¶ Networking and Entrepreneurship in Canada
Cheers , cheers . Welcome to the Afternoon Pint . I'm Mike Tobin , I am Matt Conrad , and who do we have with us today ? I am Mark Zirka . Mark Zirka , okay . So what do you ?
do Mark ? Well , I am the founder of StrategyUp . It's a consulting firm based here in Bedford , so we are here to help small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs to just get better at what they are doing .
Better and you're already helping us , because you might have heard Mark's at the very beginning of this episode . That's right , yeah , yeah .
Yeah , so . So Mark is our newest sponsor , so thanks for coming on board and be a part of the you know Afternoon Pine Club .
Oh , my pleasure . Thank you so much for having me here . I really appreciate it as well .
That's awesome .
It's a great show , so I am very happy to be part of it .
No , it's an honor having you , and like having a sponsor here for an episode . I really know what you're about . I mean Matt and I . I mean not to sound funny , but we do pick our sponsors .
I mean , we approach them and that's why we're happy to have you here . Yeah , I think that's important , for anyone listening is to know that we're not just working with everybody . Partnering with anybody , if anything someone like myself . I consider myself a bit of a networker myself , and a network of people becomes an extension of you .
I firmly believe that , and whoever you associate yourself with in business reflects on who you are .
Good philosophy , Good advice for others too . Yeah , definitely .
Networking is great . I think this is how we met Matt at the beginning First networking event , then a second one , and then a third one , and there we go .
You know what . So this is what I was actually going to touch on that . So the very first time that both you and I met Mark was here , we had you and I met Mark was here at Station 6 . Oh , we met him at the same time did we . Yes , oh , at Station 6 .
I remember , there , Right over that corner , right over there , I didn't realize we both met at the same time .
That's cool .
Yeah , we met him . We did kind of like our little speed dating your business that we were trying to do , but it was way too loud we couldn't record anything .
Yeah that was a flub . The listeners , we try to do like a speed and we're going to try it again , but we're going to . We did like a speed dating thing with a small business , so so everybody got to talk about their business for one and a half minutes , but it was organized by Lawrence , who was also on the show , and it was such a loud event .
There was music and lots of people talking , so it came out terrible . The audio it was unusable .
Fantastic event , fun event , yeah . So again thank you to Station 6 for letting us record podcasts here . Also , if you're looking to host a networking event , they have a really cool back room which they let us use to record our podcasts all the time .
Yeah , that's where we're at now it's actually amazing right , it's really nice looking .
yeah , A beautiful atmosphere too , right atmosphere too , right , yeah , love it .
That's , uh , yeah , so let's show it to them also . We , we do have some beers here . I'm drinking , uh , the tata brew sour .
Yes , that's the same beer you had with the premier it is the same beer wicked how did I , and you really liked it , so I got it for you again I do like sours .
We should have switched , because I know how much you like it . I'll take a sip . I'm not a sours guy .
Yeah , that's a running joke , but I got the uh propeller , esb and Garrison Garrison Red right .
Yes , that's a very classic red .
It's one of the best Garrison beers I think one of their OG beers . I'd say yeah , for sure . Yeah , it's a great beer .
So yeah , so now we got all the thanks and all that stuff out of the way . Mark , I want to go actually back to that . There's something that stuck out Out of all those people we talked to , there's only two fun facts that stuck out , and you are one of them .
One of the questions we asked was like what was it say a fun fact about your ? How do we have fun fact .
Yeah , give us a fun fact about yourself . One guy said that he was the voice of like on .
Uh hey , arnold , hey , arnold , or sticking around sticking around .
Well , I don't know ? Okay , it was a voiceover , it didn't stick that well , but you told us a story about how you like fought an alligator or something .
Yeah Well , actually I didn't fight it , but the alligator almost ate me .
Okay , all right , so paint the picture . Where were you at when this alligator came at you ?
Oh my God . So this we were in Burkina Faso , in the capital in Ouagadougou , and at that time I was working in the mobile industry . So we had a meeting over there and then we decided to say you know what this is the afternoon off , let's go and visit something . Then one of our guides said there is what we call the sacred lake over there .
Do you want to go and visit ? I said yeah , but what is there ? He said just 100 alligators in a pond . Okay , um ? I said yeah . Well , I think this is not very wise . I said oh , don't worry , since it was there . There is a village around . No one was , uh , was yet killed by an alligator said okay , perfect . So we went there .
And then you know , I like any , any gig . You just have to buy a live chicken then , you have to tie the chicken to a stick with a with a rope and then you let the chicken walk a little bit on the shores or on the of the lake and then the alligators will hear the tapping and then they will come out .
So we had three chickens fishing for alligators yeah , in a way , in a way actually the alligators were fishing us anyway . So so the first chicken . Well , we said goodbye to it very quickly . The second one for some reason the rope wasn't not very tight on the leg .
Then it ran away , and then it started running to our way , and then the alligator was after it and the alligator was trying to eat us , so we just ran away . And then the alligator calmed down . He said , like probably we're not so tasty .
And then as it's calm , as the alligator looked into mark's eyes and said one day you'll start a business . And he just jumped into the river and provided the inspiration for his next chapter in life .
Well , actually starting a business is like somehow throwing yourself among sharks . But as long as you know how to swim right , so you need to learn how to swim , you need to learn the basics of business first . But definitely it has the risks but also it has so many good rewards .
And I am happy for that . And starting a business . You started Strategy Up five years ago .
Well , actually I started more than that . We've been already six years here in Nova Scotia , but I started it in , I think , 2016 , 2015 . So I am originally from Lebanon , so I started from there , and then we also had a headquarter in the United States , but then when we decided to move here , we moved the whole headquarter from the US to Canada .
Cool . What inspired you to leave Lebanon and kind of make your way over to North America ?
Well , you know it's unfortunate . Leaving Lebanon was not a choice . I was in a way forced by , you know , the bad economy , the wars . So I was born in 1975 . I'm giving out my age now , but I was born when the war started , when the civil war started . So I lived all my life during the war so I know the whole thing .
But I was all the time immersed in business , Like my father was all the time working in FMCG group products and I had an uncle who had his own business , so I was all the time immersed in this kind of business environment . And then one day I said , like at some point I will never be an employee anymore and have my own business .
But I think I was smart enough that I didn't start my business from the get go . I had to learn with the money of others .
Right , so I was an employee . I did the mistakes where I didn't have to , george Hanna , go back and listen to that episode a little bit more about the money with others . He talks about learning with others . It was a really cool lesson from George .
Actually , I listened to that episode oh did you .
Oh cool , yeah , yeah , yeah .
So , technically , I was able to learn a lot . I worked with lots of different organizations , international organizations all over the world . So then I started . I left Lebanon and then I started my career in Africa , and this is where I went to meet the crocodiles , among other things .
Oh , okay .
And then , after Africa , I went back to the Middle East .
Where in Africa were you ?
So I was out of Lebanon as a base , but I was responsible of all Western Africa , mainly the French-speaking countries and then some of the Central African countries and going back , like leaving Lebanon and going to Africa first like , what kind of transition did that feel like for you ?
The environment must have felt so different .
Oh yeah , oh my God . It was a great experience because , no matter how much you are prepared to accept others and to accept other cultures , you will always have this culture shock . Being in Africa was one of my best lessons in life , because you will see how small things that you have access to how others don't have access to .
So you are blessed with the very small things . And then it really changed the whole way I look at life and I look at how I do business , but I really enjoyed it . Great people I do business , but I really enjoyed it .
Great people like if you tell me to go now , I would leave everything and I would go at least to do business maybe not to live there , but just to go to business and stay in touch with the , with the community over there . So I visited more than maybe 15 , 16 countries in Africa wow , oh , wow , oh yeah , I was .
I was on the road , like once we had to do . We had a flight from Senegal to Congo , to the Democratic Republic of Congo , and we had seven stops on the way . So it was like a bus and this is how , like people are getting on and off . Yeah , Wow .
So this is just a flight that's supposed to be like four hours , but it lasted like eight or nine hours , just simply because of so it must be massive like culture shock , going from country to country , I mean like I mean every country has their differences and stuff like that .
But like when you get into the european union , I mean they have a , you know , like the french is different culture than german , sure , the swiss , and like all that stuff . But you go , you can go from like a democratic state to like a not democratic state there is even one more dimension .
I am not an expert in Africa , but I've been there for a while and I know it . It's very tribal . So , even business within the same country . It depends on who is sitting on the table from which tribe and also what is their position in the tribe .
And this is how deals are going to be made , you know , and we think that's so different , but when you really really think about it , pei is pretty tribal dude , that .
No , that's true , like you know , I mean and that sounds silly to say , but PEI really , if you go and do business in PEI like I've left Nova Scotia and drove knocking and PEI trying to find business , and they will be like where are you from on the island ? Yeah , and I'm like I'm not from here .
Yeah , you can't even like buy land .
I'm like oh , I don't know who lets you in .
Well , I mean they have a little bit of productionism , Like unless you live there . You can't really buy land Like they don't want people .
they didn't right To do when PEI . They like to do business with people that at least live in PEI right .
And that's not a terrible thing .
I mean that's their preference . But I mean I don't know if that's the exact same way now . That was 10 years ago , right .
That could have changed a little it it's fine to be like you .
Just want to know that you live there , right , right , yeah and I think this is a little bit normal , like even
¶ Resistance to Change in Business
for me . Nova scotia changed even since I came here in 2018 until today , in the way you do business right . Yes , and I totally understand it , because in small markets , you need to protect your markets . You cannot just have everyone and anyone come and knock on the door and mess up with the equilibrium . That you have right .
And also we understand that , especially in small communities and rural communities , everybody knows everyone , everybody is married to everyone , everybody is the cousin of everyone . So you don't want to really mess up with this unless you really know that the people who are coming are coming to stay .
Because I think and I believe that in the past , nova Scotia or the Atlantic provinces were more like a transition area for people .
So they were coming either getting their education or starting one or two years doing some savings and instead of spending these savings in these provinces , they were taking them to the bigger provinces , to where they really wanted to go .
So why should I give you my dollar to go and spend it , let's say , in ontario , whether , rather than keeping it here and feed my cousin who have another store next to me , right ? right so I totally understand it when you are a small community .
However , look at how we changed over here when the market opened up the diversity that we had , the new businesses that we had , how we grew , how the . Again , I don't want to go into micro and macro economics , but the gdp of of the province changed in composition and in size the minute we decided to open up a little bit more right .
So there is no risk .
At the contrary , I am not for protectionism . There is no risk of opening up , but we need to do it in a very systematic way and we need to know how to manage it , otherwise it might backfire . We need to communicate it better .
We need people to understand what's happening .
I think , sometimes there's a fear and just like what happened , like you know , you go downtown and they're like uh , you know there was a longest thing in halifax , where I'm sure you know this , but like , and maybe if people were listening outside of nova scotia , we didn't want to any buildings blocking citadel hill facing the harbor , right , right .
Which is because , okay , there's cannons on Citadel Hill , okay , war started again , but the probability that we're going to use cannons to fight the next war that we're on Citadel Hill is fairly low . We've changed that . But you can still understand the tradition and appreciate that .
But at the same time , you've got to really start saying , well , geez , guys , you've got to grow up Exactly or something's going to happen . It's not good to not have concentrated areas . Now , there's still country . In Nova Scotia , like you and I both live pretty much in the country . We do , yes , right , and I mean so .
There's still an option to have a quiet home outside the busy metropolis , and that's the same story in Ontario and Toronto .
It's a bit of a drive in there , not even that sometimes if you leave like you can drive outside of like oakville yeah and literally it's just like there's , it's like a line in the sand . All of a sudden you're in farmland , but you need that big city to help .
Oh , yeah , you need it and when you need that , you need people there . You need people there from countries all around the world . You need immigration . Yeah , you need people there . You need people there from countries all around the world . You need immigration .
Yeah , you need to grow , you need to grow , grow , grow 100 or you're gonna die and that's the thing , and it kind of goes back to what mark was saying like we opened up and we welcomed a lot of people in here , we've been more aggressive and growing as a province than ever before and crazy .
I'm not , I'm not , I'm not gonna like yeah , I'm not downplaying the fact that we have problems , that we need to fix there's housing issues and all that stuff , of course , and that's a huge issue , and that was an under .
I don't know what you'd call it , an undersight Maybe .
Yeah , but either way , there's more money here than there's ever been , right , there's more money here than there's ever been , and a lot of that also is not just because of the fact that we've grown , we've opened up and everything but , and we've grown as a province in terms of business .
But we actually have people like mark who are like you know , global business people that are like , yeah , I can just live here , I can live here , we want that and take money from all these things .
That's what we're talking about with aaron , too , like with about , uh , having the film industry yes we're're taking money from California hundreds of millions of dollars from California and bringing it here Nova Scotia and paying our people and investing in here and creating jobs and all that stuff . We can keep circling the money around here in Nova Scotia .
All we want , but the idea for us to get lower taxes , to have better conditions is to take money from other people .
Right and bring it here Definitely . Taxes to have better conditions is to take money from other people . Right then , bring it here , definitely . But you know the one thing that to go back a little bit like why , for example , pi is , is not really opening up , uh to a certain extent .
I don't even know if that's a fact now , so I want to be careful , like you know , but the way it was 10 years ago say , but that very traditional kind of like a yeah so just to say , like what we do as well here with StrategyUp , is that one of the major things that we see happening is the resistance to change .
So first of all , a human nature doesn't like change , we like statical , we like our comfort zone . We like to be in control right . So why usually we resist change ? There are many , many reasons , but there are a couple of very important reasons .
The first reason is that the fear from the unknown so , anything that you don't know or you ignore or you have no idea about is something that you fear .
We're all like that .
I mean , I'm a creature of habit when I don't know it , that's when I fear it , the most and this is why it's very important to go back a little bit about how to jump from being an employee to do your own business and to be successful in your business is that you need to educate yourself .
Don't be afraid of asking questions , seeking help right , Because you need to remove this first barrier , which is the fear from the unknown . The second level is , in a way , or the second reason is comfort
¶ Business Growth and Advisory Support
zone . I am sitting in my comfort zone and I hear it a lot in the business community . We've been doing it for the past 30 years this way and it's successful . Why should I change today ? Well guess why the world is changing . If you're not going to catch up , then definitely you will be behind .
So this is very important to just make sure that we are all catching up to the new things that are happening so that we can become better leaders , business leaders , and become successful entrepreneurs and business owners .
Yeah , and that's where you come in to help them , to help them be successful , yeah , I don't want to pretend that I am in a way .
You know , when I talk with business owners , first of all I treat their business as if it is my own business .
Like .
I look at it and say what would I do if I was running that business Right and to a certain level . I will tell you . So to go back to the Africa story . So the business owner , when I was there as an employee it was a family business and once I went to his office and I looked him in the eyes and I said can I ask you a question ?
Can I tell you one thing ? He said , yes , go ahead . I said can you go home and stop coming to the office so that we can do our job ?
So , he told me , I am the business owner .
So you are firing me . I said I wish I could fire you because you're resisting change . You're not letting us do our job correctly .
It also very much reminds me of what Gordon Ramsay does with the Kitchen Nightmares . He goes in and goes to the owner and he's like go the F home and let me do it .
I was going to ask him to help out with this podcast , but his first solution might be Tobin , you have to leave , I'm like oh , I thought I was doing a good job . No , just joking . No , no , I will be good , I will be nice to you .
But why I said this ? Because sometimes we need to do what I call the shock therapy at business . We need to make people realize when they are doing mistakes , when they are in their comfort zone when they think that they know it all and maybe at some point sometimes they never had anyone who told them .
no , who told them that they were wrong .
So they feel that everything they say , everything they do is right .
Isn't that normal for people who are , like , emotionally involved in things ?
Yes , and I was about to interject with the exact same feeling . You know what ? I think that's the fight of the entrepreneur , right Like you got to go in and you got to go . I believe in this right and I believe blah , blah , blah and whatever .
And you got to push and you got to have a little bit of a healthy crate , healthy amount of crazy to really push the carrot forward .
But at the same time , you know the antithesis sometimes to being an entrepreneur is being told what to do yes , right , yeah so when somebody has to say and give you that reality check , it hurts of course it hurts because you have to have to .
You have to add the knowledge or the updated knowledge , right ? So if you are , if you were a successful entrepreneur 30 years ago and you didn't update your information , your , your knowledge and you want to continue doing the same things the way you were doing it , definitely , or most probably , you're not going to be successful .
Right , right .
And this is what I do with the businesses that I work with . I don't fire them , okay .
I get the feeling like you're like that sobering second thought type of thing . Yes , yeah , definitely , definitely .
I play the devil's advocate . I tell them the what-if scenario . And then at some point I always tell them do the plan B , plan C , plan D . And some people say but if you have a plan B , this means you're already setting yourself up to failing because you shouldn't . At the contrary you know why . Because you don't know everything .
You have lots of external factors that are going to come and alter your plans .
So if you don't have a plan B , that's a humble thought and we talked about this in the podcast with Jacqueline about how entrepreneurs actually kind of like Some entrepreneurs are just good at something so they're like hey , you know what , I'm really good at building houses , so I'm going to build houses , I'm going to be a carpenter developer , whatever .
But really good at building houses , so I'm going to build houses , I'm going to be a carpenter developer , whatever .
But that doesn't mean they know how to run a business balance books , hire people , fire people , communicate , communicate whatever you're good , you have a skill , but then there's you know , five or six other things that go involved into having a business and managing a business right so it's like that's where you can get some help , and I think that's the biggest
thing that we can like let everybody know who's like either starting a business or in a business . It's like you know . The best thing you can do is tuck your ego behind you and just be like you know what . If people are willing to give me good advice , maybe I should just listen to it , Cause that's what a good leader does , Right .
Listens and takes all the time and be successful so at some point you need to keep the hats where you think you are great at , and then you need to either outsource or seek for help , or get a consultant and or maybe not a consultant for for small businesses , you can have an advisory board .
An advisory board is , is could be free , as if you find a group of people who are willing to help you and be on your advisory board and just be this kind of uh , this the sound , sound in your , in your mind right we're going to come and tell you no , this is what , what we saw in different markets , this is what how we saw it in different companies ,
and they will guide you . You don't have to follow what they are telling you . But , at least there is someone who's just raising the flag and say , hey , listen , we have a red flag . It's up to you to make a decision .
Right .
And this is very helpful . I am also very involved with the Family Business Association . I am on the board of the Family Business Association . I am on the board of the Family Business Association and we help a lot small family businesses . Some of them are extremely successful . They are in the top five in the province .
Nice .
And some others are still at the startup level or struggling , and this is how we help people in different places .
Yeah , and if someone's listening listening , they're like , hey , you know , like he can't help me , or what kind of business does he work ? Like you , you really work with everything , right , you work with all sorts of different types of business yeah , actually my philosophy is a little bit different .
I would say that I am industry agnostic and some people . People will come and say , yeah , but you don't have experience in my industry , how are you going to help me ?
Well , I say well , I am the best person to help because I have a fresh pair of eyes and I look at things from a completely different angle than anyone who has been immersed in this industry for so many years .
I might not be 100% right on on everything , but if I am right on 80 of the things , it's great enough to at least guide you on on many things .
So this is why we we are industry agnostic , because we are here to to fix functions and to support functions while preparing for here functions like let's get down to that for a minute , like so , I mean , so I'm a I don't want to say a hot caster .
Let's say I'm a carpenter . Okay , and my business is growing right , and it grew from one to I hired a guy and then we got a bunch of houses . Now I hired three guys . Right , I'm also a carpentry . We do a good job . I hire a good crew , but I'm bad with my scheduling .
I'm not getting back to people on the phone anymore , I'm not doing this and that , and I mean these solutions sound simple , right , oh , we'll hire a secretary . Sometimes everything sounds really simple , but it gets convoluted . Right , it gets convoluted . You really can't do it all . We learned that with this podcast .
Matt and I trust each other to different aspects of it and , to be honest , we could probably use more help because it's getting busy and it's getting to times where both of us are like I'm trying to do this thing with a video , or I'm trying to do this thing with the audio , or I'm trying to market this out to another .
We're now trying to market in different provinces and different parts of the world and we're like , oh , how do we do that ? Right , because we've had so many obstacles , matt and I have it like we've been at it one year and just think of like how many challenges where we literally said , how that do we do that right , yeah and uh .
And then all of a sudden you know we , we figured out a way and got it . But like you know man , it's endless yes , it's endless levels , right . It's like a video game like Tetris . You know you can never beat the damn thing , right .
¶ Strategic Planning for Business Growth
Well , I think this is another thing is like what a lot of people like what , especially even like new entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs that are looking to like level up their business Right , it's why not ? Like they have not done whatever's in front of them They've not done yet .
So it's like almost kind of like why not talk to someone who may has like , may have , may have been involved in some , maybe , maybe another vertical .
It's like , yeah , we're doing a podcast , but that guy that runs the other business says , well , this might sound crazy , but this guy that's a carpenter that didn't know how to do this and stated this scheduling app or whatever . And it changed his course of organization .
But some things are , like you know , can go between jobs . It doesn't matter right , like it's the same thing . Like you know , if you're leading people , sometimes it doesn't matter if you have done that particular job before . No , no , I agree with that . If you can lead people , you can lead people right . You can learn the .
The skill of the trade after you know kind of thing and that's where I think you can kind of come in is like you know someone .
If someone can't handle , like whether it be scheduling or marketing or how to upscale their business or kind of get into the efficiencies , you know , whether you're a carpenter or you're an entrepreneur , that whatever invented something and you're manufacturing something , or you're just a podcaster or whatever , the efficiencies can still be the same thing .
Definitely because you have the transferable skills . And when we talk about soft skills and this is the very important aspect of our team members , of our personality as leaders is that we need to have this kind of transferable skills . And this is what we had , and we helped not only on the soft skills .
But just to go back to this carpenter who has a problem in scheduling , there are lots of very easy solutions to be used . There's software out there that could be cloud-based or not . That could cost them a few dollars a month , up to maybe a couple I don't know 20 , 30 , 40 , or even thousands . It depends how complex you want to make your business right .
But there is always a solution that's going to help you be more efficient . And this is where we come . We don't come to help you build a rocket if you don't need the rocket .
Right .
So we help you just build exactly what you need to just get you to where you want . And actually I am facing this problem Now . I want to build a fire pit in my backyard . I reached out to four different small businesses because I want to support small businesses . I don't want just to call the big ones , the usual suspects .
I already sent two messages , four calls , six emails to four different organizations two weeks ago . The first call I got was this morning and still they don't have time or they don't know when they want to come and do the survey in my backyard . To give me a good quote .
Wow .
So what does it tell you ? It tells you that , yes , you're busy , but this means that you cannot grow anymore . That's right , right .
So if you are counting hours , you don't stop doing the job . Right , exactly .
Right , right . So if you are , counting hours .
You don't stop doing the job Right , like you know , we should be the ultimate of any entrepreneur . So it's like don't you want to stop doing the job ? Like don't you want to get to a point where I built enough chimneys in my life ?
I would like to run this business , but I maybe like to be a little bit more of an ambassador to my brand that I've built and take a step back and just kind of really enjoy a little bit of my life and still support it , but not build the chimneys every day .
Yeah , Right , I think that's the biggest thing with entrepreneurs is letting go .
Yeah , exactly , Not only letting go Now . I understand that now we have even a bigger challenge where you cannot find enough resources to help you . Right it's ?
hard to let go .
I totally understand . Yeah , but you have a finite number of hours per day that you can work . So if everybody is counting per hour , then this is your maximum . If you do , let's say $100 an hour . Multiply by what 40 hours , so that's , it . This is what you can do , but what if you can multiply it by 10 ? What if you can multiply it by 20 ?
If you know how to use the right systems .
Yeah , and I think that's the big thing too . Some people might think hiring somebody like yourself it's like , well , what's that going to cost me ? But you have to look at kind of total bottom line . I mean we do commercial insurance . We kind of speak to that a little bit . When you look at someone's bottom line of things , what can you afford ?
Right .
I might . I could sit there and say like , I have this coverage and this coverage is going to cost you $10,000 a year . And you might go , whew , $10,000 a year , that's a whole lot of money . But if you have that particular loss , that loss would be $100,000 a year .
And I could sit there and say , okay , well , can you afford a hundred thousand dollar loss if this was to occur . And if they go , yeah , I can , I can , I can manage that . Then you say , okay , well then you want self-insure , take the risk , seriously self-insure , take the risk , don't buy the $10,000 coverage .
And if in at some point in time that $100,000 loss happens , you chew it , kind of thing . But if you say to them can you afford that $100,000 loss ? And you go , no , if I had a $100,000 loss in the year , I'm going bankrupt . It's like , well then , you can't basically not afford the $10,000 coverage . And that's kind of almost like how I see your business .
It's like you want to go to the next level . It's like , yeah , we'll just use it . It's like I'm going to charge you $3,000 . And someone's going to say , ooh , $3,000 is a lot .
It's like , yes , but with that $3,000 , I can save you this many hours per week and that means you can maybe even possibly do more business and , you know , make $30,000 off of the $3,000 you spent .
Now , to kind of add on what Matt said here , so I've been doing B2B sales since I was 25 . I'm 40 now , so there you go . Age me a bit , right . So I've seen a lot of businesses , and one thing I've seen is businesses that do scale up quick and fold right . Yeah , so when there were two guys in the truck , everything was perfect , right .
You know Matt and Mike's podcast .
Nothing could go wrong . It was just us and it was just .
You know , very lady , our overheads , the beers .
like you know , it's pretty easy this time next year it'll be a mega network . There you go .
But hey , no , you grow too fast and say , Matt and I , we know we want to expand every province . We find a Mike and Matt and every province in the country . Next thing , you know , afternoon paints are localized everywhere . We're like a little virus , yeah .
And then we realize that all these guys want to get paid and we try to pay everybody and realize we can't . Yeah , right , and we fold .
Yeah , okay .
I've seen this happen , like here in Halifax , over and over again franchises that try to expand too quickly . I've seen it happen with guys that do electrical work .
Yeah , well , you're right about that . Sometimes we fall the victim of our own success , right , and why we do that ? Simply because of poor planning . So this is why I always evangelize that the first thing that you need to do for a business , for your podcast , for your carpentry work , for your restaurant , for the mega million dollar company , is your strategy .
You need to start with a strategic plan . You need to know what to expect in the next two , three , four , five years . Yeah , you will not nail it , but at least you will have an idea .
You can anticipate , right .
So this is the first thing . The second thing is managing cash flow . So you need to manage your cash flow very efficiently . You need to be super smart about dealing with money and I would say most of the people who are failing in business because they don't know about money .
So if you don't know how to read your profit and loss , you don't know how to read your balance sheet , you don't understand your profit margins , right ? The first thing I teach a course about essential skills for business with workplace education , and one thing we teach people is about cash flow , is about understanding how you price for profit , right .
So and I always say now to scale it up a little bit like , if you are a good business person and you are entering a room to negotiate right , in order to win in negotiation , it's knowledge . So when you enter a room and you know what are your margins , and your customer is going to tell you oh , you know what , I need 10% discount .
If you go and say , oh , you know what , I need to go back , I need to ask , I need to check , you fail , that's it . You are the weak person in the room . But if you say you know what , I can give you now 5% . I cannot give you the 10 . Five now . If you sign it now , you get the five .
Now you have the upper hand , you know your numbers , you have better negotiations .
One thing I learned last year is valuing my time more . Yes , right , yeah , starting to learn that man , I'm just like no , my time's worth more than that . Exactly Not to be arrogant , but I love being with my family . I love just doing nothing . I will tell you one thing you know what's the difference ?
between arrogance and ignorance . It's knowledge right . So when you have knowledge , you're not arrogant . But when you don't have the knowledge and you pretend to know , then you are ignorant . What are you ?
calling me now .
Jury's out so when you have the knowledge , then you're not arrogant , you know what you want , like getting into a room and knowing what you want , or at least knowing what you don't want right , right yeah is already . You are a winner . Yeah , you are already a winner at the negotiation table or even at whatever you want to have I agree with that man .
That's cool yeah and and this is what we tell people is that , first of all , we help you to know things about your own business , some processes , basic processes , because because you know , we know that many people who are now owning businesses maybe didn't go to a business school , like they got this carpentry business from their fathers .
Right , they've been there all the time , but they never learned about the marketing tools , about the management tools , about HR , about payroll , about taxes . You know how many persons I spoke with and they said , oh , at some point they were in trouble with CRA because they didn't collect HST or they spend their HST .
Simple things Simple things and this is where we come and help people . I am not a tax advisor we don't look a lot into this but you know building a process . I will help you build the process for collecting HST and then a lot into this . But you know building a process .
I will help you build the process for your for for collecting hst , and then I will give you a reference to a tax advisor to help you to work with that well and and that's , and like something like that .
That's a prime example of something that goes across every single possible like business 100 right , like knowing when to collect hst and what that threshold is , and like how to do it in the process and all that stuff . It doesn't matter what job you do . That's something that every single person who owns a business needs to know .
Or sometimes they don't have an agreement . They don't have a legal agreement . Yes , I understand an email or even a handshake legally is accepted right , but you will have a very hard case to prove a handshake . But if you have a legal agreement it will be easier to prove your case right . But you will have a very hard case to prove a handshake .
But , if you have a legal agreement , it will be easier to prove your case right . So , a few simple things that we help them in building through processes , through automation , through understanding their business efficiency , and our focus is mainly on the customer excellence .
And you help with technology too , and sometimes I think that scares the heck out of people , right , you know technology can be .
Feared from the unknown Resistance to change right .
So I mean , but technology can help . Technology helps us with this podcast Big time . Ask Matt , Like when I discovered AI could write the episodes of Gnosis for me , Because I'd be sitting there . Man , I'd be waiting like an hour and a half trying to be like oh God , how am I going to explain this person and this episode ?
Because it's really challenging .
You want to do justice to everyone .
Exactly . And then , on top of all that too , we're also using technology when it comes to we can get the transcripts , because the technology gives us it all . We're doing flashback Fridays now gives us it all . We're doing flashback Fridays now , we're finding quotes and we're finding the quotes through the transcripts so cool , that's amazing .
So cool .
¶ Value for Money in Business Consulting
I put a value on that . I told Matt . I said it's going to be $20 American a month for me to have this co-host AI thing listen to our podcast . I'm like , how much is my time worth ? Now hour , my time's worth 20 bucks , right , you know ? Hey , like it's not such an event , it's 20 bucks a month right , that's the thing , though , but to to our scale .
Yeah , 20 is still something right like that can represent anything . Right , that can be that 20 can be a thousand to another company and 10 000 to another company right exactly , but we're spending that $20 in order for you to save that 20 minutes to a half an hour every week , exactly .
Or every episode . I'll run the barbecue a little faster that . Sunday right yeah yeah , yeah , exactly Worth it though , right , exactly , definitely .
And I will get you a quote now so that maybe you want to pick up on that . So I always say for every entrepreneur and business leader who wants to improve their business , I always say that Thomas Edison didn't discover the light bulb from the continuous improvement of candle .
He had a paradigm shift , a different way of thinking so that he was able to improve us from candles to a light bulb . So , if you want to have your light bulb in your own business , you need to have this paradigm shift . You need to have this lateral thinking outside of the box so that you can find the next best thing .
That is not what you are used to do . It's something completely different that will take you to the next level and the next stage .
That's super smart . I can see that being like a little meme . I can picture that already A little light bulb , black background , golden letters . I can see it already .
I'll need to innovate to fit all those words onto a page , we'll figure it out . We can figure it out , though We'll figure it out , and if we can't , ai will Exactly .
Yeah . So I mean , is there anything like that ? You know , if anyone had any type of questions or thinking like , okay , what are things like that you can help them with outside of just like some of the processes , Because I know you also do some courses . There's a little bit of that , so there's also some education things as well , but what else ?
Like I know , you offer a bunch of things too .
So , yeah , but I don't want to say that we offer a bunch of things . We are focused on improving the customer experience . So anything that is touching the customer experience , then this is what we improve . Now you have a bunch of things that are touching the customer experience .
So , for example , touching customer experience is your internal processes , like how you greet a customer , how you talk to a customer , how you give support to a customer , by when you want to answer . Like I sent an email to three companies to do a fire pit for me . No one yet responded to me . Yeah , I've been waiting for two weeks now , right .
So when they are going to respond , at least to say , hey , sorry , we cannot make it .
Right , yeah , right .
So how are you going to improve the customer experience ? Then you have the marketing aspect . Of course you have your website , but before going to that , do you have a marketing strategy ? Who is your target audience ?
Like some people tell me , oh , everybody is my customer Wrong , not everybody is your customer oh , that's very true , and that's something that people lose sight of Exactly . So marketing is an aspect , then your processes , then your business management . So this is why we look at customer experience and everything that is touching the customer .
This is where we're going to help them . What we do is that we do business discovery calls right , so we do free business discovery calls . You can reach out , have a chat . Same way we're having a beer . I can have a coffee , I can have a beer .
you can come to the office , I can come to your office , it doesn't matter we can do a zoom call , a team's call , an ai call , whatever you want to call it , right , it doesn't matter , but we can have that chat . Yeah , to first to see if I can help , because it's not all the time that I can help and I am happy to say that you know what .
This is not my expertise it's not me , but at least I can refer you to someone . I know other people who can help you if I cannot help you , but if I can help you then we can give you an idea how we can help and then we can take it from there . As you said , some people have budget restrictions .
I will give you a story , just for us to understand the value for money . So once there was a ship stranded in the middle of the sea and then the captain was talking to his engineers and the engineers were not able to start the engine of the ship . And then one of the engineers , he said you know what I know ? A great technician , but he is on shore .
The captain said no problem , send the helicopter , let him come , let him fix it . They brought this technician . He came with the hammer . So he asked the captain to show him the engine room . He went to the engine room , he looked around , he took his hammer , he tapped on the engine , the engine started .
It took him probably two seconds and then the captain was so happy he said oh , thank you so much , man , you really helped us . Go back , send me your invoice , I will pay you , no problem . The next day the technician sent the invoice , it was $10,000 . The captain said what the hell ? This is too expensive .
And then he asked this engineer who knows this technician . He said you know what ? Tell him to send me an itemized bill , because this is impossible to pay $10,000 just to tap . Then next day he received the itemized invoice and on it there was two lines right , tapping on the engine $1 . Knowing where to tap $9,999 .
So this is why consultants , advisors , coaches are very important to your business because they know where to tap . It's not about telling you what they are doing , but they will explain to you how to do it , and the how is very important . The why and the how are very important . First of all , you need to understand why you're doing things .
So know your why is very important . Then know how to do it . So this means that we help you save time and money , so that don't try to do it all the time by yourself and redo the same thing 15 times , and if every time you spend $100 , this is $1,500 that you lost .
So how do people reach you ?
Well , they can reach us . Definitely . We have our website , which is mystrategyupcom . Also , they can send us an email info at mystrategyupcom and I will be more than happy to reply to them . Also , I am on LinkedIn , so anyone who's looking for me on LinkedIn they will find my name .
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn . He'll be your friend . Yeah , and say hi , listen to the afternoon pint . Yeah , but just connect with Mark .
Some good insights and then we'll invite them to our networking event , which is the maritime masters networking group , where we meet once a month on zoom call to just help each other , and matt and mike both of you you were , you were on on our networking events . Um , and yeah , we help each other . We are here to just help . There is there are no fees .
That's free anyone who is in the maritime , and especially here in Nova Scotia , they are more than welcome to join us and expand their network and look out for a future AP event that we're all working on here too , that we all see American , hopefully any other of our guests , previous guests and and more , and then people are just interested in being there .
I guess the last thing , just whenever we're thinking about reaching out to you , the relationship that you have , do you find that an ongoing thing , or is it kind of like okay , I'm going to be needing to do this for six months and then you can be on your way , but if you need me , come back ?
kind of thing .
Yeah , if anyone's intimidated right .
Yeah , well , this is a good question . I would hope to be your friend forever , right ? So , whether you work with us or not , I love to build a relationship . We stay in touch , we help each other .
There are no hard feelings if you ask for my help and then you say , no , this is not for me , the contrary For me it's just , I knew one more person , so this is more for me , so I am the lucky person . But also we have customers who have been with us for like three , four years .
We have customers who just need a small thing and then nothing for two years , and then they come back a year after . So the business model is very flexible . My , my role is , uh , is that honestly ? Not to get rich , uh , out of one customer .
I want to get rich out of , uh , thousands of customers so I am not here to just take your money or to just you know , try to , to give you you know the , or , in a way , to hold you hostage as a customer at the contrary , what we do is that we enable you to do everything without us once we finish the project .
this is my role , because we want to educate people , as you said , we do lots of training , we do . We educate the , the team members . So for I don't withhold information .
I am here to give as much as I can , and this community over here helped us a lot when we started and I cannot be thankful enough for all the people who helped us around when we started until today . So giving back is unlimited . There is no limit for me how I can give back as much as I can .
Honestly , we just look at the project and this is why I don't count hours . And some people say what is your rate per hour ? I don't rate per hour . I give you value . I give you project-based value . Right , if it makes sense , why I don't do that ? Because if I tell , you that the project needs 20 hours or the projects need 10 hours ?
Will I be good or bad for you ? So if I want more money from you , well , the project needs 300 hours . Right , I will make more money . Are you happy to pay me $150 an hour ? $300 an hour ? I will tell you . Okay , $300 hours . Or what if I can do the same project with 10 hours ? Because I built efficiency . I have my technology .
You don't want to learn how you can do that ?
Yeah , and this is how you scale up . Well and quite honestly , I fully agree with that . Like you know , someone can come to you just exactly what you said and say like , hey , I need this help , x help . And you can sit there and say like , well , you know what , I want to make sure I make a good amount of money out of this guy . So 30 hours .
Yeah .
And he's going to agree , and you might get it done in 10 .
And he goes golfing .
And then you go golfing afterwards , right ?
Or you could just say here's what it is to get the job done , yeah , period .
Because then you will never be able to scale up , especially when you are a business of one person People are going now to be able to calculate that one plus one equals two .
Do you know that there's a lot of speculation that , like the nine to five is over or starting to ?
face , extinction , the mentality of it .
I don't know if it was ten years or five years . I don't want to misquote it , I don't know if it was 10 years or five years . I don't want to misquote it . I wouldn't be surprised , yeah , because philosophies and how things get done are starting to change . Well things are changing .
I mean , people are talking about four-day work weeks and all that other stuff . Sure , personally , hopefully we can make a living out of this and we can do this full-time someday , but if that never happens , I would never choose the four-day work week . You know what I would actually do Six-hour work days . Do that in a second .
I would like to go and go work from eight to three .
Well , it's just like cleaning your house . It's like cleaning your house . We had company over on Sunday . I was like , oh jeez , we've got to get this house clean . Andrea's parents are coming over , right , and we want the house to look nice when they come over . Andrea and I bust our butt man Three hours each . We got that house clean top to bottom .
You know what I mean , and there was a lot to be done If we had no visitors that house would have took 12 hours to clean . Because we would have both got sidetracked , took our time , whatever right . So you're absolutely right Three productive hours can kick butt 100% .
I'd rather get off at 3 o'clock every day , be able to go to the gym or do something else and then still get home for 5 o'clock .
Have a beer , have a beer , whatever .
¶ Embracing Change and Collaboration
I agree , things are changing . Things are changing .
Things are changing Things are changing and push that change . Working with guys like Mark , I think , working towards solutions to find ways to innovate and make your life a little bit easier . Right To realize you don't have to know everything right . A little humility will help you a long way . Awesome , right .
You know what I think that's a way , honestly and mark , thank you so much not only for being a guest , but a guest actually joining the family .
We appreciate it and , uh , more than you'll ever know , we really do appreciate it . Thank you , thank you so much this is really valuable to us , and and your insights as well , so thank you thank you , I appreciate it .
It was really great over here . Cheers , bye .