Learn how to accelerate your online presence to get past your competition with Erica Hakonson

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: If you're an entrepreneur in BC, sign up for Canada's Trade Accelerator Program and extend
[00:06] SPEAKER_01: your company's global reach.
[00:08] SPEAKER_01: We help you scale up, develop, and activate an export plan designed to grow your full
[00:14] SPEAKER_01: export potential.
[00:15] SPEAKER_01: The Trade Accelerator Program gives BC-based businesses the training and support needed
[00:21] SPEAKER_01: to become a successful exporter.
[00:22] SPEAKER_01: Go to www.wtc Vancouver.ca slash tap and find out more.
[00:33] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Canada's Podcast, the number one podcast for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs.
[00:41] SPEAKER_03: Hello, this is Robert Snigel coming to today with Vancouver's podcast.
[00:45] SPEAKER_03: A member of the Canada's podcast network where we talk to the entrepreneurs for making
[00:49] SPEAKER_03: it happen here in Vancouver, British Columbia.
[00:52] SPEAKER_03: Now let's get ready to listen, discover, and engage.
[00:56] SPEAKER_03: Erica Hankinson is a multi-award winning entrepreneur at the helm of the B2B Digital Marketing
[01:03] SPEAKER_03: Agency, Maven Collective Marketing, and co-founder of the SAS-based tech company,
[01:09] SPEAKER_03: Orchestra Software.
[01:11] SPEAKER_03: Hankinson has been awarded a female entrepreneur of the year, Silver Award by the International
[01:16] SPEAKER_03: Stevie Women in Business Awards, Editor's Choice by the Canadian SME, National Business
[01:23] SPEAKER_03: Awards, and Top Small Business Female Executive Bronze Award by Data Bird Business Journal.
[01:30] SPEAKER_03: Erica's passion for marketing and technology has also been published in the Globe and
[01:35] SPEAKER_03: Mail BC Business and Canadian SME Magazine.
[01:40] SPEAKER_03: Outside of the office, Hankinson is an outdoor enthusiast residing in the outdoor recreation
[01:46] SPEAKER_03: capital of Canada, Squamish, British Columbia, with her two awesome, tiny humans and heroic
[01:52] SPEAKER_03: husband.
[01:54] SPEAKER_03: Well, Erica, welcome to Canada's podcast.
[01:56] SPEAKER_03: Thanks for taking the time today to be here for all listeners.
[02:00] SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, Robert.
[02:01] SPEAKER_02: It's my pleasure.
[02:03] SPEAKER_03: Awesome, Squamish.
[02:04] SPEAKER_03: Well, I used to be a Pemberton resident and the Cedar Sky Highway is one of the best places
[02:10] SPEAKER_03: to live in Canada, and I'm going to tell you it is the outdoor recreation capital.
[02:16] SPEAKER_03: It's the top of Canada, that's for sure, isn't it?
[02:18] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
[02:19] SPEAKER_02: And I think you and I had a little preliminary conversation, and Pemberton is one of my
[02:23] SPEAKER_02: favorites.
[02:24] SPEAKER_02: If I can swing it to, you know, I guess in a pandemic, you can work from anywhere, but
[02:31] SPEAKER_02: Squamish and Pemberton are sister cities.
[02:33] SPEAKER_02: We love spending time up there as well.
[02:35] SPEAKER_03: And you have Walmart, we don't.
[02:37] SPEAKER_03: So the other thing is that I was always making the drive from Pemberton down in Walmart.
[02:41] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, got to get there.
[02:42] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's the big win.
[02:44] SPEAKER_02: Then we try to stop local.
[02:45] SPEAKER_02: There are just some big, funny Walmart ads, yeah.
[02:48] SPEAKER_03: Okay, cool.
[02:49] SPEAKER_03: Let's get started here.
[02:51] SPEAKER_03: Tell us a little bit more about yourself and give us the details on your current business.
[02:55] SPEAKER_02: Great.
[02:55] SPEAKER_02: And a little bit more about myself.
[02:57] SPEAKER_02: Well, like I said, we live in Squamish.
[03:00] SPEAKER_02: I'm originally from Corta Lane, Idaho, or anyone from the inland northwest.
[03:04] SPEAKER_02: They might be familiar.
[03:06] SPEAKER_02: I started Mavin Collective back in 2012 as a sole entrepreneur, and it's grown from there
[03:13] SPEAKER_02: to a team of maimans, but I'm very proud to be surrounded by.
[03:18] SPEAKER_02: And like you'd stated, we launched our second business by a lunch that was some co-founders
[03:23] SPEAKER_02: this year called Orkestry, who happened to be former clients of Mavin Collective.
[03:28] SPEAKER_02: We love to work with, and they ask me to come on as a co-founder, and that's been an awesome
[03:32] SPEAKER_02: ride getting into the product space.
[03:35] SPEAKER_02: So we're actually kind of service and product now, which is an interesting mix.
[03:39] SPEAKER_03: And so what does Orkestry do?
[03:41] SPEAKER_02: So Orkestry is a SaaS-based app, and it's really built for anyone that uses Microsoft 365,
[03:50] SPEAKER_02: which is formerly called Office 365.
[03:52] SPEAKER_02: So anybody that uses things like Word, PowerPoint, and SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams,
[04:00] SPEAKER_02: especially with the remote work situation that we're in right now, the amount of apps
[04:06] SPEAKER_02: in that platform has grown and grown and grown.
[04:08] SPEAKER_02: And so we get a lot of, what do I use for what purpose and when, and there's a lot of confusion
[04:15] SPEAKER_02: around that.
[04:15] SPEAKER_02: There's also a lot of confusion on when to use Teams versus when to use SharePoints.
[04:19] SPEAKER_02: And so Orkestry makes work simple in that platform by putting in different rules and being
[04:27] SPEAKER_02: able to give a much easier and self-service situation for both end users and admins.
[04:33] SPEAKER_02: So what it really excels at is governance and adoption, basically what it does to platform.
[04:39] SPEAKER_03: Okay. Now, did you need financing to start your company and how do you currently make money
[04:43] SPEAKER_03: in the business now?
[04:44] SPEAKER_03: Is it a consulting service?
[04:47] SPEAKER_02: Yeah. So I mean, I'm confusingly talking to you both both my consulting service company
[04:52] SPEAKER_02: and then the product SaaS-based company.
[04:54] SPEAKER_02: So maybe collective bootstrapped side hustled, kind of got it off the ground slowly
[05:01] SPEAKER_02: but surely and so I was sure that I could make a full-time gig out of it.
[05:05] SPEAKER_02: And that was completely self-funded going into this product endeavor.
[05:11] SPEAKER_02: Same, the founders, the other founders and I decided we wanted to stay in control and have a
[05:17] SPEAKER_02: really good direction of our vision.
[05:20] SPEAKER_02: And so we self-funded that as well.
[05:22] SPEAKER_03: Okay. Good.
[05:23] SPEAKER_03: I want you to give us a key piece of knowledge or information about your industry that our listeners
[05:30] SPEAKER_03: can learn from. Just kind of give me something that is kind of layman's terms or something that
[05:35] SPEAKER_03: would kind of define exactly some of the interesting aspects of it.
[05:41] SPEAKER_02: So what I find interesting may not be what everyone finds interesting but at my core,
[05:48] SPEAKER_02: I'm a digital marketing junkie. Like when you could start to dissect the Google algorithm or how
[05:56] SPEAKER_02: people started to be able to show up for what I search for online. For example, if I search for
[06:02] SPEAKER_02: Canada's podcast, will it be this podcast that comes up first?
[06:06] SPEAKER_02: I would assume you're a technically savvy bunch and you have put yourself the right keywords in
[06:12] SPEAKER_02: to be able to show up in Google. I think what most people don't understand is when they build a
[06:18] SPEAKER_02: website and when they put their message out there to the world that doesn't automatically mean
[06:24] SPEAKER_02: that someone's going to see it or that search engines are going to serve it.
[06:29] SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot of nuances behind getting to be able to be seen by Google and Bing and all the
[06:37] SPEAKER_02: other search engines. And those nuances are really search engine marketing and it's worth
[06:42] SPEAKER_02: any small business, any large business. It is worth the investment to do a little digging and
[06:48] SPEAKER_02: figure out how you get shown there because in this time of everyone being online, that's the only
[06:53] SPEAKER_02: way your presence is shown. And so I think that just gets overlooked, especially as I think about
[06:59] SPEAKER_02: our endeavor as a product company. Most products, they build the entire thing, engineers over engineer
[07:05] SPEAKER_02: it, and then they start thinking about marketing it. And being a co-founder at the beginning and
[07:10] SPEAKER_02: starting to get that message together as we were building it and starting to get that web presence
[07:14] SPEAKER_02: together as we were building the product has made us accelerate beyond the competition quite quickly.
[07:21] SPEAKER_02: So that would be my tip is to spend the time and investment into understanding how it works online
[07:28] SPEAKER_02: and how you can actually be seen by the audience you want to be seen for because most of the reason
[07:34] SPEAKER_02: that we see success with our clients is that they're able to do that and they're able to get their
[07:38] SPEAKER_03: message out there effectively. Yes, I remember talking to a client and the analogy I used was
[07:43] SPEAKER_03: like buying a brand new car parking in your garage and then staring at and wondering why it's not
[07:48] SPEAKER_03: going to pick up the kids. And he kind of got it. Yeah, I mean, it sounds tricky, but it is,
[07:57] SPEAKER_02: if you put it in brick and mortar terms, it's like not having a storefront. If you can't actually show
[08:03] SPEAKER_02: up there, then you have no storefront. No one can see the front door. So that's the key piece of
[08:08] SPEAKER_03: advice you need to show up. It's not just enough just to build it. You need to show up. Okay,
[08:14] SPEAKER_03: what is a long-term vision? And what will your company look like in the future? Do you see the
[08:18] SPEAKER_03: company expanding into other areas and where beyond Vancouver or Squamish BC or even Canada?
[08:24] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I'm familiar with the podcast and I thought this question might come up. So what's
[08:32] SPEAKER_02: interesting about orchestry and Maving Collective is that most of our clients are not in Vancouver
[08:38] SPEAKER_02: and our business goals and initial customers did not come from Vancouver. So one of our most loyal
[08:47] SPEAKER_02: clients that we work with from Maving Collective is in Lithuania and we've been working with them
[08:52] SPEAKER_02: since inception. So about eight years now and then we have clients all over the world. Now
[09:00] SPEAKER_02: we specialize in doing business to business marketing with tech companies and primarily in the
[09:06] SPEAKER_02: Microsoft system. So Microsoft Dynamics Partners, Microsoft Office 365 Partners. That's for our
[09:13] SPEAKER_02: specialty lies because my background has been working for Microsoft and then working with companies
[09:19] SPEAKER_02: as such. Same with orchestry. We working with my co-founders before. We had already had a partnership
[09:27] SPEAKER_02: with Microsoft and knew that the big account sends that the people that really are the early adopters
[09:35] SPEAKER_02: of technology generally aren't in Vancouver and the bigger companies generally aren't in Vancouver.
[09:41] SPEAKER_02: So when we started going to market, we really went after the US market, the Australian market,
[09:46] SPEAKER_02: the UK market and the Canadian market. Our biggest success so far has been in the US,
[09:53] SPEAKER_02: Australia and the UK and we're starting to see some traction in Canada but it definitely hasn't
[09:58] SPEAKER_02: been the first place that has picked up a brand new technology and run with it.
[10:03] SPEAKER_03: Okay, good. Let's talk a little about doing business in British Columbia. What are the biggest
[10:09] SPEAKER_03: benefits for you and being an entrepreneur in Squamish obviously? There's Columbia. Give us some
[10:14] SPEAKER_03: of the good points about starting a company where you're located but also give us some of the tough
[10:18] SPEAKER_03: things or challenges for listeners so they can keep an eye out for them.
[10:22] SPEAKER_02: So I would say the advantages of British Columbia, of Vancouver and our proximity event
[10:28] SPEAKER_02: in Squamish is the talent pool that we have here and just working with clients locally as well,
[10:36] SPEAKER_02: we've just been able to expand our reach and work with some fantastic companies that are
[10:42] SPEAKER_02: genuinely wonderful people to work with. I mean, I'm sure Robert, you having a background in
[10:48] SPEAKER_02: business, it's always hard to work with clients that you're misaligned on values or misaligned on
[10:56] SPEAKER_02: goals and purposes and we have found such a great client base here in Vancouver but that's also
[11:02] SPEAKER_02: turned into co-founders in the second venture. So I would say that's really the strength, the talent,
[11:09] SPEAKER_02: the openness, the friendliness of people in Vancouver that's gone unmatched in a lot of places
[11:16] SPEAKER_02: that I've lived before. I would say that the downside and I think other guests have said this to
[11:22] SPEAKER_02: you in the past is proximity to customers is a little skewed being way up here in Vancouver when
[11:30] SPEAKER_02: a lot of customers are in the US or say Australia or the UK which means we're on the phone at 5am
[11:36] SPEAKER_02: and we're on the phone at 9pm so that can make for long days but at least technology like this
[11:41] SPEAKER_02: allows us to still interact with clients at those times. So it is a small market,
[11:47] SPEAKER_02: you know, when we're looking at large accounts they generally aren't coming from Vancouver.
[11:52] SPEAKER_02: So we're having to go much further out to be able to sustain a business of the size and growth
[11:58] SPEAKER_03: that we want to be. Okay so you moved here from the US correct many years ago? Okay this next question
[12:05] SPEAKER_03: I want you to imagine doing it all over again. If you were to start all over again you just moved
[12:10] SPEAKER_03: here to Vancouver, British Columbia but this time you don't know anyone knowing what you know now
[12:14] SPEAKER_03: what would you do and how would you go about starting all over again as an entrepreneur?
[12:20] SPEAKER_02: Yeah I've experienced this. I experienced this actually in 2008 at the end of 2008
[12:26] SPEAKER_02: and it's when I moved to Canada and I left Microsoft. After the big recession after the
[12:30] SPEAKER_02: big recession? Yeah yeah well I left Microsoft to marry my Canadian and they offered to keep
[12:37] SPEAKER_02: me on and I said no I need to go be Canadian. I really don't I mean I find my new life and
[12:44] SPEAKER_02: I had a job when I came the job totally stailed out because nobody was hiring and I went back
[12:50] SPEAKER_02: to cocktail waitressing and that's what I did my first almost year as a Canadian. So that was really
[12:55] SPEAKER_02: difficult. I mean I did have my new husband and that was a wonderful personal side of my life
[13:01] SPEAKER_02: but as a career side it was it was very difficult to do. I actually went into financial advising and
[13:07] SPEAKER_02: became a certified financial advisor in Canada. That was a really different career path for me
[13:14] SPEAKER_02: and I did not enjoy. So that also was a great learning lesson but what really made it a change
[13:20] SPEAKER_02: for me in Vancouver was when I was able to finally kind of get back to my passions and then I
[13:27] SPEAKER_02: actually enrolled in an MBA at SFU in the management of technology and that opened a lot of doors
[13:32] SPEAKER_02: for me. It created new networks for me in Vancouver. It created a lot of new connections for me in
[13:36] SPEAKER_02: Vancouver. I volunteered also to be on the SFU alumni board that opened up further doors for me.
[13:42] SPEAKER_02: I also volunteered to speak at different events as I was you know asked to share my experience
[13:48] SPEAKER_02: either being a non-technical person in a technical program or you know being a marketer in technology
[13:56] SPEAKER_02: without a technical background and that again kind of opened more doors. So that's basically how I
[14:03] SPEAKER_02: was able to create a network for myself where I didn't know anyone in Vancouver and I highly
[14:07] SPEAKER_02: recommend I mean whether you do that through education like getting an MBA or you do it for
[14:12] SPEAKER_02: volunteering and networking that was another big part of it but that's kind of what opened the
[14:16] SPEAKER_03: doors for me in Vancouver. Okay let's talk a little bit about your routine. What does the first hour
[14:22] SPEAKER_03: look like for you when you get up in the morning? Do you have a specific routine or ritual that
[14:26] SPEAKER_03: helps you get motivated to start your day? I mean beyond the crazy hours I imagine that you were
[14:31] SPEAKER_03: saying 5 a.m. 9 a.m. meetings and stuff but is there anything that kind of gets you going
[14:37] SPEAKER_02: up there and squamish? Well squamish is this phenomenal place to get outside early. So I definitely
[14:44] SPEAKER_02: take advantage of that when the hours allow me to. I love getting in the trails and running. I
[14:49] SPEAKER_02: recently broke my foot so that hasn't happened in a while so I've adapted my routine but exercise
[14:55] SPEAKER_02: is a big part of it. I usually get up to some exercise early and do a little meditation.
[15:02] SPEAKER_02: It's a little something I'm trying my hand out. I would not say that I'm by any means an expert.
[15:07] SPEAKER_02: I have a very busy mind but giving myself a coffee and some peace in the morning gets me kind of
[15:13] SPEAKER_02: drawn into recognizing before reacting and then you know kind of drawing up my day and making sure
[15:19] SPEAKER_02: that I have to stay on task with all of the different things we have going on but those two things
[15:25] SPEAKER_02: are kind of the way that I like to whip and I'm really looking forward to getting back on the
[15:28] SPEAKER_02: trails as soon as I can run as well. Maybe early morning hike up the chief? Yeah well I definitely do
[15:35] SPEAKER_02: that when I'm not right to that stage in my recovery yet but yes would that be a bit often
[15:41] SPEAKER_02: if I can fit it in I meet some friends and we do a hike socially distant at 5 a.m. when I don't
[15:48] SPEAKER_03: have calls. It's kind of squamishous version of the gross grind the chief I think. It is. It is. I
[15:54] SPEAKER_02: mean I use to live in North Bend and I can tell you that I much more enjoy the chief just
[15:59] SPEAKER_02: it feels like a little less of a grind and the view at the top is just a huge payoff yeah. Yeah that's
[16:06] SPEAKER_01: awesome. Canada's Trade Accelerator Program is presented by the World Trade Center Vancouver.
[16:14] SPEAKER_01: It provides entrepreneurs access to Canada's top exporting advisors resources and contacts
[16:20] SPEAKER_01: and gives the ongoing training needed to become a successful export trader. Go to www.wtcbankuver.ca
[16:30] SPEAKER_03: slash tap and find out more. Do you think entrepreneurs have to be weird or unique in a positive way
[16:38] SPEAKER_02: or wired differently? I think most entrepreneurs I meet are unique in a good way and you have to be a
[16:47] SPEAKER_02: little maniacal and a little bit of a sadist to like keep doing this day after day and
[16:54] SPEAKER_02: you know it's a roller coaster. There are these like high highs and low lows and
[17:00] SPEAKER_02: to continue to put yourself through that you know I mean I think you said in the beginning like
[17:06] SPEAKER_02: I do Ultramarathon so that's like you know eight to 12 more hours on your feet at a time when
[17:13] SPEAKER_02: you tell someone you do that people think you're a little bit nuts and I feel like
[17:18] SPEAKER_02: entrepreneurship is just a great comparison to that because it is a grind at times and it's
[17:24] SPEAKER_02: just immensely a huge payoff when you get to that line where you feel like you've accomplished
[17:29] SPEAKER_02: something and then there's that next big mountain. So to me I think the best ones are the corkiest
[17:36] SPEAKER_02: and unique and and they're willing to do it as much you know pain as it brings and it does but
[17:43] SPEAKER_02: it really it's really worth it. It's um you know a similar analogy to having kids like it's
[17:48] SPEAKER_02: it's the hardest job and it's the most rewarding job and you know for most people that birth
[17:54] SPEAKER_02: their their ideas into a company it's the hardest job and it's the most rewarding job.
[18:00] SPEAKER_03: Okay entrepreneurs like to read what books are you reading now and why or even audiobooks and
[18:05] SPEAKER_03: can you recommend any books for listeners who are also aspiring entrepreneurs? I read a lot it's
[18:11] SPEAKER_02: so buying books is the one kind of thing that I never feel guilty about so I I haven't too many.
[18:17] SPEAKER_02: My night table is overrun and I am usually guilty of running like five or more at a time.
[18:23] SPEAKER_02: So the few that I could say that have been really impactful that I read from a entrepreneurship
[18:28] SPEAKER_02: standpoint would be Austin founder by Rand Fishkin. He founded Moz and sold Moz which is a it's a
[18:36] SPEAKER_02: software for for marketers and for people that are trying to measure their certain
[18:41] SPEAKER_02: den optimization. That's a great book it's a great book that shows you kind of if you take
[18:47] SPEAKER_02: yourself as a consultants from day one and take yourself as an entrepreneur and day one what you
[18:52] SPEAKER_02: can project to earn and what that looks like and also what the pain looks like along the way so
[18:56] SPEAKER_02: that's a great one. I really like that one from a marketing standpoint I think a lot of entrepreneurs
[19:03] SPEAKER_02: have to do marketing at the beginning they don't have the you know funding usually to do
[19:08] SPEAKER_02: these usually have to try it themselves so a few of those that I think are really great are
[19:13] SPEAKER_02: why Johnny can't brand that's a that's a fantastic one that kind of gets you into the pillars of
[19:18] SPEAKER_02: branding and the idea of a of a category of one and another would be made to stick like how ideas
[19:25] SPEAKER_02: get stuck in people's mind and when what those core categories are to get them concrete and cement
[19:31] SPEAKER_02: and I also like leisure read mostly nonfiction so I can recommend a couple more there. I would say
[19:39] SPEAKER_02: anything from Nicholas Christoff like tightrope or half of the sky he's a he's an writer for the New
[19:45] SPEAKER_02: York Times really impactful moving stuff that he writes and and very well researched and the other
[19:52] SPEAKER_02: one that I'm currently reading that I think most people might be interested in today is a promise
[19:57] SPEAKER_02: land by Barack Obama but if you've read any of other's books it's a good one as well. Any online
[20:03] SPEAKER_02: or offline tools that you use on a daily basis? We are a fully remote team both on the maven side
[20:11] SPEAKER_02: and on the orchestry side so we use a ton of tools so I won't list them all for you but I'd say
[20:20] SPEAKER_02: the ones that we use on a day-to-day basis of course are Microsoft 365 that we use teams we use
[20:25] SPEAKER_02: SharePoint we use so many tools within Microsoft lists Microsoft planner and we use orchestry of
[20:31] SPEAKER_02: course because that fits within in the tools that we use for project management we use Asana
[20:37] SPEAKER_02: that works really well both from like a long-term project planning and a short-term task perspective
[20:44] SPEAKER_02: another one that Microsoft just came out with that I have found really helpful to analyze your
[20:50] SPEAKER_02: website performance or digital performance is called Microsoft Clarity and they just rolled that out
[20:56] SPEAKER_02: within the last couple months but it's I keep mapping and tracking and some of the other tools that
[21:02] SPEAKER_02: used to do this for us that are paid or like crazy egg or hutch are lucky orange and they all sat
[21:07] SPEAKER_02: separately but this actually kind of goes into the then Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools and is able
[21:14] SPEAKER_02: to give you a lot more of that kind of like Google Search Console but you know a lot more of a visual
[21:19] SPEAKER_02: view of how people are clicking and scrolling on your site and it's really interesting.
[21:24] SPEAKER_03: Okay let's talk a little bit about other things that you'd like to do if you weren't doing what you do
[21:29] SPEAKER_02: now what would you like to do for a profession? I well I if you can see behind me I love music
[21:36] SPEAKER_02: so I would definitely I would do more of that perhaps singer songwriter I've always kind of had
[21:45] SPEAKER_02: that music gene in in my back pocket and I can't seem to shake it so it's it's what I you know besides
[21:51] SPEAKER_02: getting outside I spent a lot of time playing music and enjoying music. So recording artist.
[21:59] SPEAKER_02: I don't know if it would be the artist but maybe I would contribute the songs to the artist.
[22:03] SPEAKER_03: Okay it's publisher song publisher. What kind of a kind of a job would you not like to do?
[22:08] SPEAKER_02: It couldn't do it. You know my family is not going to love this answer but I gave it to them early
[22:13] SPEAKER_02: on pretty much everyone in my family are deadtests and my dad used to take us to work from a early age
[22:19] SPEAKER_02: holidays from an early age I mean I remember from the age of seven like scrubbing toilets at the
[22:24] SPEAKER_02: dental office and calling to confirm his appointments to people that we knew but as a teenager we were
[22:31] SPEAKER_02: doing sterilization of like partials of people's you know teeth and helping drill or not drill helping
[22:39] SPEAKER_02: clean out places where my dad had drilled and people's teeth and and my brothers both took to it
[22:45] SPEAKER_02: and my stepbrothers because you know went into the the medical field and for me just like
[22:51] SPEAKER_02: dentistry I could not do but blessed all my family that does it's it's just not something that I could
[22:56] SPEAKER_03: get into. In business where's your favorite word quote or sentence that you like to use?
[23:02] SPEAKER_02: Um I don't you know I don't think she's from business I know she's not from business she's
[23:08] SPEAKER_02: she's a writer she's an author she impoits but to me and from the beginning of many businesses this
[23:14] SPEAKER_02: is kind of been my mantra almost is um this from my angelio and and her I hope I get right is um
[23:22] SPEAKER_02: so hope and fear cannot occupy the same space pick one and I often think about that when
[23:30] SPEAKER_02: you know thinking about a risk that I might find really too fearful to take like starting a business
[23:36] SPEAKER_03: and choosing hope. Okay what is your least favorite word or sentence you do not like to hear?
[23:44] SPEAKER_02: For me it's it's often like it's uh it's immeasurable the uh you know the outcome is is immeasurable
[23:53] SPEAKER_02: and it's just it's you know worth it what is worth it cannot be measured you know often that's
[24:00] SPEAKER_02: what we hear marketers say that that don't do the data behind the marketing and so that for me when
[24:07] SPEAKER_02: I go into a room like that it's just it hurts my head a little bit I know that there's a way to
[24:12] SPEAKER_02: be able to measure things and and it's often you know just putting the right tools and processes
[24:17] SPEAKER_02: in place to be able to do that and and so that's half the battle enjoying that part of it.
[24:23] SPEAKER_03: If you had to pick one or two words to describe yourself what would it be and why?
[24:29] SPEAKER_02: you know I think early on my career I might have said something creative um which I probably still
[24:38] SPEAKER_02: am but more in the roles that I am now I would say that I am supportive and I try to be the best
[24:45] SPEAKER_02: support for my teams and empathetic like recognizing that no matter what everyone is human and everyone
[24:53] SPEAKER_02: makes mistakes and um you know as long as you work together you can you know push past whatever
[24:59] SPEAKER_02: is thrown your way and and I think that that's um often a tool that's overlooked in business.
[25:05] SPEAKER_03: Okay anything keeping you up at night these days?
[25:08] SPEAKER_02: We have children so that often does give me a wake up in the middle of the night uh
[25:15] SPEAKER_02: there there are so many things that run through your mind in the middle of the night I
[25:21] SPEAKER_02: try to read before I go to beds to give myself something else to think about but of course you
[25:26] SPEAKER_02: know whether it's the next big project that you know has tight deadlines and you're you're worried about
[25:34] SPEAKER_02: that whether it's you know the business development side of things it's um you know peaks and valleys
[25:40] SPEAKER_02: whether it's a big presentation that you're giving to an entire you know global team at a company
[25:47] SPEAKER_02: it's it's a lot of things um but you know some of the things that we mentioned earlier
[25:52] SPEAKER_02: reading at night having a good ritual in the morning um so it just kind of helps you feel more
[25:57] SPEAKER_02: prepared and and feel like you can accomplish those things and again like can't say enough about
[26:03] SPEAKER_02: having a great team that you can rely on bounce ideas off of and you know even say when
[26:09] SPEAKER_02: you're struggling and having some fear around those things or anxiety around those things and
[26:13] SPEAKER_03: getting the help you need and all that mountain fresh air must help as well right
[26:17] SPEAKER_02: okay yeah yeah I'm I'm still looking forward to being out in it more I'm I'm getting lots of hiking in
[26:23] SPEAKER_02: but uh I can't wait to be sweating and skiing and all of the things I want you to give us the
[26:29] SPEAKER_03: top three things three things on your inspired lifeless this could be if you want to travel more
[26:34] SPEAKER_03: ontopreneurship or as far as philanthropy um do you want to write a book anything like that that is
[26:40] SPEAKER_03: kind of outside of the entrepreneurial working day to day anything that you'd like to strive to do
[26:47] SPEAKER_02: um I always joke with my son and daughter that when they go to college I'm going to go back
[26:51] SPEAKER_02: so I I hope school I will and I'd love to get my PhD um not to just say I could get a PhD but
[26:59] SPEAKER_02: I've always wanted to teach and I would love to be able to do that um sometime in the future with
[27:05] SPEAKER_02: when I have a little more time and I would love to write a book like I no idea what I would
[27:12] SPEAKER_02: write it about I really enjoy reading so I think and and a lot large part of my job is writing um
[27:19] SPEAKER_02: so I think that could be something that would be a nice experience okay I would love to uh get
[27:29] SPEAKER_02: away on an island at some point and live happily I think Robert you get away more often than I
[27:35] SPEAKER_03: I'd love to hear about that experience yeah like you know I can tell you lots of island stories
[27:42] SPEAKER_03: as for sure do you have any advice that you may have received that you can pass on to entrepreneurs
[27:47] SPEAKER_02: throughout Canada yeah I remember um I remember the year that I was you know I said that I started
[27:55] SPEAKER_02: made in collective kind of as a side hustle that I was trying to figure out if I could make it a
[28:01] SPEAKER_02: full-time gig um I was pregnant with my second kid and knew that like commuting every day and having
[28:08] SPEAKER_02: my daughter away and care every day was going to be hard for us and but trying to get myself out
[28:14] SPEAKER_02: of the fear mode of like what if I fail like what if I start this thing and it just I follow my face
[28:20] SPEAKER_02: um and I had a good two good friends that were already entrepreneurs that just looked at me you know
[28:26] SPEAKER_02: once said you know what are you what are you fearing you're fearing that you're going to fail and then
[28:32] SPEAKER_02: you're gonna go back and get a job and do what you do right now I was like yeah I mean I guess
[28:37] SPEAKER_02: that is the worst that could happen is that I go back and do what I do right now and the other one
[28:43] SPEAKER_02: um you know had said look there's just you you have you've done this as a side hustle
[28:49] SPEAKER_02: job for so long for four years you know you can't do any worse than what you're doing right now and if
[28:55] SPEAKER_02: you had it had to be able to do it full-time all you would do give yourself is more time to be successful
[28:59] SPEAKER_02: so you know give yourself a try someone's got a bet on yourself and it's got to be you and and I'm
[29:05] SPEAKER_02: like I'm so thankful that both of them spoke up and gave me the confidence I needed to you know
[29:11] SPEAKER_03: potentially follow my face but so far that has happened take the rest go for it I guess is the
[29:16] SPEAKER_03: is the message to be communicated here okay Aaron okay you ready to have some fun I think so
[29:23] SPEAKER_03: okay you did mention it that you like to go to a tropical island and we're gonna take you away to
[29:27] SPEAKER_03: one right now there's a small tropical island just off a Fiji that only has one phone booth there
[29:32] SPEAKER_03: there is no internet this place does exist we're going to drop you off there you won't have a
[29:36] SPEAKER_03: computer or a smartphone or tablet you can use the phone booth located there any time to call the
[29:41] SPEAKER_03: boat will come pick you up how long would you last before you made that call and what would you
[29:46] SPEAKER_02: do while you were there I have a clarifying question okay can my husband and children come yeah yeah
[29:53] SPEAKER_03: you can bring here anyone you want there's just no internet okay okay now I get to have my family
[29:58] SPEAKER_02: with me yeah and would I know ahead of the boat coming to pick me up that I would be gone
[30:06] SPEAKER_03: uh we're gonna drop you off the boat's gonna come and they're gonna drop you guys off and they're
[30:11] SPEAKER_03: gonna sit outside the shore for probably about a mile out and wait for you okay so I'm gonna make
[30:17] SPEAKER_02: an assumption that I could actually say to my team I'm going to be away I don't know what I'm
[30:22] SPEAKER_02: gonna come back and hear all the things that you can do are all gone and then I could disappear if
[30:26] SPEAKER_02: that's the case I could last a very long time that sounds that you wouldn't get the when get the
[30:31] SPEAKER_03: edge to turn turn on the phone and trying to log in or anything like that no interest in to
[30:37] SPEAKER_02: yeah you know we spend a lot of our free time getting off the grid so like we did our first backpacking
[30:44] SPEAKER_02: trip with our kids this summer and it was amazing you know to no self-service area to you know
[30:50] SPEAKER_02: the only thing that I would want is my camera so that I could capture the moments that we create
[30:56] SPEAKER_03: so a little bit of digital detox there already you're I'm yeah I'm totally I'm in the woods if I'm
[31:02] SPEAKER_02: not online and working I'm in the woods that is my happy place but I'm an island would also be my
[31:07] SPEAKER_02: happy place so I don't know I don't know we could see how long I last I'll be the first one to
[31:12] SPEAKER_03: volunteer let's find out I've had several entrepreneurs answer that question tell the boat not to go
[31:17] SPEAKER_02: too far yeah if you could just keep going I would have pretend that there's nobody else here
[31:25] SPEAKER_03: okay let's wrap things out how can our listeners get whole of you and is there anything you'd like
[31:29] SPEAKER_02: to add before you leave us today so how can they get hold of me that's an easy question we're at
[31:35] SPEAKER_02: mavencollectivemarketing.com is that is our B2B marketing and digital marketing agency happy to
[31:42] SPEAKER_02: answer any questions we are very helpful and happy to just kind of do quick talks with any
[31:49] SPEAKER_02: entrepreneurs that that may need a little help on the marketing side it's one of the most fun
[31:53] SPEAKER_02: things actually is is being able to give some advice to and see someone run with it which is
[31:58] SPEAKER_02: amazing for orchestry it's orcustry.com that's you know for Microsoft 365 users that may need
[32:08] SPEAKER_02: a little help with governance and adoption the last thing that I would leave you with is um
[32:13] SPEAKER_02: you know the best advice I ever got by an entrepreneur was to take a chance on yourself and
[32:17] SPEAKER_02: and no one deserves it more than you so to you be believing yourself and and get out there and
[32:23] SPEAKER_02: and try your hand at it and you know if you are in a job right now you're going to be able to go
[32:29] SPEAKER_02: back to a job so so you should definitely get out there it's um sometimes a hard and long road
[32:34] SPEAKER_02: sometimes it feels a little bit like a marathon but those wins are never sweeter when they're
[32:40] SPEAKER_02: they're all yours to experience them I highly recommend the journey okay Erica thanks for coming
[32:47] SPEAKER_03: on the show I've learned a lot about you and I'm sure our listeners have as well thanks so much
[32:52] SPEAKER_01: Trevor for BC entrepreneurs Canada's Trade Accelerator Program has been successfully
[32:59] SPEAKER_01: operated by the World Trade Center Vancouver since 2017 the Trade Accelerator Program gives BC
[33:07] SPEAKER_01: based businesses the training and support needed to become a successful exporter go to www.wtc Vancouver
[33:18] SPEAKER_01: .ca slash tap and find out more