ve done volunteering as well. I’ve been involved with the Queen City Marathon organizing committee and board for a number of years to and once again, like I just can’t say enough about you know, surrounding yourself with people that bring you up and inspire you and it just, it just you know, you can do good things when you get people together that are like minded and you know, have a positive attitude and want to you know, want to do big things. It’s exciting.

Barb McGrath 14:32
Exactly. Um, when you when you started there, you talked about the majors and as someone who’s not a runner, that meant nothing. What does that mean?

Cari Bode 14:42
I’m sorry, it’s a it’s a it’s a it’s a running geek kind of thing. A lot of for a lot of runners, you know, running Boston, I think a lot of most people who don’t run have heard of the Boston Marathon and it’s kind of a, I guess the way I always like to think about it, it’s the it’s the every man’s Olympics.

Cari Bode 14:58
I mean, as a runner, If you if you can, it requires a qualifying time to be able to based on your age and gender at you to qualify to even enter. And if you kind of have can run a race at a at a qualifying event, which is another marathon that you run under a certain time, it’s always kind of considered one of those things that, you know, you know, I look at a sport, like if I, if I was, if I, I don’t know, if I was a football player, I wouldn’t, couldn’t see myself likely, you know, playing in the Super Bowl or the Grey Cup, but I mean, as a runner, everyone kind of has that opportunity to, you know, to strive and be able to have a chance to once you know, run it in the Boston Marathon, we’re the best in the world are out there, way ahead of you.

Cari Bode 15:39
But you’re in the same event the same day and kind of makes you feel like you know, you’re part of something special. And so to be able to run Boston is kind of a lot of runners kind of on their bucket list of a one day I’d like to do it. And kind of to go along with that. The world’s best that the elites that run Boston, there’s a series called the world marathon majors.

Cari Bode 15:59
And every year, I mean, the the elites that run it, there’s, there’s a prize purse of over a million dollars. And it’s you know, it’s definitely considered one of the biggest in road running one of the biggest events of our series out there. And for the every man out there, you can actually participate that if you can gain entry into the races and even just finish. I mean, you don’t have to be lightning fast, like the elites.

Cari Bode 16:22
But there’s a certain there’s a goal, you could have to run all six of these, which are Boston, Chicago, New York, and then Berlin, London, and Tokyo. And so this is kind of a it’s been a kind of a running over the last number of years, that means several of my friends had been trying trying to get our six stars. And when you finish, you get this really cool metal that that you get at the finish line is that so you’re on top of your metal for each event individual that you get the six Star Medal for doing these six special races in the series.

Cari Bode 16:53
And so I was really I was I was quite crushed initially that I was going to have to had to forfeit my token. You entry back in 19, because I was because I was undergoing treatment. And and then this year, it the way it turned out, it was actually one of the first global events that the race was actually they canceled the race for the 40,000 people that were running it other than just the 200 or so elites, because of COVID. Right when it hit back in late February in Asia. And you know, since then, obviously, most everything globally has been canceled for the season this year.

Cari Bode 17:25
But so I’m holding out. I was offered entry for for 21 just last week, but I actually said I would defer just I’m not confident quite that by February of next year, the borders in the world to be quite opened up the way, the way that we’re hoping it will be I have a hunch we’re going to be another full year before we start to see the world that we the world that we once knew before. Everything kind of changed in the last few months. Yeah,

Barb McGrath 17:50
Yeah, we hear you. We had, we had some big travel plans for next year as well, a destination that we had, you know, wanted to go for a while. And yeah, same thing. I don’t think it’s happening. You know, I think our destination have to be a staycation. And that’s just the world that we’re in right now. Right. So, so obviously, your plan is to run competitively again, and make it a very significant part of your life again, to make the space for it.

Cari Bode 18:17
Yes.

Cari Bode 18:18
Yeah. Hoping so.

Cari Bode 18:21
But like I said, I’ve learned to learn to adapt a little bit and just be happy to be to be able to get out there again, because I really missed it like that nine months or so that I wasn’t able to be doing much of anything. So yeah, it just I’ve, you know, I get to do it is supposed to, you know, there were some mornings I work I woke up and was overwhelmed. Like, I got to get out and do this. And it’s something I had to do. And now I just see it as a privilege that instead of sometimes just one more thing on the to do.

Barb McGrath 18:47
Exactly. You know, it’s it’s funny that you say that, because that’s one thing that I often talk to my own kids about is they’ll ask, and it’s just habit in their language, you know, do we have to this? And we do we have to do that? And I’m like, No, but you do get to. And you know, it hasn’t become habit for them yet. And it’s a little things like my daughter was on the volleyball team this past year. And, you know, I have to go to practice. And I would say no, you can’t take out a practice like this was a privilege because yes, at 13 like it doesn’t get any better than that in terms of what you get.

Cari Bode 19:22
Right? Exactly. 100%

Barb McGrath 19:25
Yep. And that’s Yeah, so we’re really working with the kids to train.

Cari Bode 19:32
I think we all need a reminder once in a while, I guess.

Barb McGrath 19:35
You know, we do and I mean, you grew up in small town, Saskatchewan. It sounds like and you know, Saskatchewan is home for me. I left for a number of years, but I came back and like we’ve got a pretty darn good here. You know, I think I’m a huge believer that if you don’t like it, leave because you’ll either come back and you’ll appreciate it or you won’t come back and that’s okay too because then we don’t have to You know, listen to somebody complaining about it. I live in Toronto, for just about well in the Toronto area for just about five years, and to be able to get places in seven minutes, like, Are you kidding? in Toronto, seven minutes down the block.

Cari Bode 20:19
People complaining if it’s 15 minutes to get across town or whatever it might be. And I said, you know, we’ve got a pretty good I, you know, I love the city. And I mean, I’ve really spent most of my life here. And I guess, part of the reason to, like, I’m now involved, I’m on the board with the Regina district Chamber of Commerce. And, you know, there are a lot of great people that are doing great things in the city, you know, investing here, setting up business here, you know, supporting community giving back, it is a great vibrant place to be. And I think some people kind of, you know, forget that, and you dwell on little negatives. And, you know, we do have a great city in a great community. And I’m happy to be here. And I think, I think a lot of people, sometimes you take it for granted, but you know, it is it’s a great place to be and a great place to work and to live and to raise a family.

Barb McGrath 21:06
And, you know, we’re all going to get out of it, what we put into it. And so if you want to find the negative, or if you want to find the problems, no, you might not have to look far, but if you want to see the good, and whether it’s in your community, in a person, in a situation, that’s what you’re gonna see. So, you know, it’s a bit of that self fulfilling prophecy, right? So,

Cari Bode 21:28
Absolutely.

Barb McGrath 21:29
Tell me about how you’re balancing it. Now. Your kids are 19 and 21. So they, they require a little less supervision, and now they’re just really expensive, probably how you’re balancing it out, because you’ve definitely got to manage your health and your, you know, active in the business. So how are you doing it all carry?

Cari Bode 21:47
Well sometimes I struggle a little with balance, but you know, I find it’s part of that you got to pay yourself first. And I mean, I carve out time for my workouts first thing in the morning, every day, and I find I am just a more productive, happier person to be around, and what I can do that, you know, as opposed to a day where I think I’ve got too much to do, I should just get up and you know, roll out of bed at five and head straight to the office, it takes a toll I think on you mentally I mean, you need to do whatever it is, that thing is for you.

Cari Bode 22:15
For me, it’s running, I laugh because I have friends that would much rather be in the gym lifting or something instead and absolutely hate running, I said, but for me running is the one time where I can actually my head will actually clear and you know, I’ll have my brain is clean slate, and I’m ready to face face everything. And I just feel like a much more balanced person.

Cari Bode 22:35
And so that’s really important that I get that done first every day. It’s about, you know, just being organized. And, you know, trying, I struggle a little saying no once in a while, because I always I just find there’s so many things I want to do. And especially now i guess i think that’s right now probably my biggest challenge is I’m supposed to be still I’m not quite, I’m still dealing with some fatigue from from treatment. And I just find it so hard to not want to get back to do all the things I was doing before and you know, things come up.

Cari Bode 23:05
So I guess that’s one advantage of this whole pandemic has been that a lot of the social things in the world have all kind of stopped. So that’s allowed me a little more time, you know, to recharge a bit in the evenings and that sort of thing. But yeah, it is I think it’s just about you know, having focus, keep your eye on the big picture, it’s really easy to sometimes get caught up in the day to day and, you know, not stop and pause and you know, look, look further down. Where do you want to be? What do you want to be doing and set goals like don’t and don’t be afraid to set ones that seem a little unattainable, because it’s all a step by step process.

Cari Bode 23:38
And I’ve learned, you know, there are things that I never thought I would have been able to do that it just taken, you know, it’s a step by step, just, you know, put the goal ahead, and you can work your way toward it. And I think that’s an important thing to remember when you feel somewhat buried or, you know, lost a little bit.

Barb McGrath 23:55
Absolutely. Carrie, if you can believe it, we’re pretty much at a time already. Is there anything sort of in parting that you might like to leave with the audience? I think you’ve learned some big lessons in life in the last couple of years. Is there anything that you’d like to share with folks?

Cari Bode 24:11
I think just don’t be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone a little and to, you know, yes, setting goals and, you know, surround the best. I think the best thing I found is surround yourself with people with good people with people that bring you up that support you that encourage you that do great things. And I think if you surround yourself with the right people, it will bring you up and you’ll be able to bring others up as well. And it’s just being around people with the right attitude that you know, makes life makes life good.

Barb McGrath 24:42
Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. Well, thank you for joining me today hearing about your story and your journey. Most of my guests you know come in and we we talk about nothing but business. But you know, our discussion today has really helped me appreciate that work. isn’t everything. Need to, you know, take the time to do the things that are important to us. So thank you for joining me, Carrie. I really appreciate it.

Cari Bode 25:06
Thank you so much for having me.

Barb McGrath 25:08
Absolutely. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at barb@googlegirl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold. ca. And just a reminder when our shows are live, which unfortunately, they’re not right now. You can even submit questions in advance of the live show just on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Cari ran her first half marathon in 2005, and her first full marathon just one year later in 2006. Since then, she has been committed to training early nearly every morning, and to eating healthy to fuel her body through these workouts.
 
Despite her long-time commitment to her physical health, she was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer, at the end of 2018. Due to a radical hysterectomy to remove most of the tumour, followed by six months of chemotherapy, she was bedridden and unable to run.
 
After being placed in remission in July of 2019, she immediately reached out to her running coach to slowly return to training. On Sunday, February 9th, 2020, she ran her first half marathon since beating cancer.
 
Connect with Cari @ South Country Equipment
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Ep. 58 with Donna-Rae Crooks, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode Guide

Episode #127 with the Globe Theatre

Episode #126 with Lore Ruschiensky from Cecilian Chamber Series

Episode #125 with Kay Peacy from Slick Business

Episode #124 with Marc Toews from Gateway Web AR

Episode #123 with Sherry Pratt from Sherry Pratt Health Coaching

Episode #122 with Aaron Strauss from Cache Tactical Supply

Episode #121 with Cedric Delavaud from Ludoland Regina

Episode #120 with Jasmine Patterson from BDC

Episode #119 with Jeff Harmel from Realty Executives Diversified Realty

Episode #118 with Shahzad Khoja from IBITS

Episode #117 with Kathy Sabo from QC Gifts

Episode #116 with Andrea Lo from the Toronto Dating Hub

Episode #115 with Karey Kapell from Next Level Coaching

Episode #114 with Joel Sopp from Socially Acceptable Marketing

Episode #113 with Annabel Townsend from The Penny University

Episode #112 with Cathlyn Melvin about her Tedx Coaching

Episode #111 with Corey Liebrecht from Zippity Zip Courier

Episode #110 with Quinn Nikulak from Kustom Kitties Canada

Episode #109 with Tess Boehm from Totally Tess Tradeshows

Episode #108 with Shane Chapman from the Ultimate Deck Shop

Episode #107 with Dan Celis from Tommy's Speakeatery

Episode #106 with Ann Corcoran

Episode #105 with Louise Yates & Jennifer Berg

Episode #104 with Jule Gilchrist from Cuppa'T Teas

Episode #103 with Annika Mang from TrailCollectiv

Episode #102 with Ronley Arnold from OSI-CAN Sask

Episode #101 with Susan Robertson from Susan Robertson Pottery

Episode #100 with Victor Roman from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Episode #99 with Faith Alyssa Peter from Stressed Out Mamas

Episode #98 with Leah Mazur from Carousel Creative

Episode #97 with Carmen Johanson and Kimberley Baldwin from PayTrail

Episode #96 with Meg Casebolt from Love at First Search

Episode #95 with Karen Kobussen from CanBall Games

Episode #94 with Wilson Acton

Episode #93 with Carla Browne from Real Property Management Canada

Episode #92 with Donna Ziegler from South Sask Community Foundation

Episode #91 with Scott Love from Store to Door Canada

Episode #90 with Mark Heise from Rebellion Brewing

Episode #89 with Brendan McGuire from Affinity Credit Union

Episode #88 with Tyler Clark form Prairie Benefits Solutions

Episode #87 with Craig Reed from Virtus Group

Episode #86 with Daria Malin from Boost Strategic Coaching

Episode #85 with Bill Thorn form Regina Humane Society

Episode #84 with John Vuong from Local SEO Search

Episode #83 with Linda Boryski from Saskatoon PhysioYoga

Episode #82 with Tracey Poffenroth Prato from RAD Talk with Tracey

Episode #81 with Janet Kotylak, YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode #80 Your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO

Episode #79 with Jennifer Fox from Auto Electric Service

Episode #78 with Janet Akre and Susan Robertson from River & Rail ArtVenture

Episode #77 with Karen Smith from Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan

Episode #76 with Julie Naismith from SubThreshold Training

Episode #75 with Josh Haugerud from Regina Folk Festival

Episode #74 with Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote from Black Fox Farm and Distillery

Episode #73 with Cory Furman from Furman IP

Episode #72 with Tracy Archer from Knight Archer Insurance

Episode #71 with Tim Nickel from Fifth Business Consulting

Episode #70 with Taylor Weisgerber from Spartan Mechanical

Episode #69 with Lisa McIntyre from The Optical Shoppe

Episode #68 with Santa Claus

Episode #67 with Kait Waugh from Fat Plant Farm

Episode #66 with Natasha Vandenhurk from Three Farmers Foods

Episode #65 with Dianne Beauchamp from PuroClean Regina

Episode #64 with Adele Buettner from AgriBiz Communications

Episode #63 with Mary Weimer from Conexus Credit Union

Episode #62 with Winter Fedyk from Silo Strategy

Episode #61 with Heather Day from C.S. Day Transport & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #60 with Amber Goodwyn from Regina Folk Festival & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #59 with Cari Bode from South Country Equipment & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #58 with Donna-Rae Crooks from Brain Snacks Co & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #57 with Michelle Grodecki from  Deaf Crows Collective & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #56 with Sarah Tkachuk from KPMG & YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #55 with Dr. Sharon Leibel, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #54 with Doug Yaremko from Paddock Wood Brewery

Episode #53 with Madhu Kumar, YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee

Episode #52 with Eric Oelson from Mortise & Tenon Store

Episode #51 with Kim Korven from The Gentle Way Divorce

Episode #50 with Erin Vaughan from Kinetic Auto Service

Episode #49 with Lisa Brice from Brice Photography

Episode #48 with Colleen Strauch from Luther College at U of R

Episode #47 with Doug Pattison from Pattison Health

Episode #46 with Erika Gayle from Erika Gayle Photography

Episode #45 with Carly Patryluk from House of Paws Pet Boutique

Episode #44 with Erin Caleval from Erin & Associates Insurance

Episode #43 Part #2 with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki's Portraits of Childhood

Episode #43 Part #1 with Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting

Episode #42 with Nadene Joy from Nadene Joy

Episode #41 with Richard Arockiasamy and Sanjana Kumta from GreenMache

Episode #40 with Jodi Barrett, CEO of Kettlebell Kickboxing Canada

Episode #39 with Erin Kinder from Kinder Surprises Antiques

Episode #38 with Tanner Goetz from Munz Media

Episode #37 with Jessica McNaughton from memoryKPR

Episode #36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner Larsen Consulting

Episode #35 with Jill Poulton from Transformational Leadership

Episode #34 with Janci Templeman from Walker Wakefield

Episode #33 with Denise Anderson, Author, Divorce in a Small Town

Episode #32 with Anne Gibbons from Gibbons Travel Consulting

Episode #31 with Charlene SanJenko from PowHERhouse Media

Episode #30 with Dr. Vianne Timmons from the University of Regina

Episode #29 with Margaret Kisikaw-Piyesis, from All Nations Hope Network & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 28 with Dr. Renatta Varma, Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 27 with Jo-Anne Dusel from PATHS & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 26 with Dr. Emily Bamforth from Royal Saskatchewan Museum & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 25 with Nigora Yulyakshieva from City of Regina & YWCA Woman of Distinction

Episode 24 with Pam Klein from Phoenix Group & Miriam Johnson from Saskatchewan Roughriders

Episode 23 with Gr. 5 & 6 Students from Argyle School

Episode 22 with Tiffany Wolf from Helium Communications

Episode 21 with Jeff Kinash from Peregrine Farm

Episode 20 with Charlene Oancia from Springer & Oake

Episode 19 with Dan Benesh from BarterPay Regina

Episode 18 with Prabha Mitchell from WESK

Episode 17 with Terrie Dunand from REMAX Crown Real Estate

Episode 16 with Kim Zacaruk from Stone’s Throw Coffee Collective

Episode 15 with Luke Rossmo from Luke Rossmo Music and Gareth Bawden from Bawdenmedia.com

Episode 14 with Kristen Hill from Kristen’s Cultures

Episode 13 with Cyndie Knorr from Cynergy Coaching

Episode 12 with Paul Burch from EchoLotto Inc.

Episode 11 with Rea Faber from Amaranth Designs

Episode 10 with Brandi Good from BLG Business Solutions

Episode 9 with Dr. Gina Grandy from Hill | Levene Schools of Business

Episode 8 with Candyce Fiessel from The Style Academy and Shear Escape Salon and Spa

Episode 7 with Michelle Strawford from Bella Chic Fashion & Decor and What Women Want

Episode 6 with Jordan McFarlen from  Conexus Business Incubator

Episode 5 with Cheryl Giambattista from Health Coach Cheryl

Episode 4 with Joanne Frederick from Prairie Centre for Mindfulness

Episode 3 with John Hopkins and Amanda Baker, Regina Chamber of Commerce

Episode 2 with Christina Carlson from Queen City Collective

Episode 1 with Sherry Knight from Dimension 11

Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Apple Podcasts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Breaker  Overcast.fm  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Pocket Casts  Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Radio Public Spotify   Secret Life of Entrepreneurs on Anchor

Donna Crooks’ personal vision is to make a difference in the lives of others through her work and in her life. She is the Founder & Chief at Brain Snacks Co, a platform business with a mission to help close the gender gap by supporting women with core services, like study and workspace, supervised play for children, networking, career coaching, and professional development.

Donna’s career accelerated early. Despite her success, she found she lost ground in her career when she started her family. When she returned to work from her first two maternity leaves, her position was gone both times. Donna began to focus on the necessity for women to have choices, financial freedom, autonomy and capacity to weather adversity.

Thinking of this problem, she began to wonder how she could diversify her own career and financial stability while designing a business that would help women be successful in managing all the demands of work and family. Thus, the idea for Brain Snacks Co was born.

The Brain Snacks Co experience is all about choices for women from all walks of life, mothers and careerists, women on maternity leave, Indigenous women, women of colour, newcomers, and members of our LGBTQ+ communities. Even the food is inclusive, offering choices for vegan and gluten-free customers as well.

Men are most welcome too!

 

Transcript

Barb 0:01
Our guest today has a personal vision for making a difference in the lives of others through her work. And in her life. She’s a mom, a wife, a business owner and an employee. Donna Reed Kirk’s is the founder and chief at Brain Snacks, CO, a platform business with a mission to help close the gender gap by supporting women with core services, like study and workspace, supervised play for children, networking, career coaching, and professional development. We’re going to talk about brain Brain Snacks code today. But we’re also going to talk about some of the choices she made and how she ended up where she is, as a nominee in the YWCA, Regina Women of Distinction programme, she’ll talk about what that means to her and how she believes she can use that type of recognition to further support our community. Welcome, Donna. Thank you for being here.

Donna Rae 1:06
Thanks for having me.

Barb 1:08
So tell me a little bit about Brain Snacks. Let’s start there. That sounds like a really cool endeavour.

Donna Rae 1:15
Well, thank you, I loved hearing you talk about it. It’s really cool hearing your vision articulated by someone else. I, oh, man, I just got to a point in my life where I wanted to have a little bit more control over how I had an impact in the world. And so I started to brainstorm a business that would support women with their career development. And I started with the, you know, professional services in combination with some childcare, and wasn’t too long before we decided to add the coffee shop into the revenue mix. So it’s been a really exciting journey.

Barb 2:03
I bet. Yes. Okay.

Donna Rae 2:05
So if I’m a mum and I need childcare, and I want that workspace, is it kind of like a co working space? Is that a collective? Is that the idea? Yeah, it’s a co working space. So it’s free to our guests at the coffee shop, and anyone can come it’s not membership base. So if you come in for a drink or a snack, and you’re going to be working for the day, then you’re free to use our workspace. And if you need somebody to watch your kiddos, so you can do that, then you can book them in by the hour into our supervised play area where we actually have a really fabulous early childhood educator.

Barb 2:42
Okay, so that’s really cool, because I think back to when my kids were young, and at that point in time, I was still traditionally employed. So I had an employer and daycare, but the thought that I could have gone and worked for a couple of hours, without the commitment to have to bring them in every day. Like that kind of flexibility. That’s huge.

Donna Rae 3:04
Yeah, women need flexibility in order to be successful, because we have so many things on our plate, whether or not we have children at work. And at home, there’s types of invisible work that women do. And so we just need to have access to resources that help us to succeed.

Barb 3:22
Excellent. So how do you know at any point in time, how many kids are going to come and go? So is the idea that you would like people to book in advance? And if there’s room, when someone drops in? They can

Donna Rae 3:33
We actually do it both ways you can drop in, I mean, take it at your own risk if we’re full. But we also do bookings ahead and we take up to six kids at any given time. Hmm, yeah, cuz I guess

Barb 3:47
There’s still ratios, right, depending on the age of the children. And so what age can kids come and be in your space for supervision while parents are working?

Donna Rae 3:57
We’re designed for newborn to age five. And we do have some helpful older siblings as well who come in.

Barb 4:05
Okay, no, that’s awesome. And what if mom or dad want to leave during that time period? Are they Is that okay? To

Donna Rae 4:14
Yes, if you’re going to be on or have your kiddo with us all day, then we asked you to stay on site, but you can leave to run errands or, you know, hit the dentist for up to three hours on any given day.

Barb 4:26
So you know, that’s actually kind of cool, because I think I can go and work for a little bit, and then still go do something it might be as simple as get groceries. Right? But be able to do it in peace in these last few months. We all really appreciate the opportunity to have peace and quiet because it hasn’t been there a whole heck of a lot. Right? So

Donna Rae 4:48
I’m all for women, you know, dropping off their kiddos and men to actually we have dads who come and to go do something nice for themselves, but it’s often not very fancy. It’s It’s usually just grocery shopping or an errand or, you know, going to the dentist. So it just gives you a bird’s eye view of how women’s lives are very practical.

Barb 5:10
Exactly. And we’re kind of programmed that you have to take advantage of like every minute in your day, because you’ve got so much to do that if you want any kind of downtime, during the day or in the evenings, you have to make sure that you have your stuff done first.

Donna Rae 5:24
That was definitely a motivation for health. Because, you know, I realised that this idea of work life balance is such a farce, we actually need support and integrating the demands of our lives so that we can move between our commitments more, with more fluidity and flexibility, rather than being locked into a period of time every day where we can only do one thing, right? That’s the exact word I was thinking of, is we need some fluidity in our life, because parenting doesn’t stop just because you walk into the office, and home doesn’t start, simply because you walk through the door. There’s so much ebb and flow in our lives now between our phones and our work. And now having been

Barb 6:15
Locked down for the last couple of months. Everything is kind of 24/7. So yeah, it’s been it’s been a real learning experience for us. I remember I spent a quick Funny story, I remember my kids were little. So my kids are 11 and 13. So we’re kind of past that. They have to be with me all the time phase. And I would say that we’re moving very quickly into that, do I have to be with you. He’s right. And they this switch flips really quickly. But I remember, you know, I’m gonna say my son was two or three. And so my daughter would have been four or five. And I was going grocery shopping, and I was going grocery shopping on my own. So my husband was home, he kept the kids and I went grocery shopping. And a it was the most expensive grocery shopping trip that we had had ever because I had time to look at stuff and read ingredients and pick and choose between, you know, different snacks and different gluten free foods and right like I suddenly had time on my hands. And I so I came home with all this cool stuff. And the kids are just like, Whoa, this is awesome. But I came home with so much stuff that otherwise there’s no way you’re gonna stop and read labels and look at new products, when you’ve got the kids in your tone them around and right. And I honestly like we share everything in the house and my husband does do a tonne of the grocery shopping. And it was dope. That’s one of the last times he let me go on my own. With so much stuff. I was like, Oh, you got to try these. These. These are so good. And this is so yummy. And here’s a new recipe and he was just like, oh my god, what has she done?

Donna Rae 8:01
Was become a luxury when you’re, you know, so pressed for time, you know, I, I used to be, oh, I don’t want to wash my hair. What a pain all the time. And now I’m like, I would love to be in the shower by myself washing my hair.

Barb 8:17
You know, that thought when we when we travel or we go someplace. It’s like, oh, I can close a bathroom door. Nobody’s gonna walk in. Right? And we’re still in that world, even at this age where, you know, yes, you get some privacy in the bathroom. But there’s no point closing the door. Because if it’s not the dog who comes and pushes out the door, then it’s gonna be a kid who, you know, mums busy. So there must be an emergency happening. Just leave the door open. And it’s like, well, at least this way I don’t have to yell through the door because I know somebody’s going to interrupt.

Donna Rae 8:51
Yeah, it’s it’s so hard to find any space for the things you need to do. I think that’s why it makes it really hard for women to put themselves first and and do you know self care and things like that? Because they’re always at the bottom of their own list of to do’s

Barb 9:08
Oh, God, like, I don’t even know if it bottom is like low enough like, yeah, so yeah, meantime. Yeah, getting a it’s funny that, that we talked about this, because we just had this conversation at home this morning. You know, we’re trying to support the kids, middle of a pandemic, they don’t understand any more than we do. So we’re trying to support them. And we’ve kind of said, you know, you can be done school, we want you to get a certain amount of assignments done. But you can be done. Well, what we’re seeing is now they just want to hang out on their gadgets all day and watch TV. And I’m like, no, no, that I’m not cool with but I still have to work and so I can’t supervise them, you know, for their eight, nine hours because I’m doing my thing. And you know, they’ve got to have a little bit of freedom and flexibility. And suddenly as a parent, you can’t kick them out. tight. You can’t say, hey, go for a bike ride play at the park. Yeah, okay, parks are open, but they’re kind of over that, too. So, anyway, so what time it is. So tell me about the award with or the nomination with the YWCA, that YWCA of Regina. So did you know that the nomination was coming? And what does this possibly mean to you into your business?

Donna Rae 10:26
A friend of mine actually nominated me. And I was totally shocked, I had no idea she was planning to do that until she came to me with the request for permission, because you do have to give permission, okay. And it’s just such a thrill to have somebody that you respect who’s in your life, want to recognise you for something that you’ve done. And it’s just, you know, brought me so much happiness, I guess. And in terms of how significant it will be for, you know, our business, I think it’s amazing, because we’re in our first year in operation, and it’s a really scary time with the pandemic. Nobody puts a pandemic in their first year business plan.

Barb 11:22
Nobody puts it in their 10 year business plan up until now.

Donna Rae 11:26
And I remember at the start of it, especially before we knew what it was going to look like thinking, you know, sure, it’s great to be nominated. But I might not be a woman of distinction by the end of this, you know, by the time the awards come around, I might be a failed business owner. So it was terrifying that way. But it just gives us more opportunity to create awareness for women about having more choice, having more financial security, having more. I guess, having more options for how you create career stability and financial stability in your life, you know, the potential for entrepreneurship, you know, to ask for more than you have to say I deserve more time to chase my passions or to care for my children or to earn as much as a man. And I just think that’s really important. Yeah,

Barb 12:37
I agree with you. So you referenced earlier in the conversation, of course, this first that we call balance, so you’re an employee, still you own a business, you’ve got a couple of small children. And I presume that there’s still a spouse in the picture. How in the heck are you balancing it all?

Donna Rae 12:54
I don’t.

Barb 12:56
Excellent. We’re on the same page, okay.

Donna Rae 13:00
It’s a wild ride, you know, I, it took me about 10 years in my career to realise that I was struggling with getting to the next level because I was different. And it’s not, you know, just being a woman. It’s being like an entrepreneurial minded person. And so you, I guess, you hit your organization’s tolerance for innovation and risk and you wonder, you know, where you belong? And so I decided that I wanted to start my own business, which is something I never thought I would do, I thought I was going to be a public servant for my career. Okay. And from there. I, we were having our third baby in the business while I was on maternity leave. And that’s what it’s been. And, you know, I like to tell people about my last, you know, 24 months of my life, because I give so first off, always, women’s voices are important, and you heard, and secondly, because I want other women to know that even if you’re experiencing adversity or things aren’t going well, that you do have the power to make choices and to move forward in a direction that works for you. So, we had an extremely challenging, well, first of all, in 2017, I was moved out of a position I was in which within my employment with the government, which was very traumatic for me. And then my sister was dealing with her chronic illness and passed away at the end September of 2018. Oh, wow. No, I started a new job in 2019. And then got pregnant. Or I’m mixing up my ears. But so my sister passed away I had a baby. I opened the business, my middle son had a life threatening spinal abscess from his tailbone to his skull, and had to have emergency surgery in Saskatoon and my husband was on a leave of absence from work, we opened the business, my dog died, and my newborn ended up having a pulmonary stenosis and heart surgery. Oh, my God. Yeah, it was, you know, I use you can see why I can’t keep the timeline straight. Like there was, it was just such a traumatic time. And I really drew a lot of strength from other women entrepreneurs, because I had attended women entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan Annual General Meeting in 20. Oh, it was 2018. Okay. And there are a couple of speakers and entrepreneurs who had like really traumatic stories they shared about resilience, and how that, you know, instilled in them really, you know, great strength that they were able to use with their business. And at that time, I was really having a lot of difficulty with my sister’s illness and her care, and things that we were struggling with with her. And it made me think like, okay, even though that’s going on, I still have the energy to begin my own journey with my business. Okay. And so I want women to know, if they are, if this is something they desire, whatever it is, doesn’t even have to be a career thing. But they have something they desire, that they can chase it and go after it no matter what’s happening in their life, if they have the will to do it.

Barb 16:44
Exactly. You know, in a lot of cases, I think, women especially we put it off, or wait till the kids are a little bit older. I’ll wait till my husband’s you know, employment is more secure. Oh, wait, oh, wait, oh, wait. And so the things that we want in life end up becoming, never coming to fruition, because we’ve waited for so long. And, you know, I know even in my own relationship, we’re pretty darn equal. But there are still times where, like, I want to shake my husband. And I’m like, No, that is such a preconceived, traditional notion of how things work. And it’s really made me appreciate that, you know, as a woman, I might be fully enlightened. But we all have these ingrained beliefs in terms of how things work, whether it’s relationship parenting, working, right, and those beliefs are really difficult to overcome. I was talking with another guest. can remember if it was just earlier this week or on a couple of months ago, because I can’t remember which guest it was, but we talked about, you know, those traditional roles. And I’m curious, from a generational standpoint, how many generations will it take before to our kids, mom and dad, both working mom having a business 5050 sharing? When does that become the traditional belief? Right? And so I’m curious, like, I hear your story. And I think, okay, to your kids, they will no, no different to them, it will be perfectly normal that mum and dad work mum and dad own a business. Mum and Dad are partners in whatever way shape and form. Right? And so I’m curious how long that evolution is going to take. And, you know, just hearing your story, I suspect that, you know, for your kids, they will have a very different fabric in their own belief system, right, until you start to think about the impact that you’re making with your own kids. And of course, you know, your future grandkids and etc, etc. Right. So I

Donna Rae 19:02
Really think that’s true.

Barb 19:03
Yeah. So tell me what you took away from all of that. How has that changed your approach now to parenting and running a business, knowing the experience that you’ve had? What do you take away with that and sort of carry with you on a day to day basis in terms of, you know, your decision making and stuff like that? How has that been impacted?

Donna Rae 19:29
I think all the trauma that we’ve been through has made me a little bit more cautious. As a parent especially. And a little bit more patient because being an innovator, I always want to do cool things right now. And before where I was able to really dig deep within myself, and I do every little thing all the time. Now I get to say, I’ve done enough today. And I can just, you know, not do anything for the rest of the evening, if that’s like what’s right for me?

Barb 20:15
Exactly if that’s what you choose.

Donna Rae 20:17
Yeah. But I really love working. I’m 100% addicted to it. And I love having children. When we had our first I was like we’re having bloomer. We’re, we’re at our capacity. Now with three, we’re very busy. Yeah. But I tear comments around children being shaped by the experiences in their home. I was raised by a single parent. And so you know, no, not to disparage people who co parent, but I, like had no other parents in the picture. So is really a single parent situation. And when that happened, we, my mom was afraid. And we ended up in a women’s shelter, and having to find our way back from Canada to get home to Saskatchewan. And I remember leaving on my aunts and uncles plote couch in the basement as a small child, while we figured things out and seeing her work three jobs while I was young. It just like I have an incredible work ethic, like I never tire of working like. And it’s wonderful. It drives me and I often feel quite euphoric. When I’m like, really aligned with my purpose. I feel like I’m having an impact on my community. And I’m working with a team, that we’re all supporting each other, and I love it so much. But on the other side of that coin, we only have enough energy and we have to care for ours