Devon Dooling Discusses Ice Distribution for the Event, Hospitality and Retail Industries

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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: It's Vancouver's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:04] SPEAKER_01: Hello, this is Robert Smigel coming to today with Vancouver's podcast.
[00:07] SPEAKER_01: A member of the Canada's podcast network where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making
[00:12] SPEAKER_01: it happen here in Vancouver, British Columbia.
[00:15] SPEAKER_01: Devon Dooling lives and works in Vancouver, BC.
[00:19] SPEAKER_01: She's the owner of On the Rock's Ice Distribution and Co-owner of Simply Peerwater in Victoria,
[00:26] SPEAKER_01: BC.
[00:26] SPEAKER_01: On the Rock's Ice makes the coolest and cleanest ice this side, how the ice age and specializes
[00:33] SPEAKER_01: in chilling events, hospitality and retail throughout Vancouver and the lower mainland.
[00:39] SPEAKER_01: When Devon is not talking all things ice and water-related, you can likely find her and
[00:44] SPEAKER_01: her puppy Molly sipping on tea at a local coffee shop or on a soccer pitch with her
[00:49] SPEAKER_01: stepkids and husband.
[00:51] SPEAKER_01: Well, Devon, welcome to the show.
[00:53] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for taking the time today to be here for all our listeners.
[00:57] SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for having me.
[00:58] SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited.
[01:00] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[01:00] SPEAKER_01: Well, tell us a little bit more about yourself, where you're from and give us the details
[01:04] SPEAKER_01: on your cool current business.
[01:06] SPEAKER_02: Sure.
[01:08] SPEAKER_02: So, originally I'm from Vancouver Island.
[01:11] SPEAKER_02: I grew up there pretty much my entire life, went to school there.
[01:16] SPEAKER_02: I have a business degree, especially using and marketing communications.
[01:21] SPEAKER_02: So, that's kind of what I had done for the most part after graduating from university.
[01:29] SPEAKER_02: And kind of moved into that type of career, did some coordination for a mining and environmental
[01:36] SPEAKER_02: company and floated around in Vancouver, trying to figure out what I wanted to do for
[01:42] SPEAKER_02: the rest of my life.
[01:44] SPEAKER_02: And basically, I worked a lot of really great jobs that I totally loved.
[01:49] SPEAKER_02: And then, I fell into a couple jobs that I was so excited about.
[01:55] SPEAKER_02: I thought I'd sort of found my dream location, my dream company, and it kind of all blew
[02:04] SPEAKER_02: up in my face.
[02:05] SPEAKER_02: And I had never had an experience like that before.
[02:09] SPEAKER_02: I was sort of shocked and didn't really know what to do and sort of didn't have any explanation
[02:14] SPEAKER_02: as to why I was being told the things I was.
[02:19] SPEAKER_02: And why I was being let go.
[02:22] SPEAKER_02: And at that point, I just sort of didn't know what to do.
[02:25] SPEAKER_02: I had never had to know how to do a job before.
[02:30] SPEAKER_02: And I'm the type of person who likes to be busy all the time.
[02:34] SPEAKER_02: And the busier, the better, the better I work, the smarter I work.
[02:39] SPEAKER_02: And so I kind of was like, now what?
[02:41] SPEAKER_02: It's time to put on my thinking cap and figure out how to problem solve this.
[02:47] SPEAKER_02: And what am I going to do next?
[02:50] SPEAKER_02: And so around that time, an opportunity had come up for me to consider buying this company
[03:00] SPEAKER_02: on the rocks.
[03:01] SPEAKER_02: So I put on my financial cap and I had lots of people help me.
[03:10] SPEAKER_02: And I sort of did some deep diving into the business and how it worked and how successful
[03:16] SPEAKER_02: it was and whether I could afford to do it, whether it was something that I thought
[03:21] SPEAKER_02: would fit for me.
[03:23] SPEAKER_02: And really just tried to understand if this was going to work for me and what did I see
[03:30] SPEAKER_02: for myself.
[03:31] SPEAKER_02: And I figured that I had always wanted to be my own boss and the idea of not answering
[03:40] SPEAKER_02: to other people and just being the one person that could figure things out and make the
[03:45] SPEAKER_02: decisions really appeal to me.
[03:47] SPEAKER_02: And so I sort of dove in and thought why the heck not.
[03:50] SPEAKER_02: And that's how I became the owner of on the rocks.
[03:55] SPEAKER_02: And that's almost three years ago now.
[03:59] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[04:00] SPEAKER_01: Now did you need financing to start on the rocks and how do you make money in the business
[04:04] SPEAKER_01: now?
[04:05] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I did.
[04:06] SPEAKER_02: So obviously because I'm not just starting a business on my own, I was taking over
[04:13] SPEAKER_02: the purchase of the company.
[04:15] SPEAKER_02: I obviously needed to find the funding to do that.
[04:19] SPEAKER_02: So I was really lucky that I had some family who were able to help me out with this.
[04:25] SPEAKER_02: Otherwise I probably couldn't have made it work.
[04:29] SPEAKER_02: It's pretty tricky to find financing when you maybe don't have, I mean, I'm a little
[04:38] SPEAKER_02: bit younger than some people and maybe I don't have that background or that equity
[04:43] SPEAKER_02: already built up and it can be a tricky thing to navigate certainly.
[04:49] SPEAKER_02: But I was really lucky and fortunate that I had some family members who were able to
[04:53] SPEAKER_02: help me.
[04:54] SPEAKER_02: And so that was great.
[04:56] SPEAKER_02: So that allowed me to actually purchase the company outright.
[04:59] SPEAKER_02: And then in our first year of owning the company, I was able to pay the rest of the company
[05:06] SPEAKER_02: or pay the previous owners back the rest of what I owed them.
[05:12] SPEAKER_02: So that was really fantastic.
[05:15] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it has worked out really well in my favor, fortunately.
[05:20] SPEAKER_01: Good.
[05:20] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[05:21] SPEAKER_01: Now, what is the long-term vision and what will your company look like in the future?
[05:25] SPEAKER_01: Do you see the company expanding into other areas and where beyond Vancouver, BC or even
[05:30] SPEAKER_01: Canada?
[05:31] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[05:31] SPEAKER_02: So it's a weird thing owning a nice company.
[05:35] SPEAKER_02: When I purchase the company, I don't think I ever really understood quite how competitive
[05:43] SPEAKER_02: it can be and kind of crazy it can be and political and especially in Vancouver, there are several
[05:49] SPEAKER_02: different companies here.
[05:50] SPEAKER_02: So there is a lot of competition and to set yourself kind of apart from everybody and
[05:56] SPEAKER_02: to try to stand out and really get the clients because of that competition is really tricky.
[06:05] SPEAKER_02: So for me, I would absolutely love to see this company expand.
[06:11] SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited about how we've done over the last few years, even since I've taken over.
[06:18] SPEAKER_02: Really excited this year to see my sales double from last year, which is a huge accomplishment.
[06:25] SPEAKER_02: And it's a great little check box for me that lets me know that obviously I am doing
[06:30] SPEAKER_02: some things right.
[06:31] SPEAKER_02: So that's great affirmation.
[06:33] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I mean, the great thing for me is that I am connected with some people in
[06:41] SPEAKER_02: on Vancouver Island who also own a nice company over there and water.
[06:45] SPEAKER_02: And then I'm a part owner in another water company over there.
[06:49] SPEAKER_02: So there's lots of different ties to the island, which is really great and has been so beneficial
[06:54] SPEAKER_02: for me because it makes me feel like I'm not alone doing everything over here by myself.
[06:59] SPEAKER_02: I have people I can turn to over there if I need to ask questions or I need some help problem
[07:05] SPEAKER_02: solving something.
[07:07] SPEAKER_02: So that's been so great.
[07:08] SPEAKER_02: And there's things that potentially down the road when the timing is right for us and
[07:14] SPEAKER_02: when the timing is right for them that we might be able to do together in terms of expanding
[07:19] SPEAKER_02: both the ice companies and the water companies.
[07:23] SPEAKER_02: So I'm not entirely sure what that will look like.
[07:25] SPEAKER_02: There's lots of people over here and there's companies over here and all that sort of thing
[07:30] SPEAKER_02: comes into play.
[07:31] SPEAKER_02: But I certainly hope that over the next few years that we can continue to grow on the rocks
[07:37] SPEAKER_02: and that we can just keep getting bigger and better.
[07:40] SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's talk a little bit about Vancouver now.
[07:43] SPEAKER_01: What are the biggest benefits for you in being an entrepreneur here in Vancouver BC?
[07:47] SPEAKER_01: I want you to give us some of the good points about starting a company here, but I also want
[07:51] SPEAKER_01: you to give us some of the tough things or challenges for our listeners so they can keep
[07:55] SPEAKER_01: it up for them.
[07:56] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean Vancouver is wonderful.
[07:58] SPEAKER_02: I, you know, like I mentioned, I'm from the island and one of the reasons that I moved
[08:02] SPEAKER_02: to Vancouver is because there's so much more opportunity over here.
[08:06] SPEAKER_02: It's obviously a much larger city than Victoria and there's so much going on all the time.
[08:12] SPEAKER_02: And that's definitely one of the reasons I moved here and it's a great reason and it's
[08:19] SPEAKER_02: certainly a wonderful thing when you're a business owner because there's so much happening
[08:24] SPEAKER_02: at such a lively city.
[08:26] SPEAKER_02: There's so many events which totally works in our favor.
[08:30] SPEAKER_02: We not only do we retail our ice to certain companies here in Vancouver, but our main
[08:36] SPEAKER_02: focus is on events.
[08:38] SPEAKER_02: So we're so lucky that Vancouver is such a happening city and people love to be out doing things
[08:44] SPEAKER_02: and involved in their community.
[08:46] SPEAKER_02: And as part of that, it means we can work with all these different events.
[08:49] SPEAKER_02: So that's definitely a huge, you know, a huge plus for us and one of the reasons that
[08:57] SPEAKER_02: we can be so successful is there's so many things going on and so many opportunities
[09:01] SPEAKER_02: for us to provide business to people.
[09:05] SPEAKER_02: And I think that people in Vancouver love supporting their community and love supporting
[09:12] SPEAKER_02: businesses and entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs.
[09:15] SPEAKER_02: And I work with some of the most wonderful people and they are entrepreneurs as well.
[09:22] SPEAKER_02: And that's one of the greatest things that I love about this business and love about
[09:27] SPEAKER_02: my clients is that we all have this connection in that we've either started our own business
[09:32] SPEAKER_02: or we have purchased businesses or we work for a small business in some way.
[09:38] SPEAKER_02: And I just feel like everybody sort of has each other's backs and it's so wonderful.
[09:43] SPEAKER_02: So it's definitely a lot of great aspects about Vancouver.
[09:47] SPEAKER_02: Downside about Vancouver, I think that it's a very competitive market, like I mentioned before.
[09:56] SPEAKER_02: I am up against a lot of other companies, some smaller, some much larger and more constantly
[10:04] SPEAKER_02: trying to win, I guess, these clients from business and sometimes that means you might
[10:15] SPEAKER_02: lose some clients and sometimes you might get them back and sometimes you don't.
[10:19] SPEAKER_02: But it can definitely be a tricky thing to navigate and I take it really personally
[10:26] SPEAKER_02: if I lose the client.
[10:28] SPEAKER_02: And it's just business and that's what it comes down to and it comes down to numbers.
[10:36] SPEAKER_02: But I always take it to heart and I take it personally and I try so hard to win them
[10:42] SPEAKER_02: back.
[10:43] SPEAKER_02: If I can't do it the same year, obviously the next year I will follow up with those people.
[10:49] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I think just for us, certainly it's just that the market can be very up and down
[10:56] SPEAKER_02: because there are so many people competing in this specific industry.
[11:03] SPEAKER_01: Industry, industry, industry, industry, industry, industry, yeah, exactly.
[11:07] SPEAKER_01: Okay, we do some of our best work outside the office.
[11:10] SPEAKER_01: Is there a place in the lower mainland close to where you live or work, where you like
[11:13] SPEAKER_01: to go recharge or get inspired with ideas or just think about your business?
[11:17] SPEAKER_01: And does it change with the season, considering all the rain we get here?
[11:22] SPEAKER_02: It is very rainy.
[11:23] SPEAKER_02: It is very rainy today here in Vancouver.
[11:26] SPEAKER_02: You know what, it's funny too.
[11:30] SPEAKER_02: Because a group of Victoria, not a lot of people know this, but Victoria actually
[11:34] SPEAKER_02: rains much less than Vancouver.
[11:36] SPEAKER_02: So it's one of the things I've had to get used to in living over here is the extra rain
[11:41] SPEAKER_02: that we see every year.
[11:44] SPEAKER_02: I'm really fortunate that we have a family cabin over on Salt Spring Island.
[11:48] SPEAKER_02: So that's one of the places that I love to go.
[11:51] SPEAKER_02: And you know what, it doesn't matter to me whether I'm there in the summer or the winter,
[11:56] SPEAKER_02: no matter what season I just, I love being over there.
[11:59] SPEAKER_02: It's so much, you know, it does so much good for your heart and for your brain.
[12:06] SPEAKER_02: And it's just the best place.
[12:08] SPEAKER_02: We, my husband and I got married there last year and I've gone there my entire life.
[12:14] SPEAKER_02: And it's just something about being beside the ocean and the air is clear.
[12:19] SPEAKER_02: And the smells are different and it's just, I love it so much.
[12:24] SPEAKER_02: And I just find when I'm there, I can feel my whole body relaxing.
[12:28] SPEAKER_02: And it really allows me to have that time to reflect on the things that I have done
[12:33] SPEAKER_02: over the past, you know, a few weeks or months.
[12:36] SPEAKER_02: And it allows me to think about the things and goals that I want to accomplish for the future.
[12:41] SPEAKER_02: So that's definitely the place that I would choose to go to.
[12:45] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[12:46] SPEAKER_02: Reflected.
[12:46] SPEAKER_01: I find when I go to the Gulf Islands, I just, the blood pressure, everything just kind
[12:51] SPEAKER_01: of just, it's just like the places that it's just when you get up into Maine a lot,
[12:55] SPEAKER_01: up into Salt Spring, but one place I really like is Hornby.
[12:58] SPEAKER_01: I go there and it's just like just the atmosphere there is just so kick back.
[13:02] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it is.
[13:03] SPEAKER_02: It's so lovely and everybody's so happy and relaxed right there when it's just,
[13:08] SPEAKER_02: it's so great.
[13:09] SPEAKER_02: It's such a refreshing place to be.
[13:11] SPEAKER_01: Okay, we have a lot of international listeners.
[13:13] SPEAKER_01: So this next question I want you to speak to them.
[13:16] SPEAKER_01: If you were to start all over again and you just moved here to Vancouver,
[13:19] SPEAKER_01: BC, but this time you don't know anyone knowing what you know now, what would you do
[13:24] SPEAKER_01: and how would you go about starting all over again as an entrepreneur?
[13:28] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a great question.
[13:30] SPEAKER_02: You know, I think for me over the last, you know, few months, maybe six, six months or so,
[13:36] SPEAKER_02: I've really been trying to put myself out there a lot more.
[13:40] SPEAKER_02: And that's a little, that's a hard thing for me.
[13:42] SPEAKER_02: I, you know, I'm not an introvert, I wouldn't say, but I can be quiet and I can be shy
[13:50] SPEAKER_02: and certainly putting myself in situations where I'm forcing myself to engage and meet new people
[13:57] SPEAKER_02: is definitely a challenge.
[13:59] SPEAKER_02: So I would, you know, suggest and challenge anybody who is moving to Vancouver or anywhere
[14:05] SPEAKER_02: and wanting to start a business to first and foremost, try to put yourself out there as much as you can.
[14:11] SPEAKER_02: You know, see if there's groups you can join, you know, entrepreneur groups, small business groups,
[14:19] SPEAKER_02: you know, any kind of networking group that you can find just to make connections because
[14:25] SPEAKER_02: not only will that help you, you know, find people in the city that you can connect to and maybe
[14:30] SPEAKER_02: talk to even outside of that networking group, but it just allows you to be able to have conversations
[14:38] SPEAKER_02: with people where you can ask them questions about the things they've gone through and you can
[14:44] SPEAKER_02: talk about the things that are maybe worrying you or stressing you out.
[14:49] SPEAKER_02: I have found, you know, been fortunate to find some groups here and there's a great group
[14:55] SPEAKER_02: here in Vancouver called Van City Business Bades and I know they have a few other chapters.
[15:00] SPEAKER_02: I think there's one in Seattle and one in Victoria now and it's a great group of women and entrepreneurs
[15:06] SPEAKER_02: and you know, it's a range of people that they have the most interesting products and interest
[15:11] SPEAKER_02: businesses and it's so lovely and has been so beneficial to be able to talk to some of these women
[15:17] SPEAKER_02: and to really hear the things they've gone through in their own businesses and to be able to talk
[15:23] SPEAKER_02: about the things you're going through and some of the things that you even feel and deal with
[15:29] SPEAKER_02: emotionally on a daily trend. It's great to, you know, have that affirmation that you're not the
[15:34] SPEAKER_02: only one dealing with those things and, you know, to just know that there's other people around you
[15:39] SPEAKER_02: that can support you and lift you up when you're, you know, maybe not feeling so great about it.
[15:45] SPEAKER_02: Definitely, I think that would be my biggest thing is try to find some people you can connect with
[15:50] SPEAKER_02: and reach out to when you get to wherever you're moving to of Vancouver or anywhere else and just
[15:57] SPEAKER_02: try to find those connections with other people because I think that's really important.
[16:01] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's one of the things I've learned since I've started this podcast in the last four
[16:05] SPEAKER_01: years is that women really support each other and they refer each other to the podcast and they're
[16:11] SPEAKER_01: very progressive about, you know, supporting each other and getting the word about their business
[16:15] SPEAKER_01: and I really quite like that because they send a lot of entrepreneurs my way to be on the show
[16:20] SPEAKER_01: and it's really quite exciting. So I back to you. Yeah, that's perfect for you and I find for me to
[16:26] SPEAKER_02: do the, you know, being an entrepreneur and, you know, it's all it's always different but for me,
[16:32] SPEAKER_02: I work mainly by myself and mainly out of my home and that means it's, you know, pretty quiet most
[16:39] SPEAKER_02: of the time. So to have groups of women like this that you can reach out to, it adds that social
[16:45] SPEAKER_02: aspect back into your day to day that you might be otherwise missing from working in an office
[16:51] SPEAKER_01: environment. So you work from home. So let's talk about your morning routine. What does the first
[16:55] SPEAKER_01: hour look like for you when you get up the morning? Do you have a specific routine or a ritual
[16:59] SPEAKER_02: that helps you get motivated to start your day? Yeah, I think my days are pretty, you know, pretty
[17:04] SPEAKER_02: similar most of the days. The great thing about being, you know, working from home and having
[17:10] SPEAKER_02: this business is that I have a lot of flexibility in my days and our days, you know, my day, I should
[17:16] SPEAKER_02: say, doesn't always look the same in terms of what work is coming in and what I need to accomplish
[17:21] SPEAKER_02: but generally I, you know, kind of get out of bed around 830. I'm pretty lucky I can sort of sleep in
[17:27] SPEAKER_02: a little bit and then I, you know, put on the tea kettle. That's the first order of business
[17:33] SPEAKER_02: every day for me is I need to have that cup of tea to sort of get myself awake and get everything
[17:39] SPEAKER_02: functioning and generally get my dog out for a walk and then it's onto the computer to check emails.
[17:47] SPEAKER_02: See what's come down the line if there's people requesting ice and then I generally am sending
[17:53] SPEAKER_02: out emails to all my clients to remind them to place orders for the week and then lots of phone calls
[18:00] SPEAKER_02: at that point seem to be coming in and a lot of what my job from day to day is is just managing
[18:06] SPEAKER_02: those conversations and relationships with my clients and that could be, you know, just having
[18:13] SPEAKER_02: conversations about things that are happening that day or could be about booking events that are
[18:19] SPEAKER_02: coming up in the future. So lots of paperwork and phone calls and emailing and then usually after
[18:26] SPEAKER_02: that it's checking through finances and doing some paperwork and balancing budgets and all that sort
[18:33] SPEAKER_01: of good fun stuff. Okay, do you think entrepreneurs have to be weird or unique in a positive way or
[18:39] SPEAKER_02: why are you differently? You know, I'm not sure. I think maybe a little bit. You have to be I think
[18:50] SPEAKER_02: a little bit different. Yeah, you know, my husband always says to me that he's, you know, jealous that
[18:55] SPEAKER_02: he can't stay home and do this too. But then the other side of that is he can't picture himself
[19:02] SPEAKER_02: actually doing that. He wouldn't even know where to start or the things that I deal with, he says he
[19:08] SPEAKER_02: has no idea how he would ever do that. So I think, yeah, I think you do have to be a little bit
[19:14] SPEAKER_02: different. I'm thinking about my mom who's an entrepreneur and she's very artistic and has this very
[19:20] SPEAKER_02: creative brain. And I think that's a similarity that I have. I have this creative side of me and
[19:26] SPEAKER_02: this artistic side of me that just sort of, you know, wants to go and get things done and can see
[19:33] SPEAKER_02: you know, can sort of paint a picture of the day to day, but paint a picture of the future.
[19:38] SPEAKER_02: And I think you just have to be a very aware of, you know, your own personal limitations and desires
[19:47] SPEAKER_02: and have that drive in determination and be able to push yourself to do things on your own because
[19:55] SPEAKER_02: that is something that's very difficult to do when you're working from home and you don't have
[20:00] SPEAKER_01: somebody above you giving you deadlines. So yeah. Okay, entrepreneurs are big readers. What books
[20:06] SPEAKER_01: are you reading now and why or even audiobooks and can you recommend any books for our listeners
[20:11] SPEAKER_02: who are also aspiring entrepreneurs? Yeah, um, I, you know, to be honest, I haven't read a ton of,
[20:19] SPEAKER_02: you know, business or entrepreneur books right now. I've been really into just some typical,
[20:26] SPEAKER_02: you know, cheesy kind of easy to read, um, mysteries and thrillers. I find that for me, I
[20:33] SPEAKER_02: like at the end of the day to sort of turn my brain off from all the things I've been thinking about
[20:39] SPEAKER_02: and, you know, escape into some other kind of book. So I think the most recent book I just read was
[20:45] SPEAKER_02: the book written by the woman that wrote Harry Potter, her name is all of a sudden.
[20:52] SPEAKER_02: J. R. Rowling. Yes, but she's written this whole other series of books under a pseudonym,
[20:59] SPEAKER_02: Robert Galbraith. So I just finished a huge book of hers, which was, I thought it was pretty good.
[21:08] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I can, what other books can I recommend?
[21:13] SPEAKER_02: You know, there's been a couple books, like startup books that I've read that have been
[21:18] SPEAKER_02: really great. And one of the books that I have written and are read in the past are
[21:23] SPEAKER_02: written by Steven Covey, the highly effective books. Some of those ones are really interesting,
[21:30] SPEAKER_02: you know, the seven habits of highly effective people. Those are just interesting, I think,
[21:34] SPEAKER_02: to go through and read and to be able to, um, kind of see if any of those, you know, those little
[21:43] SPEAKER_02: habits and those things that he talks about, you can see within yourself. I think it's not always
[21:47] SPEAKER_02: easy to pick those things out about yourself. So when you're reading a book like that, you can sort of
[21:52] SPEAKER_02: look into the, you know, book and see from, you know, another opinion like, oh, how do, you know,
[21:57] SPEAKER_02: that is kind of like me. And that's interesting. All these things that he's saying.
[22:03] SPEAKER_01: Okay. Any online, online or offline tools you use on a daily basis?
[22:09] SPEAKER_02: Um, from us, it's mainly, um, it's mainly just emailing and phone calling. Um, we definitely have,
[22:16] SPEAKER_02: um, you know, forms through our website and things like that. Um, but that for the most part,
[22:23] SPEAKER_02: it's very basic for us and for me, for, you know, I am a bit of an old-fashioned person in that I
[22:29] SPEAKER_02: like to hand write things, which is probably not the best. That's rare. That's rare.
[22:34] SPEAKER_01: It is. Yeah. I hear that. I hear that once in a while. I like, wow, you guys still writing things
[22:40] SPEAKER_02: on paper and pen, paper and pen. Yes. You know, I love to, there's nothing I love more than
[22:46] SPEAKER_02: to write out a list on a piece of paper and then to cross each of those points off, it just makes
[22:52] SPEAKER_02: me feel great. It makes me, you know, feel, I don't know, so accomplished. And it's my favorite thing,
[22:58] SPEAKER_02: I think. Um, and, you know, I think, um, I was listening to some of your other podcasts. And
[23:04] SPEAKER_02: certainly I have heard everyone talk about, you know, CRM systems that they're using. And I think
[23:09] SPEAKER_02: that's the, that's the next step for us, I think, is, you know, I've spent the last few years really
[23:15] SPEAKER_02: trying to learn this business and understand it and really submers myself in, you know, figuring
[23:21] SPEAKER_02: out how to move things forward and improve and increase sales and all those things. And I think
[23:27] SPEAKER_02: the next step over the next few years are to now figure out how to um, step away from the paper.
[23:34] SPEAKER_02: And we do all our, uh, invoicing and everything on QuickBooks. So that is one of the tools that we
[23:39] SPEAKER_02: really love. And it has the ability to be paperless and to just send everything, um, you know, by email or
[23:48] SPEAKER_02: um, or through, you know, certain accounts and things like that. And I think that's the next step.
[23:53] SPEAKER_02: I'm a bit hesitant to completely get rid of the paper invoicing to our clients because a lot of
[24:00] SPEAKER_02: them sort of, that's the only way day function. So we're a little bit limited in that and whether
[24:06] SPEAKER_02: that, you know, can move forward completely paperless. But I think that's the next step for us is
[24:11] SPEAKER_02: getting all of our clients into a database so that we can, you know, create better notes for things
[24:17] SPEAKER_02: and just have a little bit more organization and free up, free up more office space for me and get
[24:23] SPEAKER_02: rid of all the paper that I'm holding on to. If you weren't doing what you do now, what would you
[24:35] SPEAKER_02: do before this was I was in marketing communications and I worked for a company called Golder Associates,
[24:43] SPEAKER_02: which was super. I just, I enjoyed my job there so much and the people were so interesting.
[24:48] SPEAKER_02: If you, if you aren't sure, listeners aren't sure about what Golder does, they do a lot of mining
[24:54] SPEAKER_02: and environmental work and all kinds of things like that. And I worked as a marketing coordinator for
[25:02] SPEAKER_02: the mining and oil and gas teams. And so I just, it was such an interesting job I learned so much. I
[25:08] SPEAKER_02: would go back to those guys in a heartbeat because they were just a wonderful group of people to work for.
[25:13] SPEAKER_02: So something like that, if I had all the money in the world and I could do anything that I wanted
[25:20] SPEAKER_02: to do, I would be, be a professional horseback rider. I grew up riding horses and sort of started
[25:27] SPEAKER_02: doing that since I was six years old and I still love to do it. It's a little bit more tricky
[25:32] SPEAKER_02: here in Vancouver and of course it's an expense of hobby and sport to take up. But if someone
[25:39] SPEAKER_02: feed me millions of dollars and I could choose anything to do, that's, I think, what I would do.
[25:44] SPEAKER_01: That would make my heart very happy. What kind of a job would you not like to do? Couldn't do it.
[25:50] SPEAKER_02: You know, I, you know, talk about going back to Golder or working in some kind of, you know,
[25:57] SPEAKER_02: marketing job like that. But I think that I would have a really hard time going back to a nine to
[26:03] SPEAKER_02: five, you know, desk job after having done this. I am so lucky that I have this flexibility in my job.
[26:12] SPEAKER_02: And, you know, as you mentioned, I've got two stepkids. So that's been so beneficial for us.
[26:19] SPEAKER_02: It means I can pick them up after school when I need to and I can drive them to school. And if
[26:24] SPEAKER_02: somebody's sick in the middle of the day, I can go and rescue them from school. And I'm able to take
[26:30] SPEAKER_02: my dog out for big walks and there's so much flexibility with being an entrepreneur and having
[26:36] SPEAKER_02: your own business and being able to set your hours and take some time for yourself in the day if
[26:40] SPEAKER_02: you can. So I, as much as I say, I would go back to that. I think I would have a really hard time
[26:47] SPEAKER_02: going back to that nine to five job and having a boss and having somebody set deadlines and tell me
[26:55] SPEAKER_02: I had to do certain things at certain times. So I think that if I wasn't doing this, I would have
[27:02] SPEAKER_02: to try to find some other kind of entrepreneurial job for myself. In business, what is your favorite
[27:08] SPEAKER_01: word quote or sentence that you like to use? My favorite quote of all times is,
[27:17] SPEAKER_02: though she be but little, she is fierce. It is my favorite quote. It's a William Shakespeare quote.
[27:25] SPEAKER_02: I'm probably butchering it. I'm probably missing a couple words. But it's my favorite quote.
[27:33] SPEAKER_02: I really like it and it appeals a lot to me because I am, as I mentioned, kind of a one-woman show.
[27:42] SPEAKER_02: I'm doing this whole thing by myself and I have support around me, which is fantastic. But at the
[27:47] SPEAKER_02: end of the day, it's me making the decisions and me pushing things forward and figuring out how to
[27:52] SPEAKER_02: make it work. I have certainly found that there have been struggles with being a woman and being
[28:01] SPEAKER_02: a younger woman in business is sometimes tricky and people don't always take you as seriously as
[28:10] SPEAKER_02: they might take an older woman who maybe looks like they have more experience or a male for that
[28:17] SPEAKER_02: matter. That one really appeals to me because I like people to know that just because I'm a female
[28:26] SPEAKER_02: or just because you're not who you would picture me to be, it doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm
[28:34] SPEAKER_02: doing and that I'm not kicking bad at what I'm doing and that I'm perfectly able to figure out your
[28:39] SPEAKER_02: problems or help you with your situation. That's the best one for me. I think I love that one.
[28:47] SPEAKER_01: What's your least favorite word of sentence you do not like to hear?
[28:50] SPEAKER_02: I think it's hearing people apologize. Canadians obviously, we like to apologize for everything.
[29:08] SPEAKER_02: And of course there's time and there's times and places for apologies and certainly if
[29:14] SPEAKER_02: something's going wrong or you've made a mistake, of course, you should be apologizing for those
[29:19] SPEAKER_02: things. But I think unnecessarily apologizing. I think we're too quick to place a blame on
[29:28] SPEAKER_02: ourselves sometimes and to not either stand up for maybe the decision that you've made or
[29:36] SPEAKER_02: to, you know, if you're put in a tight spot, you're immediately apologizing for something and
[29:42] SPEAKER_02: I just don't think that we need to all the time. We should take ownership in the decisions we've made
[29:48] SPEAKER_02: and the reasons we've made them and, you know, just stick with our guns and hold true and hold
[29:55] SPEAKER_01: fierce in what we're doing. If you had to pick one or two words to describe yourself, what would it be
[30:02] SPEAKER_02: and why? I think I would say organized and driven. And I choose those two words because I think
[30:15] SPEAKER_02: that as an entrepreneur in general, you have to be extremely organized and I have grown up being
[30:22] SPEAKER_02: an organized person. I was always the girl who had a clean room and, you know, would come home
[30:28] SPEAKER_02: after school and tidy my parents' houses. You know, maybe a little bit to, you know, my detriment
[30:36] SPEAKER_02: a little bit OCD, I don't know, but you have to be extremely organized in any business, but
[30:43] SPEAKER_02: especially when you work for yourself because you can't let anything slip away or get away from
[30:49] SPEAKER_02: you because once that happens, it's a slippery slope to all of a sudden being totally backed up or,
[30:56] SPEAKER_02: you know, you're totally, you just all of a sudden have everything's piling up and it just becomes
[31:03] SPEAKER_02: overwhelming in too much. So being organized, I think, is crucial. And driven, I definitely think
[31:10] SPEAKER_02: you have to be driven to be working on your own and to be an entrepreneur. You are constantly,
[31:16] SPEAKER_02: you know, pushing yourself for the next thing and for the, you know, that the bigger opportunity
[31:21] SPEAKER_02: and putting yourself out there and it's, you know, you have to be driven to, you know, again,
[31:28] SPEAKER_02: be able to continue working and to push yourself forward on days where you maybe don't want to
[31:34] SPEAKER_02: and certainly when you work from home, that adds an extra layer of challenges because it's easy to
[31:40] SPEAKER_02: not go to work when you're in your own home and to, you know, start doing other things like laundry or,
[31:48] SPEAKER_02: you know, doing, you know, cleaning up your house, things that you can easily just, you know,
[31:54] SPEAKER_02: get it into because it's right there in front of you, but you really need to be driven and have
[31:59] SPEAKER_02: that desire and passion to push yourself to do your job. What keeps you up at night if anything?
[32:07] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think for me, the things that keep me up at night are definitely worrying about
[32:14] SPEAKER_02: my accounting and finances. It's not my strong suit. I don't love numbers. I don't love math. I've
[32:20] SPEAKER_02: never loved those things. So for me, you know, I, if I have, you know, gone into work on my finances and
[32:29] SPEAKER_02: I can't get something to balance or, you know, something in there is just not adding up or it's missing,
[32:37] SPEAKER_02: like that's something that will certainly keep me awake at night and I'll be thinking about why it
[32:42] SPEAKER_02: it is the way that it is or how can I fix it or what can I do differently and that's certainly
[32:47] SPEAKER_02: something that, you know, will stay in my brain. And I think, you know, with clients, if there's
[32:55] SPEAKER_02: ever, you know, issues with clients or somebody has a problem and I'm trying to troubleshoot something
[33:01] SPEAKER_02: and I don't have an immediate answer, I think that's something that will keep me up is, is that,
[33:08] SPEAKER_02: you know, fear or concern for the clients and how they're feeling and how, you know, they're,
[33:15] SPEAKER_02: what they're thinking about things and just really wanting to leave them with the best service
[33:21] SPEAKER_02: and, you know, with a good impression and, you know, making sure that I'm able to do that,
[33:26] SPEAKER_02: that is certainly something that, you know, keeps me awake or that I struggle with.
[33:31] SPEAKER_01: Okay, I want you to give us the top three things on your inspired lifeless. This could be a
[33:36] SPEAKER_01: bucket list of any sort whether you want to write books, you want to travel, TEDx Talk, Philanthropy,
[33:40] SPEAKER_02: anything like that? Yeah, you know, to be honest, I mean, podcasting, that is certainly something I
[33:47] SPEAKER_02: would say that was on my, my top, you know, few lists or my top 10 list. And so I'm feeling super
[33:53] SPEAKER_02: lucky today that I get to put a check mark beside that one. Other things, I mean, I think doing a
[33:59] SPEAKER_02: TEDx Talk would be amazing. I actually long ago worked for the event company that put on TEDx. So
[34:08] SPEAKER_02: and TED in general, so I am very familiar with that whole process and gosh, if I ever had the
[34:14] SPEAKER_02: opportunity to do that, I would, I would love that so much. Someone did mention to me the other day
[34:21] SPEAKER_02: about writing a book and I think that would be pretty cool. I, you know, at this point, I'm not sure
[34:26] SPEAKER_02: what I would write about, but maybe that's something for down the line once I've been doing this
[34:30] SPEAKER_02: a little bit longer. And for me, you know, travel is, is super important and, you know, spending time
[34:38] SPEAKER_02: with family and, you know, those are, I think bucket list things for me. And then I think just seeing
[34:45] SPEAKER_02: the business grow and, you know, I'm not sure what that's going to look like down the road, but
[34:51] SPEAKER_02: just creating more opportunities for myself. And I think that doing things like this podcast and
[34:59] SPEAKER_02: writing books and those are all opportunities to help me do that. Do you have any advice that you've
[35:06] SPEAKER_01: may have received that you can pass on to entrepreneurs about BC? Yeah, I think, you know, some of the
[35:14] SPEAKER_02: biggest things for me are whether they've been things that people have told me or whether I've
[35:21] SPEAKER_02: learned them all myself through myself and through doing this. But I think one of the biggest things
[35:27] SPEAKER_02: that I've ever had anyone tell me is to, to know, you like to know yourself and to know your client
[35:36] SPEAKER_02: and to know your own product because it's easy to, you know, for me, it's a product and I,
[35:45] SPEAKER_02: you know, have to know how much product I have on hand and where it's going and when I need to
[35:52] SPEAKER_02: buy more bags to make my product. And there's all these little bits and pieces about it that you
[35:59] SPEAKER_02: need to kind of constantly be on top of. And I don't think I initially knew how many little things
[36:05] SPEAKER_02: there were that I needed to constantly be aware of. And that was, I think, some of the best advice
[36:10] SPEAKER_02: that I received is to know everything, to know your product really well, to know what you're selling,
[36:16] SPEAKER_02: to know what you're standing behind and to know all the little bits and pieces so that you can make
[36:22] SPEAKER_02: those really good informed decisions and that you can stay ahead of, you know, the game by
[36:28] SPEAKER_02: making sure you need to replenish things or order things or whatever that might be. And to know
[36:35] SPEAKER_02: your clients really well too because, you know, you're building relationships with these people and
[36:40] SPEAKER_02: they're trusting you and they're trusting your, your product or your service and you need to know
[36:46] SPEAKER_02: what makes them tick, you need to know what things they like and they don't like and, you know,
[36:51] SPEAKER_02: to get feedback from them is, is great and is definitely a helpful thing that I would encourage
[36:56] SPEAKER_01: anybody to do as well. Okay, Devon, are you ready to have some fun? Yes, let's do it. Okay.
[37:03] SPEAKER_01: Well, as you know, entrepreneurs are very, very busy people. We're always multitasking. We're
[37:08] SPEAKER_01: always managing clients, staff, you name it. We're always on the go. But we're going to take you
[37:13] SPEAKER_01: away from all that. There's a small tropical island just off of Fiji that only has one phone booth
[37:17] SPEAKER_01: there. There is no internet. This place does exist. We're going to drop you off there. You won't
[37:22] SPEAKER_01: have a computer or smartphone or tablet. You can use the phone booth located there any time to call
[37:27] SPEAKER_01: the boat. We'll come pick you up. How long would you last before you made that call? And what would you
[37:33] SPEAKER_02: do while you were there? That's a pretty good question. You know, I've heard, you know, some other people
[37:42] SPEAKER_02: answer this question and I, you know, I wasn't sure how I would answer it when the time came. But
[37:50] SPEAKER_02: I'm torn because if I were there by myself on this island and there were nobody else on this
[37:58] SPEAKER_02: island, but this phone booth to let me leave when I wanted to leave. If it were Jim,
[38:03] SPEAKER_02: asked me, I think I could maybe, maybe stick it out for a week before I was going crazy being by
[38:11] SPEAKER_02: myself. But if there were other people around, if my husband was there, my stepkids were there,
[38:18] SPEAKER_01: if my family was there. Yeah, you could take your husband with you. You could take them with you.
[38:22] SPEAKER_02: There's just no internet. Oh, okay. Oh, internet, that's fine. I don't need the internet to survive.
[38:29] SPEAKER_02: But if I could take those guys with me, I mean, I'd be happy for at least a couple weeks. Yeah,
[38:34] SPEAKER_02: good, a good two week vacation, especially in the winter of Vancouver where it's, you know,
[38:41] SPEAKER_02: dull and gross. I mean, that sounds fantastic to me. Yeah, that's good because it's funny because
[38:47] SPEAKER_01: some of my tech guests don't last very long on their internet. And being that you still work with
[38:54] SPEAKER_01: paper and pen. So maybe you could be a little bit more adjustable to the non-internet world.
[38:58] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, it would be tricky with, it would be tricky with work, but I think I could make it,
[39:03] SPEAKER_02: I could make it, I could make the adjustments ahead of time to make it work, even if I didn't have
[39:09] SPEAKER_02: the internet and the things that I needed to, you know, typically use on the day today,
[39:14] SPEAKER_01: I think I could make it work. And so you just kind of chill out there, get to know the earth?
[39:18] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I would hang out and I love to explore. I mean, you know, I'm not sure what would be there,
[39:24] SPEAKER_02: but and how big it would be. But, you know, let's go hike around the island and see what else is
[39:30] SPEAKER_02: there. And, you know, I would love to do that. And probably a little bit of lying on the beach.
[39:35] SPEAKER_02: And hopefully I would have packed some awesome books with me to read. Yeah, I think just exploring
[39:42] SPEAKER_02: is my favorite thing. So lots of big walks and hikes and seeing what's around. And hopefully
[39:48] SPEAKER_02: there's some other people, there are some locals. And, you know, maybe we can do some cool things
[39:52] SPEAKER_02: with them and see what the island is all about. And, you know, maybe get some lessons on
[39:59] SPEAKER_02: what, what might be traditional, some sort of traditional activity or anything like that. I think all
[40:05] SPEAKER_01: that sort of thing would be fantastic. Awesome. Okay, Devin, we're going to wrap things up here.
[40:10] SPEAKER_01: How can our listeners get hold of you? And is there anything you'd like to add before you leave us
[40:15] SPEAKER_02: today? Yeah. How can you get hold of me? We are, our website's probably the easiest thing. So
[40:22] SPEAKER_02: on the rocksice.com, you can head there. There's lots of questions that you can get answered. We've
[40:30] SPEAKER_02: got some contact forms. If you want to place an ice order, our emails up there. So that's
[40:36] SPEAKER_02: probably the easiest way. We're also on Instagram as well on the rocks ice. And Facebook, of course.
[40:45] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so that's if you need any ice, you need any chilling. Yeah, definitely give, give me a
[40:51] SPEAKER_02: shout. We'd be happy to help you. And is there anything else? I mean, I think just, you know, if you
[40:58] SPEAKER_02: have a passion for success and you, you know, have a passion for something that you are either doing
[41:06] SPEAKER_02: right now or, you know, maybe you have a little side hobby, something that you love to do. And you,
[41:14] SPEAKER_02: you know, love it so much and you can sort of see down the road. How maybe it could be something
[41:21] SPEAKER_02: that you could do as, you know, as a job. I think my advice would just be to go for it, you know,
[41:29] SPEAKER_02: find some people that you can maybe test your product on if it's a product or talk to some other
[41:35] SPEAKER_02: people who maybe have a similar service and see how their experiences were and just put yourself
[41:42] SPEAKER_02: out there and try it out because you're never going to know if your business is going to be a success
[41:47] SPEAKER_02: if you don't ever get out from behind the desk and try it. And I think some of the best entrepreneurs
[41:54] SPEAKER_02: and some of the greatest companies have, you know, started because people have taken that leap of
[41:59] SPEAKER_02: faith and just jumped in there and gave it a shot. So that would be my last, I think, remaining
[42:07] SPEAKER_02: little bit of advice and just to go out there and try it out and see what you can do.
[42:12] SPEAKER_01: Great. Okay, Devon. Well, thank you for coming on the show. I've learned a lot about you and I'm
[42:17] SPEAKER_02: sure our listeners have as well. Thank you so much for having me. It was so fun and, um, yeah,
[42:23] SPEAKER_01: thank you so much. Okay, great. We'll see you next time. Okay, thanks Robert. Bye.
[42:28] SPEAKER_00: Hey there. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to Vancouver's podcast on a
[42:32] SPEAKER_00: Canada's podcast network. We hope you enjoyed this show today. Make sure you sign up for our
[42:37] SPEAKER_00: new letters and write a review for us on iTunes and then connect with us on Twitter, Facebook,
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[42:48] SPEAKER_00: across the country. See you next time.