Geotechnical engineering for logistically challenged and remote projects throughout Canada

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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone and welcome to Canada's podcast. I'm your host, Bonnie LG.
[00:10] SPEAKER_00: And today I'm thrilled to welcome Adam Temple from Inline Group, headquartered in Edmonton
[00:15] SPEAKER_00: as our special guest. Today we're going to dig into Adam's career as an entrepreneur,
[00:22] SPEAKER_00: some of the hard lessons he's learned along the way. We're also going to talk about his
[00:26] SPEAKER_00: deep commitment to community and how he's integrating that passion into the corporate culture at Inline
[00:33] SPEAKER_00: Group. So Adam, welcome to the show. It's great to have you here.
[00:38] SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much, Bonnie. It's a pleasure. Thanks for making the time.
[00:41] SPEAKER_00: Awesome. Well, before we get into some of our questions, it would be great if you could introduce
[00:46] SPEAKER_00: yourselves to our listeners and just tell us a little bit about your personal journey as an entrepreneur.
[00:53] SPEAKER_02: Sure, I'd love to, you know, I guess first and foremost, I'm a husband and a
[00:59] SPEAKER_02: dad of two little boys. So I have a three year old and a one year old. So as much as I'm an
[01:05] SPEAKER_02: entrepreneur, I'm in the thick of bad life, that's for sure. So those are the five and times.
[01:11] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, those are the fun times and they take up most of my day for sure. But yeah, so it's all
[01:17] SPEAKER_02: on, on, on, on, on, on, on journey. So I moved to Alberta in 2007. I came from St. John's, New
[01:24] SPEAKER_02: Finland with the intention of coming to Alberta to work in BAM for or go to Jasper and kind of live
[01:32] SPEAKER_02: this free life and escape school is, is kind of how my journey started. I'd like to go back a little
[01:39] SPEAKER_02: bit further. As a child, you know, my parents tell me I was very independent and I was kind of,
[01:46] SPEAKER_02: kind of always one of the do things on my own and do things myself. And as I worked into my teenage
[01:52] SPEAKER_02: years, my mom and dad got divorced and I lived with my father. And he was a work in man. He was a
[02:00] SPEAKER_02: tradesman. He was a carpenter by trade and, you know, long hours, long days. And that kind of left
[02:08] SPEAKER_02: me to quote unquote, fend for my own. So once again, just very independent, kind of in control of my
[02:15] SPEAKER_02: own fate. So I came to Alberta and, and with that in mind, I, you know, I think I got the taste
[02:22] SPEAKER_02: of the opportunity in Alberta. And everyone knows that this is a, you know, I think this is a great
[02:28] SPEAKER_02: province for opportunity. And there's a ton, there's, there's a ton of opportunity out here for
[02:34] SPEAKER_02: the right person. So I landed in Alberta in 2007, heading to BAMF and I, and I quickly learned
[02:42] SPEAKER_02: about the oil sands. I'd never heard of the oil sands before. You know, I heard about the money I
[02:48] SPEAKER_02: had, the, or the, or the opportunity of the money I had to make up there. So I headed to Fort,
[02:54] SPEAKER_02: I headed to Fort McMurray and, and, you know, loan and loan behold, I was making, you know, 70 or
[02:59] SPEAKER_02: 80,000 dollars kind of just boom, you know, as quick as quick as I could get there. And I guess
[03:08] SPEAKER_02: that kind of transformed Bonnie a little bit into, you know, I seen the opportunity and I still had
[03:13] SPEAKER_02: that, that want and that need to kind of be the controller of my own fate. And, and in 2012, my,
[03:20] SPEAKER_02: my business partner and I, Ryan Dunbar, co-founded in line construction surveys. And from there, we,
[03:28] SPEAKER_02: you know, we, the company evolved. So we were part of some major projects in the Fort McMurray region.
[03:36] SPEAKER_02: And, yeah, you know, I, you know, I think the, the rest is history and I'm sure we'll, I'm sure we'll
[03:40] SPEAKER_02: dig into it as the, as the check was on here, but that's a quick overview of how we got started.
[03:47] SPEAKER_00: And so, maybe tell us a little bit, like, what are the services that in line provides? And where did
[03:54] SPEAKER_00: you see there was that opportunity in the market, you know, to maybe address needs that weren't
[03:59] SPEAKER_00: being met or, or just that there was so much opportunity that was space for inline?
[04:05] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure. So 2012, you know, it was, it was pretty busy in the oil sense. So we provide
[04:14] SPEAKER_02: construction survey as what we started out as. And, and we've evolved since then, but in 2012,
[04:21] SPEAKER_02: there was a lot of big companies providing the services that we, that we wanted to provide. So,
[04:26] SPEAKER_02: you know, we seen that opportunity to kind of slide in and be a little bit more of a, you know, a small,
[04:32] SPEAKER_02: mod pop, boutique shop that just really concentrated on service. You know, and we'll touch on this
[04:41] SPEAKER_02: a little bit later, but they were solely dedicated to profit, right? Like that's, that's what they were
[04:48] SPEAKER_02: concerned about. You know, when Ron and I are very much so the opposite, right? The customer comes first
[04:55] SPEAKER_02: and our employees come first, who are very much so concentrated on those two items.
[05:01] SPEAKER_02: So that was kind of the, I think what started that is we were kind of fed up and we were kind of sick
[05:06] SPEAKER_02: of working for these companies that had people sitting in a, you know, an ivory tower, some people
[05:11] SPEAKER_02: call it, but sitting in an ivory tower just telling you what you can't, can't do, not so much
[05:18] SPEAKER_02: what you can do, but just just just that restriction. But yeah, so to back a little bit currently as
[05:26] SPEAKER_02: of today, so we provide geotechnical engineering materials testing and surveying services for
[05:35] SPEAKER_02: generally large companies across Canada. We pursue logistically challenged and remote projects
[05:41] SPEAKER_02: throughout all of Canada. So the best way for me to describe that is imagine taking all of our
[05:49] SPEAKER_02: provinces, cutting them in half, everything in the north of our provinces is where we generally
[05:55] SPEAKER_00: pursue work. So that brings up a very interesting question. It sounds like you go after maybe those
[06:04] SPEAKER_00: projects that are more difficult and challenging. And so what is it about that type of work that
[06:14] SPEAKER_00: attracts you and why have you kind of made that finished for in-line group?
[06:21] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's certainly challenging to say the least, you know, for first and foremost,
[06:26] SPEAKER_02: it's right in how we phrase it, it's very logistically challenged.
[06:30] SPEAKER_02: But it's just what we know, right? I think that's the main reason why we pursue this. It's kind of
[06:37] SPEAKER_02: the DNA of our company. It's the expertise and the skills that we've developed over the last
[06:46] SPEAKER_02: nine years, suit those projects. However, it also levels the playing field. So you can imagine for
[06:56] SPEAKER_02: in-line to try to go compete in the greater Toronto region right now would probably be impossible,
[07:02] SPEAKER_02: right? Because we're competing with local firms with local people. However, when we compete in a
[07:09] SPEAKER_02: place like Tim and Zonterio, the local competition is lessened, right? So it, you know,
[07:16] SPEAKER_02: it kind of levels that playing field and generally everyone is bringing workforce from outside of
[07:22] SPEAKER_02: the region, which gives in-line opportunities to kind of provide price and hopefully win work within
[07:27] SPEAKER_00: the region. And are you a person would you describe yourself as someone who likes adventure and
[07:34] SPEAKER_00: challenge? Like is that part of what has kind of fed this evolution to focus on that type of work?
[07:42] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so not only myself, you know, my business partner, you know, many people say, you know,
[07:48] SPEAKER_02: your business partnership is one of, if not one of the most important partnerships you ever have,
[07:56] SPEAKER_02: just as important as marriage and Ryan and I are very lucky to be as aligned as we are. But for sure,
[08:03] SPEAKER_02: so we both love a challenge, you know, and I think that's really what feeds this. I think it would be
[08:11] SPEAKER_02: easy enough for us to really concentrate on Edmonton where our main office is located, but
[08:16] SPEAKER_02: these logistically challenged and remote projects are just that, they're really challenged, they're tough
[08:23] SPEAKER_02: and they're really rewarding, right? Because generally it's big projects that are
[08:28] SPEAKER_02: talked about throughout the entire country, right? So something like the Fort Hills project in
[08:34] SPEAKER_02: Fort McMurray that just got finished, you know, I think was finished maybe three or four years ago,
[08:39] SPEAKER_02: but it was the talk of the country when it was being built, right? And it, you know,
[08:46] SPEAKER_02: it's a bit of pride, I guess, saying that we're working on some of the largest projects throughout
[08:51] SPEAKER_00: throughout our countries is a little bit of fun. Yeah, for sure. Well, I'd love to maybe back up a bit,
[09:00] SPEAKER_00: Adam and talk a bit, like you started in line at quite a young age, 22 and came out and,
[09:07] SPEAKER_00: and you know, sounds like you really built your career from the ground up, you know, didn't have
[09:13] SPEAKER_00: connections or that that you pulled on right away. Can you share if maybe a lesson or two or an
[09:21] SPEAKER_00: experience where you really had to overcome some hardship and obstacles? And you know, I think of
[09:27] SPEAKER_00: our listeners and many of them is in particular over the last 18 months. I mean, it's been a really
[09:34] SPEAKER_00: difficult time and we can draw on stories from entrepreneurs, you know, who can share experiences
[09:40] SPEAKER_00: of how they've overcome or maybe how you've pivoted not necessarily in COVID, but at other times
[09:46] SPEAKER_00: in your careers and been able to adapt and, and, you know, get over those obstacles that can come
[09:53] SPEAKER_02: sometimes seem insurmountable to start. Yeah, this is, you know, I feel like I have a,
[10:01] SPEAKER_02: I have so many to pull on, Bonnie, but, you know, I was assuming this question would come up in one,
[10:08] SPEAKER_02: you know, it just continually pops to mind. So, you know, Ryan and I started and we were two guys
[10:15] SPEAKER_02: from from the field, right? We didn't have any business experience, no financial experience. So,
[10:23] SPEAKER_02: 2012, we started and we, you know, we realized that our biggest gap was going to be our book
[10:28] SPEAKER_02: keeping and our financial management part of our business. So, we searched out, you know, a book
[10:35] SPEAKER_02: keeper or, you know, someone to look over our finances and pay our people and kind of do the checks
[10:42] SPEAKER_02: and balances, you know, and we were very trusting at that time. So, we let this person kind of have
[10:49] SPEAKER_02: free reign and at the end of the month, they give us a P&L and say, hey, you guys made some money and,
[10:55] SPEAKER_02: you know, at that time, we just high-fived each other like heck man, we're, you know, we're really doing
[11:00] SPEAKER_02: this in 2012 or no, 2014. We switched our accounting firms to MNP and, you know, our accountant
[11:13] SPEAKER_02: from MNP was like, you know, guy, something's just not at, not here. So, after they did some,
[11:20] SPEAKER_02: some death digging, we found out that that book keeper, that person that we thought was taking care
[11:27] SPEAKER_02: of us so well, had actually stolen over $300,000. Wow. Yeah, so, you know, luckily, you know, our
[11:39] SPEAKER_02: business was still doing well and still, you know, still able to survive that. But I think the
[11:48] SPEAKER_02: biggest lesson there and the biggest, you know, you ask about challenges is, was really the mental
[11:53] SPEAKER_02: challenge on that one. You know, especially for me, you know, Ryan, you know, at this time,
[12:01] SPEAKER_02: in 2014, it kind of evolved and Ryan was kind of the field guy and I was the office guy.
[12:08] SPEAKER_02: You know, so the office and the finance side of this was buying and to kind of get that
[12:15] SPEAKER_02: dagger put in you to say, hey, you lost the company, $300,000. So, that was a huge mental barrier
[12:24] SPEAKER_02: to come over. Luckily, I did, but, you know, there's so many lessons to come to come out of that,
[12:32] SPEAKER_02: but, you know, if I was to give one lesson to, you know, to a young entrepreneur that's starting,
[12:39] SPEAKER_02: I would say don't be afraid to ask a stupid question or what you deem as a stupid question.
[12:46] SPEAKER_02: I think I could have protected myself a lot more by asking my unknowns.
[12:53] SPEAKER_02: You know, I was very much so afraid to say, hey, you know, miss bookkeeper, can you explain
[12:59] SPEAKER_02: this to me because it doesn't make sense? I just, in my head, I kind of spun it up to say, oh,
[13:04] SPEAKER_02: I don't know anything about finance. That's got to be right. I think that person's doing what
[13:09] SPEAKER_02: they need to do, but, you know, as an owner and entrepreneur, the leader of the business, I think you
[13:15] SPEAKER_02: have a right to understand everything, even though if you're going into the conversation with
[13:22] SPEAKER_02: the, you know, understand your skill set and you have to ask 10 extra questions, I think,
[13:28] SPEAKER_02: I think that's your right. So, that's my, yeah, that's my biggest one. You know, there's
[13:35] SPEAKER_02: tons of money, but I think that's the one that I could really draw on and I still to this day,
[13:39] SPEAKER_02: I think, of that scenario and always go back to it. So, how have you, I guess, had the resilience
[13:50] SPEAKER_00: to survive in an industry that is very cyclical. It's very up and down. And, you know, certainly,
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: I mean, you've been through cycles now just with Bivrochio of how long in line has been around.
[14:08] SPEAKER_00: How do you ride through those times and how do you still find a way to build a strategy,
[14:15] SPEAKER_02: you know, for success and growth? Yeah, such a such a big question, hey, so first and foremost,
[14:24] SPEAKER_02: I'll say I don't think we really had a strategy up until recently. So, I would say my one
[14:32] SPEAKER_02: comment here, you know, I think we were just very opportunistic for our first eight years.
[14:40] SPEAKER_02: So, anything that was presented in front of us, we were very quick to react and we were very adaptable.
[14:47] SPEAKER_02: I, you know, I think that's been the big one when you could always draw on, let's say,
[14:52] SPEAKER_02: throughout our eight years, we weren't set in stone, let's say this is what we're doing and this
[14:57] SPEAKER_02: is how we're going to do it. We were very adaptable, right? So, we changed it as our industry changed.
[15:05] SPEAKER_02: And as well, you know, as the, you know, I think the famous things go, you know, we diversified
[15:11] SPEAKER_02: at 2018 and added that geotechnical engineering and materials testing division, which has been a,
[15:17] SPEAKER_02: you know, it's now makes up 30% of our business, which is amazing. So, that's been a, you know,
[15:24] SPEAKER_02: a huge key to our success in the last nine, nine years. And then third, I think just relationships
[15:30] SPEAKER_02: for us, you know, it just truly comes back to relationships and a lot of those people that we've
[15:37] SPEAKER_02: initially worked with in, you know, 13 and 14 and 15, you know, I've now moved on to other projects
[15:43] SPEAKER_02: somewhere in Western Canada or even across Canada. And we've been able to maintain those relationships.
[15:50] SPEAKER_02: You know, people looking up at the pages kind of data. See the next project and that's how we've
[15:55] SPEAKER_02: very much shown organically grown over the last eight or nine years here.
[16:06] SPEAKER_00: Well, I know one of the things Adam that you've mentioned is really important to you is,
[16:12] SPEAKER_00: is around giving back to community. And that's really one of the pillars of, of in line today.
[16:20] SPEAKER_00: Can you tell us a bit about first of all why that's such a passion of yours? And then, you know,
[16:27] SPEAKER_00: how do you make that part of your corporate culture? How is it part of just the way that you,
[16:32] SPEAKER_00: you conduct yourselves? You know, we hear a lot of lip service to corporate social responsibility
[16:38] SPEAKER_00: and that type of thing, but interested to hear how you've been able to infuse that into your organization.
[16:46] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure. You know, and it certainly is something that's important to me.
[16:53] SPEAKER_02: You know, it's always been important to me and I think it comes from my grandparents.
[16:57] SPEAKER_02: You know, both sides of my grandparents were very much so involved in their communities.
[17:03] SPEAKER_02: And you know, it might have skipped the generations with my parents. They were very much so worker bees.
[17:08] SPEAKER_02: And we didn't do a lot of that as children, but something my grandparents kind of
[17:12] SPEAKER_02: still did me from a young, out of young age. But on my journey throughout the last nine years,
[17:20] SPEAKER_02: you know, it's only a recently that we've started really, you know, making a conservative effort
[17:25] SPEAKER_02: and making it a part of our strategy. And that stems from me reading a book called The Triple
[17:32] SPEAKER_02: Bottle Blind. Right, and that's where it kind of all started. And you know, I think one story really
[17:38] SPEAKER_02: stuck out to me is about the Hershey factory. So we all know Hershey bars. And the story goes that,
[17:47] SPEAKER_02: you know, the Hershey board just decided that they were going to sell the business to the highest
[17:51] SPEAKER_02: bidder at that one point in their, in their living. And the entire community so was in
[18:02] SPEAKER_02: Hershey, Pennsylvania, I think it's the town's name. So, you know, obviously that town was fueled
[18:07] SPEAKER_02: by the Hershey factory and the millions of dollars that it would have pumped into that community.
[18:14] SPEAKER_02: So they found out through a newspaper article. So the community, the community wasn't consulted,
[18:20] SPEAKER_02: the community wasn't talked about. And that's all these people's jobs, right? So
[18:25] SPEAKER_02: what had happened is essentially the entire community protested this sale, right? So
[18:34] SPEAKER_02: and the buyers of Hershey wouldn't buy it because they seen the disruption that it was causing.
[18:41] SPEAKER_02: And then obviously they were afraid that it was going to disrupt, you know, if they buy Hershey,
[18:47] SPEAKER_02: or their production, or these people are going to come back to work, or we actually going to have
[18:50] SPEAKER_02: a business to actually buy. And just really stuck with me. You know, those people sitting around
[19:01] SPEAKER_02: a boardroom were making the best decision that they could in terms of profit, right? But
[19:07] SPEAKER_02: there's so many other ways to measure the success of the business. And that really
[19:13] SPEAKER_02: what it comes back to me. So you ask about community investment. That's just a piece of it.
[19:19] SPEAKER_02: You know, I think that's very important to invest in our communities. And, you know,
[19:23] SPEAKER_02: that's generally the way most companies say that they're, they're, you know, they care about other
[19:28] SPEAKER_02: properties. They'll write a check. They'll, you know, kind of like you say, they'll kind of do
[19:32] SPEAKER_02: lip service. That is a little bit of lip service, right? Just write a check. It's easy. It's, you know,
[19:37] SPEAKER_02: what kind of, you know, it's quick. And there's not a, there's not a lot, a lot of stuff that needs to
[19:42] SPEAKER_02: be done. But I think just caring about all stakeholders and people that are involved from the business
[19:49] SPEAKER_02: is really where we kind of try to put rubber to pay when I guess. And that starts, which is
[19:57] Speaker UNKNOWN: communication and transparency around our whole business. So something as simple as every quarter
[20:04] Speaker UNKNOWN: will reveal our entire business to our people that includes our profit and loss, that includes
[20:11] SPEAKER_02: our balance sheet, that includes everything. So, you know, including people in that discussion and
[20:18] Speaker UNKNOWN: letting people know our business develop and how healthy or unhealthy it is, that's a really big
[20:25] SPEAKER_02: piece for me. Employee ownership, employee profit sharing is another one, you know, so, so,
[20:34] SPEAKER_02: we're really going through some steps right now to bring in some employee ownership.
[20:39] SPEAKER_02: And then through those that, you know, necessarily don't want to be an owner, we'll have employee
[20:45] SPEAKER_02: profit sharing as well. So, you know, much like in the book, the trip about a line, I think there
[20:52] SPEAKER_02: is a sweet spot. So, there's, you know, a trip about a line, there's three real key pieces,
[20:57] SPEAKER_02: there's the profit, which I think first and foremost is, you know, as far as people talk about this
[21:03] SPEAKER_02: trip about a line, the business still needs to make money to be able to do all these other initiatives.
[21:10] SPEAKER_02: And then there's the people and then there's the planet. So, when it speaks to people,
[21:14] SPEAKER_02: it's just, are you considering all of your stakeholders that are involved? So, that's both the internal
[21:19] SPEAKER_02: and external stakeholders. And then the environment is very much so straight forward. Like,
[21:24] SPEAKER_02: are we doing the best we can to protect and preserve our environment? Generally, there's a sweet spot,
[21:32] SPEAKER_02: right? So, not all businesses and I'll use the inline. There's not a ton that we can do
[21:40] SPEAKER_02: to change our business to help the environment per se. You know, now we can certainly
[21:48] SPEAKER_02: go pick garbage up off-side of the road or, you know, do something along those lines, but
[21:55] SPEAKER_02: we don't affect the environment with what we do. We go out of the field and look at things and
[22:00] Speaker UNKNOWN: we assess things. We're not really disturbing the environment. So, the two pieces that we really
[22:05] Speaker UNKNOWN: focus on are the profit and the people, right? So, external, internal stakeholders, you know,
[22:13] SPEAKER_02: we care about their entire journey. But, someone like Suncorner Energy, let's say, they would probably
[22:20] SPEAKER_02: care about all facets of that trip, that trip a lot of line, right? And they very much so too.
[22:26] SPEAKER_02: But they have the ability to change their business and positively affect the environment
[22:32] SPEAKER_02: when it's a company like in line, they don't have that opportunity because
[22:36] SPEAKER_02: until we can drive electric pickup trucks, it's not a ton that we can do change,
[22:40] SPEAKER_02: change our business. It's such a huge topic, Bonnie, and I'm still learning, I'm still learning about
[22:49] SPEAKER_02: this today and every day moving forward, but it is near and dear to my heart. You know, we
[22:57] SPEAKER_02: hire and fire based on that, you know, many of our people, if not all, are very much so
[23:04] SPEAKER_00: in the brain as well. So, what's next for you with the company? Like, where do you hope to be in five
[23:13] SPEAKER_02: years? Yeah, so, you know, I hope the business is just sustainable in five years, you know, I hope we
[23:26] SPEAKER_02: continue growing. You know, I hope we've hit some of our targets to, you know, put a regional
[23:34] SPEAKER_02: presence across the country, you know, and hopefully just keep up with this crazy world that we're in.
[23:41] SPEAKER_02: These, our industry is changing so much year by year. There's so much technology.
[23:49] SPEAKER_02: So, just trying to keep up with that.
[23:53] SPEAKER_00: And I'd like to maybe shift gears just for a few minutes, Adam, as we start to wind down our chat,
[24:00] SPEAKER_00: but you and I, when we were talking before, before we started the interview, you mentioned that you
[24:07] SPEAKER_00: are a lifelong learner and you really love to learn. And I'm wondering, are there some, you know,
[24:13] SPEAKER_00: other books besides the Triple Bottom Line, which you've already referenced or podcasts or
[24:19] SPEAKER_00: different resources that you could share with our listeners, but that you find helpful as you,
[24:25] SPEAKER_00: you know, are continually evolving and growing as an entrepreneur?
[24:30] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely. You know, so, so a couple of books that really come to mind is five
[24:36] SPEAKER_02: dysfunctions of a team by Patrick and Len Cioni. And I just think that will help me so so much when
[24:45] SPEAKER_02: I, when I got started and I still reference it pretty well every day or every week.
[24:52] SPEAKER_02: And there's also a system called EOS, which is entrepreneurial operating system.
[24:57] SPEAKER_02: Also known as like scaling up. There's a couple of different ones out there, but I think that's
[25:02] SPEAKER_02: what really took us from a, you know, just a bare bones entrepreneurial company to a company that
[25:08] SPEAKER_02: has a little bit of processes and procedures. So they have a, you know, a whole series of books,
[25:14] SPEAKER_02: but you could just look them up online. It's EOS. And then I think those books are fantastic.
[25:21] SPEAKER_02: And it's just some basic tools that you can use to kind of really help your business grow.
[25:27] SPEAKER_00: Awesome. I think those, those are really helpful. So is there anything else Adam that you'd
[25:34] SPEAKER_00: like to share either about your experience or, or just even how, you know, how you're,
[25:40] SPEAKER_00: you're feeling in terms of we are seeing our economies start to come out of the, all of the ramifications
[25:48] SPEAKER_00: and implications of the last 18 months and the changes that happen with the lockdown and the
[25:54] SPEAKER_00: pandemic. And, you know, how, how does the future look to you? Are you feeling optimistic and
[26:00] SPEAKER_02: how are things in Edmonton? Yeah, well, hot. Yeah, sure. You know, I think it's 30, 30 degrees
[26:07] SPEAKER_02: in here today, but yeah, like we're, we're really optimistic right now. You know, our team is busy.
[26:15] SPEAKER_02: Things seem to be moving in the world. You know, here in Alberta, obviously, restrictions are being
[26:20] SPEAKER_02: lifted a little bit. So that helps. Yeah, so very, very optimistic about the next little while.
[26:29] SPEAKER_02: You know, to speak on some challenges about COVID that we faced is, is, I think, I think the biggest
[26:34] SPEAKER_02: one for us has been the hiring. The hiring coming out of COVID and I haven't quite figured it out
[26:41] SPEAKER_02: yet, but I think it's, it's useful to share if any other entrepreneurs are there, are dealing with
[26:47] SPEAKER_02: this struggle. I think it's a, you know, a lot of people are dealing with it. This has been our
[26:52] SPEAKER_02: toughest year ever for hiring. So, and then any other feedback that I'd like to provide. So I'm
[27:02] SPEAKER_02: part of an organization called EO, so Entrepreneur or organization.
[27:11] SPEAKER_02: And I think I just want to give that a little plug because it's helped me so much.
[27:18] SPEAKER_02: And what it's really done is it's helped, it's given me a safe place to be vulnerable.
[27:25] SPEAKER_02: And, you know, once again, I go back to my example about our bookkeeper there when we lost that
[27:31] SPEAKER_02: money, is it, it gives me an opportunity to ask some questions that I necessarily don't feel
[27:38] SPEAKER_02: comfortable asking a, you know, a guy in a boardroom and I kind of feel silly, but it gives me a place
[27:45] SPEAKER_02: to, you know, to bring my issues or challenges every month, you know, we meet once a month and
[27:51] SPEAKER_02: it just gives me an opportunity to open up and get advice from other entrepreneurs and other
[27:57] SPEAKER_02: industry people. And it's been amazing for me personally and professionally. So I think if, you
[28:07] SPEAKER_02: know, and it doesn't have to be with EO by any means, but, you know, I think mentorship
[28:13] SPEAKER_02: or peer-to-peer learning, so anything that an entrepreneur can do to get themselves in that sort
[28:19] SPEAKER_02: of situation is a huge catalyst in my opinion. It's a, you know, it's truly something that everyone
[28:25] SPEAKER_02: should have. And once again, it just goes back to being vulnerable, right? I think everyone
[28:31] SPEAKER_02: needs a platform and needs an opportunity to be able to be vulnerable.
[28:36] SPEAKER_00: Absolutely. I mean, and I think, you know, that's one of the things too that we try to do with,
[28:42] SPEAKER_00: with even with the Canada's podcast, is to create that, that environment and that community
[28:47] SPEAKER_00: across the country where people can learn from each other and learn not only from your successes,
[28:53] SPEAKER_00: but also your mistakes. So I really appreciate you sharing your, a bit of your story today and
[29:00] SPEAKER_00: really nice to have you on the show. If anyone of our listeners wanted to find you online,
[29:06] SPEAKER_00: where would be the best place? Are you on the within or how could they connect with you?
[29:13] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn. So just as it sounds, Adam Temple. And that's about it. I try to steer
[29:21] SPEAKER_00: away from the other social media platforms. Awesome. Well, Adam, thank you so much for your time
[29:27] SPEAKER_00: today and wish you all the best for the rest of this year and well into the future and thank you
[29:35] SPEAKER_02: for being on the show. Awesome. Thanks, Bonnie. I appreciate your time.