Justin Breen was an entrepreneur trapped in a job until 5 years ago. A journalist by trade, he started BREpic as his salaried work was going away. I love hearing about people’s journeys to Entrepreneurship – they are all so different and inspiring in different ways – and Justin’s is one of perseverance. His conversion rate was pretty low at the beginning – 1 in 1000. To get his first 5 clients he talked to 5000. I think most of us would have called it way before that! Join us to hear that story and our discussions around: The importance of family and why his always comes firstHow he decides who to work withWhere the future of public relations isPricing of servicesThe difference between Entrepreneurs and Business OwnersWhy getting into small rooms is important on a number of levels It’s another great episode

For our last recorded episode of 2021, we wanted to go out with a bang, so we have not one, but THREE guests! Neil Stephen, Shelagh Cummins, and John Swain join us to share their expertise in Marketing, Coaching, and Accounting and they serve up some amazing insights and tips! We discuss the changes we’ve seen in business throughout the pandemic, and which of those changes we believe to be permanent. We will also break down our top 3 pointers for business owners in 2022, and what our biggest goals are for the upcoming year.

On this episode of The Real Bottom Line, we share and discuss our favourite business books that we’ve read over the past year. A few of the books we discuss include Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy’s Who Not How, which lays out a blueprint of changing your thinking around your work; Fotini Iconomopoulos’ Say Less, Get More, which teaches an inclusive approach to negotiating, and Tarek Hadad’s Peace by Chocolate story shows us how community and perseverance can let you build success from scratch.

Serial entrepreneur, published author, and CEO of ClearToYou, Frances Shagen, sits down to discuss what you can and can’t delegate when it comes to your accounting, how Mastermind changed her business, and the 3 most important questions you should be asking before hiring your bookkeeper. With a background in accounting and finance, Frances focuses on helping women, especially Indigenous women, start and grow their own enterprises. Learn more about Frances’ journey and how you can be your own CFO in this episode of The Real Bottom Line.

Laural Carr, owner of Impagination, a marketing firm in Toronto focusing on sevice-based businesses, is about to celebrate her 35th year in business. We talk about productizing your services - the Why and the How? We talk about pricing and when you should value based price versus charge by the hour. You will want to tune into this episode to learn about what elephants, meatloaf and GPS have to do with marketing. It’s a great one!

Roxanne Tate is the owner of Tate Engineering Inc. and Airtight Spaces. She is about to hit the ten-year mark and is sharing a lot of the lessons she has learned along the way. Join us on this episode as we discuss... - The importance of values - How to evaluate business opportunities - Being deliberate about your growth - The pros and cons of real estate investing

The first two-time guest - this episode is less interview and more conversation. Business coach extraordinaire, Andrea Ivanka and I discuss the importance of strategic planning, how we approach it, the elements to consider and some surprising tactical implementation suggestions.

Michael Devenney, the Founder of WorkInsights and The Mindset Project, is a trailblazer in the leadership field. He researches, consults and builds tools so that teams can build stronger, more profitable and longer lasting companies. Michael is very forthcoming about his PTSD and depressive periods – his weekly LinkedIn posts let so many entrepreneurs know that they aren’t alone. We talk about mental health and entrepreneurs (67% of business owners will have an occurrence of mental health issues during their working life) and the stigma that is still prevalent that prevents many of them from reaching out for help. Michael outlines the support systems he has built, and how a good hike is so helpful.

I have known Teresa Easler for almost a decade. In that time, I have learned soooo much from her – and now you can too! We talk about perseverance, dealing with debt, and shifting your mindset. Teresa measures everything and delivers some amazing truths around pricing and when to charge for things you may be doing for free.Want to find out if you’re a presentation rockstar? Click here! (https://www.connecttothecore.com/presentation-rockstar-scorecard)

TRUST. It affects your topline, your bottom line, and everything in between. It seems like a nebulous concept, but my guest, Natalie Oldfield has developed The Client Trust Index™. This tool gives you proven, objective data that helps you make decisions, improve your customer experience, increase retention, and deepen relationships. We talk about how she transitioned from CMO, and her journey to becoming a world-renowned Trust Expert.

Susan Diaz is a messaging maven who has gone all in on podcasts as anchor content. Her company, c+p digital, takes on the task of developing a great concept all the way through to publishing, and repurposing podcasts into compelling content. Starting as a chocolatier in India, we discuss how she came to Toronto and her journey to business ownership.

Nathalie Morin and Julien Rousseau-Dumarcet met and fell in love in Wakefield, QC. He; a Frenchmen with a passion for chocolate; she, a young hospitality professional who had itchy feet! Together they travelled to Europe and began their adventures. They worked for a handful of award-winning hotels and independent chocolatiers in France, England, and Scotland. They had envisioned setting up shop in Halifax 2 years prior to arriving in Canada. But why Halifax? Because it offered a great quality of life, had many European influences, and was conveniently located between Ottawa and Roquebrune-sur-Argens - the couples' respective hometowns! 7 years, 1 expansion, 2 babies, 1 house, lots and lots of blood, sweat & tears later.... Here we ARE! A true commitment to dedication, hard work and a solid partnership! 

A graduate from Acadia University in 1986 with a BA in Health and Physical Education, Tanya was a physical education teacher in HRM for 10 years and as a co-owner was instrumental in the success of the Nubody’s chain of Fitness Centres.  A customer service advocate, Tanya is a relationship builder and focuses on the special touches. Currently, Tanya is the Director of WORKSPACE Atlantic and President of Mattie Capital. She is an active community volunteer, involved in fundraising with the Canadian Progress Club-Halifax Citadel, Chisholm Services for Children, Family SOS, Phoenix Youth, Oakfield Golf Club, and the United Church of Canada. Phoenix Youth nominated her for the 2016 Maritime Philanthropy Awards as Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser. In 2019 Tanya was awarded the Community Heart Award from Chisholm Services for Children and currently sits on the Foundation board with Chisholm. Tanya was recently awarded the Progression of the year 2020 for Canadian Progress Club Halifax Citadel and the Eastern Region. Staying active with fitness, yoga, golf, kayaking, and biking are high on Tanya’s priority list as is travel and spending time with her husband and family - which includes 5 grandchildren !

As a co-founder and CEO at RIDDL, and Partner and former Managing Partner of Code + Mortar, Jenelle Sobey is motivated to build a sustainable, competitive and resilient world. She believes that the tech sector can enable and scale solutions to achieve that. Jenelle has so much experience in starting and building businesses, so she will be sharing with us her start-up secrets. She has been recognized with tons of awards for her work - too many for us to list here!

In this episode, we decided to shake things up a bit. We interview Melanie Little, founder of startup vLife, about her vision and goals of supporting buying local. Then, Melanie joins me in the host chair, and we turn our attention to one of her clients – Bernadette. A fascinating double interview about building a business and celebrating along the way.

Megan O'Neill is a Mindset Mentor and Certified Core Belief Engineering (CBE) Practitioner who, for over 19 years, has helped clients break-fee of limiting subconscious beliefs, fears and patterns. Her work specializes in the area of money mindset—assisting clients in understanding why they're operating the way they are and then working to clear it at a deep level so they can transform their relationship with money! She lives in Ottawa with her husband Kevin and her teens Sara and Tommy. www.meganoneill.ca  https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-o-neill-36392999/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/CoreBeliefsforBusiness https://www.instagram.com/megancorebeliefs/  Freebie/Offer: The Confidence Lab - https://meganoneill.ca/confidence-lab-own-your-entrepreneurial-expertise/

Shelagh's journey began in the classroom as a teacher for 12 years. A decade ago, she traded in her regular paycheck for the freedom and flexibility of entrepreneurship, starting with a parenting blog and tutoring business. It wasn't until she was the emcee at a business conference that she discovered her true calling, and began facilitating women's business training and coaching entrepreneurs to greater business success. Today, Shelagh is the Founder and CEO of The Road to Seven, helping visionary entrepreneurs take empowered action to achieve their ambitious dreams.

Brent started his sales career doing door-to-door sales for various charities. This is where he discovered his love for sales, getting to talk to people from all different walks of life, coast to coast across Canada. He then transitioned into a tech start up and got to work with small business owners across North America, helping to connect them with other businesses to solve their pain points. He then partnered with his amazing fiancée, Leslie, to launch The Full Prism Group. One of their core services is showing business owners that sales don't have to be scary and intimidating. They teach strategies and help to generate leads as well as generally keeping their back office organized, whether that means implementing new project management software or getting their books up to date.

In this episode we break down the 5 key numbers every entrepreneur should know.

Over the past decade, Matt Symes has worked with over 400 organizations to help them understand the principles, methods, and tools of high performing organizations.  From helping a manufacturing company scale from 20m to over 150m a year, a construction company from 42m to 200m/annualized and countless other organizations from 1m - 10m, Matt has had a front row seat on the trials and tribulations of organizations going through scale.   Symplicity Designs is a B Corp that measures and supports a triple bottom line - People, Planet, and Profit. Over the last decade they have given back more than 4.2m in Low-Bono, Pro-Bono, and Cash to the social sector. Their work in the education system, the health care system,   Matt and his team provided guidance to more than 1800 business leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic with a series of early stage webinars to help organizations get oriented and prepare for the pandemic. As a result of his efforts, he was named the 2021 Business leader of the year in Nova Scotia.  He not only helps other organizations scale but he leads an equity portfolio of 8 organizations. They have skin in the game and use these same principles to scale their own organizations.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-symes-8328a765/   

Amanda started working at Home Hardware as a teen and eventually worked her way up to a management position. She learned how to run a business from the ground up and is now an owner of the same store she started out at! Join us as we chat with Amanda about how she managed to keep everything running smoothly throughout a pandemic and major supply shortages, while also continuing to grow the business.

Shaun, is the Founder and CEO of Blue Cow Marketing. He was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug at a young age. He knows firsthand how much love and determination gets poured into running a business after spending more than 10 years touring all over Canada learning from different industries. Not only is Shaun passionate about marketing he also developed some very unique abilities to stay current with changing technology in this ever-progressive world. Now as a Keap Certified Partner for 10 years, Shaun helps businesses owners implement automation in their business to grow their bottom line and get their lives back. Learn more: http://bluecowmarketing.ca/automate LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunwhynacht

In this episode, Wendy takes on some of the top questions submitted to her about finance and business.

Tracey is an accomplished professional with 20 years of experience in the financial services industry working directly or indirectly with personal, commercial and corporate clients to help them achieve their financial goals. A demonstrated passion for increasing financial fitness coupled with lending and risk management experience led to the establishment of Bissett Financial Fitness Inc. As Chief Financial Fitness Trainer of Bissett Financial Fitness Inc., Tracey educates and empowers individuals, notably young adults, and entrepreneurs to take control of and live their financial lives with confidence. As a former executive at TD Bank, one of Canada’s Big 5 Banks, Tracey has worked with and in support of thousands of individuals and entrepreneurs to secure the financing they needed. This hands on experience coupled with her formal financial education, Masters of Business Administration and Chartered Financial Analyst designation, position Tracey uniquely to coach about all things money. Tracey is a full time professor in the financial services faculty within the Business School at Centennial College. She leads speaking engagements and is the Executive Producer and host of the Young Money podcast all focused on increasing financial fitness. Recently named a Silver Award winner for The IFSE Institute Award for Financial Literacy Champion through the Wealth Professional Awards 2020. A native of Nova Scotia, Tracey enjoys giving back the community and actively volunteers with Therapeutic Paws of Canada, the United Way of Toronto & York Region as well as Junior Achievement of Central Ontario.

Tim is co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Fit First Technologies. His fascination with why and how people end up in the right or wrong careers started 45 years ago when he was hired for his first job – delivering flyers for the local newspaper. As he progressed up his professional ladder, he saw top performers move up and those who – well – didn’t. Often, it wasn’t because they were incompetent, but rather that their skills and personality didn’t fit that role or company. He realized that personal and professional success happens when the ‘fit’ is right.     In 1995 Tim founded the Brennan Group of Online Companies – a firm that provided training to North American businesses on strengthening their sales leadership. It was here that he first started counselling clients on the impact of smarter selection practices. Along the way, the technology of assessing and predicting fit enabled Tim’s vision of helping companies adopt a better way to find, select and hire became a reality. A decade or so later that company became Fit First Technologies. More recently, Tim and the Fit First team have been instrumental in helping clients such as Atlantic Superstores, Admiral Insurance, Eden Valley Poultry, FYI Doctors and others reduce turnover, increase efficiencies, and generate a return on investment of more than 300% in one year all through better people practices.    Tim’s passion for helping companies select great people and for people to find their dream career continues to be fueled by his belief that everyone will be more successful when companies measure what matters in the hiring process and sort potential employees by their Fit First; then education and work experience. 

On this episode of the Real Bottom Line we go surprisingly deep on pricing, sales and lifelong learning with Andrea Ivanka. Andrea coaches Entrepreneurs in building and scaling their business in an authentic way.   

A fountain of knowledge bombs, Colleen Cole of PERMA-DRY® has so many lessons to share. She found herself in Africa and has been growing into her true abilities ever since. Tenacity, a willingness to do what had to be done, and going full speed ahead once a decision has been made is key to her success.   

Overcoming mindset and bias, Debbie Adams is a reluctant entrepreneur. Join our conversation as we discuss her journey and the work she does to help blue collar entrepreneurs start and grow their business. Curiosity, learning and developing self-confidence are key tools she has used to build her successful enterprise. 

Sarah Mullins is a HR professional and accidental Entrepreneur. She tried it for a year and it stuck. Join us as we talk about the world of HR and how as business owners we can turn HR into an investment to fuel the growth of our companies.

By day, Andre is the owner of a Engineering Company. But his secret super power is learning, thinking, and simplifying complexities. He fearlessly tackle complex problems, anticipates roadblocks, and decisively uncovers unique solutions while under pressure in order to solve the impossible. We are going to talk about the pros and cons of being an impulsive thinker and how to harness that power to do great work. 

Corinne is the daughter of a teacher and a lawyer - which probably explains a lot about her desire to share and explain the legal stuff.  After escaping many years of the big law firm life (aka the "soul-sucking situation"), Corinne started her entrepreneurial legal journey in 2012.   What started as a 40-hour in-person legal course developed for small business owners has now also turned into guided legal templates for Canadians doing business online.  Corinne has a knack for making things practical and easy to implement. Being a lawyer since 2002 has given her perspective and experience to boil things down to the essentials.  Corinne is originally from Cape Breton Island and lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia with her spouse, Martin, two teenagers Enya and Owen and new rescue pup, Kiwi.  Corinne’s hobbies include playing guitar with her band “The Mother Pluckers” and playing hockey with the Puckers.     Corinne's motto is "Work Hard. Have Fun. Give Back."  www.instagram.com/lawyercorinne   https://twitter.com/lawyercorinne   https://www.facebook.com/onlinelegalessentials  https://www.onlinelegalessentials.ca/a/46574/tyMFJRL2

John Swain is no ordinary accountant.  Full of passion and purpose, we got so many truth bombs in this interview it was tough to pick out just one! Revenue is a vanity stat, labour efficiency should be 3:1, you should be monitoring your return on revenue, make numbers part of your weekly or monthly habits. And my all-time favorite – Busy is the new stupid.  You don’t want to miss this episode. 

A thought leader in the financial planning space, Martha is leading the change on advisors integrating behavioural finance and money mindset into their practices. Her recent book, Cleopatra's Riches, is now an international best seller. Martha’s passion for changing the conversation around money and finances has become the focus of her life’s work. She believes in everyone’s ability to create positive and impactful change in their lives by taking back control through their own understanding and self-development. She invests her whole heart as she tries to bring out the best in the people she works with so that they can feel empowered in their financial journey. As an author and financial educator, Martha is committed to this process, and to keeping the conversation moving forward. 

Prior to much of 2020, Kim ran a thriving speaker's bureau. Overnight, business evaporated. Kim got curious and listened. It led to her getting the PCMA Digital Event Strategist. Our conversation covers a lot of ground around planning virtual events and what is happening next. Kimberley King is a passionate leader in the Canadian meetings and events industry. A proud founding board member of the Atlantic Canada Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and a Past President, Kim has lead the industry from the inside out. As a member of IASB (International Association of Speakers Bureaus) she offer clients a global reach on speakers, celebrities and subject matter experts. Kimberley studied at Mount St. Vincent University in the Public Relations program in Halifax, Nova Scotia and graduated from the Advertising and Public Relations program of Grant MacEwan in Edmonton, Alberta. She is a recent graduate of the Virtual Event & Meeting Management Course from Event Learning Institute and holds the PCMA Digital Event Strategist Designation (DES). 

Join us as Aria talks about manifestation in your personal and business life, and how to identify and achieve your highest potential Aria Raphael is Self-Actualization and Manifestation Coach, Channeler, Healer, Business and Leadership Consultant, and Public Speaker. She has been leading transformational programs for 14 years and has training in coaching, transformational practices, energy and healing work, leadership, and organizational and management consulting. Her newest program, “The Alchemy of Living,” teaches manifestation, deep healing of emotion and consciousness, grounded living, boundaries, and alignment with one’s highest path and outcomes. It is her calling and passion to help individuals and businesses discover and fulfill their authentic purpose and greatest potential. 

Fotini Iconomopoulos is a master negotiator, and in this episode of The Real Bottom Line she gives us some great tips on preparing for and conducting negotiations. Bonus, she also tells you how to make your kids do what you ask!  https://www.linkedin.com/in/fotiniiconomopoulos

Cynthia Mason is a Canadian lawyer and trademark agent with a passion for helping businesses arm themselves with the information and tools necessary to protect their brands from copycats. Over the span of her near 20-year legal career, she has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies to protect their names, logos and taglines from theft and misuse. Cynthia is also a legal innovator and has developed an online platform for registering trademarks, making professional brand protection accessible for entrepreneurs and small businesses. LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/masonpc/ IG/FB - @masonpctrademarks Websites: https://masonpc.com/ and https://markably.ca/