Laura Burden is a South-African Born Vancouver-Based Entrepreneur Focused on Social Media Marketing

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's podcast, the number one podcast for entrepreneurs by
[00:06] SPEAKER_01: entrepreneurs. Hello, this is Robert Smile coming to today with a Vancouver's
[00:11] SPEAKER_01: podcast, a member of the Canada's podcast network where we talk to the
[00:15] SPEAKER_01: entrepreneurs we're making it happen here in Vancouver, British Columbia. Now
[00:19] SPEAKER_01: let's get ready to listen to discover and engage. Laura Burton is a South African
[00:24] SPEAKER_01: born Vancouver based entrepreneur focused on social media marketing. Her
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: entrepreneur spirit led her to lead law school to found a burden brand management.
[00:35] SPEAKER_01: Laura is passionate about helping others find their voice on social media and
[00:40] SPEAKER_01: does this through her coaching and consulting services as well as online
[00:44] SPEAKER_01: courses targeted at small business owners and entrepreneurs looking to
[00:49] SPEAKER_01: leverage social media for their businesses. Well Laura welcome to Canada's
[00:55] SPEAKER_01: podcast. Thanks for taking the time today to be here for all our listeners.
[00:59] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you so much. It's great to be here. Great. Well we know you're from
[01:03] SPEAKER_01: South Africa so tell us a little bit more about yourself and give us the
[01:06] SPEAKER_00: details on your current business. Yeah so I sport in South Africa. I kind of
[01:11] SPEAKER_00: moved back and forth between here and South Africa growing up. Both my
[01:15] SPEAKER_00: parents are South African but my mom was born in Canada and so I kind of always knew
[01:20] SPEAKER_00: I went to be an entrepreneur both my parents are entrepreneurs so that
[01:23] SPEAKER_00: planted seeds very early for me. I did go back thinking I was going to live
[01:28] SPEAKER_00: there and started law school and kind of realized almost halfway through that
[01:32] SPEAKER_00: it wasn't the right fit for me and that is what led me to starting my own
[01:36] SPEAKER_00: business and leveraging the social media skills I picked up to start a
[01:40] SPEAKER_00: business and start offering it as a service for other business owners. Awesome.
[01:45] SPEAKER_01: Okay now could you need financing to start your company and how do you
[01:49] SPEAKER_01: currently make money in your business now? Yeah no we didn't need any
[01:52] SPEAKER_00: financing it's kind of the beauty of it I was able to start with basically
[01:55] SPEAKER_00: nothing. I had my computer and internet and that was kind of all I needed to get
[01:59] SPEAKER_00: started. How we make money now is we have clients we do full social media
[02:04] SPEAKER_00: management for. We have one-on-one coaching services we have consulting
[02:09] SPEAKER_00: services. I do quite a bit of speaking arrangements and webinars online
[02:14] SPEAKER_00: teaching and then I also do online courses. Awesome. Okay now you're located in
[02:21] SPEAKER_01: Vancouver so what is the long-term vision and what will your company look
[02:25] SPEAKER_01: like in the future do you see the company expanding into other areas and
[02:29] SPEAKER_00: where beyond Vancouver BC or even Canada? Yeah I mean it's been kind of
[02:34] SPEAKER_00: interesting with COVID initially it was very like most of my clients were
[02:38] SPEAKER_00: Vancouver based because I've met them networking or through connections and
[02:42] SPEAKER_00: then obviously with the last year we haven't been able to do anything like
[02:45] SPEAKER_00: that so I mean I've had a couple more clients that are based across Canada
[02:48] SPEAKER_00: which you know only kind of happened because of COVID I would say so I do see
[02:52] SPEAKER_00: you know expanding more across Canada and then I do have a few American
[02:56] SPEAKER_00: clients as well so I kind of see that side of things picking up as well. I think
[03:00] SPEAKER_00: COVID has made people realize how much you can do remotely like you do not need
[03:04] SPEAKER_00: to do 99% of work in person so it's worked out really nicely in that way.
[03:09] SPEAKER_01: Awesome. Okay well we've learned a little bit about you and your business let's
[03:13] SPEAKER_01: talk about doing business in Vancouver, British Columbia. What are the biggest
[03:17] SPEAKER_01: benefits for you in being an entrepreneur here in Vancouver BC? I want you to
[03:21] SPEAKER_01: give us some of the good points about starting a company here but I also want
[03:24] SPEAKER_01: you to give us some of the tough things or challenges for our listeners so they
[03:27] SPEAKER_00: can keep an eye out for them. Yeah absolutely I mean I think the biggest
[03:31] SPEAKER_00: challenge that springs to mind for most people when you think of Vancouver is
[03:34] SPEAKER_00: the cost of living and so obviously it's super expensive to live here and when
[03:38] SPEAKER_00: you're spending all your money on living you don't have that much money to
[03:41] SPEAKER_00: reinvest in your business or in hiring or scaling or any of those other things
[03:46] SPEAKER_00: that would help grow your business quicker so when I look at my friends who
[03:48] SPEAKER_00: are based in I don't know even friends in Halifax or the East Coast if we look
[03:53] SPEAKER_00: side by side what we're making and where the money's getting spent it's crazy.
[03:56] SPEAKER_00: So I think the cost of living in Vancouver makes it hard to scale a business for
[04:01] SPEAKER_00: those reasons in terms of what's good about it. There's a really great
[04:05] SPEAKER_00: entrepreneurial network here there's so many entrepreneurs it seems that
[04:09] SPEAKER_00: everyone here has their own business or at least a side hobby that they're
[04:12] SPEAKER_00: kind of or side hustle they're kind of starting and so it's a really really
[04:15] SPEAKER_00: great supportive community which I'd love. Another great thing is obviously
[04:19] SPEAKER_00: Vancouver is beautiful so the good you know the work life balance you're not
[04:22] SPEAKER_00: stuck inside all day you can I don't know go skiing and come home and work so
[04:26] SPEAKER_00: that's another really great part about living in Vancouver. Okay that's a nice
[04:30] SPEAKER_01: segue to our my next question we do some of our best workouts side the office
[04:35] SPEAKER_01: is there a place in the lower man like close to where you live or work where
[04:38] SPEAKER_01: you like to go recharge or get inspired with ideas or just think about your
[04:42] SPEAKER_01: business and does it change with the season concerning all the rain we get here.
[04:48] SPEAKER_00: Good question so I spent a lot of time on the seawall and I live like two blocks
[04:53] SPEAKER_00: from the seawall so whenever I have to like work on an idea or think something
[04:56] SPEAKER_00: through I will go for power walk along the seawall in terms of the weather
[05:01] SPEAKER_00: complying I invested a really good rain boots and a good rain jacket so
[05:05] SPEAKER_00: that's how I make do with the rain and you know pre-COVID it would be
[05:09] SPEAKER_00: co-working spaces and different studios or coffee shops and that's
[05:14] SPEAKER_00: something I've had to let go of with COVID but normally there's a really good
[05:17] SPEAKER_01: community for that as well in Vancouver. Awesome okay so we know you're from South
[05:23] SPEAKER_01: Africa and we want you to imagine you coming here to Vancouver all over again
[05:27] SPEAKER_01: if you were to start a little over again and you just moved here to Vancouver
[05:30] SPEAKER_01: BC but this time you don't know anyone knowing what you know now what would
[05:34] SPEAKER_01: you do and how would you go about starting all over again as an entrepreneur
[05:39] SPEAKER_00: Yeah I think something I've learned you know in the past few years is that who
[05:43] SPEAKER_00: you know is one of the most important things to determine how well you do in
[05:47] SPEAKER_00: business and those connections you make so if I was starting from scratch I
[05:50] SPEAKER_00: would definitely invest my time and energy into making connections making
[05:54] SPEAKER_00: friendships and learning as much as I can from other entrepreneurs and what
[05:57] SPEAKER_00: they bring to the table that would be my priority. Yeah we also have a lot like
[06:02] SPEAKER_01: small business BC, there's chambers of commerce lots and networking events when
[06:06] SPEAKER_01: they do come back obviously but yeah I definitely use that as a great way to
[06:12] SPEAKER_01: get the podcast going. Let's talk about your routine and what makes you or keeps
[06:17] SPEAKER_01: you motivated. What does the first hour look like for you when you get up the
[06:20] SPEAKER_01: morning? Do you have a specific routine or ritual that helps you get motivated
[06:24] SPEAKER_00: to start your day? Yeah so I have no screen time for the first three hours it
[06:29] SPEAKER_00: doesn't always go that well but that's kind of my goal is to know a phone for
[06:32] SPEAKER_00: the first three hours when I wake up. I have a morning routine I'll read a
[06:36] SPEAKER_00: little bit, meditate you know in the summer I would go for a walk in the winter
[06:41] SPEAKER_00: it's a little harder to start my day like that. So let's kind of
[06:44] SPEAKER_00: morning routine in terms of motivation you know going to the gym or doing
[06:48] SPEAKER_00: online workouts I guess now is kind of what we're doing. Having that
[06:52] SPEAKER_00: balance is super important for me to stay motivated and to keep that routine
[06:55] SPEAKER_01: really consistent. Okay do you think entrepreneurs have to be weird or unique in
[07:00] SPEAKER_00: a positive way or are wired differently? Definitely. I think it takes a special
[07:06] SPEAKER_00: type of person to be okay with not knowing how much money you're gonna make
[07:10] SPEAKER_00: each month and to be totally okay with you know there's so many variables that
[07:14] SPEAKER_00: we can't control. So I think it takes a really weird and a good way type of
[07:19] SPEAKER_00: person to be able to look at that and say I'm gonna try anyway and I'm gonna
[07:22] SPEAKER_00: do what I can with what I have. So yeah I definitely think we're wired a little
[07:26] SPEAKER_01: bit differently. We're willing to take those risks. Yeah. Let's talk about
[07:32] SPEAKER_01: your reading habits. What books are you reading now and why are even audio
[07:35] SPEAKER_01: books and can you recommend any books for listeners who are also aspiring
[07:39] SPEAKER_00: entrepreneurs? Yeah so many I just finished reading burnout so it's basically
[07:45] SPEAKER_00: about you know the title says it all burnout which I think is a very appropriate
[07:49] SPEAKER_00: theme for a lot of entrepreneurs. So that was a great book. I am rereading
[07:54] SPEAKER_00: atomic habits by James Clear. I think that's a really good one to start the year
[07:57] SPEAKER_00: off with and then I'm also reading Profit First which is a bit more dry and
[08:03] SPEAKER_00: it's a really cool concept basically around you know the accounting and book
[08:06] SPEAKER_00: keeping behind your business and the idea or concept is to calculate your
[08:10] SPEAKER_00: profit first and kind of deduct everything from that. So that's that's kind of
[08:14] SPEAKER_01: what I'm rotating through at the moment. Any online or offline tools that you
[08:19] SPEAKER_00: like to use on a daily basis? Oh yeah so many. So I have a friend and she's
[08:25] SPEAKER_00: also a business coach who recently showed so she has this 100 day goal planner
[08:30] SPEAKER_00: journal notebook that I've got from her. So that's like something I've been
[08:34] SPEAKER_00: using. I used to really rely heavily on my computer or my phone to schedule out
[08:39] SPEAKER_00: my day and to plan my goals but since switching to this like actual hard copy
[08:44] SPEAKER_00: version I feel like it's so much easier for me to map out my thoughts and my plans
[08:48] SPEAKER_00: for the day so I that's a tool that I've been using for the last month or so
[08:51] SPEAKER_00: and I'm really loving it. Otherwise I use Slack every day with my team. I love
[08:56] SPEAKER_00: Zoom, I love Asana that's a really important one for productivity and project
[09:01] SPEAKER_01: management especially with client projects. Awesome okay let's talk a little bit
[09:07] SPEAKER_01: more about British Columbia. Obviously you're very busy everyone's at home and
[09:11] SPEAKER_01: but we still would like to get out and enjoy what British Columbia has to offer
[09:16] SPEAKER_01: because we have everything we have mountains ocean rivers lakes you name it. How
[09:21] SPEAKER_01: do you balance work and how do you relax and not think about work. What is your
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: favorite activities to do a BCD ski, bike, kayak, golf hike or simply go for a drive?
[09:31] SPEAKER_00: Yeah I really like to go hiking with my dog. There's so many good places for
[09:35] SPEAKER_00: that. I love the Pacific Spirit Park it's like right by UBC so that's when I
[09:41] SPEAKER_00: favorite places to go and kind of unwind you know before COVID or even before the
[09:46] SPEAKER_00: most recent restrictions. I would love to do a class like Orange Theory. I'd
[09:50] SPEAKER_00: love to go for yoga like a yoga class. I love the Scandinavian spa in
[09:55] SPEAKER_00: Whistler that's a really great place to unwind and relax as well. I'm not really
[10:00] SPEAKER_00: into outdoor sports as much as my husband wishes I was like skiing so
[10:04] SPEAKER_00: running it's not really my thing. I did it a bit when I was younger but I haven't
[10:08] SPEAKER_00: really kept up with it so yeah none of that. Yeah what I found really
[10:12] SPEAKER_01: interesting about the Scandinavian spa they have those rooms you're not allowed
[10:15] SPEAKER_00: to talk. The whole place you're not allowed to talk yeah it's easy. Yeah just
[10:20] SPEAKER_01: like it it's like kind of difficult at first but when you start getting into
[10:24] SPEAKER_01: the vibe it gets easier and easier but yeah I definitely like that about that
[10:29] SPEAKER_01: place. Okay if you were doing what you do now what would you like to do for
[10:33] SPEAKER_00: profession? Probably something similar. I really like the model that I have. I
[10:39] SPEAKER_00: have a really good mix of revenue streams and you know creative outlets I
[10:44] SPEAKER_00: really like you know that sort of that sort of model so something like this
[10:48] SPEAKER_00: maybe not social media and maybe business coaching or consulting and
[10:52] SPEAKER_01: other capacity. What job can you not do? Couldn't do it. Well I went to law
[10:58] SPEAKER_00: school and I did a summer internship so I know I could not be a lawyer that
[11:02] SPEAKER_01: was definitely not my type of team. Okay in business what is your favorite word
[11:08] SPEAKER_00: quote or sentence that you like to use? I like the quote how you do anything
[11:13] SPEAKER_00: is how you do everything. I always thought that was a Richard Jeffery quote but
[11:18] SPEAKER_00: apparently my husband corrected me it's a Mark Cuban quote so that's my
[11:21] SPEAKER_00: favorite quote. I think that's a really good words to live by whatever I'm
[11:25] SPEAKER_00: feeling like down or like I don't want to do something I just remember you know how
[11:29] SPEAKER_00: you do anything is how you're gonna do everything so I think that's a nice one
[11:32] SPEAKER_01: to keep in your pocket. Okay what's your least favorite word or sentence you do
[11:37] SPEAKER_00: not like to hear? I hate when people say you should do something like oh you should
[11:41] SPEAKER_00: do this or you should be doing this yeah I don't like being told you should be
[11:45] SPEAKER_01: doing something. Okay if you had to pick one or two words to describe yourself what
[11:51] SPEAKER_00: would it be and why? I like to think I'm very authentic I'm not ever trying to
[11:56] SPEAKER_00: put on errors or pretend to be something I'm not or someone I'm not so that's
[11:59] SPEAKER_00: something I pride myself on. Another one maybe dynamic I'm always changing
[12:06] SPEAKER_00: yeah always changing and looking for new opportunities yeah. Cool what keeps you
[12:14] SPEAKER_00: up at night if anything? Sometimes I will worry about my client's content for
[12:21] SPEAKER_00: the next day I'll worry like oh is it supposed to do well or is this gonna go
[12:25] SPEAKER_00: out right or things like that kind of you know freak me out sometimes especially
[12:29] SPEAKER_00: fellow changes with social media and Instagram sometimes you'll schedule
[12:33] SPEAKER_00: something and buy you know two weeks later it's Dale or outdated especially with
[12:36] SPEAKER_00: how quickly the new cycle is changing so things like that I always wonder about. Do
[12:41] SPEAKER_01: you keep set hours or are you pretty regimented as like I start at this time I
[12:47] SPEAKER_01: end at that time or is it more fluid depending on what you need to get done? I mean
[12:53] SPEAKER_00: officially I say my hours are nine to five but it usually ends up being very
[12:58] SPEAKER_00: blurry like some days I'll start sooner and go later some days I will just check
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: in for a couple hours and so it is pretty fluid. Okay I want you to give us the
[13:07] SPEAKER_01: top three things on your inspired lifeless do you want to maybe write a book
[13:12] SPEAKER_01: philanthropy travel more do any type of volunteer work beyond obviously
[13:17] SPEAKER_00: entrepreneurship anything in particular? Yeah this is something my husband and I
[13:22] SPEAKER_00: talked about for years is we really want to start like some sort of
[13:26] SPEAKER_00: hospitality I don't know the dream initially was a hospitality school but now
[13:30] SPEAKER_00: we're thinking just like hospitality scholarships for schools or universities
[13:34] SPEAKER_00: in South Africa because I'm originally from there and I think the tourism and
[13:39] SPEAKER_00: hospitality industry there is so untapped and it's this amazing market that
[13:43] SPEAKER_00: just needs to be you know it needs to be staffed it needs to have the right people in
[13:46] SPEAKER_00: it so we'd love to eventually open or find some sort of program like that to get
[13:50] SPEAKER_01: people trained up for hospitality and tourism. Do you have any advice that you may
[13:57] SPEAKER_01: have received that you can pass on to entrepreneurs throughout Canada? I would say
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: stay persistent especially the last year everything changes so quickly that
[14:07] SPEAKER_00: you know the clients you have one minute could you know they could be going out
[14:10] SPEAKER_00: of business the next that happened to me very early the day of COVID I lost three or
[14:14] SPEAKER_00: four clients because they had to go out of business so you know stay persistent if
[14:18] SPEAKER_00: you know one thing doesn't work keep trying something else will eventually. Okay Laura
[14:23] SPEAKER_01: you ready to have some fun? Yes. Okay cool there's a small tropical island just
[14:29] SPEAKER_01: off of Fiji that only has one phone booth there there is no internet this place
[14:33] SPEAKER_01: does exist we're gonna drop you off there you won't have a computer or a
[14:37] SPEAKER_01: smartphone or tablet you can use the phone booth located there any time to call
[14:42] SPEAKER_01: the boat will come pick you up how long would you last before you made that call
[14:46] SPEAKER_01: what would you do while you were there? Do I have food and water? Oh yeah you have
[14:51] SPEAKER_01: everything there it's just there's just no internet. Yeah I mean I'd probably be
[14:54] SPEAKER_00: happy for a while maybe a few weeks or a month or two I would like I would kill
[14:58] SPEAKER_00: for a hot vacation right now so that would be great. Oh okay so you wouldn't have
[15:02] SPEAKER_01: no panic attacks that there's no internet you can talk to your clients and I mean
[15:06] SPEAKER_00: I probably call my team and be like hey I'm gonna be gone for a while so you guys
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: just take care of things while I'm gone. Okay yeah it's just a it's an interesting
[15:16] SPEAKER_01: question to ask because I think some people get this feeling of being away
[15:20] SPEAKER_01: off the grid that tends to prompt them about it so always interesting to see
[15:25] SPEAKER_01: what kind of reaction entrepreneurs get because you know we're always on the
[15:28] SPEAKER_01: go we're always you know connected and phones and you name it so. Well to go
[15:33] SPEAKER_00: back to that that one question you said about life dreams one of my
[15:36] SPEAKER_00: life dreams to live off the grid for a month so maybe I can check that out. There you go
[15:41] SPEAKER_01: beautiful island Fiji okay we're gonna wrap things up how can our
[15:44] SPEAKER_01: missioners get whole of you and is there anything you'd like to add before you
[15:48] SPEAKER_00: leave us today. You know I think that there's so many opportunities it's just
[15:52] SPEAKER_00: about our looking for them and pursuing them so I really think connections and
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: those friendships that you make with other entrepreneurs are the most
[15:59] SPEAKER_00: valuable asset in any business in terms of getting hold of me my website is
[16:04] SPEAKER_00: www.brit and brand management.com or on Instagram at Brit and brand management.
[16:10] SPEAKER_01: Awesome okay Laura thanks for coming on the show I've learned a lot about you and
[16:14] SPEAKER_01: I'm sure our listeners have as well. Amazing thank you so much.