Doug Lacombe

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: It's Calgary's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:18] SPEAKER_01: Hello, this is Bonnie LG coming to you today with Calgary's podcast, a member of the Canada's podcast network,
[00:25] SPEAKER_01: where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen here in the city of Calgary, Alberta.
[00:31] SPEAKER_01: Doug Lecombe, MBA, is president and founder of Communicado Inc, a digital marketing agency.
[00:39] SPEAKER_01: Drying on almost 30 years of experience in media, web, publishing, and technology,
[00:45] SPEAKER_01: Doug and his team work with businesses and associations to integrate traditional and digital communications,
[00:52] SPEAKER_01: all with a focus on content marketing, advertising, and social media.
[00:57] SPEAKER_01: So, Doug, welcome to the show and thank you for taking the time to be here today for all of our listeners.
[01:03] SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank you, Bonnie. I'm very pleased to be on the show and it's great to see your face and hear your voice again.
[01:09] SPEAKER_00: We've been disconnected for too long, so thanks for reaching out.
[01:14] SPEAKER_01: Well, I want to jump right in and have our listeners have an opportunity to get to know you better.
[01:20] SPEAKER_01: So, why don't you tell us a little bit more about yourself and about your current business?
[01:25] SPEAKER_00: Sure. Well, without getting into the entire biography, which would be a lengthy one at my age,
[01:34] SPEAKER_00: but I'm a merit-timer born in Monkton, New Brunswick, and a railway brat.
[01:40] SPEAKER_00: And so, I've lived all over Canada and Calgary actually was sort of a relocation from the
[01:48] SPEAKER_00: United States. We were down there in 2000. And we've been here so now 18 years and love it in Calgary.
[01:57] SPEAKER_00: It was kind of like coming home because we had lived previously for 20 years in Saskatoon.
[02:02] SPEAKER_00: And as anybody who lives in Calgary knows Calgary is basically just Saskatoon West.
[02:07] SPEAKER_00: So, and the business community in Calgary was the name of my business and we do digital marketing.
[02:14] SPEAKER_00: And that's just been a longstanding passion, lending, digital stuff, internet stuff, and public
[02:20] SPEAKER_00: relations, which I think I learned at the knee of my grandfather. And so, I really feel like it runs
[02:28] SPEAKER_01: in my blood. And so, I know that in your career, you made the jump from working in the corporate
[02:35] SPEAKER_01: or agency world as well as media to starting Communicado a number of years ago. What inspired you to
[02:43] SPEAKER_01: go out on your own and be that entrepreneur? That's a great question. You know, about eight or so
[02:49] SPEAKER_00: years ago, the Globe and Mail did a piece that included a little mini profile of me and a
[02:55] SPEAKER_00: couple of others. And they called us, I love the term, they called us accidental entrepreneurs.
[03:01] SPEAKER_00: And it basically got laid off as the answer. The company that I was working for at the time in 2009
[03:08] SPEAKER_00: decided to do away with a layer of management. And sadly, I was in that layer. But in hindsight,
[03:15] SPEAKER_00: it was the best opportunity ever. And I like to say that I don't know that I would have jumped
[03:21] SPEAKER_00: off the cliff on my own, but since someone pushed me, you might as well look for a parachute.
[03:25] SPEAKER_00: So, at that moment in time, and they were very generous and it was a very well managed transition.
[03:31] SPEAKER_00: So, I have no regrets or discomfort. But at the time, I went on a couple of job interviews and I
[03:38] SPEAKER_00: thought, oh, you know, this is I've done this. I was, you know, fairly senior in my career at that
[03:43] SPEAKER_00: moment. And I just really wanted to do something new. And ultimately, my wife, after one job
[03:49] SPEAKER_00: interview said, if you take that job, I'll kill you. And okay, better start our own business then.
[03:54] SPEAKER_00: So, that's really that motivation that God is going in back in 10 years ago, 2009.
[04:00] SPEAKER_01: And so, Doug, I mean, always one of the great challenges for entrepreneurs is that financing
[04:06] SPEAKER_01: piece. So, you are accidentally thrown into this situation. How did you get going from a financial
[04:13] SPEAKER_01: perspective? And what can you share with our listeners that way? I kind of think you either have
[04:19] SPEAKER_00: to be old enough to be secure in money or young enough to not care about money. And so, we were
[04:27] SPEAKER_00: the former. We were old enough to not have to worry too much about money. I had a good runway from
[04:33] SPEAKER_00: the severance package that I got from the layout. And I was able to sell consulting hours right
[04:38] SPEAKER_00: away because of my fairly decent network and good folks that were like, oh, yeah, you should come
[04:44] SPEAKER_00: do a contract. And so, it was actually a fairly painless transition for me, you know, aside from
[04:50] SPEAKER_00: the angst of the first six months of, who is this, what we're going to do and all that. But so,
[04:55] SPEAKER_00: yeah, I was really fortunate. And of course, consulting, I mean, what do you need but a laptop
[05:00] SPEAKER_00: and a kitchen table and then eventually a Starbucks and then eventually a rented room and then a rent
[05:05] SPEAKER_00: then an office at some point if you decide to go down that path. So, so the underpinnings, the costs
[05:11] SPEAKER_00: were fairly minimal. It was just, you know, cellular hours and then and then sell somebody else's
[05:16] SPEAKER_00: hours and then overhead after that. But yeah, it was, it was, we were lucky. We didn't need financing.
[05:22] SPEAKER_00: We bootstrapped the whole thing out of our own savings and just went for it. And where do you hope
[05:27] SPEAKER_01: to go in the future? Do you have big growth plans for the company? I know you've got a fairly
[05:31] SPEAKER_01: decent sized staff now and an office in a very nice part of town. So, what is the future hold for you?
[05:39] SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I think diversification is sort of our mantra right now and that involves a number
[05:45] SPEAKER_00: of different things being opened at different markets, different sectors, you know, making sure
[05:52] SPEAKER_00: we're not so dependent on Albert only or Calgary only or oil and gas only. And so definitely,
[06:00] SPEAKER_00: you know, we do national work. We've done work with folks in Vancouver and Ottawa and Toronto and
[06:06] SPEAKER_00: you know, all over. But yeah, I don't want to get so big as we become a bit of a monolith, you know,
[06:12] SPEAKER_00: I like the small team culture. My team makes me happy. We laugh. We gossip. We talk about game of
[06:19] SPEAKER_00: thrones, you know, and so, you know, I don't want to get to the point where it's just a corporation
[06:27] SPEAKER_00: in that giant agency sense. So I think, you know, we'll stick to more of the virtual agency model
[06:33] SPEAKER_00: where we might, you know, eventually put a person in name of city here and have sort of a home
[06:40] SPEAKER_00: based or a work share type person that represents us in that city, but ultimately keeping the team
[06:47] SPEAKER_00: lean and mean. And part of that is cash flow and financial. I saw, very early in my career, I saw a
[06:53] SPEAKER_00: lot of people start businesses spend a ton of money on salaries and fancy cherrywood desks and
[06:58] SPEAKER_00: leather chairs and then promptly go out of business. And I guess it's probably the Scottish part of
[07:04] SPEAKER_00: me that says no, be frugal and, you know, go for the long game, right? So yeah, so I don't think we'll
[07:10] SPEAKER_00: be huge, but I think we will spread our wings a little bit more. Let's talk a little bit about
[07:15] SPEAKER_01: doing business in Calgary and you've talked about, you know, being thankful you weren't too
[07:20] SPEAKER_01: energy centric over the last number of years and you had a diverse client base, but from an
[07:26] SPEAKER_01: entrepreneurial perspective, what are some of the pros and cons about starting a business in Calgary?
[07:32] SPEAKER_00: It might be a little hard for me to separate the Calgary environment from the national environment
[07:38] SPEAKER_00: because, you know, the red tape is really quite a bit. There's a lot, whether it's licensing
[07:44] SPEAKER_00: or how to incorporate or your annual returns or, you know, there's numerous sort of barriers to
[07:51] SPEAKER_00: just getting on with it. And, you know, for somebody who is, you know, maybe just really passionate
[07:56] SPEAKER_00: about digital cons or if you're, I don't know, a plumber, you know, getting set up is actually quite a
[08:03] SPEAKER_00: pain. And then, of course, we've been seeing lately the tax imbalance due to the hollowing out of
[08:09] SPEAKER_00: downtown, which is causing, you know, a huge shift and a great deal of pain for a lot of small
[08:14] SPEAKER_00: businesses. And so I think those things are challenging, but, you know, I see good people
[08:20] SPEAKER_00: trying to work on them and I'm hopeful for an optimistic for the future. But, you know, some of
[08:26] SPEAKER_00: the more positive or optimistic things about Calgary is there is a huge entrepreneurial spirit in
[08:31] SPEAKER_00: this, in this town. And people are so encouraging and say, yeah, go for it. And how can I send you some
[08:39] SPEAKER_00: business and, you know, how can we work together to promote each of us and, you know, all that kind
[08:45] SPEAKER_00: of stuff. And I find that the environment is welcoming and supportive. And so, yeah, I just think
[08:54] SPEAKER_00: that, will weather this storm and Calgary and Albert are more than oil and gas, although obviously
[09:00] SPEAKER_00: oil and gas is super important. There's just all kinds of other pieces of work that you can do that
[09:05] SPEAKER_01: exciting here as well. So Doug, let's shift gears a bit and talk about some of your more personal
[09:13] SPEAKER_01: favorite things or habits as a business owner. So one of the things I'd like to ask you is just
[09:20] SPEAKER_01: where do you go to get inspired here locally in Calgary? Do you have a favorite spot that maybe
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: you can go and do some thinking about your business or maybe it's a real, a favorite place to go
[09:32] SPEAKER_01: at the end of a busy work week and relax. Can you share a couple of your favorite spots with our
[09:37] SPEAKER_00: listeners? Yeah, absolutely. Well, so Bar none, since I don't know the age of three, I've been
[09:44] SPEAKER_00: crazy about dogs. I love dogs. They make me happy. And so most of that kind of send time is at a dog
[09:53] SPEAKER_00: park for me. We live up in Edgemont. And so the Edgemont Reveean is fantastic because I'm a maritime
[10:00] SPEAKER_00: and I am who I am. I gab all the time. So the dog does her thing and then I talk to all the people
[10:05] SPEAKER_00: and I meet all the crazy people in my neighborhood and that's fun. And that's the time for me when
[10:10] SPEAKER_00: my brain clears and the clutter goes and I can just sort of, you know, do that deeper thinking about
[10:17] SPEAKER_00: yet life. I mean, not just the business, but just, you know, everything, right? A health retirement
[10:23] SPEAKER_00: everything. And so yeah, the varsity off leash is my favorite, but the Edgemont Reveean is the
[10:31] SPEAKER_00: one right behind my house. So it's pretty easy to get to. And then yeah, we just go to all the parks
[10:37] SPEAKER_00: and where they are, whatever the one is up by dear foot and bedding ten. And so that's my main
[10:43] SPEAKER_00: thing is I just I love walking and thinking. And again, that my grandpa instilled that in me,
[10:50] SPEAKER_00: that he was, I think he had a bit of a heart scare in the 60s or something. And so he took up
[10:57] SPEAKER_00: walking. And so it was built into from the time I was four or five that before soccer, you go for a
[11:04] SPEAKER_00: walk, after supper, you go for a walk. And so now it's just built in, right? I don't know, it's a
[11:09] SPEAKER_00: habit. And I love it. But other than that, you know, I like meeting people in the local pubs and
[11:14] SPEAKER_00: there's so many of those, but I tend to meet, you know, there's kind of ones that have guy
[11:21] SPEAKER_00: friends that we meet at the Oak Tree Tavern over here and have a pint and talk politics and,
[11:26] SPEAKER_00: you know, lie to each other about all the things we pretend to know. And then, you know, go
[11:33] SPEAKER_00: on for coffee here at Good Earth. I mean, Kensington is amazing for places to just, you know, eat,
[11:38] SPEAKER_00: drink, chill and interact with people. And so that I'm really happy our office is here because it's
[11:45] SPEAKER_00: fun for us and it's easy for to lure people into Visita and say, hey, let's go for lunch just down
[11:51] SPEAKER_00: the street. And so, yeah, those are, those are many, you know, bone-esque park, I think, is high on
[11:57] SPEAKER_00: the list. Yeah, there's, there's many things like that that are, but outdoorsy.
[12:02] SPEAKER_01: Great. Well, thank you. So what does the first hour of the day look like for you? Do you have some
[12:07] SPEAKER_01: rituals or routines that kind of help get you set for the day and set up for a great day?
[12:13] SPEAKER_00: I do. It's funny that, you know, finally being an entrepreneur, I can do what I want in the morning
[12:21] SPEAKER_00: because I am absolutely hopeless in the morning. Like, it's, you know, there's a super eight film
[12:27] SPEAKER_00: of me where my parents had to wake me up for Christmas. Oh wow. I am not a morning guy. And so,
[12:37] SPEAKER_00: my alarm, I have multiple alarms. They go off 53630 and then, you know, usually around 645,
[12:44] SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, fine. Get up, have a coffee, breakfast, look at my calendar, look at my task
[12:51] SPEAKER_00: application, see what I have to do for the day. I would have done that the night before too, so it's
[12:57] SPEAKER_00: really just to kind of get back in gear, you know, think about where I have to drive and commute and
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: who I'm going to interact with and all that. Then I take the dog for a walk, then usually I play
[13:09] SPEAKER_00: with the dog in the living room for a while with the snake and ball and bone and all the good things.
[13:15] SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, shower getting the car and off I go, quite often I'll work from home and
[13:21] SPEAKER_00: those are days when I just want to put my nose to the grindstone, but we sort of have a
[13:26] SPEAKER_00: loose tradition of Monday work from home. And so those are days when I just want to pound out
[13:31] SPEAKER_00: reports or do things like that, do a lot of writing or thinking. And then, yeah, once I get here,
[13:37] SPEAKER_00: to the office that is, or if I'm working from home, we do it on Slack and texting and whatnot,
[13:44] SPEAKER_00: just kind of see where everybody else is at and, you know, where will I see you and will I see you?
[13:49] SPEAKER_00: Do you need help with this? Are there any roadblocks to, you know, helping this client and all that
[13:55] SPEAKER_00: kind of stuff? So it's kind of a three hour ritual to get me productive, really.
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: But yeah, by about 930 alive and in the world again, and it's fine.
[14:06] SPEAKER_01: And you reference Slack. Do you have any other online or in office tools that you use to
[14:12] SPEAKER_01: communicate or to ensure everyone's being productive and efficient?
[14:17] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm a maniac for apps. This is, it drives my team crazy. It's really beyond habit and
[14:24] SPEAKER_00: into obsession, I think. But, but we've settled on, so Google's G Suite is sort of our core thing.
[14:31] SPEAKER_00: And then, a sauna for tasks, Slack for messaging. Right now, I'm hunting for a wiki
[14:38] SPEAKER_00: intranet thing, but we're currently sort of half using Google sites, but it's a bit dodgy. So I'm
[14:43] SPEAKER_00: not thrilled with that air table for database stuff. Yeah, and the list goes on, but those are the
[14:49] SPEAKER_00: main things that we use last past for, past word sharing so that we can get, you know, new people
[14:56] SPEAKER_00: onboard it and in the apps quickly. And only by one account instead of six for certain things.
[15:01] SPEAKER_00: And that kind of stuff. So yeah, and being a digital agency, of course, we have a whole array of,
[15:06] SPEAKER_00: you know, graphic building tools and social media management. We use Sprout Social and stuff like
[15:11] SPEAKER_00: that. So lots and lots of apps, which is as we've been onboarding these interns, I realize,
[15:18] SPEAKER_00: you have to parcel that out because it's a bit overwhelming until you get fully immersed in our culture.
[15:25] SPEAKER_01: Right. Now, what about books or podcasts? Do you have any you could recommend to our audience?
[15:31] SPEAKER_01: Maybe a business book or two that you have found particularly helpful?
[15:37] SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Well, my all-time favorite, which I seem to every couple of years dredge up for the young
[15:45] SPEAKER_00: people is positioning. I think recent roads positioning is a classic. It influenced me way back
[15:51] SPEAKER_00: in business school and the updated versions of continued influence me. And I really love that
[15:58] SPEAKER_00: confluence of psychology and marketing and messaging and, you know, sort of what spot do you
[16:05] SPEAKER_00: occupy in somebody's brain? So definitely recommend positioning. Then I'd say my favorite business book in
[16:13] SPEAKER_00: the last five to 10 years has been David Mirman Scott's The New Rules of PR and Marketing.
[16:19] SPEAKER_00: That to me is a seminal piece of work in my specific niche area. And it really encapsulates how you
[16:28] SPEAKER_00: blend this stuff for the new PR, new marketing, which like all things new, it won't be new for long,
[16:35] SPEAKER_00: right? And so that really it'll just be called PR and marketing again in 10 years. But for now,
[16:41] SPEAKER_00: it's like, who digital marketing? Because people need to know that you can help them through the
[16:46] SPEAKER_00: transition. But I think of it like, Horseless Carriage, right? It's one of those references that
[16:51] SPEAKER_00: goes away over time because you're just thinking about what's in the rear view. But really the new
[16:56] SPEAKER_00: marketing is just marketing is new tools. But yeah, so those are the two books that I really like a lot.
[17:02] SPEAKER_00: And then, Seth Goedan, you know, Avanish Koshik does a lot of stuff on Aakum's Razor is his blog,
[17:09] SPEAKER_00: and that's analytics based. I really like the Yes, Brought Social Blog. And I'm kind of a
[17:17] SPEAKER_00: voracious reader, but more in blog chunks. So yeah, all of those sort of niche kind of things that
[17:27] SPEAKER_00: really attract me. And then the generalized, you know, McLean's National Post and all that for,
[17:33] SPEAKER_01: you know, my own edification, I guess. You mentioned earlier in the interview that you've kind of
[17:39] SPEAKER_01: felt like you've been destined to be in in PR and media and advertising your entire life. But if
[17:45] SPEAKER_01: you weren't doing what you're doing now, can you see yourself in any other type of profession?
[17:51] SPEAKER_00: You know, I can. If I made a tiny, tiny jump, it would be to just pure writing of some sort.
[17:59] SPEAKER_00: But probably it would be in not for profit or something like that. And ultimately, that's probably
[18:07] SPEAKER_00: where I'm headed in retirement someday, you know, is to kind of get in and really help up
[18:13] SPEAKER_00: somebody changed the world in some small way. And so that would be satisfying and keeping out of
[18:19] SPEAKER_00: the house and out of mischief and all that. So I imagine that's where this will go. But yeah, I think
[18:25] SPEAKER_00: sometimes I joke, I like telling people what to do. I don't like doing things, which
[18:30] SPEAKER_00: which is, there's a grain of truth in there. Excuse me. And so I think I would like to sort of
[18:36] SPEAKER_00: manage a team no matter what the circumstance was. That's my favorite thing is getting people
[18:42] SPEAKER_01: rowing in the same direction kind of makes me happy. And so if we were to flip the question on
[18:48] SPEAKER_01: its head, what is one profession you know you would just never be cut out to do? I think I'm the
[18:54] SPEAKER_00: prototypical communicator that anything to do with accounting, math, forms, linearity, you know,
[19:03] SPEAKER_00: I'm not into it at all. And so yeah, I obviously as a business owner, you deal with the accounting,
[19:10] SPEAKER_00: and you deal with all the stuff and so on. But I know these are areas of weakness and I bring in
[19:15] SPEAKER_00: professionals to help me because otherwise I'd take four times the time it's warranted. So yeah,
[19:23] SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't think those are my strengths, economics, depth, I don't have any depth in science
[19:29] SPEAKER_01: except social science. Spoken like a true PR person, I can relate to that first hand. So Doug,
[19:37] SPEAKER_01: do you have like a favorite sane or a few words that you kind of maybe share with your
[19:43] SPEAKER_01: your colleagues at work or something that is I guess more of a personal mantra for you?
[19:49] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do. Let's see, I might even have it right here. I do. It's right here at frame.com.
[19:55] SPEAKER_00: Let's see if I can now this is something I got ages ago. Can you see that? I can see it,
[20:01] SPEAKER_00: but it's backwards. So it's the old nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.
[20:06] SPEAKER_00: Talent will not, nothing is more common than unsuccessful people is talented. Genius will not
[20:11] SPEAKER_00: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts,
[20:17] SPEAKER_00: persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan press on has solved and always will
[20:23] SPEAKER_00: solve the problems of the human race. And this little framed print says that it tributes that to
[20:29] SPEAKER_00: Calvin Coolidge, although I know that's up for some debate. But I love that. The idea of just
[20:34] SPEAKER_00: soldier on just keep going. And I truly believe that doing something is better than doing nothing,
[20:41] SPEAKER_00: right? If I don't have the perfect accounting system, I better have some accounting system
[20:45] SPEAKER_00: and so on. And that's really what I've taken to heart in building my business is perfection is
[20:50] SPEAKER_00: paralysis. Just go for the next best step you can get to and then keep stepping and keep stepping.
[20:56] SPEAKER_00: And eventually you'll be like, wow, that miles ago we did that really poorly and now we do it
[21:01] SPEAKER_00: fantastic. So that that's it's an easy mantra to live by too if you just sort of focus your mind.
[21:09] SPEAKER_01: I'm curious. What do you have on your inspired lifeless or bucket list? What are some things?
[21:16] SPEAKER_01: Can you share maybe two or three things that you hope to do either personally or professionally
[21:20] SPEAKER_00: over the next few years? Yeah, well, travel. I really I love languages. I love culture. I love
[21:28] SPEAKER_00: food. I love visual feasts. So certainly there's a large chunks of the world that I have not been
[21:36] SPEAKER_00: to yet and would would like to. And so with any luck, we'll create the circumstances for that to
[21:43] SPEAKER_00: happen and then take taking some stronger place in shaping society, which is a bit vague. But for
[21:54] SPEAKER_00: example, just recently in the Alberta election, I helped out a friend of mine that was running for
[21:59] SPEAKER_00: office. He did not win. He was up against a very solid incumbent, but it was a great experience for
[22:05] SPEAKER_00: me to say, you know, I want to get involved in democracy. And you know, that's important these days
[22:11] SPEAKER_00: right? Because we're living in what seemed like contentious times and I think protecting the value
[22:18] SPEAKER_00: of Canada and the things that we hold dear multiculturalism and the plurality of our society
[22:25] SPEAKER_00: is something worth rolling up your sleeves and getting into. So those are a couple of things, you
[22:31] SPEAKER_00: see the world maybe fix one thing in the world someday, you know, kind of chip away at it. Yeah,
[22:37] SPEAKER_01: those are things I'd like to do. Great. We have actually quite a few international listeners to the
[22:43] SPEAKER_01: podcast. So I'm curious, if you were to start all over again in Calgary, knowing what you know
[22:50] SPEAKER_01: now, what would you do? What advice would you give to someone who's looking to start fresh here in
[22:57] SPEAKER_00: the city and build a business? I think the best advice that I could give, which is maybe a little
[23:04] SPEAKER_00: bit vague, but it's find people to help you and lift you up. You know, you're not on your own. And
[23:09] SPEAKER_00: whether that's the business development bank of Canada or members of CPRS or IBC and our particular
[23:16] SPEAKER_00: profession or get a network of people and ask for help, ask for advice. You know, if you were to
[23:25] SPEAKER_00: move here from another country, it probably with just a few questions to a few choice people,
[23:31] SPEAKER_00: you'd be able to find a reasonably cheap office downtown these days. And that would maybe be the
[23:37] SPEAKER_00: difference between your business succeeding and not succeeding. So, you know, the chamber, Calgary,
[23:41] SPEAKER_00: economic development, but anyway, reach out. You're not an island. Don't go don't fly solo.
[23:47] SPEAKER_00: You don't have all the ideas and just be open to people saying, hey, did you consider this?
[23:52] SPEAKER_00: I think that that's a universal thing, not a Calgary thing per se, but like I said, in Calgary,
[23:58] SPEAKER_00: people are oh, so willing to help your business succeed if you just let them. I really couldn't
[24:03] SPEAKER_00: believe 10 years ago when I just finally said, okay, I'm going to start a business and people
[24:08] SPEAKER_00: are like, thank God you've decided. Let us help you. And I was like, oh, all I had to do was hang out
[24:13] SPEAKER_00: my shingle and say so. And then things happened. And that was amazing too that people were at the ready.
[24:18] SPEAKER_01: I just had to commit that. Well, I think that's great advice. And you're right, this is a city where
[24:24] SPEAKER_01: people are more than happy to play a role in each other's success. Yeah, absolutely.
[24:31] SPEAKER_01: Well, Doug, to start to wind things down here today, I'd like to ask you a hypothetical question
[24:36] SPEAKER_01: that we ask all the people we interview. If you could imagine that there's a small tropical island
[24:43] SPEAKER_01: where there is no internet, there's no connectivity. I know.
[24:50] SPEAKER_01: Well, connectivity. So we're going to drop you off there, but you won't have any of your digital
[24:56] SPEAKER_01: tools. How long do you think that you would last before you'd need to call us to come pick you up?
[25:04] SPEAKER_01: There is a phone booth, so you'll be able to do it the old fashioned way when that time arises.
[25:08] SPEAKER_01: And secondly, what would you do while you're there?
[25:13] SPEAKER_00: You know, I have actually had something like this experience. So as a tween and a teenager,
[25:21] SPEAKER_00: I did a lot of summer cannabis stuff with the YMCA mostly around the lake of the woods and camp
[25:27] SPEAKER_00: Stevens. And on one of those summers on the canoe trip, they had a section where they took
[25:37] SPEAKER_00: out a boat to an island and then said, here, survive overnight and your job is set up a lean to
[25:43] SPEAKER_00: get your sleeping bag in a safe place and start a fire.
[25:49] SPEAKER_00: So that went reasonably well until it came to the time for me to start the fire.
[25:54] SPEAKER_00: And what I didn't realize is that there was really dry moss underneath the surface wet moss.
[26:01] SPEAKER_00: So I started my fire and now this was a tiny, tiny island like the size of my office.
[26:09] SPEAKER_00: When I woke up in the morning, the whole island was smoldering and I had set the place on fire.
[26:15] SPEAKER_00: And they had to come rescue me. So I'm not convinced I'd last much more than about 12 hours.
[26:24] SPEAKER_00: And but you know what? I like tropical islands and so maybe I would, if necessity was the mother of
[26:32] SPEAKER_00: invention, but my first go with that as a 14-year-old was a dismal failure. Yeah.
[26:38] SPEAKER_01: That's a great story.
[26:41] SPEAKER_00: So sick, but I can't believe it. But you know, canoe.
[26:46] SPEAKER_01: canoe. Yeah.
[26:48] SPEAKER_01: Well, Doug, how can our listeners connect with you either online or in the real world?
[26:53] SPEAKER_01: Where can we send them to? Find out more about you and your business.
[26:58] SPEAKER_00: So communicado.com, that's communicado with two T's, people often miss that.
[27:03] SPEAKER_00: But really, I've been on the internet and doing web publishing for so long. If you just type in
[27:08] SPEAKER_00: Dougalcom and Google, I'll show up. And if it's not me, it's my grandfather. He's long since passed
[27:14] SPEAKER_00: Rest in Peace. So yeah, it won't be him. And there's a guy in Louisiana with my name. So there's only
[27:20] SPEAKER_00: three of us. One is gone. So you know, Dougalcom, Google, I'm there. That's my business card now.
[27:26] SPEAKER_01: Awesome. Any other final parting words before we say goodbye today?
[27:32] SPEAKER_00: I would just say that if you are thinking of starting a business or if you have a business now and
[27:38] SPEAKER_00: and you're struggling or you feel constrained, you know, please reach out. Reach out to me,
[27:45] SPEAKER_00: reach out to others, reach out to, you know, the, there's senior organizations like the executive
[27:52] SPEAKER_00: committee tech. There's so many places to go for help and our economy needs it right now.
[27:59] SPEAKER_00: So don't be shy. That would be my final thing is, you know, we're all better off if the economy
[28:05] SPEAKER_00: is better off and, you know, all boats rise on the tide. So let's help each other out.
[28:09] SPEAKER_01: Well, I think that's a great place to end it. Thank you so much, Doug, for being a guest on our show
[28:14] SPEAKER_01: today. Thank you, Bonnie. It's been a pleasure. Yeah, I really enjoyed chatting with you. I'm sure
[28:20] SPEAKER_01: listeners have learned a lot from you and we appreciate you being a guest. Anytime. Always a pleasure.
[28:27] SPEAKER_01: Hey there, it's Bonnie Elge. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to Calgary's podcast on
[28:33] SPEAKER_01: the Canada's podcast network. We hope you enjoyed the show. Make sure you sign up for our new
[28:39] SPEAKER_01: letters and if you have a minute, please write us a review on iTunes. You can connect with us on
[28:44] SPEAKER_01: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn at Canada's podcast. You can also check out what other
[28:50] SPEAKER_01: entrepreneurs are doing across the country. See you next time.